Shorebirder

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...

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...

After 10 great years with my old Sea Hunt Ultra 196 center console, I decided an upgrade was in order. Several months of shopping ensued, and I finally purchased a used Edgewater 245cc in June. A month of prep work later, she was in the water, and I was itching to see what she could do.  The inshore waters south of Montauk, NY and Block Island, RI have been holding great numbers of pelagic birds and mammals for several weeks now. This is not the case every summer; you never know where the bait (and the "life") will be from year to year...or week to week! These waters were not really in range for a day trip from New Haven with the old boat, but can be done with much greater safety and confidence with the new rig. That being said, it still takes a really calm day to be done comfortably. As luck would have it, two recent excellent boating days have coincided with time off from work. It's a long run from New Haven to the waters in question. One day I picked up crew in Groton ...