Block Island Ferry, RI - 3 Shearwaters and 2 Storm-Petrels! July 2011

Seeing most pelagic species in Rhode Island has been a challenge for me.  The local RI birders do organize some pelagic trips into RI waters, but I've never gone on one (yet!).  I have been lucky enough to see Razorbill and Common Murre from shore, but the real pelagic species likely require a boat trip.  So it was with great interest that I read a post a couple years ago about local RI birders having some pretty good success seeing pelagic birds from the Block Island ferry out of Point Judith.  Sort of a poor-man's pelagic trip.  The trip is only about an hour each way, moves pretty quickly (even on the slower traditional ferry), and of course won't chase after anything you see.  So you've got to be lucky to have the pelagic birds pass pretty close to the ship as you go by.  A positive is that the ship is very large, so you generally don't have to worry about rough seas.  Over the last couple years I've taken one ferry in summer and one in early spring, and with the exception of a flyby pair of Whimbrels, and the ubiquitous Wilson's Storm-Petrel, I haven't really seen too much.  That was before this trip! 

I took an early morning trip out of Point Judith to beat the heat.  The first Wilson’s Storm-Petrel was just barely outside the Point Judith breakwater, and the birds just kept coming from there.  Soon thereafter a Cory’s Shearwater passed right by the bow the boat, then another, then 4 more.  My first RI shearwater!   A short time later a Manx flew by with its classic fast, fluttering wingbeats.  A couple more Cory’s later, I saw a pair of shearwaters on the water up ahead.  The boat got close enough to see that 1 was a Cory’s and 1 was a Great.  On the way back there were more storm-petrels and less shearwaters in the air.  One of the storm-petrels caught my attention as soon as I saw it – noticeably longer wings than the Wilson’s.  And it was doing a fair amount of soaring with wings on a dihedral, then deep flaps – a Leach’s Storm-Petrel!  I watched it for over 30 seconds until we passed it by.  At one point we passed by a flock of 22 shearwaters sitting on the water that were just a bit too far away to ID.  Likely most were Cory’s, but who knows what else may have been mixed in.  The final tally was 3 species of Shearwaters and 2 species of Storm-Petrels with just 2 hours on the water.  And interesting that there were as many shearwaters as storm-petrels.  To round out the experience, we passed closely by a Mola mola which I pointed out to others on the ferry.

I've had worse whale watches and pelagics! 

Here are the details -

Trip to Block Island - 9:30-10:30 - winds S 5-10, Seas <2 ft

Wilson's Storm-Petrel - 14

Cory's Shearwater - 9 (including 4 together, all flying except 1 on the water)

Manx Shearwater - 1

Great Shearwater - 1 - sitting on the water with a Cory's

Shearwater sp. - 4 (distant flybys, most likely either Cory's or Greats)

Trip Back to Point Judith - 11:30-12:30 - winds S <5, Seas almost calm

Wilson's Storm-Petrel - 25

Leach's Storm-Petrel - 1

Cory's Shearwater - 2

Shearwater sp. - 23 - including a distant flock of 22 on the water (likely Cory's and/or Greats)

Short-billed Dowitcher - 8

Mola mola – 1

My statebird map for Cory’s Shearwater is inserted below (the shaded states are the ones where I’ve seen this species).  As you can see, haven’t done much pelagic birding outside the northeast.

Vermont Whip-Poor-Will, July 2011

For years I've been collecting posts on the locations of Whip-poor-wills in Vermont so that I could someday try to add it to my VT statelist.  But since all the posted locations are quite distant from my house, it would require an overnight stay in VT, and I just I haven't had the opportunity.  This July I had a business trip to eastern NY that would include an evening trek through VT, so of course I wanted to give it a try.  But is mid-July too late to still hear Whips? 

With the help of information from several local VT birders, I headed to Long Swamp Road in Brandon near sunset to try for Whips.  Skies were cloudy and threatening with occasional light rain falling, but winds were light so I was hopeful that I'd be able to hear even distant birds.  At 8:50 1 bird started to call in the distance off to the north - success!  Now I have Whips in each New England state - my 202nd species that I have in all 6 New England states.  My statebird map for Whip-poor-will is inserted below - shaded states are those where I've heard/seen Whips.  The Brandon location is also provided in the link at the end of this post.

While in VT I also tried for 3 other possible statebirds but without success.  Each one was a real long shot - Sedge Wren seen in the Spring but no posts since late June, Ruddy Duck reported on a lake in early June, and Clay-colored Sparrows nesting at a South Burlington site for a couple years but without any posts this year.  I guess I need to get to VT more often if I'm going to get a better statelist. 

The next day while driving to the client's facility an American Bittern flew over the road - a new statebird for my NY list - #263.  A consolation for missing those VT longshots.

Rhode Island Trip Yields 2 of 3 Target Statebirds

An early summer day in Rhode Island with good birding friend Denny Abbott yielded 2 new statebirds for me.  First was a pair of Common Moorhens at Sisson Pond in Portsmouth, which had been reported earlier in the week.  That was my first trip to this location, so thankfully Denny knew the spot well.  The moorhens were swimming in the open at the edge of the cattails, making the spotting pretty easy. 

Next we headed down to Trustom Pond in South Kingstown in search of recently reported Least Bitterns.  I've tried for them there in the past but with no luck.  When Denny and I arrived at the end of Otter Point trail 2 other birders were there with just negative reports.  Undaunted, we camped out at the observation platform and waited.  A few minutes later one of the other birders saw one fly by, but unfortunately no one else saw it.  Luckily a few minutes later another bird flew in, and even perched in the open for all to see.  It appeared that there was a pair of birds possibly coming to/from a nesting site, and likely flying off to feeding spots nearby.  Great views of such a secretive bird!  The location of the likely nest is shown on the attached map.

Then Denny and I headed up to East Greenwich, RI to give a try for Mississippi Kites.  For the last several years a pair has nested in that town, but the location has not been divulged to protect the birds and to avoid bothering the local residents.  We drove around East Greenwich for 3 hours but with no luck at all.  There were plenty of neighborhoods that looked very similar to the New England Kite nesting locations in CT and NH and those I've seen elsewhere in places like VA, IL, and NE.  The only raptors we found were 2 Red-tails and an Osprey.  Needless to say we neither bothered the birds nor the local residents during our little trip to the town.

Inserted below are my statebird maps for both Least Bittern and Common Moorhen with those states where I've seen the birds highlighted in blue.  I've got each species now in 5 of 6 New England states.  (You might want to click on the maps to get expanded views of the small New England states.)

Little Egret – Scarborough Marsh, Maine – June 2011

The e-mail came across that a Little Egret was spotted in Scarborough Marsh in Maine – the first state record.  Now the key question is whether it will stay around long enough for me to get there to look for it.  Although it was only around for 2 days, I was able to see it – other birders weren’t so lucky.  The bird was nearly ½ mile out in the marsh, but the plumes off the back of the head were very evident as they moved around in the breeze, and the large/heavy bill was easy to see as well. Statebird #313 for me in Maine.

Scarborough Marsh is one of my favorite birding locations in Maine.  It’s a tremendous spot to see both Nelson’s and Saltmarsh Sparrows, as well as hybrids.  A few years ago a Seaside Sparrow was there as well.  As for waders, it’s probably the best place in Maine for Tricolored and Little Blue Herons, and Glossy Ibises are occasionally joined by a White-faced.  And this was the spot where the Eurasian Golden Plover turned up a few years ago.

My statebird map for Little Egret is copied in below.  That was only my second Little Egret – the first one was in NH back in 1998.  (click on the map to expand it to see the small New England states)