Cape Cod weekend birding map (courtesy of Julian Hough)
The weekend of Aug 19-20 was supposed to be spent offshore. More specifically, this was the weekend of the uber-successful Brookline Bird Club overnight deepwater pelagic, AKA the 'Extreme Pelagic.' The track record for this late-August trip is unparalleled in the region, so we greatly anticipate it every summer. So, naturally we were bummed to hear that this year's trip would be canceled due to high seas.
In an effort to make the most of the situation, several friends made the journey to Cape Cod anyway for some birding by land and boat. Given the nice inshore forecast I decided to trailer my boat.
Aug 19:
Most of us arrived early on Saturday the 19th with the idea of seabirding from Race Point in Provincetown, having heard recent rumors of shearwaters right along the beach. We did not think they would literally be along the beach, but that is exactly what we found. Thousands of shearwaters of four species (Great, Cory's, Sooty and Manx) were feeding heavily on "peanut bunker" (AKA juvenile menhaden) that had reportedly been pushed to shore by feeding mackerel and other predatory fish. We quite literally had these birds at our feet.
photo by Blair Nikula
photo by Blair Nikula
Great Shearwater
Sooty Shearwater
Great Shearwater
Great Shearwater
Sooty Shearwater
Cory's Shearwater (this showing some white on the underside of the primaries, indicating that this may represent the nominate form, diomedea, called Scopoli's Shearwater)
Cory's Shearwater
Manx Shearwater
"Peanut Bunker" (juvenile menhaden)
Shearwaters weren't the only birds to be seen. Gulls and terns were also getting in on the action. Three Sabine's Gulls (two adults and a juvenile) were a highlight.
adult Sabine's Gull
adult Sabine's Gull
adult Sabine's Gull with juvenile Laughing Gull and immature Herring Gull
juvenile Black Tern
Minds fully blown by this point, we decided to pull ourselves away from the show and make our way down to Chatham to look for the adult LITTLE STINT that had been frequenting the Morris Island area for several days. Lucky for us, the bird was faithful to its favorite patch of mud, and we were able to observe and photograph this mega rarity for a while, before calling it a day.
Little Stint (right) with Semipalmated Sandpipers
no toe webbing there...
The journey would continue via boat on Sunday and Monday...
For the past couple months, Ian Davies and I had been eyeing this week for a little summer Cape Cod birding adventure. The feasibility of this plan would depend largely on the weather, as I wanted to trailer the boat to the Cape for access to pelagic waters and Monomoy NWR. After a rather uncertain and oft-changing forecast thanks to a stationary front passage, a brief weather window opened for the second half of the week. Julian Hough was free to join me for the mini vacation, so we left CT on Tuesday evening. Wednesday was spent shorebirding; Ian had to work that day, but Pete Trimble and Phil Rusch filled out the boat. Thursday found us rained out, but we regrouped for a full Friday on the water. At sunrise on Friday the 12th, Ian, Julian, and Pete & Jeremiah Trimble and I left the harbor and headed around the tip of Monomoy to the productive waters east of Chatham. I had been out there a handful of times prior between my boat and a friend's, and there has always been at lea
Today's cooler, blustery conditions combined with the appearance of an Ivory Gull in Cape May got me thinking more about the upcoming gull season and reflecting on last year's. The 2008-09 gulling in the northeast was pretty damn good and included a few really exciting birds. The season started out with a bang exactly one year ago today with CT's first Slaty-backed Gull . On 12/12 an adult Thayer's Gull put in a brief appearance at the Windsor-Bloomfield Landfill, CT's premier gull hotspot, followed by a first-winter bird on 12/23. A Black-headed Gull spent the winter in New Haven Harbor. Perhaps 'gull of the year' was a subadult Glaucous-winged Gull in Rochester, NH, found by Scott Young...a first record for New England. Meanwhile Gloucester, MA was once again the gull capital of New England. I happened to already be up in Boston when news of an adult Ivory Gull broke on 1/17. I still get chills thinking about that weekend. Of course there were plenty
Frank Mantlik struck again yesterday by finding a bright adult CURLEW SANDPIPER in a small golf course pond along the Stratford, CT coast. This was the first chaseable Curlew Sand in the state in over 20 years, thus unblocking this species for an entire generation of birders. Out of town and unable to partake in the twitch, I was hoping the bird would stick another day. This morning's negative reports were discouraging. The only reasonable play was to wait for the afternoon high tide and hit the local roosts. I started on the rising tide at Milford Point, where some 150 birds came to roost but could not settle thanks to foot traffic. Even with more tide to come, this felt like a lost cause, so I drove across the estuary to Stratford Point. The roost here held ~500 birds, and the Curlew Sand was smack in the middle. Better late than never! Thanks, Frank! (click image for higher res viewing) - NB
Great shots...nice stint pix..the reflections are great. A fantastic weekend for sure!
ReplyDeleteI was really happy to get the heads up about this trip you guys made. After that I made the trek up twice and had a blast both times!
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