Bird watching an island tradition
For many years, visitors and residents of Martha's Vineyard have enjoyed bird watching as a hobby, an activity and a passion. And not unlike their human counterparts, native birds share the Island with visiting birds yearly. In the eighties and nineties, "birding" became the more popular term for the pastime of using sight and sound to identify the more than 800 species of birds known to exist in North America. From casual observers to practicing ornithologists, people delight in the beauty and awe of birds.

Visiting birders as well as many residents of Martha's Vineyard relish the opportunity to view samples of the over 300 species that inhabit and frequent the Island. Some of the most exotic and exciting birds which have been spotted on the Island are the European cuckoo, blackburnian warbler, magnolia warbler, bay-breasted warbler, Canada warbler and the black-throated blue warbler.

There are numerous places to birdwatch on Martha's Vineyard, including wildlife sanctuaries. Even inexperienced, first-time birders can enjoy a stroll on one of the trails with a guide book offering information on what birds one might expect to see. Some of the popular spots for birding are Aquinnah, Chappaquiddick, Katama, Sengekontacket Pond, Squibnocket Beach, Indian Hill Road (Christiantown) and the State Forest.

Hawks and whimbrel can be spotted by Katama airport on the road to South Beach. Along the edges of Katama Bay and the Herring Creek, you may see kingfishers, egrets and herons.

Some of Chappaquiddick Island's most beautiful spots are maintained by The Trustees of Reservations. You must obtain a permit to take a four-wheel drive vehicle on Cape Pogue and Wasque. This is the best way to view birds on Chappaquiddick, but the Reservations can be reached by foot or boat. You will find warblers, woodland birds, oystercatchers, plovers, herons and egrets as well as sharp-tailed sparrows.

Indian Hill Road is a place to identify some deciduous woodland birds, and the nature trail at the State Forest provides an opportunity to see and hear woodpeckers, thrushes, chickadees and hawks. When you arrive at the parking lot of Squibnocket, look to the right to see gulls and shorebirds in the summer and loons and eiders in the winter. The various areas around Aquinnah give birders a chance to find black-crowned night herons, egrets, loons, mergansers, hawks and terns at different times of the year.

A new birding enthusiast can be born simply in a drive down Beach Road between Oak Bluffs and Edgartown, looking at Sengekontacket Pond. This is a great spot for viewing shorebirds, oystercatchers and terns.

Like human visitors of Martha's Vineyard who come from far away places to enjoy the mystique and splendor of the Island, birds from all over the eastern coast are found here. Birds from as far away as the remote southern tip of the continent and from the west find themselves on Martha's Vineyard due to hurricane winds. One of the most spectacular birding days in Vineyard history occured on the morning of May 19, 1996, when swarms of birds accidentally decended on Martha's Vineyard during northern migration.

The number of different species of birds, the variety of their shape and color, their fragile beauty, and our envy of their ability to fly has caused many people to become avid birders. Bird watchers come in all shapes and sizes, ages, backgrounds and levels of expertise. Still to this day, the Houghton Mifflin publishing house's all-time, runaway best seller is Roger Tory Peterson's A Field Guide to the Birds.

The popularity of birding escalated in the eighties, culminating in the World Series of Birding where teams spot as many different species as possible in a 24-hour period. There are hundreds of Audubon societies, bird clubs and sanctuaries in the United States, and Martha's Vineyard is no exception. Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary on Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road boasts 350 acres of land, with 50 acres being marsh.

The sanctuary is covered with four miles of trails. Each are color coded and have maps. Felix Neck is open daily in the summertime. The office hours are 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., but visitors can leave their admission in the box provided and are welcome to walk the trails until 7:30 p.m. Admission to the sanctuary is $3 for adults and $2 for children.

Felix Neck also offers a variety of other outdoor activities and programs in the summer. Beginning Birds is a summer program which is offered three times a week in the summer. Felix Neck provides field guides and binoculars for those who are interested in birdwatching, but who are new to the activity.

Because birding requires no particular skills or level of physical fitness in order to participate, people of any age group can become birders. Experience in bird watching, as in any other activity, helps, but young children and adult beginners can catch on quickly with the help of a field guide and a place like Martha's Vineyard which is a perfect environment for birds.

There are many levels of bird watching, from individuals who casually keep a mental note of the birds that visit their backyard feeder to ornithologists and birding enthusiasts who go on Big Days and Big Years. Big Days and Big Years are official and organized recordings of bird sightings within a given time frame. Some Big Days are sponsored in order to raise money for sanctuaries and wildlife refuges to ensure that birds will be around in the future.

On Martha's Vineyard, some prime birding spots are located in residential areas. Vineyarders will often allow birders on their grounds because they want to share the charm and spendor of the Island with those who appreciate it. Up Island areas house birds as well as people in remote settings.

Whether you pick up birding as a new hobby or you have been identifying birds for years, Martha's Vineyard is a wonderful place to birdwatch. Enjoy a leisurely stroll along a trail, pond or beach to view the birds or go birding with a naturalist. Martha's Vineyard welcomes you to take part in one of the Island's gifts of beauty that it has to offer.

©1999 Best Read Guide/Martha's Vineyard
P.O. Box 66 (34 S. Summer St.) - Edgartown, MA 02653