It did not take long for the 65th annual Martha’s Vineyard Christmas Bird Count to become history. Planning started long ago. Who is on your team? What areas will be birded? Where do you go first? Will the weather be favorable?
The count was held on Sunday, Dec. 29. We had watched the weather wondering when would the previous night’s rain end? We hoped by 6 a.m. to not impact our morning. But such was not the case as the occasionally heavy but mostly light rain continued until about mid-day. It could have been worse as it was above 50 degrees with only a light breeze. Because of the warm temperatures, however, there was dense fog.
The territory my team covers is along the south shore between Tisbury Great Pond and Oyster Pond. We normally start at the beach at Long Point, but remember the fog? No point going there as we would not be able to see anything. So we went to several inland locations where we usually find lots of birds, and saved the ocean for the afternoon.
Early on we got to Town Cove where our first observation was of the Quansoo team on the opposite shore, which was good news because that meant we could see the birds too. The fog had almost completely lifted by 10:30 a.m. and the rest of the day went smoothly as we were able to visit all the planned locations.
All too quickly the field day ends and it is time for the tally to compile the results of all 13 field teams. I was not expecting the count to go well because of the early fog. We were pleasantly surprised that the preliminary results totaled 127 species, well above the average of approximately 120 species from the past 15 or so years. To get to 127 species requires some luck at finding less common species. The birds move around a bit, and on foggy and rainy days they may stay in concealed locations. The birds’ and birders’ movements have to coincide. There are always stories to share at the tally.
Species that are only found by one field team are less abundant than species detected by all the field teams. Here are some of the less common species we found.
The Menemsha field team found the only two brown thrashers. They are not common in any season, and can be in dense thickets especially in the winter.
Lambert’s Cove birders have the best chance of finding wood ducks, perhaps because of the abundance of fresh-water ponds. But which ponds will they be on? And perhaps people flushed them out of the pond that birders are about to visit, and the birds flying away to a pond already visited. Fortunately, that did not happen. The team also found one chipping sparrow, and it happened to visit the feeders while they were watching.
Two teams found two blue-winged teal: Mainland Chappaquiddick and Chappaquiddick Beaches. Did both teams see the same two birds? This will be answered soon, as it is important to not double-count the same birds.
The Chappaquiddick Beaches team covers Norton Point and Cape Pogue. On Norton Point they found one flock of nine ruddy turnstones. Fortunately, a previous visitor had not chased the flock to an already surveyed beach.
The Oak Bluffs crew spotted three less-than-common species. Two American oystercatchers have been on Sarson’s Island for a while and the northern shoveler has traveled between Crystal Lake, Brush Pond and Mud Creek (in another team’s territory). Another species, the Eurasian wigeon, is also known to move between those locations but unfortunately it was not found. The team learned about a snowy owl — the first sighting of this species in 2024 — because a friend saw one, photographed it and sent the photo to one of the birders.
Northern bobwhites are scarce and not very vocal at this time of the year, so they are hard to find. But the Quansoo team was in the right place at the right time and found a covey of four.
Black-legged kittiwakes are a species of the open ocean that seldom are close enough to be seen from the Vineyard. They are harder to find on foggy days, but fortunately the fog lifted and two kittiwakes were observed in both Aquinnah and the Chappaquiddick Beaches. Northern gannets are another mostly pelagic species, and the Aquinnah team found one despite the foggy start to the day. Two black-headed gulls have been frequenting the Menemsha/Lobsterville area for a while now; the Aquinnah team found them too.
Katama is a large area to find a small falcon, an American kestrel, even though it was known to be there. But the Edgartown team persisted and found it along Herring Creek Road.
House wrens are not common in the winter, but the Seven Gates team spotted one.
The day before the count I spotted a nearly adult bald eagle near the head of Deep Bottom Cove. The Long Point team could not find it, but we unexpectedly found an immature eagle standing on the ocean beach at Oyster Pond as the fog was lifting. Earlier that day at the northern end of Tisbury Great Pond I found a flock of eight short-billed dowitchers through the light fog on an exposed sandbar. They would not have been there if the pond had not been low (the pond had been opened to the ocean).
So goes birding. One of the many things that makes birding so fun is the chance of finding the unexpected species. We did well with them on the Christmas Bird Count. Stay tuned, more details will appear in future columns.
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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