Given the recent dead turkeys found in Edgartown (some of them are being tested for the avian flu) it is prudent to be careful even though the flu has not yet been detected on the Vineyard. While human infections are extremely rare, being careful means avoiding contact with any wild birds, alive or dead. Such care is prudent even without avian flu since wild birds likely have other bacteria, viruses or parasites.
The Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources has a webpage titled Frequently Asked Questions About Avian Flu. The document says that it is not necessary to stop feeding birds but that we should wash our feeders and bird baths as they may contain bird feces which includes these bacteria, viruses or parasites. They recommend washing our hands after handling our feeders and bird baths.
Bird Sightings
Seeing an ovenbird in the winter is unexpected. While they are common in our summer woodlands, they have only been seen twice on our annual Christmas Bird Counts, in 2015 and 2017. We did not see one on the most recent count, but now Janet Woodcock has one visiting her Vineyard Haven home. It was first sighted on Jan. 23 on a railing eating seeds, and was still visiting as of Jan. 30. As she said when reporting the ovenbird: “What a surprise!”
Rusty blackbirds are another surprise. Bob Shriber has been seeing two of them in their mostly brownish winter plumage along Old South Road in Aquinnah between Jan. 31 and Feb. 2. The abundance of this species has declined by an estimated 85 to 99 per cent in the past 40 years and we do not know why.
What other unusual species are hiding out in plain sight around our feeders? Please report any different-looking birds using the email below. A photo (even from your phone) would be helpful.
We finally have photos confirming the presence of at least two short-eared owls in Katama. We have had several reports of them in recent weeks, but Charles Morano photographed two of them at Katama Farm on Feb. 2. This is another species that has declined greatly. They used to be a common year-round resident all along the south shore fields as recently as the 1970s.
We have a lot of ducks around even though many ponds are frozen. Single individuals of several less than common species of ducks are still here: northern shoveler, Eurasian wigeon, Barrow’s goldeneye and redhead, all of which may be found at either Crystal Lake, Mud Creek or the drawbridge.
High numbers of other ducks include Shea Fee counting 97 ring-necked ducks on Jan. 23, Charles Morano observing four wood ducks, 22 gadwall, 18 pintail, 65 green-winged teal and 23 ruddy ducks at Town Cove on Jan. 23, and Sharon Simonin finding a common merganser at the drawbridge on Jan. 25. Nancy Weaver sighted two common mergansers at the Oak Bluffs Pumping Station on Jan. 27, and Bob Shriber spotting 160 ruddy ducks along the edge of the ice on Menemsha Pond near the Herring Creek on Jan. 28.
Alcids can sometimes be seen from our shores, especially in the winter. Charles Morano spotted a dovekie (the smallest of our alcids) and 19 razorbills from Squibnocket Point on Feb. 1. And the MV Bird Club found two razorbill at the Gay Head cliffs on Feb. 1.
Red-winged blackbirds are one of the first of the northward migrants to arrive, but we counted 54 of them on the recent Christmas Bird Count. Lynn Buckmaster-Irwin saw two red-wings under her West Tisbury bird feeder on Jan. 25. They are more likely to be migrants if they are singing the familiar “kong-a-reeee” near where they nest in the spring and summer.
Nancy Nordin observed a black-headed gull on the harbor side of East Chop Drive near Crystal Lake on Jan. 25.
Lingering shorebirds include greater yellowlegs, American oystercatcher, killdeer, ruddy turnstone and Wilson’s snipe. Multiple observers have spotted them from the west arm of Lagoon Pond, Town Cove, Lobsterville, Little Beach, Sarson’s Island or Short Cove.
Yellow-bellied sapsuckers are perhaps my favorite woodpecker. I heard then spotted two very vocal sapsuckers calling loudly at West Chop Woods on Jan. 21. Nancy Nordin also saw a sapsucker at home on Jan. 23, and Shea Fee located one at Ocean View Farm on Jan. 25.
Dark-eyed juncos are widespread. On Jan. 20, Angel Morris saw six on Franklin street and Janet Woodcock spotted two at Felix Neck. The next day included multiple sightings: Luanne Johnson found six at her West Tisbury home, Bob Shriber saw one at Old South Road, and I found two at West Chop Woods. Nancy Nordin watched nine at her West Tisbury feeders on Jan. 23 and Janet Woodcock had six at her Vineyard Haven home. I watched three at my feeders on Jan. 29, Cynthia Bloomquist and Thaw Malin had five visiting their feeders on Feb. 2.
Notable sparrow sightings include Bob Shriber’s 32 white-throated sparrows, which included multiple flocks along Old South Road on Jan. 21. Nancy Nordin reports one tree and one fox sparrow at her West Tisbury feeders on Jan. 23. I spotted a Savannah “Ipswich” sparrow oddly perched within a little cave on the edge of an old peat bed at Little Beach on Jan. 25, and Shea Fee found a fox sparrow at Short Cove Preserve on Feb. 2.
My family has been watching 17 house finches, 11 European starlings and an amazing nine squirrels visiting our feeders on both Jan. 29 and Feb. 1. Are those crowds too many? Hopefully they are not precluding the mourning doves, chickadees, nuthatches, titmice, wrens, white-throated and song sparrows and cardinals from getting the food they need during the cold winter weather.
Please email your sightings to birds@vineyardgazette.com.
Robert Culbert is an ecological consultant with Nature Watch living in Vineyard Haven.
Comments
Comment policy »