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The
Martha's Vineyard Times is a weekly publication.
July 28 - August 3, 2005 Edition
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Birds:
Shorebirds of summer, here and there
These birds are champion long-distance migrants. Imagine, dreaming while wide awake, flying right alongside with one of these individuals, traveling at times both day and night in a couple-of-thousand-mile nonstop leg of the journey, winging over the globe for either the spring or fall migration, marveling at the flight path and weather conditions. What these birds do every year gives one pause. Makes this writer fell like a total “slacker” compared to them. Because they are such strong flying, mobile creatures they can, and do, often turn up on the wrong continent. This makes these birds even more exciting to birders as some wayward little shorebird could show up in one’s favorite location. In the past week a couple of Eurasian sandpipers called little stints have been found on the coast in Chatham for one of few records and the first of multiple birds of this species in the long ornithological history of the state. This is less than 30 miles from the Vineyard, as the stint flies. Birds on the move This past weekend Bob Shriber of Aquinnah and Mamaroneck, N.Y. was pleased with the most shorebirds he had ever encountered at Red Beach, along the inside of Menemsha Pond on the Aquinnah side. Some 300 semipalmated sandpipers, a white-rumped sandpiper and a western sandpiper as well as semipalmated plovers and black-bellied plovers and greater yellowlegs were feeding on the tidal flats. Norton’s Point in Edgartown was jammed with migrant shorebirds and is worth checking with each new tide. The birds are on the move and not waiting for human observers. They are feeding heavily and frequently at all but the highest tides. The energy they use powering their flight muscles, which are half their total weight, is considerable. Under favorable feeding conditions they can double their body weight in from 10 to 14 days. They then depart, flying along very fast, burning the fat just like gasoline in an internal combustion engine. The by-product of metabolizing the fat, heat and water, are non-polluting end products — not like those of an internal combustion engine. A cattle egret, a small field-loving heron, spent half of July at Katama Farm in Edgartown. Lanny McDowell of West Tisbury discovered it on July 18 and found out from the farm manager that the bird had been hanging around. There was no indication that the clay-colored sparrows were still about. Lanny’s real purpose this day was to see if last summer’s famous falcon had made another curtain call. There was “no joy” on finding the red-footed falcon, making last summer’s individual still the only one of its kind to have ever been seen in the Americas. Wayward birds Vagrant, wayward birds often repeat their earlier mistakes and have an uncanny way of showing up at the same time and place each year. I think there is still a 50 percent chance that the falcon may yet reappear at the same airfield as last year. It was first seen on August 8, 2004 — a date that is rapidly approaching. This writer is keeping his fingers crossed that maybe lightning will strike the same place twice and the bird will put in an encore appearance. The answer to this question is almost here. When it’s summer the bird line always rings with some off-the-wall reports. A woman called in on July 20, leaving no phone number or way to contact her saying, matter-of-factly, that she had just seen a green kingfisher catch a fish in Oak Bluffs Harbor. She knew the range was from South Texas south through the Americas, but she calmly stated that there was one in Oak Bluffs Harbor. Green kingfishers live in the tropics, are very small, don’t migrate, and have never been seen within 1,500 miles of here. If you read this and see such a bird please get a picture. There have been several expected belted kingfishers around the harbor. A green kingfisher would be most exciting and completely unexpected. An intriguing report of a possible white-fronted goose came in on July 24 from Peter O’ Downey who saw the lone bird on Lake Tashmoo in Vineyard Haven. He was surprised to find this odd goose and further confirmation is needed as a variety of domestic goose crosses and hybrids can look very much like a white-fronted goose. There will be more news on this when further information and/or photos are available. Until next week — keep your eyes to the sky! To contribute news about your birding activities or sightings, call The Times Birdline, 508-693-6100, extension 33; or e-mail birds@mvtimes.com. |
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