The occurrence of a late hummingbird on the Vineyard is always exciting.

Every birder has a nemesis bird, a bird so frustrating you might consider tearing your hair out. Allan Keith’s nemesis bird on Martha’s Vineyard was a yellow-headed blackbird. Allan can now relax; he saw the yellow-headed blackbird at the Maxner home on Oct. 20 thanks to Joyce Thigpen, Matt Pelikan and yours truly.

Once a boy met girl. They bought a sailboat and used it to do marine mammal, bird and lizard research between Maine and the Lesser Antilles.

What a weekend! A sandhill crane, western kingbird and Say’s phoebe are the three western species that were present this past weekend. It must be the fall migration for all these western strays to be here at the same time.

We lucked out and had a beautiful day for Basil Welsh’s memorial service which was held at Abel’s Hill Cemetery.

Why do I have to be punished every time I go away?