Evidence of nesting is easy to see. A bird carrying either vegetation or food means that they are building a nest or feeding young. And observing a recently hatched bird confirms that a nest was successful.
Nancy Weaver counted 10 mallard ducklings with three adults at Sheriff’s Meadow Sanctuary on May 15, and she observed nine goslings with a flock of 50 adults in Menemsha Harbor the next day. Sam Wainwright spotted four goslings with two pairs of adult Canada geese on Town Lot Road in Katama on May 18. Jeff Bernier found a pair of American oystercatchers with three chicks at Little Beach on May 11.
Rick Karney has been watching a black-capped chickadee residing in nest box at his West Tisbury home on May 16. Carolina wrens are also nesting. Cynthia Bloomquist watched a pair nesting at their West Tisbury home on May 11, and Nancy Weaver found a fledgling Carolina wren with a parent at Great Rock Bight on May 15.
On May 17, I noticed that the double-crested cormorants are not nesting on Sarson’s Island, where they have nested since the 1980s. More than 400 nesting pairs were there 10 to 20 years ago. This species has a much smaller colony on an island in the northern end of Sengekontacket Pond — maybe 50 pairs this year.
The news of birds nesting will become a larger focus of this column as the northward migration finishes next month. And that is how the most common birds (geese, osprey, chickadees, red-eyed vireos, great-crested flycatchers, gray catbirds, eastern towhees, yellow warblers and red-winged blackbirds, to name a few) will get mentioned in this column.
The migration of warblers is winding down and most of our summer resident warblers have arrived, including black-and-white, blue-winged yellow, pine, prairie, American redstart, ovenbird, and northern parula. A big sign of the end of warbler migration is the arrival of blackpoll warblers. There were 11 sightings this week from across the Island.
Ken Magnuson spotted three bay-breasted at the Edgartown Golf Club on May 13 and a black-throated green May 11. Nancy Nordin found one bay-breasted at Great Rock Bight on May 11. Charles Morano and Nancy Nordin observed one chestnut-sided along Meeting House Road in Chilmark on May 11, and Charles Morano also had Cape May at Donaldbin Close on May 12.
Ruth Richards saw a chestnut-sided and a black-throated green at Great Rock Bight on May 14. Charles Morano spotted two magnolias at Cedar Tree Neck on May 17, and Matt Born found one chestnut-sided at Clay Pit Road on May 17.
Sea Williams and Bridget Dunnigan observed one black-throated green at Pennywise Path on May 18, Charles Morano saw one magnolia at the Vineyard Golf Club on May 18, and Rob Davey sighted one hooded at Waskosim’s Rock Reservation on May 11.
Hairy woodpeckers appear to be more common now, with six sightings this week. Luanne Johnson spotted one at Mill Brook Preserve on May 10, Ruth Richards found one at Great Rock Bight on May 14, Charles Morano saw them twice (two at Great Rock Bight the next day and one at Cedar Tree Neck on May 17), Susan Whiting had one at Quenames on May 17, and Matt Born spotted one at Clay Pit Road on May 17.
Brown thrashers also appear to be more common now, with nine sightings this week. Nancy Nordin and Charles Morano both found one at Great Rock Bight on May 11, Chris Scott observed a pair at Fulling Mill Brook (one at Great Rock Bight and another at Bold Meadow
all on May 12), Nancy Nordin watched one at Sheriff’s Meadow Sanctuary on May 14, Wayne Clay located one in Vineyard Haven on May 16, Jennifer Slossberg spotted one at Middle Line Woods on May 16, and Matt Born saw one at Clay Pit Road on May 17.
Nancy Nordin watched a lingering ruby-crowned kinglet at Sheriff’s Meadow Sanctuary on May 14.
Six species of thrushes were spotted this week, with numerous sightings of both American robins and eastern bluebirds. The other four species are of greater interest. Of wood thrushes, on May 11 Rob Davey saw one at Waskosim’s Rock Reservation, Nancy Nordin had one at Great Rock Bight, and Chris Scott found one at Fulling Mill Brook on May 12, and Ruth Richards located one at Great Rock Bight on May 14.
For the less common hermit thrush, Isabella Colucci spotted one at James Pond Preserve on May 11 and Matt Born saw one at Clay Pit Road on May 13. Also less common is the veery: Bob Shriber and Nancy Nordin each saw one at Great Rock Bight on May 11. And Swainson’s thrushes are not observed every year, so Matt Born’s observation of one at Clay Pit Road on May 17 is unusual.
Charles Morano heard a yellow-billed cuckoo near Squibnocket Beach on May 15. It is a much more common find in the fall.
We started talking about the northward migration back in January and February, but so far we have not se en the small shorebirds (called peeps) that nest up in the Arctic. They are now migrating through. Nancy Nordin spotted nine least sandpiper at John Butler’s Mudhole on May 14, Ruth Richards saw four semipalmated sandpipers in the same location and one more on Sarson’s Island on May 16, Nancy Nordin found two dunlins at the Mudhole and Sean Selby found another dunlin at the Big Bridge on May 16.
Multiple ruddy turnstones were found on May 16. Ruth Richards saw two at Eel Pond and three more at Sarson’s Island, while Nancy Weaver located six in Menemsha Harbor the same day. Rand Burnet saw one near Wasque on May 17, the same day that Sean Selby found one at the Big Bridge. Also, at the Mudhole was a solitary solitary sandpiper. Jeff Bernier and Nancy Nordin saw it on May 13 and Nancy Nordin saw it again the next day.
There are two species of yellowlegs, greater and lesser. Nancy Nordin saw one lesser and two greaters at the Mudhole on May 14, Nancy Weaver spotted four greaters in Menemsha Harbor on May 16, and Rand Burnett discovered a greater near Wasque on May 17. And Margaret Curtin observed one semipalmated plover at Sheriff’s Meadow Sanctuary on May 16 while Matt Born one located another at Clay Pit Road on May 17.
Please email your sightings to birds@vineyardgazette.com.
Robert Culbert is an ecological con sul tant living in Vineyard Haven
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