Hurricane Earl was a bust for bird watchers. A cast of thousands, all the Vineyard’s most active bird watchers, met at the Gay Head Cliffs on Saturday, Sept. 4 with high hopes. Although the winds were not much more than a northeaster, we were hopeful that some unusual bird species may have been carried to our Island from afar. No such luck. There were more bird watchers than birds.

The Vineyard birding community would like to thank the town of Aquinnah/Gay Head, the Vineyard Conservation Society and all the others involved in protecting the fragile lands along Moshup Trail. This area is one of the premier birding spots during the fall and we are glad it will stay forever wild. Thanks!

Where do hummingbirds go in nasty weather? I know that in the tropics there is a plethora of large-leafed palms and plants under which these tiny birds can perch to wait out a storm. But on the Vineyard what do they do? I have never seen a hummer hunkered down during a storm, but I would imagine that they go into a thick shrub or bush and hang out until the worst is over.

Dick Jennings sent me a photograph of a shore bird he found out on the shore of Cape Pogue Bay. The caption was “What is this, it looks like a willet, but it is the wrong color?” Dick was correct, it was a willet and his confusion was legitimate. There are two subspecies of willets found in the United States. One is the eastern (Tringa semipalmata semipalmata) and the other the western willet (Tringa semipalmata inornata).

Shorebirds, waders, peeps, squatters, twiddlers, tattlers or sandpipers, it makes no difference what you call the members of the Scolopacidae family. They have hit the beaches, flats and fields of the Vineyard running. The shorebirds are visiting the Vineyard now and will be for the next few weeks. Visiting from where and why here?