Best 2 Days of Birding Ever, August 2018

It all started with reports of a Little Egret in Westerly, RI – that’s only the 2nd record for the state based on eBird data, so it would be a great one to chase after.  And although the Egret was reported for a few consecutive days, it was only being seen between 5:30AM and 6 AM before flying off to points unknown with a flock of Snowy’s and Greats.  That was way too early for me to try for given my 2+ hour drive time.  But then the bird was found to be feeding during the day in marshes and perched in trees in the Winnapaug Pond area along Atlantic Avenue in Westerly.  So now it was very much chaseable.

And as I was putting my plans together to try for the Egret, a post came across the CT listserve from Tom Robben that he was able to see the continuing Bridled Tern on Great Gull Island in NY from a Lighthouse Cruise out of New London, CT.  This was presumably the same Bridled Tern that spent much of last summer on Falkner Island in CT.  Many birders got to see this reliable bird – that is the bird was reliable for almost everyone except for me.  I tried twice for the Tern without success.  And since this would be a life bird, I was still very interested in trying to see it this summer, even if it was in NY instead of CT.  Though Tom stressed that even if you were lucky enough to see the bird while on the Lighthouse Cruise it would still be very distant. 

So I started to revise my plans to start early morning in Westerly to try for the Egret, then head to New London to take the Lighthouse Cruise to try for the Tern.  While researching times for the cruise I noticed several e-mails regarding identification of a Hawk seen in Maine.  It took a while to unravel the story, but it was eventually ID’d as an amazing Great Black Hawk, native to Central and South America.  And despite some initial questions as to the location of the bird, it was verified to be in Biddeford, ME.  The bird was first seen two days earlier, but not re-found the next day.  What an exciting second ABA record!  But apparently no longer around.

And as they say on the infomercials – “But wait there’s more…”  I had just finished figuring out the Black Hawk story when an eBird NH Needs Alert came across with a Neotropic Cormorant seen in Gorham, NH 6 days earlier, complete with photos!  That would be a first record for NH and likely for all of New England.  But that was 6 days ago and a good 3 hours north of me.  So although there were now reports of 2 truly amazing birds north of me, both were now a bit dated, so I went back to continue my planning efforts to head south into RI and CT. 

Then minutes later came a report that the Great Black Hawk was re-found in Biddeford.  That certainly changed the equation.  And as I was piecing that together an e-mail arrived reporting that the Cormorant was still at the same location in Gorham.  I was having trouble keeping up…  Although the Little Egret and Bridled Tern were rare, they were not nearly as rare as the Great Black Hawk and Neotropic Cormorant.  So I changed my plans, and decided to start the day in Biddeford, then head north to Gorham.  The Egret and Tern could wait till the next day.

The Great Black Hawk was first reported two days earlier, though not surprisingly the observer needed help to identify this immature bird.  It was spotted in a small neighborhood along Maddox Pond Road just off the coast.  When the Hawk was re-found it was on nearby Lily Pond Avenue, with agitated Robins giving away its location.  So when I arrived at 7:30 that morning I headed right to Lily Pond Road and found at least 30 birders already milling about looking for our target bird.  No sightings yet.  But just a couple minutes later I could hear some Robins squawking a short distance to the south.  Could they have the Hawk?  I pointed out the calls to other birders, and many of us headed in that direction to check it out.  But before I could find the Robins here was another birder heading towards us to spread the word that he had the Black Hawk up ahead.  A minute later I came upon the squawking Robins, and there was the Great Black Hawk.  An amazing bird with such long legs and large bill.  It put on a great show, thanks to those marauding Robins.  Here are a couple phonescoped photos of the bird.

And a shot of the many happy birders who were there.

I spent about a half hour with the bird taking in all the great views, before it flew off a short distance back into the woods out of sight.  During this time I ran into Davis Finch, a long-time birding friend from NH.  I told him of my plans to try for the Neotropic Cormorant next, and he quickly accepted my offer to come along and make the trek up to Gorham.  After a short review of the maps, we planned our 2 ½ hour route, and at 8 AM our 2-car convoy started out through the country side.  About half way to Gorham I received a text with even more amazing news – a Wood Stork had just been spotted in southern NH at Pickering Ponds in Rochester!  There was only 1 previous hypothetical record for this species in NH, so it would be great to go after that bird too.  But we still needed to drive another hour north to try for the Cormorant.  And then it would take another 2-hour drive south before we could get to Rochester.  I shared the news with Davis when we arrived in Gorham, and we both crossed our fingers that the Stork would remain until we could get to Rochester.

But first we needed to focus on the Cormorant.  The eBird report included photos showing the bird perched on a line of orange buoys just upstream of a hydroelectric dam on the Androscoggin River.  Although directions in the first eBird report were cryptic at best, the new posts included good details, and after a short walk Davis and I approached the river where the Cormorant had been roosting.  As we crested the dike there was NH birder Steve Mirick already looking at our target bird.  I got these distant phonescoped photos of the Cormorant.

Interestingly the last Neotropic Cormorant I saw was earlier this year at Lake Mead near Las Vegas – also a rarity though certainly not as rare as this NH bird.  The NV Cormorant liked to perch on a floating “jetty” similar to our Gorham bird.  NH was my 8th state for this species which is increasingly prone to wandering from its regular range.

Although I was tempted to walk closer and get better views, both Davis and I were anxious to get back on the road to try for the Stork.  So by 10:30 our little convoy was heading south to Rochester, happily receiving updates that the Stork was still there.

Two hours later we pulled into the parking lot at Pickering Ponds, and within a couple minutes we walked up the dike to get a view of the impoundments.  There was a small group of birders up ahead, and they had the bird in their scopes.  Here’s a phonescoped picture of this most cooperative bird.

That was my second Wood Stork in New England – the first being in Barnstable, MA in November 1994.  And NH is now my 11th state overall for this species.

What an outstanding day!  I sure was glad I changed my priorities to head north to chase after these 3 extreme rarities.  And glad I went after the Hawk first because it was last seen at about 2 PM that day.

When I got home that afternoon I reviewed my e-mails and the Little Egret was seen again in Westerly, RI that day.  So that one was still in play.  And then I noticed an e-mail from a boat captain out of CT (Captain Ian Devlin) offering to take birders to Great Gull Island to try for the Bridled Tern.  That approach would certainly give me a much better chance of seeing the Tern compared to a “drive by” while on a Lighthouse Cruise.  I quickly replied back to him saying I would like to try for the Tern the next afternoon.  I also reached out to a CT birder Maggie Peretto who unfortunately was along with me on those same 2 unsuccessful attempts for the bird last summer, hoping that she might want to share the ride with me.  I got a quick reply from Maggie that she was interested, and she too sent an e-mail to Ian saying she wanted to go the next day.  But as the day progressed neither Maggie nor I had received a reply from Ian.  So despite the lack of responses, I planned to head out early the next morning to try for the Little Egret, then hopefully hear back from Ian to take his boat to try for the Bridled Tern.  But just in case I didn’t connect with Ian, I researched the times of the Lighthouse Cruise, as well as the regular New London to Orient Point ferries as fall back options. 

I was out of the house bright and early for the second consecutive day and arrived at Winnapaug Pond at about 8.  I was pretty familiar with this spot having seen 2 RI rarities there in the past – Ruff and White Ibis.  As I pulled up I could see another birder already there scoping the marshes.  Although he hadn’t found the Little Egret yet, he had found a flock of Snowy and Great Egrets about a quarter mile to the north feeding at the edge of the river channel.  This could well be the flock that the Little was associating with, so we spent the next few minutes trying to find out target.  But given the distance and all the tall vegetation we were unsuccessful picking out the Little Egret among those other white waders.

And then a couple of the Egrets left the flock and began flying toward us.  Then seconds later a few more took off.  I put a couple of these in my scope and initially thought in the distance that both were Greats based on size.  Then I realized one of them had a dark bill.  Now as they got closer I could see the dark-billed bird was a little smaller than the Great, and it had dark lores – I had the Little Egret!  The other birder spotted it in flight as well.  Interestingly, since the bird was flying nearly directly at us, neither of us saw the long head plume of the Little Egret.  Just goes to show you often need to focus on multiple field marks to make an ID.  I followed the target all the way to a nearby grove of trees, where it landed on the back side unfortunately out of view.  I waited another hour for the bird to drop down into the marsh to feed.  But it never came out into the open, nor were we able to re-spot it in the trees.  With the heat and humidity on the rise, I called it quits at 9:30, happy to have had at least a limited view of the Egret.  Good thing it wasn’t a lifer – I’ve also seen this species in ME, NH, and MA – otherwise I would have wanted better views.

Now I turned my attention to trying to get out to see the Bridled Tern.  I still hadn’t heard from Ian, so I gave him another call, but could only leave him another message.  It wasn’t looking like I would hear back from him, so I called the ferry company to see if they still had spaces open on the lighthouse cruise later that day.  Unfortunately the lighthouse cruise was canceled for the day.  This was bringing back awful memories of my futile attempts to try to get a boat out to see the bird last summer when it was in CT.  Although birders were heading out daily and seeing the Tern it took me a week to find a boat and captain to take me, and by then the bird was gone.  I probably spent more time trying to find a boat than my time actually on the water looking for the Tern.  Very frustrating…  But rather than head home, since I was already on the coast, I decided to just take a regular round-trip ferry ride out of New London to bird the Sound hoping for pelagics from the ferry.  Of course I would have next to no chance for the Bridled Tern – that would have to wait till another day. 

The next ferry with good viewing didn’t depart until 1 PM, so I had lots of time to kill.  I drove to New London, and parked in my regular garage, arriving at 10:30.  I relaxed in my car for a while, then headed into town and found a quaint sandwich shop for lunch.  It was now about Noon and just as I was about to head to the ferry to buy my ticket my phone rang – it was Captain Ian.  He could take me out at 2:30 that afternoon departing from Waterford a short distance to the west.  Next I tried to reach Maggie to see if she could go along with me.  Not only would it be great for her to have an opportunity to see the bird, but she could share the cost of the boat - $150 for 2 hours regardless of how many birders were on-board.  Unfortunately I didn’t have her phone number so could just send her an e-mail.

Now I had more time to kill, though first I had to find an ATM to get extra cash in case I was the only birder on board.  Within a few minutes I was at the boat ramp parking lot waiting for my trip to Great Gull Island.  Eventually I was able to connect with Maggie, but unfortunately she was unable to go along.  I was on my own, both with respect to paying for the boat as well as searching for the Bridled Tern.

Ian ended up being delayed in traffic, so we didn’t leave the dock until 3:45.  Luckily the water was quite calm because Ian’s boat seemed a bit small to head all the way across the Sound.  But after just a few rougher spots on our 20-minute ride, we neared Great Gull Island.  I had done quite a bit of research on the Tern, and thanks to info in blogs managed by Tom Robben (trips33.blogspot.com) and Joe DiCostanzo (inwoodbirder.blogspot.com), I knew that the Tern preferred to roost on rocks at the northeast corner of the island.  We headed right to that spot and I quickly started to scan the rocks.  There were quite a number of Common Terns scattered about, but no Bridled.  Then I did another scan, and then another scan – still no target bird.  I expanded my scans further to the east and west but still no Bridled.  This was bringing back most unpleasant memories from last summer. 

We had been at the island for maybe 5 minutes when seemingly all the Terns took off out over the water.  Ian spotted a Peregrine buzzing over the island and all the Terns were in chase.  I looked east into a boiling flock of maybe 500 or 1,000 Common and Roseate Terns low over the water and almost instantly picked out a darker-backed bird – I had the Bridled Tern!!!  We continued to follow the bird for a couple minutes as it flew around the boat, and I was able to get these pretty nice photos.

And later I got this shot of the Peregrine flying away, still mobbed by the Terns. 

At one point I watched the Bridled Tern land on the island, but it took off seconds later heading back out over the water.  We stayed at the island for the next 45 minutes but we never re-spotted the bird over the water nor perched, despite expanding our scans to nearby parts of the island.  The bird was obviously not perching in its favorite location.  Thank goodness for that Peregrine!  Otherwise I doubt we would have seen the Bridled Tern.


Before we headed back I spotted a Parasitic Jaeger harassing a Common Tern – in NY waters though.  I still need Parasitic for CT, which is the case for all the Shearwaters as well.  I had hoped that we might get lucky with other pelagics while motoring through the CT portion of the Sound on Ian’s boat, but it was too rough to scan while traveling along.  Though I certainly wasn’t going to be disappointed – after almost seeing a Bridled Tern while on a pelagic out of MA, having to pass on getting a boat to see one in ME, and 2 failed attempts last summer in CT, I finally had my life Bridled Tern!
What an ending to an outstanding 2 days of birding, not only seeing all 5 of my targets, but all 5 were also extreme rarities -

Day 1 –

    Great Black Hawk – life bird, first ME 2nd ABA record, bringing my ME list to 342

    Neotropic Cormorant – first New England record, NH bird #366

    Wood Stork – first confirmed NH record, NH bird #367

Day 2 –

    Little Egret – perhaps 2nd RI record, RI bird #330

    Bridled Tern – life bird, NY bird #284

My life lists now stand at 756 in the ABA Continental region (not including Hawaii), and 736 in the Lower 48.

In all my 51 years of birding, those were most definitely my best 2 consecutive days of birding ever!