The Oak Bluffs pumping station used to be a go-to site for finding migrating songbirds. For years we did not find much there, so birders (being creatures of habit) did not go there as often. Woe to us. Lanny McDowell got the ball rolling this week by spotting a prothonotary warbler there on Oct. 8. Nancy Weaver, Barry Burden, Wendy Culbert and I went there and found a sharp-shinned hawk and a blackpoll warbler, but not the prothonotary warbler.
Luanne Johnson and Kelly Kozar visited the pumping station on Oct. 13 and found the prothonotary warbler and a sharp-shinned hawk, 51 tree swallows, two ruby and one golden-crowned kinglet, two winter wrens, one American redstart, one black-throated blue warbler, two yellow-rumped warblers and a first-of-season rose-breasted grosbeak. They texted that they found the prothonotary, which brought other birders.
Nancy Nordin, Nancy Weaver, Susan Whiting, Bob Shriber, Margaret Curtin and Charles Morano responded and the combined totals include seven ruby-crowned kinglets, one golden-crowned kinglet, one red-breasted nuthatch, two winter wrens, one veery (unusual), two white-throated sparrows, one swamp sparrow, one eastern towhee, one common grackle, one Baltimore oriole, one northern waterthrush, one prothonotary warbler, one blackpoll, one American redstart, one black-throated blue warbler, two yellow-rumped warblers, one scarlet tanager (unusual), one western tanager (new for the year), and the rose breasted grosbeak. Conclusion: we need to go there more frequently.
Two other first of the year species were reported this week. Ruth Richards and Luanne Johnson spotted one Lincoln’s sparrow at the Gay Head Cliffs on Oct. 6, while Nancy Nordin and Nancy Weaver found two rusty blackbirds there the same day. Paul Cosgrove, Alex Burdo and Liam Waters saw five rusty blackbirds there on Oct. 6.
The first winter wrens since last winter have been seen this week. Shea Fee observed one at the Oak Bluffs Pumping Station on Oct. 11, Ruth Richards observed one at Long Point on Oct. 12, Charles Morano found two at Tom’s Neck on Chappaquiddick on Oct. 13, the same day that Adam Markham discovered one at the Beach Plum Inn, and the quartet of Pete Gilmore, Cynthia Bloomquist, Nancy Nordin and Bob Shriber found one at the Oak Bluffs Pumping Station on Oct. 14.
Brant are a species of goose that many people like to see as they graze the grass in Ocean Park. I spotted one within a flock of 255 Canada geese in Ocean Park on Oct. 11. Sea Williams and Bridget Dunnigan observed another fun-to-see snow goose, at Katama Farm on Oct. 12, the same place and day that Luanne Johnson and Kelly Kozar saw one, while John Nelson found it again there on Oct. 14.
Fish crows are here throughout the year, but we also have flocks that are only here between October and April. John Nelson spotted a flock of 26 in front of the Strand Theatre on Oct. 10, the same day that Luanne Johnson observed a flock of 107 roosting on the roof of the Vineyard Haven Steamship Authority. On Oct. 12, Joe Bassi and Thelma Gatuzzo watched a flock of 10 at Sunset Lake and Sea Williams and Bridget Dunnigan located 12 of them at the Steamship Authority.
Bob Shriber spotted a purple finch (fairly similar to our much more common house finch) in Aquinnah on Sept. 26, the first since April. Charles Morano saw another purple finch at the opposite end of the Island, at Tom’s Neck on Oct. 13. Cynthia Bloomquist saw a yellow-breasted chat at the Gay Head Cliffs on Oct. 6, the first since last January. Multiple observers saw two lark sparrows on Oct. 5 at the Gay Head Cliffs, as reported in last week’s column, and the next day David Padulo spotted one of them at the Gay Head Cliffs.
A Brown pelican is here again. It might be the same one that was here, hanging out in Lagoon Pond a few weeks ago. Shea Fee found it at Long Point on Oct. 11, and Helen Reiss also saw there that day. Nate Durawa spotted it in Edgartown Harbor on Oct. 12 and the same day Chris Scott observed it near the Reading Room. An anonymous observer saw it at the Mattakesett Bay Boat Ramp on Oct. 13.
Black skimmers nested on Norton Point this summer, but they have not been reported since Sept. 15. After almost a month, Bridget Dunnigan and Sea Williams located three of them on Sarson’s Island on Oct. 12.
Red-winged blackbirds are a common summer resident, and a few might linger into the winter. They seem to be more abundant this week. On Oct. 6 at the Gay Head Cliffs, Nancy Weaver and Chris Scott spotted one, Nancy Nordin located two and Bob Shriber found four, as did Charles Morano two days later. Nancy Nordin observed two at the Oak Bluffs Pumping Station on Oct. 8, Luanne Johnson and Kelly Kozar counted a flock of 42 red-wings, three brown-headed cowbirds, and 80 grackles at the VOLF Cranberry Bog on Oct. 12, and back at the Cliffs on Oct. 13 Nancy Weaver found eight while Kelly Kozar counted 30.
Yellow-bellied sapsuckers have not been observed since April but this week sightings are plentiful. On Oct. 4 the troika of Bob Shriber, Sea Williams and Bridget Dunnigan spotted one near the Gay Head Cliffs and another at the Gay Head Morraine, Charles Morano found two at Gay Head Cliffs on Oct. 8, Margaret Curtin observed one at Central Avenue on Oct. 9, Susan Whiting and Bob Shriber located one in Aquinnah on Oct. 10, Shea Fee saw one at Wasque on Oct. 11, Susan Whiting observed one at Gay Head Cliffs on Oct. 11 and another at Squibnocket Point on Oct. 12, and Charles Morano found one at Tom’s Neck on Oct. 13.
Many consider wood ducks to be the prettiest duck. Mary Ann O’Connell found seven at Felix Neck on Oct. 10, Luanne Johnson and Kelly Kozar observed nine at the VOLF Cranberry Bog on Oct. 12, Frances Clapp located two wood ducks at Felix Neck on Oct. 12, and Wendy Culbert, Anne Culbert, and I heard two give their distinctive squeal call as they flew away from Ames Pond on Oct. 13.
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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