There are a few bird species that are giving those milk-making mammals a run for their money.

Last weekend Luanne Johnson and Liz Baldwin of Biodiversity Works asked for volunteers to help celebrate World Shorebirds Day.

The American golden plover was hunted on the Vineyard and elsewhere in the 1800s.

Bob Shriber's yard in Aquinnah was the hot spot as he spotted a yellow-billed cuckoo, which has been rare on the Vineyard this summer.

The 2014 inventory found there were 119 active osprey nests on the Island. If I did my math correctly, we had 63 successful nests.

Noah Galley was carrying grain to the family barn when when he saw a large bird flying in short bursts across the property. He identified the bird as a juvenile bald eagle. The young bird has been rescued for possible rehabilitation by noted naturalist Gus Ben David.

I had an inkling that migratory movement was afoot when I received a call from Laurie Reese. She reported two yellow warblers and two ovenbirds in her yard.

We usually don’t start seeing black-legged kittiwakes from the Island beaches until October, unless we have a storm prior to that month.

It’s been a record-breaking year for Vineyard osprey, the majestic raptor that now nests on the Island in greater numbers than ever before.

Home to only two breeding pairs in 1970, the Island can now count 83 such pairs of osprey among its avian residents.

Gus Ben David and crew’s osprey poles are now the proud surfaces on which 83 osprey pairs are nesting.