The nesting season is starting for great horned owls. They start nesting early so their youngsters are flying and learning to hunt in the spring and summer when prey is super-abundant. But where are they? We did not record any on the Christmas Bird Count and I have not received any reports of their calling.
Other owls do not start nesting this early but should be starting to call more frequently to establish nesting territories. There have been a few reports of screech owls this month, generally of individuals that are utilizing nesting boxes put out for them. Nancy Nordin found — heard? — one at midday off Lighthouse Road in Aquinnah on Jan. 27. Where are the other owls, long-eared, barred and saw-whet?
On Jan. 22 Libby Barringer and John Clark spotted a short-eared owl flying low over the road — from south to north — near the intersection of Edgartown Bay Road and Katama Road. Keep an eye out for this now-rare species.
Ned Casey found a dead barn owl at Katama on Jan. 26; the Vineyard is near the northern edge of their range and they are susceptible to cold weather, especially with snow. Unfortunately, poisoning from eating rodents killed by rodenticides is another possible cause.
This past week’s cold temperatures froze a lot of ponds. Of course waterfowl — ducks, geese, and swans — need open water. Where do they go when the pond they are living on freezes?
The Eurasian wigeon and ring-necked ducks that were at Crystal Lake before the freeze have returned. Bob Shriber spotted both a single Eurasian wigeon along with the flock of 87 ring-necked ducks at Crystal Lake on Jan. 26. Mr. Shriber also found 16 of the latter species at Town Cove on Jan. 22.
There was a common merganser at Squibnocket Pond before the freeze. On Jan. 25 there were three at Chilmark Pond, found by Bob Shriber. Lanny McDowell only found one on Chilmark Pond that day and Nancy Nordin saw three there the next day.
Redheads, another diving duck, were on Chilmark Pond before the freeze. Bob Shriber saw one at Chilmark Pond on Jan. 25 and Lisa Maxfield, Bridget Dunnigan and Sea Williams saw it again on Jan. 27.
A snow goose had been in the Katama area before the freeze. Bob Shriber saw one at Town Cove on Jan. 22. Bridget Dunnigan and Sea Williams spotted it again at Town Cove on Jan. 26, and Thaw Malin and Cynthia Bloomquist found it again on Jan. 27.
Northern pintail were at Black Point Pond in early January and the week before the freeze Nancy Nordin found two at Town Cove. They were still at Town Cove on Jan. 22 when Nancy Nordin and Susan Whting found two, and Bob Shriber found four. Nancy Weaver spotted two on Jan. 24 but only one on Jan. 25.
There was a large flock of ruddy ducks on Crackatuxet Cove before the freeze, and I have not heard of them there after it. Up to nine of them are at Town Cove. Nancy Nordin, Allen Keith, Bob Shriber, Nancy Weaver and Janet Woodcock teamed up and counted six on Jan. 23, Nancy Weaver saw nine on Jan. 25, and the quartet of Nancy Nordin, Nancy Weaver, Bridget Dunnigan and Sea Williams spotted three on Jan. 26. Bob Shriber spotted two at Chilmark Pond on Jan. 25.
Canvasback — a diving duck somewhat similar to the redhead — showed up for the first time this fall and winter on Jan. 23, when the quintet of Nancy Nordin, Allen Keith, Bob Shriber, Nancy Weaver and Janet Woodcock spotted one in Town Cove on Jan. 23. The quartet of Nancy Nordin, Nancy Weaver, Bridget Dunnigan, and Sea Williams saw it there again on Jan. 26.
Maybe you have noticed that Town Cove — the northernmost part of Tisbury Great Pond — has been hosting a wide variety of ducks during and after the freeze-up. That is expected because both the Tiasquam River and the Mill Brook flow into Tisbury Great Pond there. The pond is also about four feet lower than normal because it is open to the ocean; shoreline that is usually underwater is now exposed.
Of course there are many other ducks on our ponds. Bufflehead and mallard are perhaps the most widespread as in the past week: they have been seen in almost all of our coastal ponds by various birders. Black ducks are only slightly less common as there are generally fewer of them in any location.
American wigeon have been spotted in eight locations, mostly in Oak Bluffs and Vineyard Haven. Green-winged teal have been reported on three ponds, with a high count of 18 individuals at Town Cove. And the first report of blue-winged teal in quite a while comes from Nancy Nordin, who spotted six at Town Cove on Jan. 22.
Greater scaup are widespread but generally in low numbers except for on Lagoon Pond where there is a flock of more than 400 individuals. Common goldeneye are widespread but in small numbers. Lesser scaup have been reported in small numbers on four ponds.
Shorebirds are remarkably present after the freeze. Unexpected are two Wilson’s snipes and one lesser yellowlegs at — where else? — Town Cove. Nancy Nordin, Allen Keith, Bob Shriber, Nancy Weaver and Janet Woodcock found them on Jan. 23, when they also found nine killdeer an nine greater yellowlegs. Nancy Nordin, Nancy Weaver, Bridget Dunnigan, and Sea Williams found the two snipes and one greater yellowlegs at Town Cove on Jan. 26. Thank you, unfrozen water and wide, muddy shorelines!
The token songbird for this column is a fox sparrow, a species not reported since last winter. Shea Fee found two in her Wasque yard on Jan. 22.
Please email your sightings to birds@vineyardgazette.com.
Robert Culbert is an ecological consultant with Nature Watch LLC living in Vineyard Haven.
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