It could not have been a more perfect morning. There wasn’t a breath of wind and the temperature was well above freezing. A perfect scenario for very early morning owling! The dedicated few, Tim and Whit, were up well before O’dark-hundred. At two a.m. alarm clocks went off and, with Ipods and Iphones in hand, complete with small speakers, the owlers were off to the State Forest, Squibnocket and Aquinnah to listen for owl calls.

The Vineyard birders will be up at O’dark-hundred tomorrow for the annual Christmas Bird Count. Sunrise will be at 7:08 a.m. and we have to have eaten breakfast, organized our optics, bins (binoculars) and scope (spotting scope on tripod), made lunch to include all the Christmas cookies so we won’t eat them later, fill plenty of water bottles, and drive to the first location where we are going to count birds.

What is the South American country which is bordered by Brazil on the northeast and Argentina on the northwest, west and south? This country has a population of three million very mellow people and twice as many cows (and sheep). Uruguay is the country and Montevideo is their capital city.

The time is drawing nigh for Santa Claus to land on the roof and slide down the chimney with a satchel full of toys for young and old. There are a good number of Vineyard homeowners that have a cap over their chimneys to prevent birds, squirrels and other critters from coming down the chimney for an unexpected visit. Those of you who have caps and worry about Santa Claus not finding an alternate route to enter your house and deliver your Christmas goodies might think about removing the chimney cap. However, I do not suggest this and here is why!

Allan Keith and I have birded together or with other Vineyard birders for 50 years. Allan and I made a deal years ago that we would not talk politics and that has sort of worked. We do talk a good deal about birds, what we used to see in certain areas of the Vineyard, how the populations have changed and we always talk about species that should be on-Island that are not.

The invasion continues. The recon or advanced guard were the pine siskins and purple finches. They came from the barren North Country seeking habitat that provided food as they could find none there. Next, the main forces arrived. These species arrived in waves and included the evening grosbeaks, then the white-winged crossbills and finally the red crossbills.