State wildlife officials and the Mass Audubon bird conservation group are advising residents to bring in their bird feeders and birdbaths until more is known about a mysterious avian ailment.
Birds
2012
August 23, 2012
Red knots are a not something you tie, but a type of shorebird that is causing quite a stir in the birding world. A bit of history: the red knot’s Latin name is Calidris canutus, a moniker which was given this sandpiper by Linnaeus to honor the Danish king, Canute or Knut. King Knut was well-known for trying to hold back the tides. This makes perfect sense; if I were a sandpiper depending on horseshoe crab eggs or clams, I would want the tide to stay low so I could feed.
June 22, 2012
Three southern species which are now seen on the Vineyard are making news this week. As our climate changes and warms, these southern birds are moving north to spend the summers and some to breed. The southern birds of interest to Bird News this week include black skimmers, Wilson’s plover, chuck-wills-widow and great egrets.
January 12, 2012
This is the season not of the witch but the razorbill. They have been seen from every side of the Vineyard and Chappaquiddick. Unlike their cousins the puffins, dovekies, murres, guillemots, murrelets and auklets that remain offshore except to breed, the razorbills will come into harbors, bays and estuaries that are less salty than the ocean to feed. Razorbills will also enjoy a bit of R& R on a breakwater in the sun. The waters around the Vineyard are full of sand lances (sand eels) and still even mackerel, and where there are fish there are razorbills.
2011
August 18, 2011
Betsy Wice asked about this year’s butterfly count. The Vineyard’s butterfly count took place almost a month ago, on July 17. Six people participated including yours truly. It was hot, in the mid-80s, which is good for butterflies, but the wind was too strong. Butterflies don’t like to be blown away, so stay grounded in high winds.
July 18, 2011
Three baby osprey chicks are being hand raised by Gus Ben David in Edgartown following an accident aloft over Chappaquiddick last Thursday. The birds, which are about two weeks old, fell from their nest when the electrical pole that held them and their nest caught fire. Suddenly homeless, the three little birds were rescued by NStar crews and turned over to Mr. Ben David, a noted naturalist and owner of the World of Reptiles and Bird Park off the Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road.
May 26, 2011
Nesting season has begun for piping plovers, and Tashmoo Beach in Tisbury will be closed for the next month to protect a plover nest found Monday on the road leading to the public beach.
The town of Tisbury closed the end of Herring Creek Road and the beach on the recommendation of the Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary, which monitors shorebirds across the Vineyard. Shorebird monitor Liz Baldwin found the small nest and alerted the Massachusetts Audubon Society sanctuary on Monday.
