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...
Back on December 18, 2019, while helping a friend chase her life Pink-footed Goose in neighboring Rhode Island, we spotted two Cackling Geese that had been reported in the flock. Those two birds were pretty much attached at the hip. One was a bog standard Richardson's, being frosty-backed with a squared-off head and tiny bill. The bird next to it, which admittedly I didn't study for long, was certainly darker-backed and didn't have quite the same squared off head. Still, it was likely another Richardson's, but we were distracted at the time by the Pink-footed and a third Cackling Goose that proved to be much more interesting. Cackling Goose #3 was on a different end of the flock and really stood out in that it didn't really stand out. Yes, it was smaller-bodied with a short bill. It was clearly a Cackling Goose. But it did a much better job of blending in with the flock than a Richardson's CACG would have. While switching between scope and camera I would ofte...
Hooded Crow ( Corvus cornix ); Staten Island, NY, USA ; 25 June 2011 A Hooded Crow was found at Great Kills Park on Staten Island, NY on June 20th. According to local joggers, the bird had been around for a couple weeks. This first-year bird shows no overt signs of captivity (no unusual wear, strange molt, nor any leg bands etc). There were 88 accepted records in Iceland as of 2006, with a significant number of those being spring records. I have also been told by a couple folks that there are two records from Greenland. The park is situated at a location that screams "ship-assisted," at the entrance to a major port area. The most likely scenario, IMO and in the opinion of many folks, is that this bird found itself aboard a ship in the Atlantic that carried it to NYC. Who knows how far it got by itself, but it seems quite unlikely that it reached Staten Island entirely on its own power. There's sure to be plenty of debate on this one, regarding both its origin and its ...
While birding Sandy Pt on Saturday afternoon, a juvenile Western Willet was present among five or so juvenile Eastern Willets (the local adult Easterns seem to have departed). I was able to grab a few decent images of both subspecies. Separation of Western ( inornatus ) from Eastern ( semipalmatus ) Willet is something that is being attempted more and more lately, and it is very doable especially when both subspecies are present side-by-side. Someday these two subspecies may be split into full species, so it would be outstanding to get a head start on identifying every Willet we see. Western Willet: - longer-legged, larger size, and more lanky overall - longer, thinner bill (especially the tip) - paler than Eastern; juveniles appear grayish - less contrast between scapulars and wing coverts than Eastern (does not apply to adults) Note the long legs, size much larger than the adjacent Greater Yellowlegs, bill shape, grayish coloration, and the degree of contrast between the scaps and co...
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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