“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.