This game is a fun way to learn about field marks. The game is a series of photographs of a North American bird.
This game is a fun way to learn about field marks. The game is a series of photographs of a North American bird. The first photo is of part of the bird, maybe its legs and feet. Go ahead, guess what the bird is, and congratulations if you are correct. But if not, there will be five more photo clues. Press the yellow arrow to hear a recording of the bird. The game tells you when you correctly identify part of the bird’s name. The game is at birdiegame.net. Go ahead, try it.
The MV Bird Club visited Katama Farm on July 7 and found 14 species: six mourning doves, four killdeer, one American crow, four barn swallows, four European starlings, three gray catbirds, four American robins, one house sparrow, 11 American goldfinches, two chipping sparrows, six Savannah sparrows, seven song sparrows, one eastern towhee and one common yellowthroat. Their next field trip meets at 7 a.m. on July 21 at the Eel Pond boat launch at the end of Brayley’s Way in Edgartown and is led by Luanne Johnson.
Great Blue Heron
Great Blue Heron
We have more confirmations of nesting activity. Seth Buddy watched a male prairie warbler feeding a fledgling near Mink Meadows on July 9, and Mary Beth Norton reports watching a white-breasted nuthatch feeding sunflower seeds to its fledgling at her West Tisbury feeders, and that she has seen a pair of eastern bluebirds in her yard for the first time in years.
In other thrush news, Margaret Curtin found two wood thrushes in Seven Gates on July 11.
American goldfinches are now conspicuous as they are frequently singing or giving their distinctive flight call. On July 7, Cynthia Bloomquist and Thaw Malin spotted three near Eel Pond. There were multiple observations on July 8. Seth Buddy counted 11 goldfinches in the Mink Meadows and West Chop area, Chris Scott found four near Eel Pond, I had two goldfinches near the parking lot at Squibnocket Pond Reservation North, and Janet Woodcock watched five at the James Pond Preserve. Charles Morano located two at Katama Farm on July 9, and Charles Morano observed two goldfinches and one saltmarsh sparrow on Norton Point on July 13, the same day that the troika of Luanne Johnson, Margaret Curtin and Nancy Weaver counted six saltmarsh sparrows on Norton Point.
American Goldfinch
American Goldfinch
Other finches noted this week include house finches, chipping sparrows, song sparrows and Savannah sparrows.
Last summer northern bobwhites were regularly observed around Oak Bluffs, from East Chop to Major’s Cove. They had not been reported so far this summer, with the only report this week coming from Clifton Stone, who heard one calling at Squibnocket Pond Reservation North on July 11.
Steve Allen saw three northern flickers at Felix Neck on July 9, and Seth Buddy reports he has been seeing two flickers almost daily as he walked the Mink Meadows and West Chop Beach from July 7 to July 13.
Least Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
There were four reports of red-bellied woodpeckers. Mary Palmer saw one along the dirt road to Tashmoo Beach on July 11, Thaw Malin spotted one at his West Tisbury home on July 12, Seth Buddy found one near Mink Meadows on July 13, and Steve Allen located one at Felix Neck on July 1.
Surprisingly, there were only two reports of downy woodpeckers. Thaw Malin found two at home on July 12, and Seth Buddy has been seeing them almost daily near Mink Meadows and West Chop. No hairy woodpeckers were reported this week.
Seth Buddy reports three chimney swifts “drinking on the wing from the freshwater pond” as they skim just above the surface and dip their beaks into the water of a pond behind the Mink Meadows/West Chop Beach on July 9. Swallows (another acrobatic flier) also do this, even snatching insects from the water’s surface.
Of course, the southbound shorebird migration is in the news as its intensity picks up, with several reports of multiple species. The quintet of Lanny McDowell, Susan Whiting, Nancy Nordin, Allan Keith and Bob Shriber found the following along the shoreline of Tisbury Great Pond on July 11: 10 American oystercatchers, three black-bellied plovers, two killdeer, 12 semipalmated plovers, 11 piping plovers, 60 short-billed dowitchers, seven lesser yellowlegs, three greater yellowlegs, 30 least sandpipers, and 11 semipalmated sandpipers.
Previously, Bob Shriber and Susan Whiting spotted one willet, one stilt sandpiper and one white-rumped sandpiper at the same location on July 9.
Northern Flicker
Northern Flicker
Two groups visited Norton Point on July 13. Margaret Curtin and Luanne Johnson spotted five oystercatchers, six piping plovers, one greater yellowlegs, 67 short-billed dowitchers, eight willets, six least sandpipers and four semipalmated sandpipers. Charles Morano found one oystercatcher, one black-bellied plover, two semipalmated plovers, one piping plovers, seven short-billed dowitchers, one willet, one greater yellowlegs, one least sandpiper and one semipalmated sandpiper.
Seth Buddy found two piping plovers, 37 short-billed dowitchers, two greater yellowlegs and 16 least sandpipers on the Mink Meadows and West Chop beaches on July 10.
Wood Thrush
Wood Thrush
Warren Woessner observed 10 short-billed dowitchers and two sanderlings at Cow Bay on July 10.
Janet Woodcock watched three oystercatchers, seven short-billed dowitchers, eight willets, four greater yellowlegs and one semipalmated sandpiper at Edy’s island on July 12. And Philip Edmundson located two spotted sandpipers along the south shore of West Tisbury on July 13.
In addition to the list of shorebirds above, the quintet of Susan Whiting Allan Keith, Bob Shriber, Nancy Nordin and Lanny McDowell also spotted two great blue herons along the shores of Tisbury Great Pond on July 11.
Please email your sightings to [email protected].
Robert Culbert is an ecological consultant living in Vineyard Haven.
Add new comment