Colorful Birds Brighten Dreary Winter Landscape

The Christmas Bird Count was on Jan. 3; we are now in the process of finalizing the results, which will be published in the Gazette soon. There have been a lot of birds sighted this week, so here goes.

Probably the best bird of the week is Dick Jenningss observation of a common yellowthroat at his Tisbury feeder on Jan. 6; it was hunkered down along a border of liriope that surrounds the bird feeders. This is a good sighting because it is uncommon at this time of year, although it is common in the breeding season.

Anything that has bright orange feathers is also a welcome sight at this time of the year. Thus, it is good to hear that the West Tisbury Baltimore oriole has survived more cold weather. This time the bird was observed at Heidi and Ronnee Shultzs feeder on Jan. 12. Nancy Dole observed the oriole perched in a pine tree in her yard on Jan. 11. And Ronnee Schultz reported the oriole amidst snowflakes near the Agricultural Hall in West Tisbury on Jan. 6, so this bird has recently headed a little bit northward to the State Road area. Please keep reports of this bird coming so we can track its movements, hopefully through the winter.

And they'll all float on, okay. Lanny McDowell

Joan Malkin is thrilled to have a new neighbor, as she discovered a screech owl is living in the nesting box that she got from the Nature Conservancy a few years ago. Since society rapidly cuts down dead trees, appropriate nesting cavities can be in short supply, which is why bird houses can be so important.

Liz Goud reports that there is a great blue heron hanging around her home, regularly perching in a tree or near the driveway.

Speaking of yards, Jacqueline Beauvais Cromwell just got a new field guide and immediately put it to work and identified northern flicker, red-bellied woodpecker and cedar waxwing on Jan. 12.

Soo Whiting and Flip Harrington observed a snow goose in Whitings Field next to the West Tisbury cemetery on the afternoon of Jan. 13. This is probably the same lone snow goose that was observed on the nearby Mill Pond on the Christmas Bird Count. The same day, Tim Johnson observed the flock of snow geese that has been present at the Keiths farm on Middle Road in Chilmark. Roger Cook observed four there on Jan. 7.

Stan and Marie Mercer called to report four eastern bluebirds in their Menemsha Crossroads yard on Jan. 12. They were excited since these were the first bluebirds they had in their yard in several years.

Samantha Chaves used her telephone to take a picture through her binoculars of a snowy owl at the Katama air park on Jan. 11. Such photography takes practice to get a good image, but is a useful technique for confirming a bird sighting. Believe it or not, there are binoculars that have built in cameras! I may need one since other authors of this column occasionally comment that I should carry a camera with me.

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Colorful Birds Brighten Dreary Winter Landscape