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The Martha's Vineyard Times is a weekly publication.
August 11 - 17, 2005 Edition
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Birds: The heat is on August 11, 2005 By E. Vernon Laux The summer sizzles along and birds of many kinds are on the southbound train. Of course the birds are not on the train but in the air, both day and night, as they travel hundreds — even thousands — of miles in a single leg of their flights south, as they evacuate the northern reaches of the Northern Hemisphere to escape the upcoming severity of fall and winter. This past week, numbers of land birds, migrants from the north woods, began to show up, after nocturnal migratory flights. These included many northern waterthrushes, small streaky warblers that nest in prolific numbers across the boreal and tundra vastness of North America. While seemingly uncommon in Massachusetts, these hardy, freshwater loving, ground foraging, warblers, pass by in good numbers. They are remarkably common in Central America during the winter months, their distinctive chip notes emanating from virtually every patch of rain forest, jungle, and mangrove woods. At least 10 individual northern waterthrushes were heard and seen in places all over the Island on the morning of August 4. Other warblers, flycatchers, vireos, and orioles are also on the move. In fact any evening with clear skies from now on will have birds moving in the night. Evenings with light northwest winds will have lots of birds on the move and a check of one’s favorite patch of woods, stream, or swamp the next morning should be worthwhile and exciting. For the more adventurous or ambitious birders there is no place like the extreme western tip of the Island, the Gay Head Cliffs at dawn. This beautiful spot, especially early in the morning before the crowds begin to make parking difficult and the arrival of tour buses, is where numbers of nocturnal migrants can be seen as they correct their flight paths and head back to the west and the mainland at dawn. While the birds are often hard to see, flying little shapes that don’t want to stop and be seen uttering chip notes, the experience is nonetheless mesmerizing. It is hit or miss in August and early September, but by the end of September and early October this spot can be like Disneyland for birders. The sight of lots of birds, engaged in visible migration, is enthralling, striking a primeval chord somewhere in the recesses of our cranium. Elsewhere at the beaches and tidal flats, shorebird numbers actually declined as the adults move south and the immature birds have mostly not yet arrived to replace the departed adults. Shorebirds — sandpipers and plovers — actually have two peaks of migration. Generally the last week of July and first few days of August have peak numbers of southbound birds. These are all adult birds that have finished their nesting for the year and instinctually know to head south as soon as possible. Then the numbers decrease as these birds leave until near the end of August when all the birds of the year, immature birds of many species and a few lingering adults, crowd Island shores. Not only do the beaches and flats “load-up” with shorebirds, but they are accompanied by flocks of gulls and terns, often with some surprise visitors. A trip to the beach, where time of day is not as important as it is in the woods, and where it is generally cooler, is a great way to go birding in this hottest of months. Birding the flats is all about the tide and weather. For birding Vineyard beaches and tide flats, bad weather is a good thing. Many shorebirds will routinely over fly the Island as they migrate, but strong winds and rain — a northeaster, thunderstorms, and of course a hurricane — will cause them to divert to the nearest landfall to ride out the storm. During and immediately after such weather is the time to get out there and see what has blown in. Getting out in a boat, especially if one is able to go well south of the Vineyard, is another great way to see birds in August. Shearwaters, storm-petrels, jaegers, phalaropes, and other seabirds that spend their lives on the open ocean are often abundant in offshore Vineyard waters. A trip offshore is a trip to another world, the marine environment where one might encounter all sorts of things that you will never see ashore. A selection of rather scarce sea turtles, Portuguese man-of-war, perhaps an increasingly rare and beautiful blue shark, an ocean sunfish, dolphins and whales and a great variety of marine game fishes are all possible. Given good weather it is always a worthwhile, exciting and very different trip to journey out of sight of land. If one is able to journey all the way south to the edge of the continental shelf, some 100 miles south of the Vineyard, then one is truly fortunate to be in a place as different from inshore as can be. It’s like taking a trip through time and space to a marine world as different from land as can be imagined. Then remember that over two thirds of the planet looks like this! Until next week — keep you 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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