It is exciting to have November start off with a surprising find! Allan Keith was birding at the Gay Head cliffs early on the morning of Nov. 1, playing a screech owl tape toward a promising thicket and waiting to see which species would pop out of the thicket as a response to the predator’s call. An ash-throated flycatcher, a species native to the southwestern U.S., but very similar to our great-crested flycatcher, appeared. It remained in plain view for about one minute then disappeared and was not seen again. This species has only been observed a few times on the Island, so it was a nice way to start a new month.
The seasons are definitely changing, and although the temperatures reached 70 degrees on Oct. 30, we can expect much cooler weather before we are likely to see those temperatures again. Reflecting this seasonal change, our winter residents, especially the waterfowl, are starting to arrive while transient migrants continue to be found, including some of our summer resident species. These latter migrants are becoming fewer in number.
Susan McCoy and Sharon Cooke report bufflehead at the head of the Lagoon and both American wigeon and red-breasted mergansers on Sengekontacket Pond near Waterview Farm in late October. Joyce and Hugh McCormick also report both buffleheads and red-breasted mergansers in Katama Bay on Oct. 27.
Anne Lemenager spotted two common goldeneye in the pond near the 17th green at Farm Neck.
On Oct. 29 Lanny McDowell reported skeins of scoters flying westward in the distance north of Noman’s Island. Allan Keith reported skeins of mostly white-winged scoters off Norton Point Beach on Oct. 31.
Bob Shriber observed 11 harlequin ducks at Squibnicket on the morning of Oct. 28. I observed four female harlequin ducks in the ocean at the Gay Head Cliffs on Oct. 30, while about a dozen great cormorants were perched on one of the offshore boulders.
On the way back down-Island at Chilmark Pond I observed a flock of 30 American wigeon and 30 gadwall. On the last day of October, Mr. Keith visited Chilmark Pond and saw those flocks and added 35 greater scaup, one hooded merganser and two pied-billed grebes.
Tim and Sheila Baird found the first of the brant that spend the winter at Ocean Park in Oak Bluffs. They observed nine of them on Oct. 23. Nelson Smith observed the brant on Oct. 27.
Mr. Keith added four long-tailed ducks, three red-throated loons and lots of gannets in the ocean off Norton Point Beach on Oct. 31.
Winter residents other than waterfowl are also arriving. Antone Lima found a few small flocks of snow buntings on the beaches of Chappaquiddick on Oct. 29.
The first of our winter resident fish crows have also returned. Sharon Simonin, Lanny McDowell and Matt Pelikan all repored large groups of them in Vineyard Haven on Oct. 26, and, in what may be a first for the town of Aquinnah, Mr. Shriber observed two of them at the Gay Head cliffs on Oct. 27. Elizabeth Toomey and Margaret Curtin observed them on Oct, 29 near Five Corners. Wendy Culbert and I observed a lot of them noisily congregating around Veteran’s Park on Oct. 30.
Other Migrants
Susan McCoy reports a little blue heron in the marshes at the southern end of Sengekontacket Pond on Oct. 28, and the bird was still present the next day as we found it again on my Saturday morning guided birding tour. John Nelson observed this same heron on Oct. 30.
Lingering American oystercatchers are still prevalent. Ms. McCoy and Ms. Cooke observed oystercatchers and a flock of greater yellowlegs on Sengekontacket Pond at Waterview Farm on Oct. 22. Cookie Perry observed an oystercatcher on the Oak Bluffs side of the big bridge on Oct. 26. Joyce and Hugh McCormick observed two oystercatchers on Norton Point on Oct. 27, and I observed two oystercatchers at Lobsterville on Oct. 30. Mr. Keith found an oystercatcher and a late semipalmated plover at Chilmark Pond on Oct. 31.
My Saturday morning birding tour also found a flock of eight tree swallows at the Edgartown Bay Road boat-launching ramp on Oct. 29. We then visited South Beach where our highlight was one lesser black-backed gull.
Maureen Hall had hundreds of grackles in her yard on Oct. 29, cleaning out her bird feeders. My tour found a flock of about 40 red-winged blackbirds at Muskoday Farm in Katama. And Dan Bradley had a brown-headed cowbird visiting his feeder on Oct. 31.
The feeders at Tim and Sheila Baird’s Katama house has also been productive as they have seen a black-throated blue warbler on Oct. 22, white-throated sparrow and red-breasted nuthatch on Oct. 24, a yellow-bellied sapsucker and a Cape May warbler on Oct. 25, and a ruby-crowned kinglet on Oct 26.
The Gay Head cliffs seems to be the best place for sparrows at this time of the year. Ken Magnuson and Mr. Shriber found a vesper sparrow and an orange-crowned warbler at the Gay Head cliffs on Oct. 26. On Oct. 29, Mr. McDowell, Susan (Soo) Whiting, Flip Harrington, Warren Woessner and Mr. Shriber found a lark sparrow on the Heritage Museum lawn a well as swamp sparrow, orange-crowned warbler, mockingbirds actively defending their berry patch, and a sharp-shinned hawk. On Oct. 30 I found the lark sparrow again, as well as a Lincoln’s sparrow in the thickets right by the entrance to the parking lot, and a white-crowned sparrow was adjacent to the Lighthouse. Many young song sparrows were trying to sing in the warm temperatures — their songs were almost unrecognizable since they have not yet “learned” how their songs are supposed to sound. More recognizable songsters were the numerous mockingbirds and a brown thrasher that popped out of the thickets briefly to sing a few phrases.
Mike Savoy and Lynne Fraker have both observed the osprey that is still hanging around the southern part of Lake Tashmoo on Oct. 30 and 31. We will have to wait and see whether this bird, or another osprey, hangs around into November.
And now that it is November, it is time of the year to begin thinking about the annual Martha’s Vineyard Christmas Bird Count. Compiler Luanne Johnson reminds me that this year’s count will be held on Friday, Dec. 30. Please keep that in mind as we make travel plans for the holidays.
Southbound migrants are passing through in large numbers; please look for them and report your sightings to birds@mvgazette.com.
Robert Culbert leads Saturday morning guided birding tours and is an ecological consultant living in Vineyard Haven.
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