Where do hummingbirds go in nasty weather? I know that in the tropics there is a plethora of large-leafed palms and plants under which these tiny birds can perch to wait out a storm. But on the Vineyard what do they do? I have never seen a hummer hunkered down during a storm, but I would imagine that they go into a thick shrub or bush and hang out until the worst is over.

I had not seen any hummingbirds at my feeder during the recent storm, but I am right at the edge of a pond and the wind blows both rain and water towards the feeder. I wouldn’t feed in those circumstances! On the other hand Basil Welch and Coco Adams, who have four hummingbird feeders in their home off the North Road in Chilmark, are more sheltered and they watched dogfights around their feeders among about 12 ruby-throated hummingbirds even during the rain and wind. Tim and Sheila Baird had not seen any hummers during the blow, but at around 5:30 to 6 p.m. on August 24 when there was a lull in the storm, the hummingbirds swarmed around their feeder. At one point there were three feeding on the same feeder! This is unusual, as most often hummingbirds are quite possessive of their food source and have trouble taking turns. Sheila and Tim commented that their trumpet vine blossoms had been blown off by the storm so the hummers turned to the next closest source of food, the feeder.

Please keep food in your hummingbird feeders after a storm, particularly if the blossoms of your garden have been “picked” by the wind.

Bird Sightings

Owls are top on the list. Back on August 13, Paula and David Eisenberg heard a pair of eastern screech owls calling to each other deep in the woods behind their house off Moshup Trail in Aquinnah. Although the Eisenbergs have been summering here for eight years, it was their first encounter with these pert little owls.

The barred owl that Joan Walsh thought she heard back in July at the Hoft Farm has not been heard again. At this time the Vineyard birding community has concluded that the call she heard was not a barred owl but a mimic.

Tara Whiting had a barn owl flush from the field at Black Point, circle her once and then head south on August 19. On the way back to her car she spotted another owl by the Quenames barn. It was dusk and quite dark, so she was not sure whether it was another barn owl, but I will lay odds that it was.

Penny Uhlendorf and Scott Stevens were pleased to welcome back their pair of great horned owls, who have roosted in the Northern Pines near their Pilot Hill home. The owls arrived on August 23. Penny and Scott also mentioned they had a red-breasted nuthatch at their feeder on August 18.

Thanks to Mike Bradley for sending me three superb photos of the Katama red-tailed hawk.

Allan Keith and Bob Shriber met at Gay Head on August 21 and Allan spotted a red-breasted nuthatch. Allan and Bob saw a northern waterthrush and heard several bobolinks.

Cynthia called to report a summer tanager in the State Forest on August 18. I was unable to hear her last name and ask for details, but Rob Culbert had spoken to her and felt she had indeed seen a summer tanager. And speaking of Rob, he confirmed that rose-breasted grosbeaks are breeding north of the Martha’s Vineyard Airport this summer.

Warren Woessner birded Norton Point on August 19 and found a Forster’s tern and a black skimmer.

The news from Felix Neck: the barn owl has laid three eggs of her second clutch as of August 25. During the past two weeks there have been ruby-throated hummingbirds around the Neck feeders. On the trails there have been eastern kingbirds and an American redstart. On August 20 a yellow-billed cuckoo, male and female Baltimore orioles, and a northern waterthrush were seen on the trails and Steve Allen spotted juvenile green and yellow-crowned night herons along the marsh on August 22.

Bill Lee walked Red Beach in Aquinnah on August 20. At the crossroads of Lobsterville and Basin Roads he spotted a scarlet tanager. Along Red Beach he had a great egret, one greater and four lesser yellowlegs, two piping plovers, two spotted sandpipers, two ruddy turnstones and good numbers of other common shorebirds. He also had four species of gulls including laughing and ring-billed. On August 23 Bill watched the immature bald eagle fly over his Quitsa house off Greenhouse Lane. Bill added that the barn owl is still in his neighborhood.

Mary Wagner and friends from West Chop joined Flip Harrington and me at Quansoo on August 21 to become acquainted with shorebirds. We spotted all the common migrant shorebirds, including white-rumped sandpipers, but our best birds were two redknots. The same day Phil Stanton and visitor Mike Lubbock were fishing at Quick’s Hole and spotted two early migrant white-winged scoters. Back in Edgartown David and Karen Berube noticed ruby-throated hummingbirds around their Bennett Way home.

At Norton Point, also on August 21, Nan Harris, Luanne Johnson and Matt Pelikan found that the tern colony had shrunk. They did mention that there were two or three roseate terns still loafing on the flats. The black skimmer was amongst the missing.

On August 22 Flip Harrington, Bob Shriber, Lanny McDowell and I went to Gay Head. It was blowing hard and just as we were leaving a bird settled on the telephone lines. We pondered over the bird, Lanny photographed it and we finally went to Bob’s house, where we went online and figured out it was not a rare Central or South American martin, but a female purple martin. This is an uncommon migrant on the Vineyard.

Bob Shriber, Lanny McDowell and Allan Keith figured the Farm Institute at Katama would be a good place to find shorebirds blown in by the storm. Their best birds on August 23 were three American golden plovers, a black tern and a lesser black-backed gull. Later the same day Bob Shriber spotted six black terns at Red Beach at Lobsterville.

John Banks e-mailed me that he had seen a juvenile red-necked phalarope near the Little Bridge to Sengekontacket Pond on Sylvia Beach. He also had a brief view of a storm petrel off the beach which he thought was probably a Wilson’s storm petrel.

Natalie Harrah, age 14, e-mailed me a photo of a white peacock that she photographed on Third street in Edgartown on August 23. I spoke with Gus Ben David and he said it wasn’t his, and that it probably belonged to Alan Gowell.

On Tuesday, August 17, I spoke about the changes to the Vineyard bird population at the Martha’s Vineyard Garden Club. I had not written down the latest osprey information and couldn’t remember it. Luckily Dick Jennings e-mailed me the 2010 data, which shows that there were 74 active nests, 19 nests failed and the remaining 55 nests produced 104 fledgling ospreys. If you want to watch the movement of the Vineyard ospreys during migration log onto bioweb.uncc.edu/bierregaard/migration10.htm.

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

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