Cory’s Shearwater and Pomarine Jaeger, New London, CT - Orient Point, NY Ferry, August-September 2015

In July I had the opportunity to take the ferry across Long Island Sound from Bridgeport, CT to Port Jefferson, NY, and of course birded from the ship while we crossed the Sound.  Unfortunately I didn’t see anything but a few gulls and Common Terns.  Afterwards I found out that birders typically take the more eastern ferry from New London, CT to Orient Point, NY hoping for the occasional pelagic bird closer to open ocean waters.  Pelagic birds are exceptionally rare in CT given the coastal geography of that state with Long Island blocking the entire coast from open ocean waters.  So on my next trip to Long Island in late August I decided to take the ferry from New London to give it a try.  I was especially hoping for birds in CT, but would be happy with new birds for my NY list too.  Though I was well aware that many trips on the ferry are pretty slow with no pelagic birds seen at all. 

As we left the New London harbor there were many gulls and a few terns, but the numbers dropped off dramatically soon after we got into the open waters.  For quite a while I saw just a few Laughing Gulls, with a couple larger gulls mixed in, but that was all.  As we got roughly halfway out I checked the GPS on my phone and I estimated that we were now in NY waters.  So much for a new CT statebird that day.  But just a couple minutes later I noticed two birds flying along with the boat low over the water.  I got them in my binoculars and was shocked to see that they were Cory’s Shearwaters.  They continued to fly roughly southwest, passing the boat and then heading west when I lost them in the sun glare.  If only I had picked them out a little sooner they would have been in CT waters.  A little later I spotted another Cory’s now well into NY waters.  I took this picture with my iPhone (no magnification) of the third bird right next to the boat. 

Even though Cory’s Shearwater isn’t a rare bird in NY (they are seen regularly in season on the ocean side of Long Island), they are pretty rare on the Sound.  And of course just as rare in CT waters.  In fact I don’t remember seeing any reports of Cory’s from the ferry in either state.  Cory’s was number 277 for my NY list, which was my 7th Atlantic coastal state for this species (see my statebird map below).

I posted my sightings to the CT listserve that evening because even though the birds were in NY waters, they were tantalizingly close to being in CT.  And sure enough a number of birders went out on the ferry the next several days and spotted Cory’s in CT as well as NY.  Unfortunately I couldn’t get back on the ferry for at least another week, so I would have to be content to have gotten them in NY.  And I was happy to know that my initial sightings resulted in a number of CT birders being able to add them to their CT lists. 

But now it was a week later and surprisingly the Cory’s sightings continued.  So on a whim I decided to take a round-trip midday ferry, hoping to find them this time in CT waters.  This trip started very much like the first one, with few birds in the open sound.  We were now very close to the CT/NY line and I was just about to give up hope in seeing a shearwater in CT.  But just then I noticed a large dark bird flying alongside the boat with white wing patches – a Jaeger!  I got good looks at this sub-adult bird which was very stocky, making it a Pomarine Jaeger.  I rechecked my GPS and we were still in CT, but just barely.  The bird continued to fly south, and soon crossed into NY - #321 for my CT list and #278 for me in NY.  Although I’ve seen this species in just 11 states, they are scattered across the country including most all the “corners” of the US.

The return trip was very quiet with no Jaeger or Shearwaters.  So although I missed Cory’s in CT (there were no further reports of these birds), I was very happy to have discovered the Pomarine.  It appears that Pomarine Jaeger is even rarer than the Cory’s Shearwater in CT.  I checked the 1990 reference “Connecticut Birds” by Zeranski and Baptist, and Pomarine is not even included in the book.  So it was likely not even on the CT state list as of 1990.

I once again posted my sightings on the listserve, again resulting in a number of birders heading out on the ferry.  The next day another birder had a Pomarine Jaeger at the same spot near the stateline – undoubtedly the same bird I had.  Although others on subsequent days could not find the Pomarine, they had a couple different Parasitic Jaegers.  I sure could have used that one for my CT list, but home and work commitments kept me from heading back out.  Maybe I’ll get lucky again on a future ferry trip.

Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, Bomoseen State Park, VT, August 2015

On 8/16 I noticed an e-Bird Vermont Needs Alert in my in-box with a report of a Yellow-crowned Night-Heron from “staff housing” at Bomoseen State Park.  That is an exceptionally rare species for VT, and with no mention of the bird on the VT listserve, and an observer’s name I didn’t recognize, I initially thought it could be a questionable ID.  But then I noticed a link to a photo in the e-Bird report, clicked on the link, and it was indeed an immature Yellow-crowned.  The photo showed the bird walking on a slate walkway with annual flowers right next to it.  With a 3+ hour one-way drive, and no additional reports of the bird, I didn’t think much about chasing after it.  Though at the same time there were several reports of this species from MA, NH, and ME, so it made me wonder a bit.  Then a couple days later on 8/19 came a post on the listserve that a birder re-found the Heron at the park, again with a photo posted, this time with the bird in a more natural marsh habitat.  And then came news that birders saw it feeding on the lawns near the entrance in the morning of the 20th – apparently a similar location as the first post. 

Now it seemed to be a chaseable bird.  I traded e-mails with the birders who saw it in the marsh and got explicit directions from them.  I then contacted Denny Abbott who also needed it for VT (if Denny needs a bird in New England it must be rare), and we planned to head there on the 21st, despite the 7-hour round-trip drive.  We were quite optimistic that we would find the bird, not thinking that we would need to be there too early in the day, with a likely arrival time of about 9:30.

But late on the evening of the 20th came the first bit of negative news – birders looking for it mid-morning that day did not see it.  It was only seen before 10:30 that day.  I rechecked the other 2 posts and they were from late afternoon/evening.  So maybe the bird was only seen in the early morning and evening.  Of course that would only be logical for a Night-Heron.  Now I wondered if we would get there early enough on the 21st.  I traded e-mails with Hank Kaestner who was planning to be there first thing on the 21st and he offered to give us updates while we were on route.

It was 9:10 that morning and Denny and I were just 20 minutes away when we got a call from Hank – he had seen the bird on the lawn in the early morning, and watched it fly into a tree next to the staff housing building at 7:30 presumably to roost for the day.  Armed with this update, we were once again very optimistic.  When we got to the park we went right to the tree Hank mentioned but couldn’t find the bird, despite lots of searching.  I struck up a conversation with one of the park staff and he suggested I talk to Chelsea who lives in staff housing, and who was the person who first posted about this bird.  She said she saw the bird walking on the lawn at 8:30 that morning, and then watched it disappear into the woods toward the marsh after that point.  Denny and I walked over to the marsh, but couldn’t find the bird there either.  We had arrived an hour too late! 

Chelsea and the workers said they had been seeing the Heron “for a couple weeks”, always saw it feeding in the grass near the entrance, but only in the early morning and in the evening.  Chelsea suggested we would need to stay until after 6 to see the bird that evening.  With that apparent history of evening sightings, Denny and I decided to wait it out and stay in the park until the bird reappeared that evening. 

As the day progressed I checked the marsh numerous times, and checked other lawns in the park, but to no avail.  Then at 5 PM another birder arrived.  Unfortunately he reported that he and several other birders did not see the bird the previous evening despite a lot of searching.  Instantly our optimism was gone.  Between 5 and 7 PM five other birders arrived, and we all birded the entire park until sunset with no luck.  We all re-convened at the entrance area at 7:45 and decided to call it quits for the day.  After the long drive (the drive home is always longer when you miss your target) I finally pulled in at 11:15.  I checked my e-mail and there was another Vermont Needs Alert - the Heron was seen in the marsh at 8:10 that evening!  I last checked the marsh at 7:15 with no luck.  So after a 7-hour round-trip drive, and 10 hours on-site, we missed the bird by an hour in the morning and 25 minutes in the evening.  Although I’ve missed many other target birds I’ve chased after, that could well have been my worst ever day of birding!

There were several additional e-Bird reports of the Heron on the 22nd and 23rd, with the bird either seen on the lawns in the morning, or in the marsh in the evening.  There were no other reports for several days, but then came another positive post for the morning of the 28th.  I was planning a birding trip to Quebec a few days later, and this positive report made me think about a possible itinerary where I could take a side-trip to Bomoseen State Park to try for the Heron on my way to Canada.  As my Quebec trip neared I called the park but the worker said the bird hadn’t been seen for a while (though workers aren’t typically there in the early morning when the bird is typically seen).  But then I got a call from Denny who saw the bird on the lawn the night before right at the entrance illuminated by the lights of the entrance station.  So I made my plans – I’d try for the bird that night, get a hotel in nearby Rutland, and if needed try again at first light the next morning.  Then it would be off to Quebec.

I got to the park at 9 PM, 90 minutes after sunset.  Although I hoped I might see it the instant I arrived as Denny had, there was no bird to be seen.  Glad that I brought my big lantern flashlight (and that I bought a new 6-volt battery on route), I spent the next 15 minutes checking out all the lawns near the entrance but to no avail.  I was going to call it quits and hope for better results the next morning, but on a lark decided to check out the marsh before I left.  Although birding in pitch blackness is never the easiest thing to do, I was very familiar with the marsh having birded it numerous times in the daylight the week before.  So I knew all the access points where you could gain views into various parts of the marsh and figured why not give it a try. 

I walked up the trail to the marsh and got to the first viewing spot.  I pointed the flashlight into the marsh and almost instantly saw what looked like a wading bird standing a short distance away.  It took a few seconds until I was finally able to get on the bird holding my binoculars steady in one hand and the flashlight in the other.  And there it was – the immature Yellow-crowned Night-Heron!  I took this photo with my iPhone (no magnification) – if you look carefully you can see the Heron standing in the bright spot in the middle of the photo which is the beam from my flashlight.  That is definitely the first time I’ve gone jacklighting for a bird!

After such a painful first try for this target bird, it sure was nice to find it the second time, particularly after dark.

Yellow-crowned Night-Heron was #271 for me in Vermont, and the 238th species I’ve seen in all 6 New England states.  I’ve now seen this species in every eastern coastal state, all southeastern states except AL, a few Midwestern states, and CA as a rare but local breeder (see my statebird map below).

Black Tern, Stratford CT, August 2015

In New England Black Tern is easiest to find during summer at the marshes where it breeds in ME and northern VT.  However, it can be a pretty challenging bird to find elsewhere in New England.  Although a regular migrant in spring and fall mostly along the coasts, it comes through in pretty small numbers and in narrow windows of time.  And they don’t typically stick around so they aren’t very chaseable.  For instance I didn’t add Black Tern to my NH list until September 2011 when several passed by at sea while I was on a pelagic trip.   

The last New England state where I needed Black Tern was CT.  The story in CT was the same as the other coastal states – a regular migrant but typically not sticking around to chase.  And then there was the extra complication that even the closest coastal CT spot was a 2-hour drive away.  So I typically didn’t even give them a second thought when one was reported.  But then in early August quite a large flock of Sterna terns began congregating at the mouth of the Housatonic River between Milford Point and Stratford Point.  And for a couple days in a row a small number of Black Terns were seen in the flock.  Maybe these would finally be chaseable.  Or perhaps others would find their way to the flock attracted to the same conditions causing the Sterna terns to flock there.  So after receiving excellent advice and directions from Patrick Comins and Frank Mantlik who bird the area extensively, I was ready to give it a try. 

I arrived at Stratford Point at 8:30 the next morning at nearly full low tide.  Looking to the north there was a wide expanse of mudflats and literally thousands of Sterna terns – maybe 3,000 in total.  But they were very distant; many were more than ½ mile away (little more than specks using binoculars and still barely identifiable even using a scope).  Always up for a challenge, I started scanning through the flock hoping to pick out a smaller darker one that could be a Black Tern.  But after numerous scans I could only find Common Terns, with a number of shorebirds mixed in.  I was now getting pretty disappointed and decided to pan out over the Sound to see what I might find flying by a bit closer.  And almost as soon as I did I picked out a flock of 4 Black Terns flying quickly out of the mouth of the Housatonic to open waters, as if they were leaving the area.  Success! 

With such a large flock of terns, I was hoping for some other rarities as well.  After all, as they say – “one good tern deserves another”.  But despite another hour plus of scanning I saw nothing new except for a couple Roseates.  And twice I picked out a single Black Tern sitting in the flock on the sand bars.  Here is a very distant phonescoped photo of one of the Blacks.

Black Tern was #319 for me in CT, and the 237th species I have seen in each of the 6 New England states.  I’ve now seen this species in 42 states, only missing it in several Midwestern states and in the Pacific Northwest (see my statebird map below).