It is August and the nesting season is winding down. Adult birds are feeding their mostly full-grown fledglings and teaching them how to find their own food and to be aware of the dangers posed by predators.
I spotted two noisy families of crows on the telephone poles along Kennebec avenue in Oak Bluffs behind DaRosa’s. Each family had two youngsters being fed by their parents. One was a family of American crows and the other was a family of fish crows about 50 yards away. Sea Williams and Bridget Dunnigan discovered a noisy family of two adults and one fledgling sharp-shinned hawk in the state forest on July 26. I observed a male common yellowthroat feeding two youngsters in the shrubbery of Sheriff’s Meadow Sanctuary on August 1, Nancy Nordin found a young Carolina wren being fed by one parent in her yard on August 2 and Rob Bierregaard saw a recently fledged Baltimore oriole on Monroe avenue in East Chop on August 3.
The Virginia rails at John Butler’s Mudhole are not always easy to find, but Lisa Maxfield found two adults and four small black chicks on July 29. That same day David Padulo heard at least six adult and juvenile rails vocalizing fairly close to the boardwalk. Lanny McDowell saw one or two of these rails on July 29 and 30, Allie Banks found one and Chris Scott located two on July 30. At this same location, I discovered two downy young killdeer with their two parents on August 1.
Shelly Altman reports a peregrine falcon perched on Vineyard Sound beach at the northeast end of the Gay Head Cliffs on July 23. Other reports of a peregrine come from Sky Kardell on Norton Point and David Padulo at Katama Farm, both on July 27 and David Padulo at Sepiessa Point on August 1. A smaller falcon, a merlin, was seen at opposite ends of the island on August 4: Michael Minkiewicz had one at the Gay Head Cliffs and the quartet of David Benvent, Susan Whiting, Bob Shriber and Nancy Nordin spotted one on Norton Point.
Great blue herons are becoming more common now. Susan Whiting and Bob Shriber saw one at Tisbury Great Pond on July 27, Mark, Merrill and Andrew Eppedio observed one at State Beach on July 29, Steve Allen located one at Felix Neck on July 31, David Padulo found two on August 1 and Adam Balick spotted two on August 4 at Sepiessa Point, Nancy Weaver watched one at Norton Point on August 2, the same day that Bridget Dunnigan and Sea Williams saw two at Sheriff’s Meadow Sanctuary. Nancy Weaver and Seth Buddy observed one near Mink Meadows on August 3, Susan Whiting found one at Crackatuxet Cove on August 4 and Pete Gilmore located one at Priester’s Pond on August 4.
Sky Kardell reports a western willet at Long Point on July 29, and even better a marbled godwit on Norton Point near the tern colony on August 5. One whimbrel on Norton Point—with long bills curving downward rather than the godwit’s upward—was found by David Padulo on July 31. The foursome of David Benvent, Susan Whiting, Bob Shriber and Nancy Nordin spotted one on August 4.
Seth Buddy and Nancy Weaver found a stilt sandpiper between Mink Meadows and West Chop on August 3, the same day that Miles Quarterman saw one at Long Point. Cheryl Lowe and Luanne Johnson spotted one pectoral sandpiper at John Butler’s Mudhole on July 27, while Lisa Maxfield had two of them there on July 30. Andrew Eppedio and David Benvent discovered one solitary sandpiper at Red Beach on July 30.
Seabirds are starting to put on a show. Most notably, a skua—possibly a south polar skua—was spotted and photographed by someone aboard the Steamship Authority ferry on August 4. Less unusual but still unexpected is Andrew Eppedio’s and David Benvent’s sighting of one Wilson’s storm-petrel, the following shearwaters: 10 Cory’s, five great, three Manx and two northern
gannets from Moshup Beach on July 30. Then, Ron Klattenberg spotted four Wilson’s storm-petrels and the following shearwaters: one Cory’s, two great, one sooty, and one Manx in Rhode Island Sound on August 1.
Songbird migration is starting to increase too. A group of a few small flycatchers are hard to identify without hearing them singing, which we seldom get to do in the southward migration. Sea Williams and Bridget Dunnigan saw one at Lake Tashmoo on August 2, the same day that David Benvent had one in Aquinnah.
Also notable is Nancy Nordin’s sighting of one diminutive blue-gray gnatcatcher in her West Tisbury yard on August 1. Nancy Weaver spotted one eastern meadowlark at Katama Airpark on July 27 and the next day Charles Morano spotted two fall plumaged bobolinks at Katama Airpark on July 28, along with a flock of 60 brown-headed cowbirds.
Yellow-billed cuckoos are not frequently present, but when they are here they are heard more that seen. Steve Allen heard one in Westminster Acres on July 27, Cornelia Dean heard two calling back and forth off Litchfield Road on Chappaquiddick on July 28 and Charlie Morano heard one at Donaldbin Close in Edgartown on July 31.
Birds can be seen in unusual places. Jeff Komarinetz spotted a double-crested cormorant walking on the side of the Edgartown-West Tisbury Road on July 31, an unusual location to say the least! Or they show unusual behaviors: I spotted a flock of at least 11 chimney swifts at Sheriff’s Meadow Sanctuary on August 1; they were acting like swallows by swirling around half swooping close over the pond and half about 100 feet up in air before circling back to the water. This continued for about 10 minutes!
Please email your sightings to birds@vineyardgazette.com.
Robert Culbert is an ecological consultant with Nature Watch living in Vineyard Haven.
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