Ruby-throated hummingbird scarcity is temporary. If you have not seen them as often at your feeders they are likely too busy feeding small insects to their nestlings, a very high protein food. They will soon return and bring their fledglings with them.
Caroline Heald saw a hummer at Chappaquonsett on June 19. Steve Carey found one in the State Forest on June 21, and Mary Makepeace found one along Cummings Way in Edgartown on June 23. Jennifer Sepanara found one along Oak Lane in West Tisbury on June 23, Seth Buddy has been seeing one every day near Mink Meadows, and Susan Whiting has two at Old Fields Path on June 27.
Other birds may now appear to be less common in our woods and fields. They have not moved elsewhere, but their singing has diminished with the hot temperatures. Plus, the nesting season is peaking so they are busy feeding their chicks.
Meanwhile, red-eyed vireos and Carolina wrens continue to sing throughout the day.
Behavioral observations confirm that a variety of species are nesting successfully. Most of the following observations are of fledglings.
Holly Mercier spotted chipping sparrow fledglings in Edgartown on June 21, Caroline Heald watched 11 bank swallows carrying food to their coastal bank nest cavities at Cedar Tree Neck on June 23, and Mary Makepeace observed downy woodpeckers feeding their youngsters and saw three juvenile blue jays along Cummings Way in Edgartown on June 23.
On June 24, Cynthia Bloomquist and Thaw Malin watched their tufted titmice fledge three chicks while the great crested flycatcher chicks are still in a nest box at their house.
Seth Buddy spotted a black duck with five ducklings at Mink Meadows on June 26 and observed a great crested flycatcher feeding its young on June 27.
On June 27, Caroline Heald spotted a pair of recently fledged common terns on Norton Point, Seth Buddy noticed recently fledged goslings in the Mink Meadows area, Derrob Hagy-Weatherbee located two least tern fledglings on Norton Point, and Susan Whiting found eight mallard ducklings near Old Fields Path.
I observed fledgling red-winged blackbirds and robins, as well as a female common yellowthroat feeding its young on the brown trail at Cedar Tree Neck on June 28.
Neither the end of the northward migration or the peaking nesting season prevents our finding unexpected species. We now have both post-breeding dispersal and the onset of southbound migration.
The most unexpected find is Mark Mattson’s observation of a black guillemot off Dogfish Bar on June 23. While this species nests along the Maine coast, it is a rare winter visitor with only five sightings between 1984 and 2006. Its absence here in June surprises me since there have been sightings in previous years along eastern Cape Cod, and this June there have been six sightings around Cape Anne.
Another unusual sighting is by Mary Makepeace, who found a Wilson’s phalarope at Eel Pond on June 26. This species is a bit more common, a rare transient from the west, with 10 sightings between 1984 and 2006 (as reported in Susan Whiting’s and Barbara Pesch’s Vineyard Birds II), including three spring sightings. The most recent sighting is by Charles Morano, who spotted one at John Butler’s Mudhole last year on May 29.
On June 29, Warren Woessner observed a Purple Gallinule at John Butler’s Mudhole. It was feeding on the flats at the edge of the green grass. It is a rare vagrant from the south, with the most recent e-bird report in southeastern Massachusetts coming from Nantucket in 2009.
Matt Born reports finding four Cory’s and 20 great shearwaters on June 23 when he was about a mile southwest of Aquinnah. From the Gay Head Cliffs south to Squibnocket Point and Nomans Land is where we are most likely to see these seabirds that nest in the South Atlantic Ocean during our winter.
Even though it is still June, the southbound migration of shorebirds has started. Their nesting season on the Arctic is so short that they do not have time to renest should their first nesting attempt fail, so they depart for points south.
Ruth Richards spotted a greater yellowlegs at John Butler’s Mudhole on June 23, the same day that Susan Whiting, Nancy Nordin and Bob Shriber spotted two black-bellied plovers at Tisbury Great Pond. On June 24, Bob Shriber spotted a spotted sandpiper in Aquinnah on June 24, Nancy Weaver and Janet Woodcock located six black-bellied plovers and two short-billed dowitchers at Edgartown Great Pond, and Peter Enrich observed one least sandpiper at Lucy Vincent Beach.
Bob Shriber spotted one semipalmated sandpiper in Aquinnah on June 25, Charles Morano saw one ruddy turnstone at Eel Pond June 28, and Warren Woeser found a semipalmated plover at the Mudhole on June 29.
Taylor Ives and Jim Benoit spotted the first peregrine falcon as it flew over their job site near Red Beach in Aquinnah on June 26.
Charles Morano reports an out-of-season golden-crowned kinglet in spruce trees in the State Forest on June 28: it was “a ratty-looking molting bird that was singing constantly.” He also spotted two red-breasted nuthatches and one brown creeper.
On June 23, Susan Whiting, Nancy Nordin and Bob Shriber saw a belted kingfisher at Tis bury Great Pond, while Matt Born observed one at Clay Pit Road in Aquinnah. On June 28, Charles Morano found one at Eel Pond, and Seth Buddy located one in the Mink Meadows area on June 28.
Finally, Brice Boutot, the health agent for the Edgartown Board of Health, reports that the risk of avian flu is greatly reduced in warmer weather, so bird feeding can resume. He appreciates those who reduced the risks of spreading the avian flu by stopping feeding birds, and especially those who reported sick or dead birds, enabling the state health authorities to test the birds for avian flu.
Please email your sightings to [email protected].
Robert Culbert is an ecological consultant living in Vineyard Haven.
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