There are many Island birders who have nest boxes of one kind or another. I have eastern bluebird boxes and also American kestrel boxes. It is great to get a front row seat, as it were, to watch the birds from mating to fledging. Cornell Lab of Ornithology has set up a nest watch program so that they can help scientists learn more about bird families and how they might be affected by climate change. Cornell is asking for volunteers to register their nest boxes (visit registeryournestbox.org.) It doesn’t cost a penny and will help scientists determine if birds are laying eggs sooner and other information that might be pertinent to climate change. Everything you need to register your nest box and get started with NestWatch is available on-line. Hope you will join!

To see a new species of bird is always fun but particularly if it is in a place where you have birded frequently. Flip and I have been traveling to and birding in Costa Rica since our hair was brown, not gray. Thirty years of bird-watching in Costa Rica should have netted us close to all the 878 species known to this Central American country. No such luck, but we haven’t been there every month of the year.

This stocky penguin-like species is black on its back and white on its throat and belly, is at most nine inches long, has a short stubby bill, and seems to lack a neck. Its legs are placed toward the rear of the bird to facilitate its swimming underwater, so it does not get around very well on land.

Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary’s annual osprey festival is set for April 4 from 9 to 11 a.m. (with a rain date of April 5) and guess who will be there? Felix Neck’s osprey. We have a pair. The male arrived on the morning of March 31 just in the nick of time. The female joined him on Wednesday. Come celebrate the return of the sanctuary’s osprey as well as many others that have returned to nest on the Island. You will discover facts about the fish hawk through a variety of activities including a talk about native birds by Rob Culbert. Crafts, guided walks and talks will whet your appetites. You can grab lunch foods, baked goods and beverages and munch away while enjoying live music by the Flying Elbows. The cost for members is $3; $6 for nonmembers.

The internet is a great boon to birders. We can share our sightings daily, or if you are really intent, hourly. The net is also a way to keep birders honest.

The American oystercatchers and piping plovers are back on Island. These shorebirds are of concern wherever they are due to a combination of evils. The local Audubon Society in Martin County, Fla., asked me to help with a survey of piping plovers on a flat just inside the St. Lucie Inlet in Stuart, Fla. Unlike the Vineyard plovers, the Stuart piping plovers are not affected by over sand vehicles, skunks or raccoons. It is impossible for any of the above to ford the St. Lucie River. Instead the plovers are at risk of losing their habitat to winter residents who wish to augment their eroding beaches.