Watching bird behavior hints at what the bird is doing. Carrying vegetation or food means it is either building a nest or feeding its mate or chicks. You may even find the nest. And of course, seeing baby birds means that their young have left the nest. Observing these details adds to the enjoyment of birding.
Sharon Simonin has a great crested flycatcher using a nest box in her Oak Bluffs yard starting June 5. On June 7, Caroline Heald watched eastern bluebirds feeding young at Chappaquonsett, Nancy Weaver spotted wild turkey chicks at Felix Neck, and Nick Teague found four goslings and 11 mallard ducklings at Sheriff’s Meadow Sanctuary.
On June 8, Pam and Rob Davey and Caroline Heald saw two cygnets at the Hoft Farm, Derrob Hagy-Weatherbee watched an ovenbird carrying food and found a red-eyed vireo nest at the Hoft Farm, and Caroline Heald observed six wood duck ducklings at the Hoft Farm.
Sharon Simonin discovered a killdeer with two chicks at Farm Pond on June 11.
On June 12, Nick Teague found five wood duck ducklings at Seven Gates, and Nancy Weaver counted 10 goslings, 10 mallard ducklings, and three killdeer chicks in Menemsha. Knowing that wood ducks nest in at least two locations is great.
Penny Uhlendorf and Scott Stephens report a catbird visits their grape jelly feeder with a bug in its beak, methodically dipping the bug in the jelly, then heading off to feed its young.
These next four species likely are most passing through. Chris Scott spotted two glossy ibis flying over Sengekontacket Pond near the Big Bridge on June 7. Bob Shriber found a black tern on Lobsterville Beach on June 9, and Austen McNulty found another at Eel Pond on June 13. David Benvent heard and saw one purple martin at Ridge Hill Road in Chilmark on June 12. Caroline Heald had a black-billed cuckoo at the Wakeman Center on June 8 —this species may nest here when caterpillars are abundant.
Susan Shea mentions that “It’s been years since I’ve seen a covey of bobwhite quail. Used to have them every day in our yard!” We have no records for this species this year. Last year we had several reports of them in Chilmark and Aquinnah, and in 2024 there were frequent reports from across Oak Bluffs. Reports of them have been scarce for decades.
Eastern kingbirds seem to be everywhere. They were reported at 10 locations this week: Katama Farm (Kayla Smith, one, June 6); Sengekontacket Pond (Mason Bunker, Katherine Rosenfeld, Chris and Ben Schmandt, one, June 7); Wakeman Center (Caroline Heald, one. June 8); Hoft Farm (Pam and Rob Davey, one, June 7, and Caroline Heald and Derrob Hagy-Weatherbee, three, June 8); Cedar Tree Neck (Caroline Heald, one, June 10); Menemsha Hills (Rob and Pam Davey, one, June 10); Lobsterville Beach (Nancy Weaver, one, June 13); Quansoo Farm (me, three, June 12); Long Point (Nick Teague, one, June 9, and Derrob Hagy-Weatherbee, one, June 10); and the state forest headquarters (Jeff Peters, two, June 8).
In other flycatcher news, Luke McCartin found a willow flycatcher at Lucy Vincent Beach on June 13.
Whip-poor-wills and chuck-will’s-widow are two species in the goatsucker family (people used to think they drank goat’s milk). Nick Teague, Valerie Bourdeau and Kate Goodenough each heard one whip near the Youth Hostel on June 6 and June 9, respectively, while Ruth Richards, Janet Woodcock and Nancy Weaver heard two chucks at Mytoi on June 11.
Downy and hairy woodpeckers are quite similar, but the hairy is larger and less common. On June 7, Caroline Heald spotted both one downy and one hairy at Chappaquonsett, and Nick Teague had one hairy at Great Rock Bight.
On June 8, Caroline Heald saw three downies and one hairy near the Wakeman Center and Derrob Hagy-Weatherbee observed one downy and two hairies at the Hoft Farm and two downies and one hairy along Cummings Way in Edgartown.
Helena Firlings recorded one downy at Waskosim’s Rock Reservation on June 9. The next day Rob and Pam Davey discovered one downy at Menemsha Hills, Caroline Heald located one downy and one hairy at Cedar Tree Neck, and Kate Goodenough one downy Biodiversity Works headquarters.
June 12 was a busy day. I recorded one downy at Quansoo Farm, Kayla Smith discovered one hairy at Cedar Tree Neck, Caroline Heald had one hairy at Chappaquonsett, Derrob Hagy-Weatherbee spotted two hairies at Waskosim’s Rock and Cynthia Bloomquist saw one downy at her West Tisbury home.
The quartet of Katherine Rosenfield, Ben and Chris Schmandt, and Mason Bunker observed one spotted sandpiper at James Pond Preserve on June 7. Jeff Peters located a great blue heron along Vineyard Haven Harbor on June 13.
Two northern house wrens were recorded recently. Jennifer Slossberg saw one at Tea Lane Farm back on May 20, and Jeff Peters spotted one at Duarte’s Pond on Lambert’s Cove Road on June 1.
Finally, male brown-headed cowbirds are more easily found since they squeak, and the females skulk around in the understory seeking nests of other species to lay her eggs in. This nest parasitism evolved long ago, when cowbirds followed vast bison herds that wandered such large distances that the cowbirds could not stay in one location long enough to raise their own offspring. Nick Teague found a lot of cowbirds this week: one at Great Rock Bight and another at Sheriff’s Meadow Sanctuary (June 7), one at Long Point (June 11), and two at Seven Gates Farm (June 12). Pam and Rob Davey spotted two at the Hoft Farm on June 7, Derrob Hagy-Weatherbee saw one at Long Point on June 10 and I had three at Quansoo Farm on June 12.
Please email your sightings to [email protected].
Robert Culbert is an ecological consultant living in Vineyard Haven.
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