Brown Pelican, Sooty Tern and More, Coastal Rhode Island, Sep 11 (Irene Post #3)

After 2 days of birding in the aftermath of Hurricane Irene and 3 new statebirds, it was tough to go back to work.  Especially with all the sightings of storm-blown birds still occurring, primarily from the CT and RI coastlines.  Numerous southern terns (Gull-billed and Sandwich) and tropical terns (a few Sootys) were seen daily, along with a few immature pelicans.  Then 1 more post of great birds on the RI coast (red-necked phalarope, pelican and sandwich tern) pushed me over the edge.  So I called Denny Abbott and we planned a day on the RI coast on Thursday, 4 days after the storm.  But did we wait too long?

I targeted starting at Moonstone Beach, because seemingly reliable red-necked phalaropes were nearby at Mud Pond, and many of the terns were being sighted on the coast there.  We arrived mid-morning and started scanning Mud Pond for the phalaropes.  Although they had been reliable for several days, we had no luck.  Rather disappointing – I was counting on that one.  Maybe they were tucked away in a portion of the Card's Pond wetlands that wasn’t visible. 

We then walked to Moonstone Beach and began to scan the water.  Within a minute of our arrival I saw an adult Brown Pelican quite close flying to the west paralleling the beach.  I think all the other pelicans reported after Irene had been immatures.  That was not only a statebird for me, but a key target of Denny’s, since he needed it for all the New England states.  Amazingly, birders to the west undoubtedly saw this same bird about 10 minutes later.  Reinvigorated, I kept scanning the waters to the south.  Numerous Common Terns were flying by, but nothing better.  Then I picked up a distant dark phase Jaeger.  Although very far out, you could see the characteristic flight and shape of a Jaeger.  I put it down as a Parastic because that is by far the most likely jaeger, but realistically I could not eliminate Pomarine.  Unfortunately it was too far away to get Denny on this bird.  Two statebirds for me! 

After some local scanning of the beach and nearby marsh at Card's Pond, I went back to scanning the ocean.  After a while I picked up a tern that wasn’t nearly as far out as the Jaeger, though distant.  All I could see was dark – no pale feathering anywhere.  I got Denny on this bird, and we watched it for several minutes.  It had a strong flight, and based on when it passed by a Herring Gull, was a mid-sized tern.  Denny and I spent a lot of time thinking about this bird afterwards, and came to the conclusion that it was an immature Sooty Tern.  Although an immature Sooty does have pale feathering on the belly, we felt that it was not feasible to see the light feathers at that distance.  And although most of the Sootys that were seen after Irene were adults, there were a few other immatures reported.  Statebird #3 for me and #2 for Denny!

After another hour or so, we left the beach and tried Mud Pond one more time for the phalaropes.  No luck again, though an adult Little Blue Heron had arrived.  We decided to drive over to Camp Cronin to check out the jetties there.  On a whim I decided to head east on Matunuck Schoolhouse Road instead of heading north on Moonstone Beach Road.  Wasn’t sure exactly how to get to Camp Cronin, so I was watching my map app on my I-Phone as we headed east on Matunuck.  Out of the corner of my eye I saw something white through the hedgerow in the field next to the road.  I pulled over, and through the brush I saw a herd of cows and a Cattle Egret.  Boy was I lucky – an extra second looking at the map and I would have missed it.  Plus, we almost took Moonstone Beach Road instead.  Statebird #4!  Not likely related to Irene though.  The Cattle Egret stuck around at this site for several days, with several birders spotting it.  Cattle Egrets are rather regular in RI in the Spring, with a number of posts coming from the Jamestown area most years.  But this is the first one I can remember in the fall.

Camp Cronin had lots of birds on the jetties, but they were way too distant.  At one point I went down to the beach to get a different angle, while Denny remained at the parking lot.  When I returned Denny said he thought he had a Gill-billed Tern fly right overhead.  Unfortunately I missed it.

Our last stop was at Watch Hill Point in Westerly.  After a brisk 30-minute walk I made it to the point where there was a nice collection of shorebirds including 1 Buff-breasted Sandpiper, 26 Knots, and 12 Oystercatchers, but no terns at all.  So no new statebirds there, but some good RI birds anyway.

An amazing day with 4 new RI statebirds, at least 2 of which were associated with Irene!

My statebird maps for Brown Pelican, Sooty Tern, and Cattle Egret are inserted below.  I’ve seen Brown Pelican in all the Pacific and Gulf states (plus inland at AZ), and on the Atlantic up to New Jersey.  And now of course RI.  The Sooty Tern map is now complete for post-Irene sightings – RI and MA this year plus the older FL and TN sightings.  And as for Cattle Egret, I’ve seen it throughout the southeast and much of the east, with a scattering of states in the interior west and midwest.  And now all the New England states – the 206^th species I’ve seen in all 6 New England states.

Sanderling in Vermont, August 2011 (Irene Post #2)

While traveling back from the the Quabbin Reservoir after seeing the Tropicbird and Sooty Tern, David Deifik and I strategized where the best birds might appear the next day.  Although we considered First Encounter Beach, we eventually focused on going back to central New England hoping for additional birds that had been blown inland by Hurricane Irene.  We thought the Connecticut River could be a great corridor storm birds might use to try to get back to the ocrean.  We chose the river at Hinsdale, NH, just above the Vernon Dam.  This spot provides an excellent view of nearly a mile of the river, which would give us lots of time to see all those great birds that might fly by.

We got to the dam at about 6:30 AM on the 29th and began to scan the river.  Several notable local birds were present, including an adult and immature Bald Eagle, which initially kept us on our toes.  But as the day progressed, we realized that we weren't likely to get many storm birds.  Our attention frequently moved to the river, where we watched an amazing stream of trees and brush filing past us.  As we looked closer at the floating debris, we began to notice refrigerators, propane tanks, coolers, kid's toys, and most anything else that could float.  We were hearing stories of horrendous flooding in the watershed upriver, and we were witnessing the results of the powerful flood waters that had rushed through peoples' yards. 

Several times we had small flocks of shorebirds fly south generally over our heads.  Interestly, these shorebirds weren't flying down river, intead they were riding the debris down the river.  Then as the debris neared the dam, they would take off, circle a bit, then gain altitude and make their way off to the south.  One of those flocks consisted of 4 Sanderlings - spending some time in NH airspace and some time in VT airspace - a new one for my VT list.  These are certainly good birds for the Connecticut River valley, and perhaps affected by Irene.  We also had one semi sandpiper, one yellowlegs, and several unidentified small and mid-sized peeps.

My statebird map for Sanderling is inserted below.  Most birders probably think of Sanderling as a coastal bird, and of course it is common on the coasts.  But it is also a rather regular migrant through the middle of the country; I've seen it in 13 inland states.  Interestingly, even when they are away from the coast, they are more likely to be on sandy or rocky beaches than on mudflats.

White-tailed Tropicbird and Sooty Tern, Quabbin Reservoir, MA August 2011 (Irene Post #1)

As Hurricane Irene approached with a likely landfall somewhere in New England on August 28th, I had made plans to go birding with David Deifik the day after the storm passed on the 29^th.  Perhaps heading to First Encounter Beach on the Cape as that is typically one of the best places to head the day after a hurricane.  But as the morning of the 28^th arrived, it was obvious that the hurricane was taking a more inland track through western CT, with less than expected wind and rain near the east-facing New England coastline.  So now maybe western MA would be the best place to try for storm-driven birds.  And in western MA the large reservoirs might be the places to try.  Watching the morning radars it was obvious that much of the rain east of the storm in MA would be winding down by noon – much earlier than expected.  So instead of First Encounter Beach on the 29^th, I called David to talk him into heading to Quabbin Reservoir on the afternoon of the 28^th.

On our 90-minute ride through central MA we encountered a few small branches in the road, and many leaves (carpeting the roads in places), but no downed trees or flooding.  By the time we reached the Quabbin, winds were rather light from the south with only intermittent drizzle.  We arrived at about 2 PM at the dam to see 6 or 8 birders already there – some had been there since the early morning and had had a couple jaegers and some migrant shorebirds including Hudsonian Godwits, but no megararities.  Over the next couple hours we continuously scanned the reservoir typically seeing nothing at all.  Key locations on the far side of the reservoir were an island which was 2.9 miles away, and a boat ramp which was 3.5 miles away.  Needless to say, anything flying around on the far side would be little more than a speck.  On one of my scans I picked out 3 distant black terns, and was able to get most of the other birders on them.  Later we had a brief look at a flock of mid-sized shorebirds – but too brief for an ID.

Then around 4 PM several of us saw 2 very distant all dark birds which went down as Jaeger, sp.  Then just a minute later one birder yelled – “I’ve got something good” (or something like that).  A couple seconds later another birder yelled – “White-tailed Tropicbird!”.  It took me a few seconds to get on the bird (which seemed like hours), but I eventually saw the bird fly by, and even at a distance of about 3 miles I could see the very white bird with the long tail feathers.  Then the bird turned and starting flying directly towards us.  Eventually it landed on the water much closer – relatively speaking that is – about a mile away.  With high magnification you could pick out the tail feathers sticking straight up, and the mostly white bird.  As I stretched the limits of my scope (and my eyesight) to try to pick out further field marks, another birder yelled – “Sooty Tern!”  Again it took me an agonizingly long several seconds to find the bird, but then got excellent looks at the adult tern as it made its way closer and closer to us.  Eventually it was just a few hundred yards away, and I watched it continuously for 5+ minutes as it flew and even fed on the water surface at times, seeing all the salient field marks.  Then it soared and circled up over the reservoir, and flew south over the trees, hopefully making its way back to salt water somewhere.  The jaegers, tropicbird, and tern all appeared in a space of 5 minutes or less.  We went back to looking at the tropicbird, and realized that the wind was causing it to slowly drift away.  About an hour later it was little more than a white speck on the water, barely recognizable among the whitecaps.  A small flock of Turnstones flew by a bit later, but that was all the storm-related birds to be had.  So in 4 hours of scanning the reservoir, I saw storm-related birds for about 10 minutes, but they sure were good ones.

I’ve only seen White-tailed Tropicbird once before – on the Dry Tortugas in Florida.  I’ve seen Sooty Tern on my several trips to the Dry Tortugas, and also in Tennessee on the day that Hurricane Katrina passed through the central part of the state.  (I also had Band-rumped Storm-Petrel that day – but that’s another story.)  Needless to say, they are great birds for New England!  Numbers 393 and 394 for MA.  And this would be just the beginning of my Irene birding experience…

Baird's Sandpiper, Connecticut, August 2011

For some time Baird's Sandpiper has been one of the most common birds I still need for my Connecticut list; a nemesis bird of sorts for me in CT.  For instance, last summer I chased after one at Rocky Meadows just south of Hartford without success, even though it had been quite reliable.  So this year I had planned to track the listserve posts closely to watch for any reliable Baird's that I could chase after.  A few weeks ago a Baird's showed up at Rocky Meadows – definitely close enough to chase but just a one-day wonder.  But then 2 were reported in East Hartford at a runoff retention pond at a Cabela’s outfitter store – a bit less than 2 hours away so definitely feasible to chase.  Although I had read a number of posts regarding birds at Cabela’s over the years, I had never been there before.  So after getting excellent directions from a CT birder, I headed down there to give it a go. 

When I arrived, I was shocked to see how small the pond was – just an acre or two.  And since you could walk right up to the pond, it should be relatively easy to find the Baird’s and see every bird at the pond.  Another birder was already there, but had not yet found any Baird’s.  Undeterred, I made a quick survey around the pond and found several Least’s, but no other peeps.  Then a slower search revealed 8 Leasts, 3 Spotteds, 1 Solitary, and many Killdeer, but still no Baird’s.  Another scan came up with the same birds.  It was easy to see every square inch of mud around the pond, so we couldn’t have missed the Baird’s.  Was I going to be skunked again?  Decided to give it one more scan before heading out, and amazingly, there was a Baird’s right at the edge of the mudflats!  Where was it on my prior scans?  Maybe it just flew in or was walking in the surrounding grassy field and had just made its way to the mud.  In any case, a new CT statebird - #293.  I was able to get a couple phone-scoped photos inserted below – one from the back and one from the front.

My statebird map for Baird's is below.  Baird's is my 205th species that I've seen in all 6 New England states.

Avocet in New Hampshire, August 2011

I'm sitting at my desk and my cell rings - it's from Len Medlock who is out birding in NH virtually every day.  An Avocet has been found on the NH coast!  Within 2 minutes I'm out the door for the quick 45-minute ride to Meadow Pond (making calls to alert a couple other birders along the way).  When I get there, Len and Steve Mirick are on the Avocet just a short distance away.  And the pond is alive with birds - peeps, yellowlegs, short-billed dowitchers, stilt sands, semi plovers, great and snowy egrets, shovelers, teal, and several Forster's Terns.  During my short visit both a Merlin and a Peregrine also pass though the peeps.  Although I could only stay a few minutes, it was an amazing quick stop not only with a new statebird (the Avocet), but also good NH birds like shoveler and Forster's terns.  And this is a new spot that I've never birded.

My statebird map for American Avocet is below (shaded states are those where I've seen this species).  NH is my 4th New England state for Avocet, not only indicative of how often it strays from it's normal range, but also that it can generally be chaseable when a vagrant. 

Brant and Long-billed Dowitcher – Dead Creek Wildlife Management Area, VT – August 2011

The greatest possibility for new statebirds for me in Vermont is generally in the northwest part of the state.  Between Lake Champlain’s waterbirds more typically seen on the coastal, a wide assortment of shorebirds at Dead Creek Wildlife Management Area, and the grassland birds of the Champlain Valley, there is a lot of potential.  Unfortunately, northwestern Vermont is more than a 3-hour drive for me, so I don’t get up there very often.  So when a rarity shows up there, although it is very tempting to make the trek to give it a try, I don’t often go. 

This summer there have been frequent posts of a Brant hanging out at Dead Creek, along with a Snow Goose, mixed in with the local families of Canada Geese.  Brant is certainly a good bird for Vermont, especially in summer, and it would be a new statebird.  Plus this is the first long-staying, reliable Brant I can remember for VT.  So with all these factors coming together, I decided to make the drive and give it a go.  With the company of my good birding friend Denny Abbott of NH, we headed to Brilyea Access at Dead Creek to look for the Brant.  When we arrived, several other birders were there looking at some shorebirds at the edge of the marsh.  We asked if anyone had seen the Brant, and one birder mentioned it had just flown to the west with a flock of Canadas.  Remembering that our goal was to find the Brant, we quickly got back in the car and took a short drive west to look for the geese.  There is a large farm pond just a couple hundred yards west of the Brilyea Access, so we expected to find the geese there.  However, there were no geese there of any species.  We continued to drive a bit farther west and noticed a small flock of Canadas “grazing” in some tall grasses along the road – it has to be in this flock, right?  But Denny and I easily searched through the geese and only saw Canadas, even though the birds were somewhat obscured by the grass.  Then I wondered if we weren’t seeing the smaller Brant because it was completely hidden by the grass.  Sure enough, with some closer scanning, I saw a small black head (but only the head) stick up above the grass.  And it was only visible for a few seconds at a time.  Not the best of views, but still a definitive Brant.  We would have never seen the Brant if we hadn’t gotten the tip from the other birders at Dead Creek!

Denny and I then went back to Brilyea Access to join the other birders and thank them for their information on the Brant.  When we returned, they were looking at the shorebirds on the nearby mudflats.  There were only a few, but with considerable diversity – both yellowlegs, a Dowitcher, several Least Sands, a couple Semi Sands, a couple Baird’s Sandpipers, and of course a couple Killdeer.  We spent a lot of time on the peeps, and eventually felt good about the IDs.  Then one birder started asking if the Dowitcher could be a Long-billed.  (Amazing that during all that time we didn’t pay much attention to the Dowitcher!)  Then with a little scrutiny, we saw that the bird was an adult, and rather uniformly orangy below, which would mean if it was a Short-Billed it would have to be one of the Henderson’s race.  Then we noted how dark the back was – no pale edges to the scapulars.  Could that be a reasonably definitive field mark for Long-billed?  There was some limited barring over much of the flanks. 

I took a couple phone-scoped photos of the bird shown below – the first shot shows the very dark back. 

I can't figure out how to turn this picture!

Then I took the following picture and was lucky enough that the bird had its entire bill exposed from the mud.  Wow – it’s really long!  I showed the photo to the other birders and none of us realized how long the bill was until then since it was actively feeding and at least a portion of the bill was always in the mud. 

Another sideways photo - ugh!

After I got home I reviewed a really good article from the Sep/Oct 06 Birding issue on dowitcher identification.  Here's a link to the article -   http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~ctlee/LeeBirchDowitcher.pdf

A few salient features that I didn't know about until reading this article -

·         Loral Angle - the angle between the bill line and a line going through the eye (my poor description).  Basically, the Short-billed eye averages being higher on the head than the Long-billed.  The photo I took with the bird facing us shows a very low loral angle indicating Long-billed.

·         Bill Shape - Short-billed more likely to be a bit downcurved and Long-billed is very straight.  This bird had a very straight bill as shown in the picture with the entire bill exposed

·         Scapulars and Greater Coverts in Worn Alternate Plumage.  Wear of these feathers on Short-billed results in deeply pointed appearance to the feathers - on Long-billed the appearance is square or blunt-tipped.  Again a vote for Long-billed based on the photo showing the exposed bill.  "Because Short-billed shows more extensive white edges than Long-billed, this feature is often still preserved in worn alternate plumage, such that late-summer Long-billeds appear very dark-backed while Short-billeds appear lighter-backed from a distance."  I had not noticed this in the past, but other birders there seemed to key in on this very quickly.

·         Molt Timing - "Long-billeds molt their primaries during migration whereas Short-billeds wait until they arrive at their wintering grounds to molt their primaries."  The molted primaries are visible in my photo showing the exposed bill.  Another Long-billed vote.

·         I really think that the color of the undersides, and the patterns on the side, are inconclusive except that it's either Long-billed or Short-billed hendersoni. 

So along with the really long bill, I've got to believe it was a Long-billed.

I didn't realize that all the North American dowitchers were considered to be 1 species until the 50's - I can certainly understand why.

That gives me 3 new statebirds for VT this year – 246 now.  My statebird maps for Long-billed Dowitcher and Brant are below.  My sightings of the dowitcher are especially spotty in the eastern US.  While for Brant, VT is my first inland state - otherwise my sightings are in all the typically Pacific and Northeast states.



Statebird maps - colored blue in states where I've seen it



White Ibis in Rhode Island, August 2011

There have been quite a number of extralimital White Ibis sightings up the east coast this summer, so I was not too surprised to see a post about one in New England - a juvenile in a marsh in the southwestern corner of Rhode Island surrounding Winnapaug Pond west of Weekapaug.  Over the next several days there were several posts from birders chasing after it, but with as many negative posts as positive ones.  So despite not being very reliable, I decided to give it a try.  One birder suggested trying for it at high tide minimizing the chance that it could be hidden in a channel off in the marsh, so I targeted an afternoon high tide.  I arrived at the key spot where it had been most often spotted (see location link below) and saw two birders with a scope trained on the nearby marsh.  Sure enough - they had the bird in sight feeding in a salt panne right next to the road with 3 Glossies.  If only they were all that easy!  We watched it for the next 20 minutes and was able to get the phone-scoped picture at the bottom of this blog. 

The flock took off at one point when we were looking away, so I started to try to refind it.  Over the next 30 minutes I drove around the edge of the marsh only to realize that it is almost completed surrounded by houses, with only a very small portion of the marsh visible from public property.  Now I see why so many posts were negative.  I never did find it again, though it was likely very close.  Boy was I lucky to see this one.  It was #282 for for me in RI and the third time I've seen it as a vagrant outside its typical southeastern range (see my statebird map below).

Statebird Map

Phonescoped photo