Shorebirder

Just back from a successful down-and-back run to Cape May for the adult WHISKERED TERN found there yesterday. Greg Hanisek, Phil Rusch, and Nick Block joined me for the chase. Weather was dreary but we made sure to arrive at 7am which allowed us to avoid the rain. Photography was difficult given the weather, but I got some stuff worth posting anyway. We enjoyed prolonged killer scope views while the bird was roosting on the beach and repeatedly watched it forage over the Bunker Pond, sometimes in company with a Black Tern. It spent the entire morning commuting back and forth between the beach and pond. We left Cape May very tired but happy! Whiskered Tern (right) with Forster's Tern During our only moment of sunlight all morning, the Whiskered Tern can be seen head-on in the middle of the frame, to give you an idea of what you're looking for among your typical autumn east coast flock. coming in for a landing left to right: Common Tern, Forster's Tern, ...

Sandy Point in West Haven, CT is one of Connecticut's top shorebirding hotspots. Hey, stop your snickering! We do too get shorebirds here, I swear... Jutting into the middle of New Haven Harbor from the west, Sandy Point is a small piece of sand and marsh that has a rather nice track record of rarities over the years. You'll never find loads of shorebirds here, but the quality can be surprising. Many of the point's best birds do not linger for very long, as one might expect for such a small parcel of land. Sandy Point has a reputation for being a great "drop-in" place for birds downed by weather or looking for a quick feed. The species composition here can vary greatly not only from day-to-day, but from tide-to-tide. Occasionally a goodie will hang around for a while, like the Snowy Plover found by Julian Hough that stuck for weeks in 2004! Map of New Haven Harbor with three of the best known birding spots highlighted in red. Last week Michelle Meyer and ...

This morning I went to my parents' house in Orange, CT to help my father with yardwork. I must have scored some karma points with the nature gods because this GIANT SWALLOWTAIL was nectaring heavily in their garden, particularly on the Buddleia. Giant Swallowtail  - NB

After seeing quite a bit of migration on the radar when I went to sleep last night, I got up early with expectations that Bluff Point in Groton, CT would produce a quality morning flight today. Boy was I wrong! Winds were essentially calm at Bluff at dawn, which resulted in a nearly non-existent flight. A flyby calling DICKCISSEL was the only highlight. After bailing from Bluff I headed to Old Lyme for some low tide shorebirding. The mudflats at Watch Rock held a juvenile BAIRD'S SANDPIPER and my first three WHITE-RUMPED SANDPIPERS in CT for the season. Two GREEN-WINGED TEAL were also my first southbound of the fall, right about on time. Down to Griswold Point, which upon arrival had some shorebirds working the flats, most notably a juvenile RED KNOT, a flyby calling WHITE-RUMPED SANDPIPER, and an impressive flock (for the time of year) of 21 juvenile "Eastern" WILLETS. An immature PEREGRINE FALCON strafed the flats a few times, causing most of the birds to leave and ...

Yesterday I was lucky enough to fish the tip of Block Canyon on a new friend's boat. It was beautifully calm in advance of Hurricane Cristobal passing well to the southeast with only very gentle 2-4 ft swells and no wind. We left the dock in Montauk by 2am and were at the canyon before sunrise. There was a fair amount of life to be seen, though not much bird-wise. The highlight of the day were the numbers of Audubon's Shearwaters, perhaps not surprising given that last weekend's BBC overnight pelagic to larger canyons further east produced Massachusetts state record high counts on consecutive days! Numbers: Cory's Shearwater  2 Cory's Shearwater (borealis)  1 Sooty Shearwater  1 Audubon's Shearwater  20 Wilson's Storm-Petrel  71 Oceanodroma sp.  1 Common Dolphin 10 Risso's Dolphin 95 Pilot Whale sp. 15 shark sp. 1 Manta Ray 1 Portuguese Man o' War 6 sunrise Audubon's Shearwater Audubon's Shearwater Risso'...