BIRDS OF NANTUCKET
by Kenneth Turner Blackshaw
WHICH WITCH IS THE IPSWICH WITCH?

Writing a bird column takes one on a marvelous odyssey. I love the homonymic phrase in the title that oddly enough, includes the name of this week's bird.

In reality, both these witches are 'Ipswich Witches,' representing the old Ipswich, Mass. Hosiery Mill that went bankrupt back in 1928. The one on the left has a Nantucket connection, having been drawn by Tony Sarg. Although Tony's witch was creative, the company found that young ladies were more likely to be influenced by the pretty witch on a broom rather than the old crone riding a stocking.

A prolific artist, Tony Sarg lived on Nantucket for over 20 years. My uncle, Gordon Turner, remembered with glee Tony's creation of a giant inflated sea serpent that journeyed from Coatue to South Beach in 1937. Mr. Sarg also created the first hot air balloons for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. But I digress, for this is a BIRD column!

Our bird this week is the Ipswich Sparrow whose name started me on this journey. I was pleased to add it to my life list when I was learning my Nantucket birds in the 1950s. Then I was sad to remove it later on when the birding mavens decided it was only a subspecies of the Savannah Sparrow. But we still keep track of sightings of Passerculus sandwichensis princeps in hopes that it will be split again.

This is a bird we look for in the winter on Nantucket. It is easily recognizable from its Savannah Sparrow cousins by being larger, paler, and by the fact that it hardly ever leaves the sandy dunes bordering our beaches. Savannah Sparrows are 'little brown jobs,' (LBJs). Sad to say, our Ipswich birds are duller still, making other LBJs seem gaudy by comparison. Like other Savannahs, a yellowish stripe above the eye distinguishes them. This is a seriously threatened race due to the strict geographical range it occupies.

In late spring, every Ipswich Sparrow heads for a very isolated and precarious bit of land known as Sable Island. This island lies 100 miles out in the Atlantic to the southeast of Nova Scotia. It is 24 miles long and barely more than a mile wide, completely composed of sand. Sounds just like home, doesn't it? The French were the ones to name it, 'Sable,' translated as 'sand.'

But being so narrow, it lacks many of the creature comforts of Nantucket. Although the highest point on the island is 80 feet above sea-level, there are absolutely no trees at all. The highest shrubbery rises three feet in some places but mostly it is sand dunes and beach grass. There are 20 humans on the island and three house cats, significant for ground-nesting birds. Also significant is that it is the home of over 300 wild horses, another hazard for ground-nesters.

Every autumn 8,000, or 80 percent of the world's population of Ipswich Sparrows, launch themselves out over the cold Atlantic to their east coast wintering ground. If their summer territory is narrow and long, at one mile by 24, their winter territory is longer and narrower, perhaps 1,000 miles by 100 yards, from coastal Maine to coastal Georgia. For some reason, 20 percent of these sparrows choose to winter on Sable, just about the only species of landbird that remains.

Their habitat requirements are so demanding that this race of sparrow is truly in jeopardy. Our eastern shores are under pressure from development and erosion, so every year there are fewer sand dunes for these sparrows to scurry along. And scurry they do, often choosing to run across the sand or simply freeze, rather than fly, when threatened.

Ipswich Sparrows became known to science when one was 'collected,' (shot) in the sand dunes of Ipswich, Mass. in December 1868. But where did they live the rest of the year? In 1884, some eggs from Sable Island in the National Museum in Washington, D.C. were noticed to be considerably larger than other Savannah Sparrow eggs and the connection was made.

One of the ways a species may develop is through geographic isolation and there are few places more isolated than Sable Island where this race was simply known as the 'gray bird.' Scientists first journeyed there to study these sparrows in 1884, then again in 1902 and 1948. In the spring, perhaps half of the birds that departed in the fall return and build their ground nests, lay their four eggs and attempt to perpetuate the cycle.

On Nantucket, the shoreline between Codfish Park and Tom Never's Head is an excellent place to walk to look for these pale sparrows. Regular Savannahs can be found on the sandplain grasslands between Madaket and Hummock Pond. Find one of these sharply marked, black-streaked, yellow-lored sparrows, then keep it in mind when you see its pale cousin in the beach grass near 'Sconset. And look for them you should. Their summer home is eroding much as Nantucket is. And their winter homes are shrinking as well.

As for the 'real' Ipswich witches of the 1600s, their existence was even tougher than that of the sparrows. Sally Whittemore's own father refused her Christian burial so convinced was he of her guilt. Another, Mary Lakeland, was executed by being placed in a barrel of pitch then burned at the stake, which ends our story of Ipswich Sparrows and Ipswich witches.

George C. West creates illustrations for these articles. If you enjoy 'social' birding, join the Nantucket Bird Club at 8 a.m. Sundays in front of Nantucket High School for a two to three hour birding trip. Call 228-1693 for more information.

To hear about rare birds, or to leave a bird report call the Massachusetts Audubon hot line at 1- 781-259-8805. Ask Ken a question at: kenandcindy1@ comcast.net.