Shorebirder

I'm just back from one of my favorite annual birding events, the Brookline Bird Club's August overnight deep-water pelagic, sold out per usual. Before sunrise on Saturday, August 20th, a boat full of excited participants boarded the Helen H in Hyannis, MA with Capt. Joe Huckemeyer at the helm. We set out for the canyons at the edge of the continental shelf some 100+ miles from the mainland under clear skies and light winds from the east. The seas were more comfortable than usual: calm inshore and a 2-3 foot chop on top of a hardly noticeable swell offshore. There was more than enough wind to get seabirds into the air, but not enough to make the ride uncomfortable. En route to the canyons we passed over the Nantucket Shoals, known for, among other things, intense upwelling of cold nutrient-rich water that can result in pockets of great fish and bird activity. The Shoals really delivered for us on Saturday morning. After a slow trickle of tubenoses along the northern shoals we ...

Just back from a week on Martha's Vineyard with the family. Birding was sporadic at best, but I did get out a couple times. On Monday, August 8th, I birded the Gay Head cliffs first thing for morning flight. Things were dreadfully slow, and warblers were almost nonexistent. Highlights were five species of swallow/martin including Cliff Swallow and Purple Martin, which interestingly the first reports from MV this year for either species...though I have no idea about the level of eBird participation on that island. A few Red-breasted Nuthatches were presumably migrants, but again I am unaware of their breeding status on the island. On August 11th I kayaked across Tisbury Great Pond to the flats on the south side of the pond, along the north side of the barrier beach. I was really impressed by the numbers, as ~1700 shorebirds covered the limited mudflats available there. Nothing unusual was seen, but a Red Knot, a solid count of 30 White-rumps, and four flyby Pec Sands were nice to ...

This afternoon I kicked around Stratford and Milford Point for a few hours in search of migrant shorebirds and terns. Results were pretty solid for the date, as I had a dozen species of shorebird and four terns. The shorebirds were all common migrants and breeders except for the continuing RUFF in Stratford. More than a few peep and dowitchers were present to look at, indicating that migration is really kicking into gear. Terns were highlighted by single CASPIAN and ROYAL TERNS at Milford Point. The Caspian was a quick fly-by, while the Royal was roosting on one of the distant sandbars. Also loafing on the bars was a first summer LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL among a mixed flock of young gulls. Record shot of the Caspian Tern as it passed by Milford Point So far this has been one of the birdier early July's in my area that I can recall. In just a few brief outings this month I have chased a Ruff, seen four Royal Terns and a Caspian, have seen good numbers of migrants for the dat...

Well this must be as long as I've ever gone between blog posts! Work, travel, work, travel...my last few months. Essentially zero local birding, and no Big Day either. But I have been birding while traveling - this includes over two weeks in China and a road trip to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. I plan on catching up with blog posts on those trips, hopefully sooner than later. But now I am back to a much more normal schedule. No big trips on the horizon for a while. This should mean more local birding and a return to a more relaxed summertime. Speaking of local birding, the "fall" (AKA southbound) migration of shorebirds is off to a solid start. A few adults of the early-arriving species had already returned by the end of June. Short-billed Dowitcher, Least Sandpiper, and both yellowlegs were predictably first to arrive in any numbers at several east coast hotspots. Other highlights included a few different adult male Ruffs plus the first Whimbrel and Western S...

About two months ago I flew to Houston, TX for a medical conference. Before flying home I took some time to get outside and see a few birds along the way. A few photos below. Mountain Plover Long-billed Curlew Common Pauraque Common Pauraque Northern Jacana "McCall's" Eastern Screech Owl Crimson-collared Grosbeak Crimson-collared Grosbeak Greater Roadrunner Chihuahuan Raven Audubon's Oriole White-tipped Dove Green Jay White-collared Seedeater Olive Sparrow Northern Cardinal  - NB

Late last summer I purchased a boat of my own, a 20-ft center console, that I have tentatively named "Ardenna." I say tentatively because there is no actual decal on the boat yet, and I reserve the right to change my mind at the last minute if I want to :) Boating has been in my family as long as I've been alive, so I have been boating and fishing western Long Island Sound for years now (we keep our boats in Norwalk Harbor). But now that I have one of my own, I have the freedom to spend more time birding from it. I can put it in the water earlier in spring, keep it in the water later into autumn, or even trailer it elsewhere if I'd like. Honestly, as far as actual pelagic birding goes, there probably isn't a worse place to keep a boat in New England than western Long Island Sound (we don't even get Wilson's Storm-Petrels on a regular basis). But the opportunity still exists to be out there in case something interesting shows up, like the time we chased t...

Hey, Stefan Martin just had a really nice few days of birding. On the 19th he and Danny Williams found a ROSS'S GOOSE at Seaside Park in Bridgeport. On the 21st he found a CALIFORNIA GULL at Hammonasset Beach SP in Madison. I saw both of these birds this afternoon...one somewhat expectedly, the other not. The Ross's Goose continues at Seaside Park, today on the triangular field at the far west end before it flew across the harbor to Black Rock. Ross's Goose This evening I stumbled across the California Gull, but not anywhere near Hammonasset. I relocated the bird at the West Haven boat ramp, a good 20 miles straight-line to the west from where it was last seen the evening before. Photos confirm this to be the same individual. first cycle California Gull  - NB