Late spring can be an interesting time for Vineyard birders. Although the migration of dicky-birds as well as shore birds, waterfowl and hawks has finished for the season, there are always surprises. The sandhill crane that appeared last week isn’t a bird one would expect to see during a normal Vineyard spring migration. The return of the nesting pair of merlins on Chappaquiddick, which were reported by Rob Bierregaard and Dick Jennings on May 14, is an ornithological dividend. Lanny McDowell, Allan Keith, Pete Gilmore and I saw one of the merlins on May 23 and located the nest following Rob and Dick’s directions. The merlins are quite defensive and are probably already on eggs. These will take around a month to hatch and then the young merlins will need a month to mature enough to take wing. It is interesting that these merlins returned to the same area where Mary Adelstein and Margaret Fowle first saw them in early June 2008. We are still the only location for nesting merlins in Massachusetts! We hope our merlins will be as successful as last year.

By LYNNE IRONS

Uncle! I have tried to do too much with this baby boomer body. It is remarkable how many different body parts hurt every morning. I hobble around for a couple hours when, not very long ago, I could hit the ground running. No matter! I’ll rest when I’m dead.