Abundant bright yellow birds means that it is the season for northbound migrating warblers. This is an exciting time to look for birds as we do not know what is around the next corner and their bright colors and loud singing makes their identification easier.
The brightest yellow is the prothonotary warbler. Nancy Nordin spotted one at the pumping station on May 1 and Nancy Weaver found it later that day. This species is so named because its glowingly bright yellow plumage is like the fancy robes worn by papal clerks in the Catholic Church called prothonotaries. Now there is a great trivia question. Not only did Sea Williams and Bridget Dunnigan find the prothonotary warbler in the nearby Southern Woodlands on May 2, but they also observed two yellow warblers, which are almost as bright yellow. The yellow warbler was the most common warbler this week, with 22 ebird reports between Margaret Curtin’s first report at Waskosim’s Rock Reservation on April 27 and May 4. Also on May 4, I spotted 14 yellow warblers at the pumping station, which is a conservative estimate as they were everywhere.
The least expected species is Bob Shriber’s sighting of a hooded warbler along Old South Road on May 1. Nashville warblers are another species we do not see very often, with several reports this week. On April 30, Bob Shriber saw one in Aquinnah and Nancy Nordin found one in her West Tisbury yard. There were two sightings on May 3: Shea Fee at the pumping station and Charles Morano at Great Rock Bight. Matt Pelikan found a yellow-throated warbler (a gray, black, and white warbler with a bright yellow throat) at the Wakeman Center on April 29. He notes that this bird has shown up every spring since 2019 although we have not found evidence of nesting.
There were two reports of palm warblers: Nancy Weaver saw one at the pumping station on April 30 and Adam Moore found one at Quansoo Farm on May 2.The other warblers seen this week nest here. Prairie warblers (they are bright yellow on their undersides) are suddenly widespread. Margaret Curtin spotted the first one at Seven Gates on April 29 and since then there have been nine sightings in West Tisbury and one at Felix Neck.
Ovenbirds have also arrived quickly. Bob Shriber and Nancy Nordin found two in Aquinnah on April 28, and as of April 4 there have been 15 other sightings across the Island.
Bob Shriber located a blue-winged warbler and a black-and-white warbler along Old South Road on May 1. Four observers (Charles Morano, Nancy Nordin, Janet Woodcock and Nancy Weaver) observed two blue-winged and five black-and-white warblers at Great Rock Bight on May 3.
Common yellowthroats have arrived. Nancy Nordin spotted one at the Gay Head Cliffs on April 28. On May 3, the MV Bird Club found one at Long Point and Bob Shriber watched two in Aquinnah.
Nancy Weaver, Janet Woodcock, Shea Fee and Luanne Johnson found one black and white warbler and two American redstarts at Cedar Tree Neck on May 4. That same quartet found four redstarts at Great Rock Bight on May 3, and Charles Morano spotted one at Old Farm Road and another in Waskosim’s Rock Reservation that day.
Pine warblers are widespread with 15 reports in just the first four days of May. And lingering winter-resident yellow-rumped warblers were seen eight times in those four days. The latter species will soon be heading north for the summer.
Not all sightings are of warblers. The most notable non-warbler sighting is a broad-winged hawk. Ken Magnuson spotted one at the Edgartown Golf Club on May 4. They nest on Cape Cod – when will they nest here?
Another good find was the incredibly active blue-gray gnatcatcher, which Bob Shriber and Nancy Nordin saw in Aquinnah on April 28.
Shea Fee observed two rough-winged swallows at the pumping station on April 28, and the quartet of Lisa Maxfield, Barry Burden, Gretchen Lally, and I saw them there as they were swooping around over the water on May 4.
Some early great-crested flycatchers have returned. Nancy Nordin was the first to see one at the Gay Head moraine on April 28, and there were 11 more sightings from across the Island by May 4. The highest number seen was the seven that Barry Burden counted in the Southern Woodlands and the pumping station on May 4.
Eastern kingbirds are not that common yet. Nancy Nordin saw one near the Gay Head Cliffs on April 28, Chris Scott observed two at Long Point on May 3, and I saw one as I was listening to a great crested flycatcher at the pumping station on May 4.
Three species of vireos were reported this week. Charles Morano saw a white-eyed vireo at the pumping station on April 28, Ken Magnuson spotted a blue-headed vireo at the Edgartown Golf Club on April 29, and Jennifer Slossberg observed one white-eyed vireo at Lucy Vincent Beach on April 30.
On May 4, the red-eyed vireos arrived. Charles Morano watched one at Great Rock Bight, the quartet of Luanne Johnson, Nancy Weaver, Shea Fee and Janet Woodcock located one at Cedar Tree Neck, Chris Scott and Nancy Nordin each spotted three at Waskosim’s Rock Reservation, and Margaret Curtin saw two along Christiantown Road.
Wood thrushes have an amazing flute-like song. On May 3, Chris Scott observed one at Long Point and Charles Morano found one along Old Farm Road. Nancy Nordin located one at Waskosim’s Rock Reservation on May 4, the same day that Scott Stephens and Penny Uhlendorf were serenaded by a wood thrush singing from a rhododendron bush in their yard. Chris Scott saw a different thrush (a veery) at Waskosim’s Rock Reservation on May 4.
Two interesting wrens were found this week. Isabella Colucci spotted a house wren at the Polly Hill Arboretum on May 2, and I heard one singing at the western end of Crocker Drive in Katama on May 3, where I have seen them every year for at least a decade. Nancy Nordin found a marsh wren at Great Rock Bight on May 3; they are not very common in the spring.
Finally, Rob Bierregaard is conducting his annual survey of osprey nests, about 130 of them. Please email me with any new nests you know of and I will forward it to him.
Please email your sightings to birds@vineyardgazette.com.
Robert Culbert is an ecological consultant living in Vineyard Haven
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