From late April to mid-May we expect brightly colored songbirds to predominate the sightings. That is true for this week, even though this week’s two featured species are less than brightly colored.
A sandhill crane tops the list, not because it is the largest bird reported (it is), but because it is unusual in these parts. According to Susan Whiting’s and Barbara Pesch’s Vineyard Birds II, sandhill cranes were observed three times on the Vineyard between 1977 and 2005, although I recall a fourth sighting in West Tisbury maybe five years ago (long after the book was published).
Luanne Johnson, Margaret Curtin, and Nancy Weaver were birding Waskosim’s Rock when they heard the unique trumpeting call of a sandhill crane flying overhead on May 5. They tracked the crane to a field off North Road, where Lanny McDowell, Bob Shriber and Allan Keith found it later. Marie Meyer-Barton and friends also heard and observed the crane flying high overhead at the Polly Hill Arboretum that afternoon, and Bob Shriber found the bird again on May 6.
The second bird of note is a lot smaller: a white-crowned sparrow. Liz Lewenberg spotted a pair of these distinctive sparrows with black and white striped crowns at her Chilmark bird feeder on May 6. She submitted a photograph to confirm the identification because this species is not commonly seen in the spring. Please be careful to distinguish this species from the very similar but much more common white-throated sparrow.
So now on to the colorful songbirds. Lots of them have been on the move this week. They mostly migrate at night, when they can be heard calling back and forth with other migrants as they fly overhead. Lisa Maxfield heard them calling through the night on May 2. They can be heard on most calm, clear nights at this time of the year.
Ken and Kelly Magnuson spotted a blue-gray gnatcatcher at the Edgartown Golf Course on May 4. They spotted two more at Waskosim’s Rock on May 5. On those days around Edgartown they also spotted common yellowthroat, black-throated green warbler, eastern kingbird, and blue headed vireo. In Katama they found the golden plover, black-bellied plovers, and a lesser black-backed gull. John Nelson also spotted the golden plover on May 6.
Bob Shriber reports both Nashville and white-eyed vireo at Great Rock Bight on May 6. Ken Magnuson went there and found five white-eyed vireos. Warren Woessner visited there on May 5 and found a magnolia warbler.
Margaret Curtin spotted a blue-winged warbler on May 6 at the Land Bank’s Presbury-Norton Preserve.
Lanny McDowell and Allan Keith teamed up on May 2 and their highlights included redstart, ovenbird, northern parula, and black and white warblers. Other species recorded by Lanny McDowell this week include yellow warbler, pine warbler, yellow-rumped warbler, black-throated-green warbler, common yellowthroat, Nashville warbler (10 species of warblers!), Baltimore oriole, ruby-crowned kinglet, chipping sparrow, catbird, and eastern towhee.
Happy Spongberg reports a redstart in the thickets at the Menemsha end of Flanders Lane on May 4.
Matt Pelikan spotted his first orchard oriole of the season in his yard on May 5. And at his Lambert’s Cove office he added northern parula, yellow-rumped warbler and black-throated green warbler.
Blue is also a color to be found. Evelyn Dengler spotted a blue grosbeak visiting her feeder on April 30 and May 1. And Mariah BenDavid had an immature male blue grosbeak in her Vineyard Haven yard near Lake Tashmoo. Meanwhile, Susie Bowman got great views of a male indigo bunting along Panhandle Road on May 3.
Sioux Eagle still has a rose-breasted grosbeak visiting her feeders on May 5. Norma Costain also spotted a rose-breasted grosbeak as well as a Baltimore oriole; both were visiting the oranges she puts out for them. Deb Mello Orazem spotted a pair of Baltimore orioles at her feeder on May 4, and Dan Bradley spotted his first oriole of the season on May 2. On May 3, I heard and spotted my first oriole and catbird as they were singing from different elevations with in the same tree. Both Mary Austin and Deb also observed their first catbird of the season.
Not so colorful, but still a favorite of many people is the great crested flycatcher. Lanny McDowell was the first to report one on May 2 at Menemsha Hills, and I heard one in my yard that morning. Sue Shea, Penny Uhlendorf and Matt Pelikan all spotted their first of the year on May 4.
Tony Lima spotted an eastern kingbird feeding in a recently burned area in Katama on May 5.
Margaret Curtin spotted chimney swifts — the so-called cigars with wings (look them up and you will see why) above downtown Edgartown on May 3.
Bob Shriber heard two whip-poor-wills along Lobsterville road on May 3, while Steve Parachini heard them calling on May 4 near the eastern end of the State Forest in Dodgers Hole.
Luanne Johnson reports that the black-skimmers are back; she spotted seven of them at Eel Pond on May 6.
John Nelson reports that on April 29 he had two willets at the south end of Sengekontacket Pond. He also found two short-billed dowitchers along the edge of Sengekontacket Pond near the big bridge on May 6.
Lisa Maxfield also spotted her first green heron and a greater yellowlegs of the season at Brush Pond on May 6, as well as barn swallows on May 3.
A few of the winter resident Ocean Park brant are still around, as Margaret Curtin observed about 15 of them on May 3 and John Nelson counted 18 of them on the morning of May 8.
Lanny McDowell and Warren Woessner visited the Chappy beaches on May 1 and their highlights were northern gannets, both red-throated and common loons, kestrel, rough-winged swallow and, last but not least, a snowy owl. The next day, Abe Pieciak reports a snowy owl at Long Point. How much longer will they stay around?
Spring migration is in full swing! Please report your sightings to birds@mvgazette.com.
Robert Culbert is an ecological consultant living in Vineyard Haven.
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