Greater shearwaters are a pelagic species of bird. They spend a very small percentage of their life on land. The short time they are on terra firma is to nest and they do not do so anywhere near Martha’s Vineyard. Greater shearwaters choose to rear their young in colonies on islands in the South Atlantic many miles offshore and well south of the Vineyard.

Birders, sailors and fishermen see greater shearwaters flying close to the waves or sitting on the water offshore. They are rarely seen close to shore. Recently one was seen in the surf off Katama Beach. Why was it there? No doubt the bird was either sickly, injured or was unable to feed properly and was weakened.

Bird Sightings

On July 13 John Liller was at Great Rock Bite Preserve and spotted a hairy woodpecker, eastern wood pewee, ovenbird, red-eyed vireo carrying nesting material, bank swallow, black-capped chickadee, American redstart and white-breasted nuthatch all feeding young, wood thrush, black-and-white warbler, and scarlet tanager. The same day he heard a yellow-billed cuckoo at Waskosim’s Rock Preserve. On July 14 he was on Chappaquiddick and heard a single bobwhite calling, spotted a snowy egret and a fledgling northern flicker to name a few. John noted that almost everywhere he went on both Chappy and the Vineyard he saw gray catbirds and eastern towhees carrying food to their young. At Herring Creek on the July 15 John spotted two least sandpipers and eight short-billed dowitchers. John also spotted a cedar waxwing carrying food to young at Trade Winds Preserve in Oak Bluffs. The most interesting sight for John’s eyes was a pair of yellow warblers feeding both a young brown-headed cowbird and a young yellow warbler. As he notes, there must have been plenty of food for both. Hopefully the cowbird will not get so large it pushes the yellow warbler chick out of the nest.

On July 14 Pete Cruickshank counted three greater yellowlegs at the Tashmoo inlet flats. He also discovered a dead signet at the pond at Mink Meadows. Pete added that for the first time the Mink Meadows Pond was visited by two American oystercatchers on July 15.

July 15 Lanny McDowell, Warren Woessner and I went to Katama and then over to Chappaquiddick to photograph the merlins in their nest. We found three chicks in the nest. Soon they will be stretching their wings and learning to fly. At Katama on the flats we spotted 22 short-billed dowitchers, least sandpipers, both greater and lesser yellowlegs, semipalmated sandpipers and both great and snowy egrets.

The same day Nan Harris and Luanne Johnson were out at Norton Point and their best bird was a whimbrel. They also saw willets with young, one semipalmated plover, the black skimmers on their nest site and large numbers of short-billed dowitchers. Luanne mentioned that she had heard many more red-eyed vireos this summer than she had remembered in past summers. At Edgartown Great Pond she saw both least and spotted sandpipers.

The juvenile bald eagle is back at Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary. Steve Stelle and Susan Alexander spotted it perched in a tree on the Red Trail on July 15. Penelope the vagrant osprey is now on the Merrimac River in New Hampshire.

On July 16 Warren Woessner, feeling the pull of shorebird migration, returned to Katama and went out on Norton Point where he spotted a stilt sandpiper, a very pale red knot, two spotted sandpipers, ten semipalmated sandpipers, one least sandpiper, two lesser yellowlegs, many greater yellowlegs, American oystercatcher, willets, two semipalmated plovers, four piping plovers and 30 short-billed dowitchers.

I owe Page Rogers an apology; I gave her a new last name in my previous Bird News column. She is not Page Hall. Page verified that the black skimmers she spotted at Katama were the same pair that is nesting in the Norton Point tern colony.

Warren Woessner, Lanny McDowell and Pete Gilmore birded Norton Point on July 17 and added semipalmated plover to the list of newly arrived shorebirds. Their best bird was a greater shearwater that was bobbing in the surf just off the Trustees checkpoint. That evening Gus and Deb Ben David, Tim and Sheila Baird, John and Jan Wightman, Flip Harrington and I watched several black-crowned night herons flying across Tisbury Great Pond. We also saw a spotted sandpiper and a belted kingfisher.

On July 18 Miriam and Matthew Frederick (age eight) who are on Lake Tashmoo sent photos of a double-crested cormorant that has a quahaug clamped over its bill. David Ellis called the hot line to report the same event. Hopefully the clam will release its grip and both will go their separate ways.

Eric Peters sent a photo of an adult killdeer with two young who are dodging cars along the dirt road to Pohogonot in Edgartown on July 17. If you are driving that way watch for this family.

On July 20 I took the birders from the Chilmark Community Center to Red Beach in Lobsterville and we spotted common loons and surf scoters off Lobsterville Beach; semipalmated plovers, American oystercatchers, least sandpipers and greater yellowlegs were on the flats at Red Beach. We also spotted both great and snowy egrets and laughing gulls.

Warren and Iris Woessner’s Edgartown front porch was the perch for an eastern phoebe on July 20. As Iris came out to watch the fly-catching of the phoebe, a ruby-throated hummingbird zipped in to feed on their butterfly bush.

The same day Matt Pelikan noted that Vineyard Haven harbor was the location for around 300 common terns feeding on a school of mixed species of fish including juvenile herring. Matt heard his first migrating yellow warbler call the evening of July 20. Migration has begun!

Please report your bird sightings to the Martha’s Vineyard Bird Hotline at 508-627-4922 or e-mail to birds@mvgazette.com.

Susan B. Whiting is the coauthor of Vineyard Birds and Vineyard Birds II. Her Web site is vineyardbirds2.com.