The question was, “How do you find places to bird watch and stay when you are traveling in the Bird Buggy?” It has been a challenge at times, but mainly a combination of word of mouth, internet research and dumb luck. Vineyard birders Tom Rivers and Lanny McDowell loaned us books entitled How to Find Birds in: Arizona, Texas and Southern California which give specific details on where to locate good birding areas in those states and also how to find information on the latest sightings in an area.

It was early November when we received an invitation to participate in an American Birding Association rally in Albuquerque, N.M. What a great adventure I thought. Take the RV (aka the Bird Buggy) across country, birding as we went, and end up trying to find a group of rare finches in New Mexico. So we planned a route and expected to leave in late October. Ah, the best laid plans. We finally got underway on the first of February just before one of the nasty snow storms. We visited friends in Mamaroneck, N.Y. and Washington D.C.

The Christmas Bird Count is behind us and there have been many interesting birds seen since. So let’s catch up with several of the attention-grabbing sightings. Dovekies have again caught people’s attention whether they are birders or not. In the recent easterly gales a number of these little alcids, which are about half the size of a football and weigh practically nothing, were blown onto the Island. Peter Huntington spotted a dovekie flying over Crab Creek at Quansoo on Jan.

Last week I began the column by writing about the death of David Masch, mentioning there would be a memorial on Sunday, Jan. 26, in Woods Hole. Since then though, the Masch/Swan household has informed me that the memorial for David is not open to the public.

A group of Vineyard birders and biologists were saddened to hear that David (aka Pops) Masch had died. Many folks had met Dave while he was the naturalist, chief cook, father figure/counselor and instructor for the Penikese Island School. Dave was at Penikese for 29 years, and before that he was a biologist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. Dave was an excellent fisherman/shell fisherman and a superb cook.

The shad spirit or Alewife bird is considered by a number of people a harbinger of spring. Ornithologists call this member of the sandpiper family Gallinago delicata. Bird watchers have called this agile flyer common or Wilson’s snipe. As much as I would like to think that spring is right around the corner, Wilson’s snipe cannot be used as an indicator of spring rains, herring runs, blooming shad bush or daffodils.