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BIRDS
Spring
break
April 14, 2005
By
E. Vernon Laux
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Orange
crown warbler.
File Photo
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The weather
this past weekend resembled early summer, not spring on the Island,
and a welcome respite it was. The bright sun, little wind, and warm
temperatures away from beaches made it suitable for T-shirts and
shorts. Not bad in early April. Even the first butterflies of the
season (at least for this writer) in the form of a couple of mourning
cloaks cruised by to accentuate the great weather. Add to this quite
a large pulse of early migrant land birds and one had the makings
of the best weekend of the year to date.
Already for this early in the season there have been a number of
unusual birds found on the Island. Most unexpected has been a number
of early warblers that in their eagerness to arrive at breeding
sites first have “overshot” their intended targets. As
reported earlier, a lone male Kentucky warbler discovered by Scott
Stephens on March 29 was notably rare, especially in late March.
Unprecedented has been the spectacular prothonotary warblers (note
the plural) visiting the suet feeder of Dorothy and Ralph Packer
in Vineyard Haven.
Occasionally, on average about every five years but with no such
predictability, in late March or early April, these shockingly beautiful
southern warblers, overshoot their species' current breeding range
and appear on the Cape and Islands. Invariably, it involves one
or a few birds scattered about, never more than one individual at
any place at a given time. So while observing “her” prothonotary
warbler, feeding on the ground under the suet feed on April 8, Ms.
Packer thought she was seeing double when another male prothonotary
appeared on the ground next to the bird she was watching.
So when the first warbler arrived on March 29, it had a monopoly
(presumably) from others of its species on her suet until April
8. Then there were two, together at the same time. This other bird
may have arrived at the same time but never visited at the same
time as the other male. Or it could have arrived after another front
that passed on April 7.
Or it could have arrived on the Vineyard in late March and wandered
until it found this very good prothonotary warbler habitat and,
by interacting with the other male bird, found the suet feeder.
At any rate, The Packers' feeder is historic in that it has had
two of these rare southern warblers in attendance. At least one
of these warblers has been present on the Tisbury side of Lake Tashmoo
from March 29 until the time this was written on April 11.
Rather odd visitors
Cattle egrets have been making a strong showing on the Island and
elsewhere in the state this spring. There have been at least four
sightings on the Vineyard of these rather odd egrets that live not
in wetlands but in upland field areas, and almost always associated
with livestock of one kind or another. They have also appeared on
Nantucket, Marshfield, and in several other places in the state.
Bruce Nevin of Edgartown was surprised to find a breeding-plumage
adult sitting in trees in his yard on the evening of the April 5.
He snapped some fairly nice pictures of this full breeding-plumaged
bird.
What many of us who live on the Cape and Islands don't realize is
that this species nests in Massachusetts on islands off of Cape
Ann north of Boston. They are sporadic nesters and so far there
have never been more than a dozen pairs found breeding in a season
in the state. Nonetheless they are a species that occurs annually
and their occurrence on the Vineyard matches that elsewhere in the
northeast. Sporadic and unpredictable but regularly occurring, it
is a species to be expected either in spring or fall. It has been
a good spring for this species already.Bright blue arrival
Indigo buntings, the male of the species a shocking indigo blue,
the female a nondescript brown, have been showing up in small numbers
in all Island towns. So far, no females have been reported but Marjorie
Lau of Tisbury on April Fool's Day, Linda Russell of North Tisbury
on April 7, and a slew of other reports from Chappaquiddick to Chilmark
(none yet from Aquinnah) have come in. These small indigo blue birds
about the size of an American goldfinch are always a treat to see.
While a much darker blue color than bluebirds, this species always
generates excitement from observers lucky enough to see them.
Several species of swallows, mostly tree, a handful of rough-winged
and ditto for barn swallows have arrived. Rough-winged was first
seen at the Head of the Lagoon on April 3 and more have been found
since. Ruby-crowned kinglets, palm warblers, dark-eyed juncos, white-throated
sparrows, swamp sparrows, brown creepers and eastern phoebes are
just some of the land birds that have been found arriving/migrating
this past week. The waters surrounding the Island are jammed with
migrant loons, sea ducks, northern gannets and still fairly large
numbers of razorbills.
The birding is good and just getting better. All sorts of birds
should arrive on the next southwest winds. Don't go out without
binoculars: there is plenty to see. 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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