Third Time is the Charm for Common Ringed Plover – Lifebird, Westport, MA, September, 2017

My track record trying to pursue Common Ringed Plover has been a frustrating one, with two close calls in the past.  The first came in May 2013 when one was spotted on Plum Island, MA, just over an hour away from home.  I was monitoring the MASSBIRD listserve when the post came across that day just after the sighting was confirmed, meaning I could have dropped everything to chase after it.  Unfortunately I was in Ohio at the time, though on a birding trip to Ohio, Indiana, and Ontario.  In fact I was at birding hotspot Magee Marsh in Ohio when I spotted the post.  Ordinarily being at Magee Marsh in May would be a good thing.  But the 2 days I was there were extremely slow (one local birder called them “dead”), which was why I was spending more time checking my e-mails than I was birding.  The Plover was seen by many birders over its 4-day stay in MA, but was long gone by the time I got home.

My next close encounter came in September 2016 in Baie Missisquoi in southern Quebec just across the border from VT.  I birded Baie Missisquoi on my first day in the area finding some locally rare shorebirds including Long-billed Dowitcher, Stilt Sandpiper, Western Sandpiper, and Baird’s Sandpiper.  Plus there were many Semipalmated Plovers.  I spent the next day birding in northern VT unfortunately seeing few birds of interest.  That night after returning home I checked the Quebec listserve to see which of my finds might be still around.  There were a flurry of posts, which after some French-English translation, revealed that a Common Ringed Plover had been found at the same spot I birded the day before.  The bird was seen all day long while I was less than 25 miles to the south in VT.  Could it have been in with all the Semi Plovers I saw the day before?  Needless to say, a very frustrating turn of events.

Then fast forward to September 2017 – a post came across MASSBIRD saying that an immature Common Ringed Plover was discovered at Gooseberry Neck in Westport.  And although the bird was re-spotted several times during the day, I couldn’t break free – hate it when work gets in the way of birding.  But the next day was a definite possibility.  Although I had to fly out on a business trip that day, I had an early afternoon flight which would give me a couple hours to try for the bird in the early morning.  Of course I’d have to hope that the bird would continue and not be a one-day wonder.

The next morning I was out of the house early and arrived at Gooseberry Neck at about 8.  I figured I could stay until about 10:30 before I had to head to the airport, so I was optimistic that would give me enough time assuming the Plover had stuck around.  But there were no sightings of the bird yet when I arrived.  I could see a fair number of birders up ahead on the eastern side of the peninsula looking for the bird.  Another birder at the northern end of the peninsula suggested I bird down the western shoreline to search additional habitat.  Although that would be a logical option, I worried that if I headed down that way on my own I wouldn’t find out if the bird was spotted elsewhere.  What to do?  And then just a minute later that same birder got a text that the Ringed Plover had been spotted at the southern tip of the peninsula.  Good thing I didn’t head off on my own!

It seemed to take forever to make my way the 3/4 mile to the southern tip of Gooseberry Neck.  Especially the last several hundred yards which required walking on large round rocks along the shore – good way to break an ankle especially if you’re rushing to see a lifebird.  Finally I reached the tip and saw several birders together with scopes pointed south.  Within seconds they had me on the Common Ringed Plover – success.  I was able to get several phonescoped shots of this quite cooperative bird.

I also heard it give its distinctive and unique call.  Although I would have never been able to identify it by call on my own, I’m pretty sure I would have realized that the call was something I had never heard before.  

Common Ringed Plover was #414 for me in MA, and either #749 or #750 for my ABA list.  The indecision on my part is whether to count the recently split Cassia (aka South Hills) Crossbills which I most likely saw and heard in Idaho a couple years back.

“Pelagic” Birding in VT (and NY) on Lake Champlain, September 2017

Pelagic – adjective; of, relating to, or living or occurring in the open sea.

That is the definition of the word “pelagic” in the Merriam-Webster dictionary.  There’s certainly no “open sea” in VT.  But one of the key birding attractions in VT in fall is to hope to see pelagic birds on Lake Champlain.  Although landlocked, Lake Champlain attracts quite a nice collection of typically “open sea” birds like Jaegers, Kittiwakes, Sabine’s Gulls, and even rarer species.  Many think the pelagic birds seen on Lake Champlain have passed down the St. Lawrence seaway and eventually make their way to the lake on their southbound migration routes.  Or perhaps these birds are just taking an overland route south and are at least momentarily attracted to pelagic-like, almost normal, habitat at this large body of water.  In any case, these are exciting rarities to try for especially in this landlocked state.

Passage of the pelagics is especially associated with certain weather conditions.  Typically they are seen following a frontal passage on northwest winds.  They are often spotted from shore, with a preferred location being the Charlotte Town Beach.  I have done a few lake-watches from this spot in the past but have not had any success, mostly because my trips haven’t coincided with the passage of the fronts. 

Plus in the last few years, Allan Strong has set up boat trips on Lake Champlain to look for pelagics.  The first of these trips occurred in October 2013 a day after a front, with remarkable success.  I added 3 statebirds to my VT list that day – Little Gull, Red Phalarope, and “Jaeger, sp.” (an unidentified bird at considerable distance).  Plus there was a tremendous passage of geese, ducks, loons, and grebes that day.  The next trip was in September 2015, when summer-like weather resulted in next to no migration and no pelagics.  That’s the nature of pelagic birding in general, and more specifically pelagic birding in VT.

The next boat trip was planned for early September of 2017, timed to be at the peak of Jaeger migration.  Luckily I would be able to squeeze it in between business trips, so I signed up to go.  My plan was to arrive in the area the evening before, get a hotel in Burlington, and be ready to go on the boat the next day.  And since the boat didn’t leave the dock until 9:30, I could spend a couple hours at the Charlotte Town Beach doing an early morning lake watch before heading to the boat.  Plus as the trip neared it appeared that I could arrive early enough to do a bit of land birding the evening before, with the key target being Orange-crowned Warbler which continues to elude me in VT. 

My plans were set – now I just needed to hope for the right weather conditions.  As the pelagic neared, the weather forecasts were looking promising.  The day before the trip would be showery, preceding the passage of a cold front overnight, followed by northwesterly breezes the day of the pelagic.  I would have preferred the winds to be a bit stronger after the front, but I would take it.

I arrived in northern VT the evening before the pelagic, with just enough time to bird the Whitney Creek area in Addison.  This spot has nice brushy undergrowth that has featured quite a number of Orange-crowned Warblers over the years.  Luckily the rain had stopped just before I arrived.  But despite lots of spishing and playing a bit of tape, there were few migrants of any type, and certainly no Orange-crown.  It was a long shot, but still worth the try since I don’t often get to this Orange-crown hot spot in northwestern VT.

The next morning I arrived at the Charlotte Town Beach on Lake Rd. just as it was getting light.  Skies were partly cloudy, and there were light breezes out of the northwest.  Visibility was quite good, though there was a bit of heat shimmer coming off the water.  All things considered, pretty nice viewing conditions.

I sat on a bench at the park and started my scans.  Unfortunately it was quite slow.  I spotted occasional flocks of Cormorants heading south, and the ever-resent Ring-billed Gulls milling about, but little else.  Three continuing Sanderlings on the beach were nice.  But certainly not my targets.  A little later my VT birding friend Hank Kaestner arrived to join in the scans, but we continued to come up empty.

But just then I spotted a medium-sized dark bird rise up off the water a short distance out.  It was flying much more tern-like than an immature Herring Gull – the only other option for an all dark Larid – it was a Jaeger!  But what species?  Both of us followed the bird for a couple minutes, and during most of this time the bird lazily flew around the lake, sometimes even rising quite high and soaring out over the water.  At one point it chased a Ring-bill and it was a bit smaller than the Gull.  All the while we could hardly see any white in the base of the primaries, and the bird was very sleek-bodied.  I was now starting to think that this could be a Long-tailed Jaeger.  After the bird flew north out of site, we started to compare notes.  In addition to my observations, Hank also commented that this bird was more gray than brown and rufous seen on Parastics and Pomarines.  We both agreed that this was indeed a Long-tailed Jaeger.  Not bad for the only pelagic bird I saw on the lakewatch.

I’ve now seen Long-tailed Jaeger in only 5 states – in AK as a breeder; in CA, NH, and MA on pelagic trips, and now from shore in VT (see my statebird map below).  And although new for my VT list, it replaces my earlier “Jaeger, sp.” sighting, so no net addition on my list.

Then it was off to the boat trip, where I was joined by about 10 other birders all keenly hoping for more pelagic species.  The trip started pretty slowly, with a few migrant flocks of Cormorants and Canada Geese, but no other obvious migrants.  We passed by a few feeding flocks of gulls, in each case hoping to find a Jaeger in their midst, but to no avail.  Although there was a breeze out of the northwest, it must have been too light to usher in our pelagic targets.

A bit later the boat made its way toward the middle of Lake Champlain just a bit east of the VT/NY stateline.  We continued to come by a few feeding flocks of gulls, with some of those gulls coming over to the boat to feed on the chum Allan was throwing.  And then in one of the gull flocks I spotted a gull with large white triangular wing patches – Sabine’s Gull!!!  I soon got the rest of the boat on this immature bird, and we successfully chased it a bit farther west where we got close looks as it fed.  And then the bird became attracted to the chum and came over right next to the boat.  Birders with nice cameras and lenses got amazing photos of the Sabine’s – I got these miserable shots just holding up my cell phone.

We continued to watch the bird as it flew a bit farther west eventually getting into NY waters.  One of the rare times where one single bird has passed over a stateline giving me ticks in two different states - #280 for me in VT and #282 for NY.  I’ve seen Sabine’s Gull only twice before in the in East (in MA and NH), plus once in AK.  And my personal Sabine’s jackpot was seeing flocks of hundreds of birds while on my sole CA pelagic trip years ago.

Later on in the trip I spotted a distant immature Jaeger flying by to the west.  Although we tried to chase after it, we couldn’t refind the bird, which would unfortunately have to stay as another “Jaeger, Sp.” – and likely in NY waters.  Though while trying to refind the Jaeger we did come up with a late Black Tern, which would turn out to be the last bird of interest for the trip. 

Although we didn’t have many pelagics on the trip, the Sabine’s was quite amazing.  And of course the Long-tailed Jaeger from shore was special too.  The other Jaegers will have to wait till another time.

Two Southeastern Rarities in Ocean County NJ, September 2017

I used to bird in NJ quite a bit while growing up in Maryland - when I moved away from the Mid-Atlantic region for good in 1993 I had a respectable 240 on my NJ statelist.  And then over the next several years I would have frequent business trips to the Garden State, allowing me to add a few birds here and there, increasing my list to 277 by 2009.  But then my work responsibilities changed and I had no more NJ trips for quite a while. 

Then in September 2017 an impromptu trip to Princeton came up.  These meetings were actually supposed to be in Houston, but the location was changed due to all the flooding caused by Hurricane Harvey.  I would likely have a free morning during the trip, plus I would be coming in the evening before, so I would have a little free birding time in the area.  As soon as my trip was confirmed my thoughts went to pursuit of the most common NJ bird that I still needed for my statelist – Barred Owl.  In fact, missing Barred Owl in NJ may well be the most glaring gap in any of my statelists.  Per my statebird map below, I’ve seen or heard Barred Owl throughout almost all of its eastern range, plus in WA and OR in its expanding western range.  But I still needed it in NJ!

I planned to arrive in northern NJ in the evening, and with some eBird research for likely Barred Owl locations, decided to try for it at dusk at the Great Swamp NWR.  I’ve birded Great Swamp in the past, even trying for Barred Owl there, but this time I hoped for a more successful visit.  After all, it is a quite common bird in the proper habitat.

As for my free morning, I first thought about trying for passerine migrants at spots near Princeton.  But my eBird Needs Alerts didn’t come up with too many realistic possibilities.  Then I noticed multiple records of Mississippi Kite at a “stakeout” hotspot in Ocean County.  I was hoping to stay closer to Princeton, but this location was only about an hour and 15 minutes away, and this likely represented the most reliable possible statebird for me.  That is assuming the Kites hadn’t migrated south yet.  And just before my trip a pair of Wood Storks were reported at a wetlands just 10 minutes from the Kite location.  Despite the longer drive time, I would still have plenty of time to try for both the Kite and Storks and still get back to Princeton before my meetings started.  That gave me 3 targets to pursue – my plan was set.

The day of my drive to NJ was hot and muggy, with the possibility of evening thunderstorms.  As I got close to the New York City area the skies were looking ominous, though the storms seemed to be mostly north of the city.  But then as I got into NJ storms were now just to the west – I crossed my fingers they would hold off until after dusk.  When I arrived at Great Swamp right around sunset the good news was it hadn’t started to rain yet; the bad news was it was extremely windy – miserable conditions to try to hear an Owl.  I got out of my car and with the noise of the wind blowing through the trees I didn’t even give owling a try.  And then it started to rain, so I just cut my losses and headed to my hotel, once again unable to fill the biggest gap in my NJ (or any) statelist.  Hopefully the next day would be more successful.

My first target that morning was a stakeout location in Waretown where Mississippi Kites had bred at least since 2015.  Up to 3 birds had been reported at this spot up through the day before my trip, so I was hopeful that I could find them quickly.  The problem was finding the correct location.  Not surprisingly these birds were “old news” by the end of their third breeding season there, and few eBird reports gave detailed locations for the birds.  I also read about a preferred roost tree, which photos showed to be a tall dead deciduous tree, but I couldn’t be sure of the location of the tree.  Plus the Kites were reported from literally dozens of different locations in the general vicinity.  So my plan was to head to the GPS coordinates of the eBird stakeout hotspot, and then keep my eyes open as I arrived in the area. 

Morning traffic was a bit tough that morning, but I eventually got to the general area and slowly drove through the suburban neighborhood that the Kites had called home – it looked a lot like the neighborhood where Kites have nested in NH for the last several years.  I got to the location of the hotspot (at the corner of Walker Lane and Elizabeth Avenue), and prepared to pull over to park.  Just then I looked up and saw a tall dead tree, and spotted a small raptor flying from the tree and heading down the road in front of me – it was the Mississippi Kite.  I had apparently pulled in right beneath its preferred roost tree and unfortunately flushed it from its roost.  That certainly wasn’t my plan. 

NJ was my 23rd state for Mississippi Kite.  Although I still need it AL and VA within its regular southeastern range, I’ve seen it in a number of states in the Midwest and Northeast as part of this species’ apparent attempt at range expansion.

Given my fleeting looks at the bird, I was hoping that it would soon come back to its roost tree.  So I stepped a short distance away to wait its return.  Unfortunately a couple minutes later several cars arrived dropping kids off to a school bus stop at that same intersection.  Finally, fifteen minutes later the bus arrived and the moms headed out of the area.  And now that it had quieted down, I was once again hopeful the Kite would return.  As I waited a pair of local birders arrived, but despite 3 pairs of eyes, we had no other sightings of the Kite in its tree or overhead. 

I was beginning to run short of time, and started to think that I should head out to try for the Wood Storks.  I mentioned the Storks to the other birders, and they were planning to look for them as well.  So with no additional Kite sightings, we decided to give the Storks a try, and we could then come back to try for the Kites again if there was time. 

I followed the local birders to the Bayshore Drive Impoundments section of Forsythe NWR.  We first went to an observation deck on the north side of the impoundments, and found quite a number of waders, but no Storks.  I then mentioned that one sighting the day before mentioned seeing the birds “from the north end of the public beach deck”, and if the eBird location was correct, that would be just a mile or so around the bend on the east side of the impoundments.  So we decided to try to find that spot.

As we got to the public beach we could see a long deck paralleling the beach that was 4 or 5 feet above the parking lot.  We walked up on the deck and looked toward the impoundments to the west, and although the extra elevation was helpful, we still only had limited line of sight into the wetlands.  But since the post mentioned the north end of the deck, we walked to the far north end and looked from there.  Sure enough we had a much better view of the impoundments, and we all simultaneously spotted a pair of large white waders in the far distance.  I got them in the scope and sure enough they were the Wood Storks.  Despite being roughly a half mile away, I got this barely passable phonescoped photo of one of the Storks with a much smaller Egret in the foreground.

NJ was my 10th state for Wood Stork, and my second as a rarity along with MA.

With that one checked off pretty quickly, I still had time to give the Kites one last try.  I headed back to the roost tree, and waited around for a few minutes, but with no luck.  It turns out that my sighting was the last one at this site on eBird for the year before.  Luckily that last bird decided to wait to begin its southbound migration until I was able to see it.    

Adding the Kite and Stork brings my NJ statelist up to 279.  And although I sure would have loved to finally get a Barred Owl in NJ, all things considered, I’d rather add the rarities to my list.  The Barred Owl will have to wait until another trip.

MacGillivray’s Warbler, Odiorne Point State Park, First NH Record, September 2017

“Probably MacGillivray’s Warbler at Odiorne along east side of Boy Scout Trail” – that was the text that came across on Steve Mirick’s rare bird text chain.  Then a few minutes later I received this text – “DEFINITELY a MacGillivray’s Warbler”.  A first NH state record!  It was early Labor Day morning and I wanted to run right out of the house to give it a try.  But I had all day commitments at home and couldn’t break free. 

But what about tomorrow?  If it stuck around I could head out pre-dawn, and maybe even get back home before anyone was awake.  But that would be a big if.  Sometimes fall migrants stick around for a few days, but often they are one-day wonders.  The bird continued to be seen off and on into the early afternoon so that was good news.  And with southerly winds predicted overnight, perhaps the bird wouldn’t want to continue to migrate south.  That is if this western rarity even wanted to migrate south at all.  So I planned for an early trip to Odiorne Point State Park the next morning, optimistically hoping for the bird to continue at least into that next day.  Not surprisingly the MacGillivray’s had spent much of its time skulking in low vegetation, especially patches of goldenrod, right along the trail.  And most importantly, it was often quite vocal, giving series of sharp chip notes reminiscent of a Cardinal.  So I had a good idea where to look and what to listen for.

I arrived at Odiorne at about 7 AM and quickly headed to the beginning of the Boy Scout Trail as it’s called just off the southern tip of the parking lot.  As I arrived at the first patch of goldenrod I could see 3 other birds up ahead – they hadn’t had the bird but had just arrived.  It was a pretty chilly morning and likely this insect-eater’s food wouldn’t be active yet, so perhaps the target bird wouldn’t be moving around yet either.

I started to head back to the car to get a light jacket, and just as I neared the beginning of the trail I heard several sharp chip notes coming from the brush.  I stopped in my tracks, and listened intently – there it was again.  I got another birder on these chip notes, which soon became louder.  We both peered into the vegetation where they were coming from, but saw no movement.  Then it was silent.  I turned to the other birder and remarked that I thought that was the MacGillivray’s.  The birder I was with happened to have heard and seen the bird yesterday, and she agreed that those call notes sounded like what she had heard yesterday. 

So the bird was still around, but now I wanted a visual.  Unfortunately I had no other activity from the thicket for quite some time – no visuals or other chip notes.  It was now 8 AM and there were at least a dozen birders there with me searching for the bird.  But no one had any sightings.  Then I heard the sharp chip notes again, and got another birder on the calls.  We listened as the MacGillivray’s gave a series of 12-15 call notes from low in the goldenrod thicket.  Then it was quiet again.  The calls were coming from just 15 feet away but we saw no movement at all.  Very frustrating…  I stayed until about 8:45 when I had to head home, confident in the fact that I had heard the bird, but disappointed that I didn’t have a visual.

Later in the day there was one brief visual sighting of the MacGillivray’s from this area, and another sighting the next day as well.  And then amazingly the bird was re-sighted about a week later elsewhere in the park, a good half mile away!  Maybe it will stick around well into the fall.

MacGillivray’s Warbler was #364 for my NH list, joining MA as my only New England state for this rare western vagrant.  I’ve also seen this species throughout much of its regular western range in the US and Canada, though I still need it in AZ and MT as a regular breeder.  Not to mention I found one years ago as a rare spring migrant in ND.  (see my state and province maps below)

Baird’s Sandpiper and Northern Gannet, August 2017 - Can you Guess the Unlikely Location?

If you had to guess – what state would I be in to add both Baird’s Sandpiper and Northern Gannet as new statebirds in August? 

Baird’s Sandpiper is a rather common migrant throughout the middle of the country, and a rarer but regular migrant elsewhere across the US.  As shown in my Baird’s statebird map below, I’ve seen this species throughout most of its regular migration range, except for LA.  Plus I need it in several southeastern and southwestern states, and NY, where it’s a rarer migrant.

By comparison Gannet is typically only seen in summer along the north Atlantic coast, but is a regular winter bird throughout the Atlantic and Gulf coasts.  I’ve seen Gannet in each of the Atlantic coast states but only in the Gulf in FL and AL. 

So perhaps the most likely single location to add both of these birds as new statebirds would be LA, though it would require a very rare summer sighting of the Gannet.

But the real answer is – I was birding in CA, and added both stakeout birds to my CA statelist in August 2017 at the end of a business trip to the San Francisco bay area.  Now for the story –

An extremely rare Gannet had been reported recently at Devil’s Slide County Park, most often seen perching on Egg Rock off-shore with Cormorants.  This is likely the same Gannet that was found earlier in the year farther down the coast at Ano Nuevo State Park, which preferred to perch on a rock some 2.2 miles offshore among a colony of Western Gulls.  That is except for the day I was there in March 2017.  At least Egg Rock was much closer to shore – a mere 1,400 ft or a quarter mile away.

Up to 4 juvenile Baird’s Sandpipers had been reported at Venice Beach a short distance south of the Gannet location.  I had birded that spot back in March, finding a pair of Glaucous Gulls to my CA list, plus finding an impressive flock of 23 Snowy Plovers.  The Baird’s were reported near the outlet of Pilarcitos Creek. 

My plan was to finish my last day of my business trip, and in route to the SFO airport, first stop at Devil’s Slide.  Then I would head south to Venice Beach, accessing the beach from the end of Venice Boulevard, and then drive to my hotel near SFO.

I arrived at Devil’s Slide right on schedule in the late afternoon, and walked right to the spot where I could see Egg Rock.  It was a cloudy day so I wouldn’t have to contend with looking into the western sun.  Plus earlier I had traded e-mails with local birders to make sure the rock was close enough to be able to spot the Gannet with binocs.  That was all good news.  The bad news was that there were almost no birds perched on the rock at all – at most only about 25 Cormorants and obviously no Gannet, presumably because the birds were out feeding instead of roosting.  So I began to scan the water in the area hoping to find the bird foraging nearby.  The water was covered in an impressive number of Murres, Cormorants, and gulls, but still no Gannet.  I continued to search the water and the rock for about an hour, but the best highlight was 3 whales that passed by quite close to the coast. 

Having no luck with the Gannet, I decided to head south for a quick try for the Baird’s, and then come back to Devil’s Slide for a second attempt at the Gannet.  Just 15 minutes later I had parked my car at Venice Beach and walked toward the mouth of Pilarcitos Creek.  But there were no shorebirds in site.  And in fact there was no habitat that would support foraging Baird’s.  Nothing looked like the habitat in the photos I had seen on eBird so I figured I must be in the wrong spot.  I looked to the south and saw much better habitat in the stretch of the creek that paralleled the coastline.  But how do you access that area?  On GoogleMaps I could see what looked like a trail leading to the coast from the end of Beach Avenue so I decided to give that a try.

After a short drive I was on Beach Avenue and sure enough found a trail heading to the coast.  And soon I was on top of the bluff looking down to the creek bed.  I quickly spotted some shorebirds down below me but they were just Western Sands, Semi Plovers, and Killdeer.  Now I was wishing I had brought my scope to look farther south.  I continued to walk a bit farther south and got a different viewpoint and quickly spotted a larger peep standing on a drier part of the creek bed – a Baird’s Sandpiper!  Although I wanted to stay to look for the other Baird’s, it had taken me an hour to find the right spot at Venice Beach, and I still needed to make a second try for the Gannet.  So I decided to head back to the car, but first got this distant picture of the Baird’s holding my phone up to my binocs.

Twenty minutes later I was back at Egg Rock, but unfortunately there were still just a few Cormorants perched there.  Then I spotted a bit of white on the rock which was most likely just a partially obscured Western Gull.  But since it was the only white bird there I focused on it to be sure.  Just as I was concentrating on the Gull the Gannet flew right through my binocular field – between me and the rock.  I watched it fly around near Egg Rock for the next 5 minutes, though it never landed.  I was able to get several videos of the bird holding my phone up to my binocs – here is the shortest one.

I have to ask myself how would a Gannet get to the CA coast from its regular range in the Atlantic?  Would one fly to the Pacific via the Arctic?  Or would it perhaps take a more direct but landlocked route somewhere across North America?  Who’s to say.

In any case, sure is nice when it all comes together, especially for the extremely rare Gannet.  And adding 2 new birds brings my CA statelist to 389. 

Little Stint, Chatham, MA, August 2017

Little Stint is a great bird for MA – in fact it’s a great bird anywhere in the Lower 48.  So daily reports of a seemingly reliable bird from Morris Island in Chatham should have gotten my attention.  But despite how rare it is, I hadn’t tried to pursue it for two key reasons – it was discovered while I was focused (in fact obsessed) on trying to get out to see the Bridled Tern in CT (including two unsuccessful boat trips), plus I had thought you needed a boat to get to the Stint’s offshore location making it a logistical challenge.  Then there were the slight complications that I discovered that most of my MASSBIRD e-mails were going into my spam folder and my MA eBird Needs Alerts had been turned off.  So I wasn’t getting many of the regular updates on the Stint, or any other rarity that might be found in MA. 

But then while chatting with another birder as we watched the Common Shelduck in NH, he mentioned he had just seen the Stint.  And it simply required a short walk along the shoreline; no boat was needed.  The next morning I started to wonder if I should try for the Stint after all.  The problem was my window of free time was limited to just that day, and I had planned to head out on the Cross Sound Ferry that afternoon for a second try at Cory’s Shearwater on Long Island Sound (in CT waters of course).  In fact I had already made my reservation on the ferry, though with a bit of research I realized I could cancel the reservation.  I started to piece together directions for finding the Stint, and soon realized tides were a key issue – the bird was principally only showing up at mid to low tides.  I checked the tide cycle and high tide that day was at 11:30 AM, so an afternoon visit would work well. 

With Little Stint being a lot rarer than Cory’s Shearwater, and presumably more likely as well, I cancelled my ferry reservation, and planned my 2 ½ hour drive to arrive in Chatham at about 12:45 PM – more than an hour after high tide.  My hope was that I would find the bird on the falling tide soon after I arrived, and be able to start my drive home shortly thereafter.  It was a summer Sunday after all, and departing the Cape would be a nightmare if I couldn’t get out quickly that afternoon. 

As I headed to Chatham I checked my e-mails a couple times hoping for positive reports from the low tide that morning, but there were no reports at all.  Was no news bad news?  Then as I got onto the Cape I saw that Route 6 was already backed up for 5 miles – and it wasn’t even Noon yet - yikes.  I was starting to have that sinking feeling, though I tried to remain positive.  Then I remembered the best access to the bird required parking in the lot at the Monomoy NWR headquarters.  I remembered that that lot is pretty small.  So on a nice Sunday beach day would there even be a place to park?  Sure enough as I got to the lot it was completely full, with two other cars circling along with me looking for a spot.  But just a minute later a couple walked up from the beach into the lot and I was able to take their parking space – things were looking up.

The best directions I found on-line said to take the stairs from the lot down to the beach, and then walk about ½ mile west of the Morris Island access to areas of marsh grasses and mudflats.  Minutes later I was descending the steps and found 3 birders on the landing down below.  They had been there all morning, and perhaps had a sighting of the Stint, but wanted to wait till the lower tides that afternoon to get a better view.  And apparently that was the only possible sighting that morning.  I looked to the west and the tide was high enough that no beach was exposed at all.  Then a birder appeared in the distance wading toward us from the west – he had been out in the proper area but there was still no exposed mudflat.  So we all decided to wait a bit longer for the tide to drop further. 

At 1:30 (2 hours after high tide) we all decided to head to the west, requiring just ankle deep wading in one area.  We got to the area where the bird might have been spotted that morning, but there was still next to no habitat.  Finally at 2 PM there was a bit of mud, and a couple peeps and Semi Plovers flew in.  The peeps were mostly the expected Semi Sands, but then I spotted one bird that was smaller and rustier that the Semi Sands, and had dark legs.  I pointed it out to another birder, but we both eventually decided it was just a Least – in the harsh lighting conditions it was very difficult to see the pale legs (plus the overhead sun meant the bird’s body was shading its legs making them look dark).  And there were no white braces on the scapulars – a feature that was quite visible in most of the pictures of the Stint.  We were trying too hard…

We waited a bit longer at this spot but still had no more than a dozen peeps and Semi Plovers, even though more flats were now exposed.  Sure didn’t seem very promising.  I then remembered one post mentioning that the bird was seen “past a creek”.  We hadn’t come to a creek yet, so I decided to head a bit further west and sure enough came to a small creek discharging water into the bay from the nearby saltmarsh.  And up ahead was another mudflat with perhaps 50 shorebirds.  Maybe this was the spot.

I set up my scope at this western location, and started to scan through the shorebirds.  There was better diversity here, including a Short-billed Dowitcher, a pair of Yellowlegs, and a Black-bellied Plover mixed in with the Semi and Least Sands and Semi Plovers.  But no Little Stint.  Then on another scan I spotted a Buff-breasted Sandpiper on a drier part of the beach – a nice find but still not the target.  More scans yielded presumably the same birds over and over again. 

It was now 3 PM and I was starting to think our target was going to be a no-show.  And my mind started to wander - think how awful the traffic would be getting off the Cape.  Then all of a sudden I picked up a peep that was brighter – so bright in fact that it seemed nearly orange.  Obviously much brighter than the Leasts that I had earlier tried to turn into the Stint.  Within seconds I could see the rusty cap and truly dark legs.  Then it tipped to feed and I saw the white braces.  Little Stint!  It must have just flown in.  I got the birder next to me on the bird, and seconds later the other birders spotted it as well.

Over the next few minutes I got a couple barely passable phonescoped photos of the Stint.  And although these shots don’t do a good job capturing the rusty color of the bird, I was lucky enough to get a couple pictures of the bird next to a Semi Sand (on the left) showing the Little Stint’s white braces.

As we all headed back to our cars we compared notes regarding our upcoming drives to head home.  The other birders were from the central coast of Maine, Pennsylvania, and Ontario.  And one birder we passed heading out to the spot had just flown in from Florida.  Although my drive back would be a long one, even with the extra 30 minutes to get through the 7 mile backup getting off the Cape, my trip home would be the shortest of them all.

Little Stint was #413 for my MA list, and the 517th species I’ve photographed.  But it was not a lifer – my only other Little Stint was in NH in 2003, in the same pool the Common Shelduck has been frequenting.

And as for that missed chance for Cory’s Shearwater in CT – as of this writing, no more Cory’s have been reported from the ferry.  I’ll just have to try for them again next summer.