Last week, I sat at my desk lamenting the fact that I hadn’t had the chance to get much birding in the past week between work and poor weather.
While daydreaming about what rarities may be hiding at my favorite birding haunts, movement in my yard caught my eye. It was a black-capped chickadee. This is not an unusual occurrence in my backyard, I have a regular mixed flock of chickadees, juncos, sparrows, cardinals and nuthatches that visit my feeders.
I often take them for granted, but I took a moment to watch this particular chickadee with interest. It moved meticulously from deck chair to deck chair, gleaning tasty morsels along the way. Finally, it flew to the eaves above my desk, hanging upside down as it inspected each crevice for food, just inches from my window.
I got to see the glimmer in its glossy black eye and the fine detail of its feathers. A view seldom afforded through binoculars.
This encounter reminded me of the importance of birding mindfully. Instead of birding with the intent of building species lists or discovering the next rarity, take a moment to appreciate the birds, even the ones in your own yards.
Next time you go birdwatching – whether it be at your favorite conservation property or from your kitchen window – I urge you to slow down and witness the avian life around you. You may observe a new behavior or detail in a common bird that you hadn’t noticed before.
If you needed an excuse to admire your avian neighbors this week, that Great Backyard Bird Count took place on Feb. 17. This initiative, launched by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and National Audubon Society, started in 1998. It encourages birders to count and report the birds in their yard or favorite birding spot. The information collected during this period helps science better understand bird populations in the dead of winter, before spring migration. The effort now spans 200 countries.
There were several birders that made the most of their backyards this week. Cynthia Bloomquist and Thaw Malin have a dedicated “birding window” at their West Tisbury home, offering views of their at-home avian haven.
This week they were visited by a flock of dark-eyed juncos, a brown creeper, two eastern towhees, a pair of pine warblers, a hermit thrush, and a Cooper’s hawk. Cynthia was especially excited to see a flock of 16 American robins drinking at the back yard water feature.
Penny Uhlendorf was treated to a red-bellied woodpecker and a white-breasted nuthatch in her West Tisbury yard on Feb. 17 and Bernice McIntyre was visited by the same two species at her Tisbury home on Feb. 22. Luanne Johnson enjoyed seeing both white-breasted and red-breasted nuthatches at her West Tisbury feeders on Feb. 19. Isabella Colucci, Jennifer Sepanara, and Janet Woodcock spied diminutive brown creepers in their respective Tisbury yards on Feb. 21 and Feb. 22. Nancy Nordin heard a barn owl from her home in West Tisbury on Feb. 23.
However, the best yard bird this week comes from Ned Casey in Edgartown. On Feb. 20, a usually secretive brown thrasher perched atop his suet feeder. This species is rarely seen out in the open, spending most of its time in thick underbrush.
Those who ventured outside their homes this week were rewarded with some exciting sightings. On Feb. 17, Nancy Weaver and Sharon Simonin both spotted the continuing American kestrel at Katama. That same day, Nancy Weaver and later Bob Schrieber observed several eastern meadowlarks in the Katama fields. In addition, Timothy Johnson was fortunate enough to photograph a soaring bald eagle above State Beach on Feb. 17.
Despite frigid temperatures there were passerines abound. On Feb. 18, Nancy Weaver spotted an eastern phoebe while walking at Beech Tree Preserve. Brown creepers seemed abundant this week, with additional birds seen by Rich Couse at Hoft Farm on Feb. 19, myself at Presbury Norton Preserve on Feb. 22, Nancy Nordin at Upper Lagoon Pond on Feb. 22, and Cynthia Bloomquist on Feb. 17 in West Tisbury.
Jennifer Sepanara had a productive day at Manaquayak Preserve on Feb. 19 spotting a hermit thrush, hairy woodpecker and an elusive orange-crowned warbler. A few days later on Feb. 22, I saw 4 eastern towhees, a gray catbird, and a fox sparrow among the hedgerows at the same location. That same day, Sea Williams also had a hermit thrush near Hoft Farm on Feb. 22. Lastly, Randy Rynd reported singing red-winged blackbirds near his Vineyard Haven home. A sure sign of spring!
There were also a few standout sightings among our water-loving species. On Feb. 18, Bob Schrieber counted 11 razorbills among a smattering of sea ducks from the Aquinnah Cliffs, followed by 18 greater yellowlegs at Lobsterville on Feb. 19. On Feb. 21, Nancy Weaver spotted a not-so-common common merganser along with a great blue heron at Upper Lagoon Pond. Chris Scott found five green-winged teal at Town Cove on Feb. 22, while I observed four at Brush Pond on Feb. 21. Finally, Nancy Weaver spotted three snow geese in a farm field off North Road on Feb. 24.
Shea Fee is the president of the Martha’s Vineyard Bird Club and a coastal ecologist with The Trustees of Reservations.
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