Indigo buntings often show up in the spring when southerly winds carry them beyond their breeding grounds. These bright bluebirds do not nest here every year; why this is so is unexplained, since they breed just about everywhere else in New England. Perhaps we get mostly males early in their migration and we have certainly had them singing and establishing territories, but they will not breed without the females! Lanny McDowell spotted a male that is just finishing his molt into breeding plumage in his yard on April 15.
Other spring overshoots we are likely to find at this time of the year include rose-breasted grosbeak, Baltimore oriole, and blue grosbeak. They are more likely to be found here when strong winds catch migrating birds as they cross Mexico, pick up moisture as they cross the warm Gulf of Mexico, and then race across the southeastern United States and up the Atlantic Coast. These are the weather conditions we had on April 14 and 15, and these winds can easily carry the birds further north than their intended migratory destination.
Baltimore orioles will become a common breeding species in yards across the Island, with most of them arriving in May. And we have a small breeding population of rose-breasted grosbeaks. Blue grosbeaks may be the next southern species to start breeding on the Island as they are spreading northward and they already nest in New Jersey.
Bird Sightings
Three other migrants are arriving here on schedule. Matt Pelikan two male field sparrows singing on the West Tisbury side of state forest on April 15. Allan Keith reports that the first chipping sparrows of the season arrived at his feeders on April 15. And Lanny McDowell spotted a brown thrasher near his house on April 9.
Speaking of migrants, I spotted groups of one to four northern gannets flying east through the middle of Vineyard Sound and Nantucket Sound on April 14. A steady stream of them were flying by, although nowhere near the hundreds of thousands of that were migrating off the south shore on March 31. Their distinctive shape and brilliant white and black coloration were easily visible even though they were flying up the middle of the Sound. There were also a few common eiders, surf scoters and red-breasted mergansers hanging around — they will not stay much longer. Jan Harrison Holmes reports that the gannets were still flying past West Chop the next day.
Also on the waterfowl front, Bob Shriber visited the Squibnocket parking lot on April 11, and his highlights were nine harlequin ducks in the ocean and eight lesser scaup on the nearby cove of Squibnocket Pond.
Pine warblers are becoming more common right on schedule, as a number of them showed up on April 11 and 12. Norma Holmes spotted one in her Edgartown yard, in addition to brown creeper, red-breasted nuthatch, white-throated sparrow, and yellow-bellied sapsucker. Allan Keith had both pine warblers and red-breasted nuthatches at Deep Bottom Cove. Scotty Goldin observed a pair of them at his feeders in Katama, and Jorie Hunkin had one as well. John Nelson’s first pine warbler of the season appeared on April 15.
Ruby-crowned kinglets and hermit thrushes highlight the species Allan Keith found at Fulling Mill Brook on April 14.
Devin Reston found a kestrel as he drove alongside the Katama air park on April 12, and he pulled off the road to watch it for a while. And Albert Fischer spotted a different kestrel at Squibnocket on April 15.
Alex Notopoulos and Alexis Anderson had an unusual sighting of a Cooper’s hawk on their back doorstep near Lambert’s Cove Road on April 14. They are fairly common here, but what was it doing on their back porch? It did not knock on their door but it was close enough to do so. It was there for a minute or so before it jumped down to the ground and disappeared from view before flying off about 30 seconds later.
What is going on with a few of the pairs of ospreys? Martha Moore reports an interesting confrontation between ospreys and crows on the Long Point osprey pole. The ospreys are building their nest but then the crows remove the sticks. Are these very bold crows or are the osprey young and inexperienced? And John Nelson observed a very dark peregrine falcon perched on the osprey pole at the Oak Bluffs Harbor; yes, the same pole that has had osprey adding sticks to it.
Finally, Timothy Moriarty found a dazed golden-crowned kinglet in a West Tisbury parking lot on April 11, which is not their usual habitat. He picked it up and took it to the nearby woodlands where it flew to nearby branch, apparently okay for the experience.
Spring is here and the northward migration of birds has only just begun. Please report your sightings to birds@mvgazette.com.
Robert Culbert schedules private guided birding tours, and is an ecological consultant with Nature Watch LLC living in Vineyard Haven.
More bird photos here.
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