The Charlestown Breachway along the western
RI coast is one of the best shorebirding locations in the state. The challenge is that you have to wade across
a tidal channel to get there. On my
first trip there nearly 20 years ago unusually high tides and my lack of
knowledge regarding the proper crossing spot resulted in neck deep water in the
channel on my return crossing. As I waded
across the channel, holding my scope and binoculars over my head, I vowed not
to come back again unless I was with local experts who knew where and when to
cross.
Fast forward to the summer of 2013 – while
on a RI whale watch I met up with a group of very nice RI birders who bird
together most every Saturday. It turns
out that most summer Saturday’s include a trip to the Breachway. So if I could come along with that group they
could hopefully show me the proper way to cross the channel, and give me advice
for birding the Breachway. I targeted an
upcoming Saturday for my possible trip and connected with the birders for a
time and place to meet. And as the week
progressed there were reports of a Marbled Godwit, Wilson’s Phalarope, Black
Tern, and Royal Tern at the Breachway – lots of statebird possibilities. All but the Royal Tern were seen multiple
days, including Friday, so I was cautiously optimistic that it could be a good
statebirding day on Saturday.
The first stop that morning en route to the
Breachway was the turf farms in Richmond where I met up with one of the birders. We made stops on Heaton Orchard Road and Switch Road, and
had 1 Black-bellied Plover, several Semi Plovers and Least Sands, a couple
Pectoral Sands, along with numerous Killdeer.
But no rarities. Then we headed
to a parking area near the Breachway where the plan was for me to leave my car
and have another birder drive me into the Breachway parking lot (saving me a
$28 parking fee!). As we arrived at the
parking lot the birder received a text that a Yellow-Bellied Flycatcher was
just found at nearby Trustom Pond. I didn’t think I needed that one for my RI
list, but figured it was best to try for it just in case.
We arrived at Trustom, and after a short
walk we were with about a dozen RI birders all looking for the flycatcher. After about 20 minutes with virtually no
birds in sight, I and 3 others decided to leave and head to the Breachway. But then we got a call that it was refound,
so we ran back to the spot. And after a
10 minute search we found it as well.
Now I just needed to figure out if I needed Yellow-Bellied Flycatcher
for my RI statelist.
Next we were once again off to the Breachway. I dropped off my car and joined 6 others to
head out to the mudflats. The tide was
pretty high and apparently rising, and required some knee-deep wading to get to
the channel. But the local birders
showed me where to cross and it was only waist deep. That was the good news. The bad news was that when we reached the
mudflats there were few birds there – I was told there were a lot less birds than the day
before. And no godwit, no phalarope, and
only a few Common Terns with 1 Forster’s.
But several times in the distance we had passing flocks of Common Terns,
twice containing a Black Tern. I had
forgotten to check my RI statelist before I came on the trip, but I was pretty
sure I needed that one for my list. With
the number of shorebirds dropping as the tide came in, we decided to head off
the flats. The water was chest deep in
the channel, but I was less concerned about going all the way under since the
local birders were leading the way.
It was just about noon, and plenty of time
to make 1 or 2 more stops before heading home.
Two options came to mind - back to Trustom Pond for landbird migrants,
and Succotash Marsh for shorebirds roosting at high tide. I chose Succotash and another try for
shorebirds. Although I’ve been to
Succotash a few times, another RI birder offered to show me the best spots
there. And I’m glad she did because she
showed me a salt pan which I was unaware of which can be good as a roosting
spot at high tide. When we arrived there
was a small flock of gulls and a few yellowlegs. Then we spotted a flock of about 8 juvenile dowitchers,
with 2 being noticeably larger than the others.
With difficult viewing through the fragmites and with a sun glare we
both initially thought they were godwits, but we soon realized they were dowitchers. It took us a while to finally get good views
of all the birds, including prolonged looks at one of the bigger dowitchers,
and concluded that we had at least 1 Long-Billed Dowitcher. Field marks included – larger size, longer
bill with droop near the end, overall darker appearance above, and darker
tertials and wing coverts that were edged in orange but with no orangey
“fingers” in the darker areas of the feathers.
This one I knew for sure was a new RI statebird – so I got at least 1
for the trip.
I couldn’t wait to get home to check my RI
statelist to see if I had as many as 3 new statebirds, or maybe 2, or just
1. The more I thought about it I
couldn’t remember when or where I could have seen Yellow-Bellied Flycatcher in
RI, so I was optimistic. I went right to
the computer when I got home, and found that I indeed needed the flycatcher,
but already had the Black Tern. So 2 new
RI statebirds it would be – interestingly none came from the Breachway which
was my target birding spot of the day. That gives me 308 for my RI statelist.
RI was my last New England state both for the
flycatcher and the dowitcher (I now have 220 species in each of the 6 New
England states). I’ve seen Long-Billed Dowitcher in most
western states but few in the east outside of New England (see my statebird map below). Not surprisingly it's a very different map for Yellow-Bellied Flycatcher - good coverage
in many north-central and northeast states, and few in the southeast as a
migrant, and of course no western states.
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