It’s easy to take seagulls for granted. Dyed-in- the-wool birders cringe when they hear that word, as in, “I saw the cutest little seagull from the ferry last week.” Picture William H. Macy in Fargo, that “Geez” look of desperation. It’s because there is so much diversity in the large and global group of birds called gulls.

“You got to be in it to win it” and “You can’t win if you don’t play” are lottery slogans that also ring true when it comes to birding. The nice thing about birding on the Vineyard is that, if you can get out the door, you can find birds, and find them in a variety of inspiring habitats.

Raptor. The name carries a lot of weight. So much velocity and ferocity are associated with it. In the bird world, the title refers to owls, hawks and eagles, vultures and the osprey.

The Vineyard has three owl species in summer and three or four more in winter. Three hawk species can survive here year-round. Almost any hawk species found in eastern North America might find its way here.

A few weeks ago in this column I wrote that other than by contributing photos, I had not ever reported an unusual bird sighting to the Massachusetts Avian Records Committee, the authority for such matters in our state.

A Maine naturalist named Norm Famous, whom I mentioned in this past week’s column, recently sent me another e-mail about birds. This one contained a report from a researcher named Ron Pittaway up in Ontario, who issues an annual prediction for what various species of North American finches and some other non-finch species will be doing this coming winter.

Following are some much-edited excerpts from this forecast concerning northern species for the winter of 2007-2008: