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September Nor'easter recap!

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With the storm essentially done and dusted, barring a late surprise report, I think we can put a bow on this one! In my prior post, with the storm still a couple days away, I mentioned three mechanisms by which this system might spice up our local southern New England birding. First, we discussed wind-blown seabirds that might drift close to, or even over, land. This was already happening pre-storm with a few Leach's Storm-Petrels. Well, as expected, this effect only increased as the storm strengthened and approached. The persistent northeast winds drove several species from their typical open ocean haunts. The Leach's Petrels, which are particularly prone to wrecking, were driven southwestward and funneled into corners, such as the SW corner of Cape Cod Bay and the far western end of Long Island Sound. Your traditional eastern Massachusetts seawatch spots, such as Race Point (Cape Cod) and Andrews Point (Cape Ann), enjoyed fine shows on those northeast winds. And when the wind...
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An Unusual September Storm

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Let's *speculate* on this potentially fascinating weather system that is forecast to develop off the East Coast later this week! The meteorologists are classifying this storm as a nor'easter, not a tropical cyclone. This is, of course, the time of year we keep a sharp eye out for tropical system development. Nor'easters are rare this early in autumn, so this is unusual. Other than the time of year, another aspect of this storm that seems unusual is the proposed track of its center. In their most classic form, nor'easters form off the Carolinas/mid-Atlantic and move in a northeast-ish direction up the coast. But the models seem to show the system developing several hundred miles offshore, moving north, and then perhaps backing northwestward, towards the East Coast rather than along or away from it. It may even stall out? On top of that, it might pack tropical storm force winds at the surface. ECMWF model for Friday, courtesy of Windy.com Saturday Sunday The three images ...
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LIS LONG-TAILED JAEGER - Sep 6, 2026

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juvenile Long-tailed Jaeger Long Island Sound Pelagic Birding...it's not always an oxymoron! Outside of tropical cyclone landfall, I'd say there are three times of year during which the thought of birding the protected waters of Long Island Sound actually packs some juice. One such time is during early winter, like mid-Dec into January, when the southbound push of alcids results in a not-ridiculously-small chance of uncovering a Dovekie or Common Murre or the like. Another period arrives mid-late summer, when shearwaters sometimes settle into the far eastern Sound. It doesn't happen every year, but it has become more frequent over the past decade.  And finally, we have a very narrow window for two rare species. During the last week of August and the first couple weeks of September, Long-tailed Jaegers and Sabine's Gull migrate overland from their arctic breeding grounds to the open ocean, where they will spend the next several months. Every now and then, an individual w...
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Montauk Point and back

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Friday's weather looked promising for a day on the water with friends. The original plan was to scour CT waters for the odd tubenose, but an improving forecast allowed us to venture much further afield. Given the choice between maybe a few tubenoses at best (CT waters) and guaranteed pelagic birds (NY waters), the group unanimously chose the latter. We aimed for Montauk Point and would take it from there. As it turned out, we never really wandered too far from the point. We got into birds feeding in the rips which continued a few miles to the east. This entertained us for the entirely of our four hours of birding time. The highlight was the continuing shearwater diversity and a nice jaeger show. SCOPOLI'S SHEARWATER is still something we get a bit excited about since the split is still somewhat fresh, but they are by no means rare in these waters. Scopoli's Shearwater Scopoli's Shearwater at center (and another to its right, but underwing angle is poor) PARASITIC JAEGER...
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