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...
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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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