| At
Large Business Briefs Cartoons District Court Report Editorial Gone Fishin' Letters to the Editor Real Estate Transactions Sports Sports Highlights |
| Art Bestsellers Dance Edibles Film In Print Music Theater |
| This
Week's Happenings Save
That Date Ongoing Events Groups Libraries Museums and Tours Children's Resources Hotlines 12-Step Programs Religious Services Volunteer Opportunities |
| Achievements Astrology Birds Births Community Shorts Dean's List Engagements Garden Notes Honor Roll Obituaries Off North Road Short Subjects Town Meetings Visiting Vet Weddings |
| Aquinnah Chilmark Edgartown Oak Bluffs Tisbury West Tisbury |
The
Martha's Vineyard Times is a weekly publication.
June 9 - June 15, 2005 Edition
Web
Comments
- Email Submissions
|
Birds As migration slows, often with a last big movement of migrants in late May and early June, it is hard to miss the incredible “dawn chorus,” a daily performance given by nesting land birds. Anywhere on the Island, away from the immediate shoreline, birds awake before sunrise and loudly proclaim their existence and temporary occupation of a particular piece of real estate by singing loudly and often. It is a remarkable performance best heard if the wind is still, and with little to no precipitation. There were lots of migrant birds seen during the last week of May and in early June. With the spring migration running a bit behind, many of the farthest north-nesting birds waited to move north. Then, when conditions are right they make a big last-minute dash to the finish line, their respective breeding grounds. This includes alder and yellow-bellied flycatchers, Swainson’s and gray-cheeked thrushes, a variety of spruce and willow-nesting warblers, lingering sea ducks and loons, and most of the familiar shorebirds lingering on various tidal flats around the Island excluding oystercatchers, piping plovers, and willets. Islanders welcome winged migrants On May 31, Sally Anderson and Carol Dodd Brush, both of West Tisbury, did some birding. At the Head of the Lagoon in Oak Bluffs they saw a black-billed cuckoo and heard a calling yellow-billed cuckoo. Cuckoos, fabulously named, are odd birds, “skulkers” that move little, making them next to invisible while perched, waiting to prey on large hairy (thorny) caterpillars. This is most unusual in the bird world, and they are prone to wander in search of caterpillar outbreaks. Cuckoo distribution varies widely from year to year, as they roam to find areas that are infested with caterpillars. With the increase in moth pests, whose larval form are caterpillars, there has been a definite and noticeable increase in cuckoos on the Cape and Islands the past couple of years. Much like the locust-eating gulls saved the Mormons’ crops, the cuckoos are responding to the outbreak of these incredibly abundant moth larvae. Bob Shriber, a seasonal Aquinnah resident, has been birding the past couple of weekends all over the Island. His best birds have come from Aquinnah where he heard a Virginia rail calling from a small pond along Moshup Trail on June 5. He also found a migrant Canada warbler and noted that a white-eyed vireo appears to be nesting off Church St. as it was seen and heard calling in the same place 10 days apart. Nearby there are breeding eastern wood pewees, great crested flycatchers, red-eyed vireos, American redstarts, black and white warblers, yellow warblers, common yellowthroats and big numbers of catbirds and eastern towhees. Lanny McDowell of West Tisbury was surprised on May 27 by a rare worm-eating warbler, which was in an apple tree in downtown West Tisbury, and a rare spring yellow-throated vireo at East Chop on May 29. Both these birds are inland and southern species, both are always scarce on the Vineyard. During most spring migrations these species go unrecorded. There have been three reports for worm-eating and two for yellow-throated vireos here this spring, making it a banner year for the Vineyard. Lanny also found a brilliant male blackburnian warbler on May 28. Take a look in a field guide at this remarkable looking small, striking, orange, black, and white boreal nesting warbler. At Wasque on Chappaquiddick on May 29 he watched three parasitic jaegers cruising around, harassing terns, while looking for the bird mentioned at the end of this column. Mysterious sightings nearby After the display of phalaropes and a few storm-petrels during and after the northeast storm came Memorial Day weekend. With it came some completely unexpected and outrageous reports from neighboring areas. On May 27, at the Pilgrim Heights hawk watch in North Truro on outer Cape Cod, a large “mystery” swift was seen flying north. Respected birder and dragonfly guru Blair Nikula of Harwich observed a large black-colored swift as it flew rapidly by in direct flight. The bird was impossible to identify, even to specific genus, as it flew straight and level in typical fast flight. Neither details of its tail structure or much of anything else was visible, making it a frustrating but very intriguing sighting. Lastly, on the late afternoon of May 28 an adult yellow-nosed albatross was seen flying about Tuckernuck Island by expert birder Dick Veit. Tuckernuck is a tiny island just to the west of Nantucket and about 11 miles east of the Vineyard. This bird was checking out nesting gulls. A southern hemisphere species that lives in the south Atlantic Ocean, a lone member of this species has been seen visiting gull colonies from May thru early June, for four years in a row from Delaware to Massachusetts. It seems very likely that this is the same individual, looking for a mate in the wrong hemisphere. The bird was seen flying by a seal-watching cruise off Monomoy Island a few days later. It is just a matter of time before some lucky observer sees this bird as it cruises by Vineyard shores. 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. |
||
| Send this page to a friend: | ||
|
©The
Martha's Vineyard Times 2005 - www.mvtimes.com
|
||
