Keep Calm and Bird On: June 2026
“If you don’t look, you don’t see. You have to go and look.”
-Edith Andrews
Despite their flashy tails, American Redstarts are one of our more obscure Warblers breeding on Nantucket. But they have a reliable habitat in the trees near the Trustees parking lot in Wauwinet.
American Redstarts are one of six warblers reliably breeding on Nantucket. They have consistently nested in Wauwinet over many years, so it’s fun to see if they are back. This year a few were spotted early in other places, such as Madaket, Windswept Bog, or Town.
Common Yellowthroat, Pine, Prairie, Black-and-white, and Northern Yellow warblers are also consistent summer residents, raising their families here for a few months every year. Occasionally an Ovenbird or Northern Parula has remained all summer too. As migrants headed out for climes further north have mostly moved on, it’s time to concentrate on our summer breeding birds.
Many birds return to places where they hatched, or were successful at reproducing the previous year. But some may have hacked out new territory last fall, when birds of the year, wandering in every direction before heading south, explore new territory.
Males usually arrive first in the Spring, claim a spot, and sing to “record the deed” as it were, to their property. Every morning they announce that they have survived another night and are still in possession. But behavior is what tells us what’s going on.
Do you see a bird carrying nesting material such as vines, rootlets, feathers, grass, twigs, hair, or mud? Do you see multiple trips? Is a bird carrying visible food such as caterpillars, butterflies, dragonflies, or moths? Do you see squabbles, courtship flights, fluttering wings of begging females or young? Do you hear a chorus of begging noises whenever a parent disappears into a bush?
Simply sitting still in a quiet spot is a good way to see birds. A car makes a good mobile observation blind. The best time is very early in the morning, when it’s quiet, and raptors—and people—are not as active. It is a truly magical time of day. Birds also get busy again the last hour or so before sunset, but there’s often more human disturbance. Get up early; it’s worth it.
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