28 New Quebec Province Birds, November 2015

Having recently been bitten by the province listing bug, I had made 2 short trips into southern Quebec in the last year to work on my Quebec province list.  Since both trips had been in summer and fall, I needed to make at least one winter trip into Quebec to look for those colder weather species.  I spent some time on eBird downloading bar charts for the southern counties of Quebec and noticed that numbers of many of the “winter” waterfowl actually peak in mid-November, although the northern finches and owls would be more likely in mid-winter.  Of course it can be really cold in Quebec in mid-winter, so I decided a late fall trip would be a better option even if it meant missing out on some of those mid-winter specialties. 

Now I needed to come up with a plan.  I had a realistic list of 52 possible targets, which was way too long to focus on pursuit of individual species.  Instead it would be best to identify the best birding spots with the potential to find multiple targets.  To minimize travel time and maximize birding time I decided to cover areas directly north of VT – generally south and east of Montreal and Quebec City.  It was quite a daunting task with so many possible birding spots and such a long list of targets.  But since that was the area I birded on my last Quebec trip back in September, I was familiar with several of the good birding spots in the area like Lac Boivin and Parc National de la Yamaska.  Several of my targets had been reported on eBird at both locations so stops there made sense.  I also noticed that eBird posts from the northern end of Lake Champlain near Philipsburg included many target waterfowl.  And then I found numerous posts from along the Richelieu River just a short distance to the north, where the river was seemingly teeming with waterfowl.  A bit farther afield there were many reports from Reservoir Beaudet in Victoriaville with a number of waterfowl and gull targets, not to mention 50,000 Snow Geese.  And then there were my landbird targets, some of which had been reported at the George Montgomery Sanctuary in Philipsburg just across the border.  More than enough locations to come up with a multi-day itinerary.

Then there was a rarity to consider.  There were numerous posts about a Harlequin Duck on Riviere des Prairies on the northwest side of Montreal.  It was a long way to go for just one species, and directions weren’t too detailed (and of course in French).  So I wasn’t planning to try for it until I was able to get excellent micro-directions from local birder Joel Coutu.  And if I headed into Montreal I could try the nearby Cimitiere Mont Royal where the only semi-reliable Bohemian Waxwings in the area were being reported.  But the long side-trip and the urban driving still didn’t excite me much, so I decided to play it by ear based on how the rest of my day was going. 

All told that would be 2 full days of birding in the province.  Day 1 of my itinerary would start at dawn at Philipsburg, then I would work my way north up Lake Champlain, then the Richelieu River, and maybe a side-trip to Montreal.  Day 2 would start with landbirds at Lac Boivin, then over to nearby PN de la Yamaska, then up to Reservoir Beaudet.  Based on that itinerary I felt like I could add 15-20 new birds to my province list, though 26 would be a nice stretch goal since that would give me an even 150 for the province.  And starting at dawn in Quebec required a drive through VT the day before, so that would provide an opportunity for another try for Short-eared Owl in Addison, VT the evening before arriving in Quebec. 

Day 0 – VT

I arrived in northwest VT in the early afternoon, and given the strong northwesterly winds I decided to head to Charlotte Town Beach for a lakewatch.  But the only birds moving south were 2 Common Loons and 2 distant Eagle, sp. in NY.  Interestingly I had a Red-throated Loon and several Horned Grebes on the lake – 2 species I would miss in Quebec.  A couple subsequent stops on the lake were even slower, so I headed “inland” and spent some time at the goose viewing area watching thousands of Snows in the distance.  Then it was off to Gage Road in Addison, “the” best place for Short-ears in VT.  I arrived at 3:30, an hour before sunset, and stayed until complete darkness at 5:15, but had no luck with the Owls.  Even though others had an Owl there on subsequent evenings.  Hopefully my Quebec birding would go better.

Quebec Day 1

I started a bit before dawn at George MontgomerySanctuary in Philipsburg.  Or more precisely – mistakenly I started on private property just outside the sanctuary.  After about 15 minutes of hiking I realized my mistake, and made my way back to the car.  But on the way I added a calling Redpoll flying overhead (province bird #1), and a distant calling Carolina Wren (#2).  I eventually figured out how to access the north end of the sanctuary, and found a nice feeding station that included a Red-bellied Woodpecker (#3), and a small number of Titmice (#4), along with the Carolina Wren I heard earlier – that was all 3 of my “southern” target species in one stop.  I continued hiking a bit in the southern part of the sanctuary and found the first of several Tree Sparrows for the trip (#5).

Next it was on to the western edge of Philipsburg overlooking the northern tip of Lake Champlain.  The water was as smooth as glass, and there was almost no heat shimmer, providing excellent viewing conditions.  And although there were a lot of birds on the lake, unfortunately almost all were too distant to identify.  Distant Common Mergansers were barely identifiable only in flight (#6), and luckily a small group of Red-breasted Mergansers (#7) were a bit closer.  And although a flock of Bonaparte’s Gulls were identifiable in flight (#8), they were too far away to try to pick out any rarities that might be mixed in.  Lastly, 2 large flocks of Scaup numbering at least 1,000 birds were just too far away to identify, which was frustrating given that at least a few target Greaters were undoubtedly mixed in.

Far to the north I could see a number of waterfowl and gulls, so I drove a short distance north of Philipsburg to gain a different vantage.  Here I found the first of many flocks of Common Goldeneye for the day (#9), including one female Barrow’s (#10).  And a scan a bit farther to the north yielded the first of many Bufflehead (#11).  So although I added 6 new birds on the lake, I couldn’t find the loons, grebes, and scoters reported there recently.

The next stop was the northwest corner of Lake Champlain, but a quick scan yielded only a few Canada Geese and Bonaparte’s.  Since I was behind schedule I didn’t take any more time here, and instead headed for the highway for the short drive north toward Saint-Jean-Sur-Richelieu.  Highway 35 passed through some nice farming country which I told myself looked like a good area for raptors.  Right on cue I spotted a large buteo near the road that turned out to be a cooperative Rough-legged Hawk (#12), and a couple miles later I noticed a Red-tailed Hawk perched in a nearby tree (#13).  And just before leaving the farmlands and entering the city a flock of Horned Larks flew over the highway (#14).  That was a surprisingly fruitful stretch of highway!

Next it was on to the Richelieu River, where there were nearly a dozen eBird Hotspots from Saint Jean to Chambly.  I first picked out 2 stops along the Saint Jean waterfront that had large numbers of waterfowl in recent posts, and they did not disappoint.  First was Auberge Harris, named for the hotel next to the small roadside parking area.  Here I picked up my first Hooded Mergansers (#15 – at least 35 birds) among the 2,000 Canada Geese, 250 Goldeneye, 20 Common Mergs, 10 Red-breasted Mergs, and 20 Bufflehead.  I kept scanning through the birds not finding any rarities until I picked up a pair of large dark ducks in flight.  They eventually landed allowing me to identify them as a female Black Scoter (#16) and a female Surf Scoter (#17) – neither had been reported recently from this spot. 

I wanted to spend more time here combing through the Canada’s hoping for something rarer, but was running way behind time and instead headed a mile north to the next stop – Halte Cayer.  This spot featured 2,000 Snow Geese, 1,000 Canadas, at least 100 Goldeneye, and 3 sleeping Scaup sp., but nothing new for my list, though again I wished I had time to do a more detailed search through the geese. 

As I was making the drive north to my next stop at Fort Chambly I got a text from local birder Joel Coutu saying the Montreal Harlequin Duck was being seen most cooperatively.  But I was running pretty far behind schedule, so I wondered if I had time to try for it.  Then a quick scan of the Bassin de Chambly from Fort Chambly revealed very few waterfowl.  So with real-time updates on the Harlequin from Joel, I decided to skip my last 2 stops at Bassin de Chambly, and headed to Montreal to try for the Harlequin, and then to the cemetery to try for the Bohemians if there was enough time.

The Harlequin Duck first showed up at the Parc Nature de L’Ile de la Visitation in January 2015.  Although it was most frequently seen in rapids downriver of the main section of the park, in the last couple days it was being seen in a different stretch of rapids in the main part of the park.  Joel gave me excellent directions to this spot, and then suggested I just look for the photographers.  I successfully navigated the downtown Montreal streets, took the short walk to the proper part of the park, and could see at least a dozen photographers ahead along the river’s edge.  There was the male Harlequin swimming and diving in an area of small rapids among a flock of Canadas (#18).  I got these barely passable phonescoped photos of the bird – I’m sure the photographers with their long lenses got much better shots.

I hated to “bird and run”, but I wanted to try for the Bohemians, so I spent just a couple minutes with the Harlequin and then started to walk back to my car.  I had just climbed up from the river bank when I came upon several photographers with their lenses pointing up into the trees.  With a quick glimpse up into the bare branches I saw nothing at all.  But then I remembered Joel mentioning that this park was known for its Screech Owls.  So I looked closer and saw that one of the trees had a knot hole.  I set up my scope and sure enough there was a Screech Owl sleeping inside (#19).  Like I always say – “bird the birders”.

Both the Harlequin and the Screech Owl were bonus birds I wasn’t planning on, so this side-trip was a nice addition to my itinerary.

Next I was off to the Cimetiere Mont Royal to try for Bohemian Waxwings.  The eBird reports mentioned they were eating crabapples, so my plan was to look for the trees and then hope the Waxwings would be cooperative.  However, when I arrived at the cemetery I found crabapples everywhere, and all were full of fruit.  I spent the next 90 minutes wandering through the very nicely landscaped cemetery, finding 3 flocks of Robins numbering at least 100, but no Waxwings.  At one point I ran into another birder also looking for the Waxwings, but also unsuccessful.  Though he did just find a pair of Pileated Woodpeckers.  He pointed me in the direction where he last saw them, and I was able to refind both birds (#20).  A nice consolation for not finding the Waxwings.

That gave me 20 new Quebec province birds – already the high end of my hoped for total and I still had another day of birding ahead of me. 

Quebec Day 2

I started the day pre-dawn at Centre d’Interpretation de la Nature du Lac Boivin, a very nice park with varied habitats that I visited back in September.  First I took a walk through wet brushy habitat hoping for targets like sparrows, Rusty Blackbird, and Siskins.  But I could only find a few Tree Sparrows and Goldfinches.  Next I checked out some vantage points on the lake hoping to find a Cackling Goose reported earlier but with no luck.  With slow birding here I moved on to a nearby park where a flock of Snow Buntings had been reported two days earlier, but I came up empty once again.  It could only pick up from here, right? 

The next stop was Parc National de le Yamaska – another spot I birded in September.  Recent reports from the lake at the park had included Common and Red-throated Loons, Red-necked Grebes, Scoters, and Long-tailed Ducks, so I was optimistic I would pick up a number of targets.  Soon after I started scanning the lake I spotted the first of 4 Common Loons (#21), but I couldn’t turn any into their slimmer Red-throated cousins.  Then I noticed a pair of sleeping waterfowl in the distance that I eventually concluded were Red-necked Grebes (#22) – I would end up finding another pair elsewhere on the lake.  Two nice finds, but otherwise the lake just held a few of the expected Common Mergansers, Goldeneye, and Bufflehead. 

Next I took a short walk through the woods to the secondary dam to the northwest, which on my September trip had good numbers of gulls, waterfowl, and shorebirds.  And although there were a number of waterfowl and gulls there on this trip, there was nothing unusual.  As I was packing up my scope to head back I heard what sounded like a bugling call somewhere overhead.  Was it a Sandhill Crane?  I stood still and listened intently – there was the call again.  It was indeed a Crane!  (#23)  I ended up hearing it call 5 times, but not unlike other flyover Cranes, I could never spot it as it undoubtedly flew high overhead.  Nice to find a write-in on eBird.

With birding picking up, I was off to Reservoir Beaudet in Victoriaville.  Although I would have preferred not to have to take a long 90-minute ride to the next stop, eBird posts made this location seem like a must stop.  The reservoir featured a large flock of Snow Geese, with recent posts including targets such as Ross’ Goose, Brant, Cackling Goose, Ruddy Duck, and Iceland and Glaucous Gulls.  When I pulled up to the lake I was shocked by what I saw – Snow Geese as far as you could see covering nearly the entire surface of this small reservoir.

Other birders there that day estimated 80,000 Snow Geese on the lake.  Yet despite these large numbers, no one could pick out a Ross’ Goose that day.  Or maybe I should say because of these large numbers, no one found a Ross’ – picking out a smaller white goose in a sea of larger white geese is no easy task.  But there were at least 2 Cackling Geese in the flock, including these small Richardson’s Cackling Geese (#24). 

After looking at the latter 2 photos of the Cackling Goose I noticed two small immature white geese in the foreground - both are very small compared to the adult Snow Geese nearby, and quite a bit paler than the immature white goose to the right.  Although they are sleeping so you can't see the shape of the head and bill, the small size and paler coloration suggests that they are Ross's (#25). 

At the far end of the lake I noticed a number of gulls flying in, landing briefly to bathe, and then flying out.  In between scans of the white geese I would check out the gulls and picked out an adult and a 1st year Lesser Black-backed (unfortunately not new for my Quebec list), but could not locate the Iceland and Glaucous that had been reported here in previous days. 

I also spent some time looking for diving ducks on the lake, hoping to find the Ruddy Ducks reported earlier.  The far end of the lake had a number of Common Mergansers and Goldeneye, but nothing else of interest.  And among the white geese I only found a single female Lesser Scaup.  That is until a kayaker appeared on the lake and flushed the entire flock of geese, making for this amazing scene.

With all the geese in the air, I looked back on the lake where the flock had been swimming and noticed several diving ducks.  Amazingly the ducks had not taken off with the geese.  The first bird I looked at was a female White-winged Scoter (#26) – a bird not reported recently at the reservoir.  And a few seconds later I spotted a single Ruddy Duck (#27).  And scanning further I found a flock of 4 Scaup – 1 of which was a female Greater (#28).  It was great to finally be able to tick this one off my list after having seen so many “Scaup, sp.” earlier in the trip.  All these ducks had undoubtedly been mixed in with the geese the whole time I was there.  But despite all my scanning I was only able to find one Lesser Scaup among the larger geese, even though one would think the dark ducks would stand out among all those white geese. 

It was now mid-afternoon, and with a long drive home in front of me, I decided to start heading south, very happy with my results.  Although I only had 62 species on the trip, 28 were new for the province list.  That was way over my expected 15-20, and even over my stretch goal of 26, increasing my Quebec list to 152.  My species list in Canada increased by 6 to 277, while my total ticks in Canada is now 794.  Both are pretty meager totals, but with 40 new species and 379 new ticks in Canada in 2015, it’s a big improvement.

The next (and perhaps last) opportunity to add a significant number of birds to my Quebec list would be to a make a late spring/early summer trip to look for breeding landbirds.  With over 30 regular breeders in southern Quebec as potential targets, a 2 or 3-day trip might be worthwhile in May 2016.  Then there are still all those winter finches and owls that I missed on this November trip…

Franklin’s Gull Chase Yields Cave Swallow (but NO Franklin’s), Lynn, MA, November 2015

November is the month for rarities in New England, and 2015 was no exception.  First there was the discovery of a Common Ground-Dove in MA – only the second state record.  And as reports of that bird lit up the MA listserve, reports of Franklin’s Gulls started to appear on the CT listserve.  By the afternoon flocks of Franklin’s Gulls were reported on the southwest CT coast, with several also on Block Island, RI, and a couple on the south shore and western MA.  A convergence of weather patterns had resulted in an unprecedented invasion of Franklin’s Gulls throughout southern New England! 

NH is my only New England state with Franklin’s Gull, so I had visions of adding this species to multiple statelists.  But there were two key challenges – first, I was extremely busy at work and would struggle to break free to chase after them even on the weekend.  And secondly, all the birds were reported from quite a distance away – the CT birds would require at least a 2 ½ hour drive and the RI birds weren’t even on the mainland.  The MA birds were closer, but would they (and any of the others) stick around? 

What to do?  The initial discoveries were on a Friday, so initially I thought about heading out first thing Saturday morning so that I could be on the southwest CT coast just after dawn.  That would put me in the prime area as the first sightings came in.  But then I worried that I might make the 5-hour round-trip purely on speculation only to find out that all the birds had left.  And of course that would take a huge amount of time away from work.  So instead I decided to watch the listserves and only head out if more Franklin’s were reported. 

Saturday morning arrived and I packed all my gear to be able to head out as soon as the first report came in.  Although I certainly wanted to see these rarities, I had huge work deadlines ahead of me.  So it was bittersweet news when the first positive post came across the CT listserve at about 7:30 AM.  A few minutes later I was out the door heading to Seaside Park in CT.  One little problem though – in my haste I headed east out of my road (as if heading to Boston) instead of west towards CT.  Another senior moment…  I didn’t realize my error until I was about 25 minutes from home, meaning I added at least 30 minutes to my drive to CT.  But then I checked my e-mails and saw that a Franklin’s was just reported at Lynn Beach on the northshore of MA.  Lynn is just over an hour from home, and even closer to where I was at the time given my wrong turn to the east.  I pulled over and thought through the options - since the drive to Lynn was so much shorter, I could try for that bird and get back home and back to work much sooner than if I continued to head to CT.  So I decided to forego a possible CT Franklin’s for a possible MA Franklin’s, and headed to Lynn.

While sitting at red lights in Lynn and just a few minutes from Lynn Beach I sent an e-mail to the birder who discovered the bird asking if he still had it.  The good news was that he sent me a quick response.  The bad news was that he mentioned the bird had flown away to the south an hour ago – an important detail he had not included in his earlier post.  Ugh.  But ever the optimist, I knew the beaches at Lynn and neighboring Nahant to the south attract many gulls this time of year, so I hoped that perhaps the bird was still around and I’d be able to re-find it.

When I arrived at Lynn Beach there were already 2 other birders there looking for the Franklin’s Gull, but with no success.  We all checked the numerous Bonaparte’s, Ring-bills, Herrings, and Black-backs, but couldn’t come up with a Franklin’s.  At one point our attention diverted to some grebes offshore, and just as I was putting my scope on them one of the birders yelled – “Swallows!”.  I looked up to see a group of 5 dark-backed swallows flyby just a few feet away.  We all watched them continue flying south for at least 20 seconds, hoping they would circle back, but to no avail.  I could see that they had short square tails, were pale below, and I think I saw a pale rump on one, but never saw any of them well.  Of course that time of year a flock of 5 swallows on the MA coast are most probably Caves, but could we be sure?  A couple minutes later I walked north up the beach to see if the swallows might be hiding out of the wind among some tall condos.  There I ran into another birder who said he just had 5 Cave Swallows flying south.  He later posted a photo of 3 of the birds on eBird showing pale rumps and pale below.  Although the throat color wasn’t evident, 5 Cliff Swallows in mid-November would be next to impossible.  So I feel good saying that I could add Cave Swallow to my MA list.  With Ground-Dove the day before, that was two consecutive days with a new statebird in MA!

Later I checked out the beaches in Nahant, and re-checked the Lynn beaches, but found no Franklin’s.  A distant Laughing Gull briefly got me excited, but I couldn’t turn it into its western cousin.  So although I dipped on Franklin’s Gull in MA, Cave Swallow was a nice consolation, and I was able to get back to work in the early afternoon.  Then again – Franklin’s Gulls were seen throughout the day at Seaside Park which was my initial CT destination.  And one was seen on-shore throughout the afternoon in RI.  So if I had headed to CT I might well have added Franklin’s Gull to my CT list, and then gotten the RI bird on the way back home.  But that would have consumed almost the entire day and limited my work time.  Tough to have conflicting priorities…

Cave Swallow is #407 for me in MA and my fourth New England state for this species.  As shown in my statebird map below, I have also seen the Mexican race in TX and NM, and the Caribbean race in FL. 

Common Ground-Dove, Lexington, MA, November 2015

Mid-morning a post came across the MA listserve passing along an early morning sighting of a Common Ground-Dove, with photographs, in Lexington, MA.  It was at a place I had never heard of before, Waltham Street Farms, which was likely a small spot visited by birders local to the area.  With a bit of research I found the location, but wondered if the bird would stick around.  And even if it did, I worried about getting micro-directions to find the bird.  Although the spot was pretty small, there was still quite a bit of habitat that one lone Dove could use.  I traded e-mails with the person who posted the sighting, and soon thereafter got an e-mail back with excellent directions.  And a few minutes later came a post that the bird was still there.  It was time for a chase!

I arrived at the Waltham Street Farms about Noon, less than an hour after the post that the bird had been refound.  There were 6 cars parked there on the roadside, so I assumed that a number of birders were there looking for the Dove.  After a short walk I could see 10 or 12 birders up ahead along the edges of one of the fields, but only a couple were looking through their binoculars.  I worried that that meant the bird was not in view.  Or maybe it meant that most already had great looks at the target bird.  Luckily it was the latter – when I got up to them they said the bird was just a few feet away in a grassy edge.  Even though they pointed out the specific spot I couldn’t find the bird.  Then I looked through one of their scopes and saw movement – the small Ground-Dove was well camouflaged and pretty much obscured by the taller grass.  I took this phonescoped photo – with the Ground-Dove barely visible.

Can you find the Ground-Dove?

Good thing others were on the bird when I arrived.  Otherwise it might have been very difficult to find. 

That was only the second record of this species in MA, so quite a rarity.  And it was my first for anywhere in New England - #431 for my New England list, and #406 for my MA list.  And only my 8th state seeing this diminutive and declining species, though my statebird map is a pretty good match for its regular range across the southern states, except for the gap in LA and MS.

Caspian Tern and Hudsonian Godwit, Milford Point, CT, October 2015

Some of my favorite birding spots in CT are in Milford and Stratford, but I don’t get to that area often since it is beyond my self-imposed 2-hour drive limit to chase rarities.  So needless to say when a business trip to Milford came up, I decided to take advantage of being in southwest CT and added a vacation day for some local birding.  A couple days before the trip a Painted Bunting was re-found by Tina Green in Westport at the CT Audubon Tree Farm, so that would be an obvious place to start my day.  And then after trying for the Bunting I planned to go to the Quaker Ridge hawkwatch where a number of Golden Eagles had been seen so far this fall.  So that would give me two CT targets to shoot for.

I traded e-mails with Tina Green and she offered to meet me at the farm and show me the exact spot where she had been seeing the Painted Bunting.  Tina had seen the bird 2 consecutive days eating mile-a-minute berries at a location that was some of the first vegetation to be lit and warmed by the rising sun.  So she suggested we start at that spot at dawn and wait for the bird to appear to eat its favorite berries.  When we got there in the pre-dawn light I could see many plants with berries that the Bunting might like to eat.  I was now a bit concerned that this could become a needle-in-a-haystack kind of situation.  Most Painted Buntings seen in New England are birds that show up at feeders in winter, and many stick around for an extended time.  For that reason, CT Audubon had put out a feeder nearby in hopes that the bird would come to the seed.  So if we didn’t see the bird eating natural foods, maybe it might show up at the feeder.

Unfortunately dawn came and went without seeing the bird.  And the feeder had regular visits of Chickadees and Cardinals, but no Bunting.  I spent about 4 hours at the tree farm, and found 55 species at this very birdy spot, including only my second ever Orange-crowned Warbler in CT, but no Painted Bunting.  That was most disappointing given that I had not chased after a semi-reliable Bunting seen the previous winter at a feeder in Stamford – beyond my acceptable chasing distance.  And the winds were out of the south so there was no reason to try for eagles or other raptors at hawkwatches.  So with no other rarities to chase, and work commitments backing up, I decided to head to my Milford hotel early and get to work instead of taking more time off.

It was now late afternoon, and not only had I missed my target bird, but work wasn’t exactly going very well either.  I looked at my watch and it was 3:30.  Milford Point, my favorite birding spot in the area and one of my favorites in all of CT, was only about 15 minutes away.  I asked myself why I was sitting in my hotel room working on a vacation day instead of birding.  So I decided to make a quick run to Milford Point and just do a couple hours of late-day fun birding. 

I arrived at Milford Point and first went to the inland side of the park.  Tide was pretty high, and I didn’t see much except a small flock of Brant.  Then I headed over to the beach to see what gulls and late shorebirds might be around.  At this high tide all the birds were way out on distant sandbars.  I could see a couple birders out that way, so I headed out to join him.  It turned out to be Steve Spector, who I birded with back in February at Silver Sands State Park in Milford to find a stakeout Long-eared Owl, and his wife Charla.  First we spotted a flock of Horned Larks on the nearby spit but no Longspurs.  Then we turned our attention to the distant sandbars where there was a nice collection of shorebirds – principally Black-bellied Plovers, Sanderlings, and Dunlin, plus a nice flock of Oystercatchers.  And of course there were a number of Great Black-backed, Herring, and Laughing Gulls.  I was scanning through the shorebirds hoping to find something else when Charla asked what this gull was with a bright red bill.  It turned out to be a Caspian Tern – new for my CT list.  Thanks Charla!  I got this phonescoped picture of the bird as it rested on the sandbar.

Although Caspian Tern is not a super rarity in CT and is seen every year along the coast, I have never tried to chase after one.  The closest CT coastline is 2 hours away from home, so even if I got news of a sighting in real time, it would take me at least 2 hours to get to the right location.  And in that time the tidal conditions would have changed enough that the bird could well be long gone by the time I arrived.  Similarly, just as with this CT bird, the only Caspian Terns I’ve seen in MA and RI have been birds I’ve run into on my own rather than chasing after.  And I still need this species for ME (see my statebird map below).

Just a couple minutes after spotting the Caspian Tern all the birds suddenly took off, flushed by a Peregrine Falcon.  As the birds milled about looking for spots to land I scanned through them hoping to re-find the Caspian.  At one point a good-sized flock of shorebirds passed through my binocular field.  The flock was mostly Black-bellied Plovers and Dunlin, but then I noticed a larger bird with a white rump and black tail – Hudsonian Godwit!  Another new bird for my CT statelist - #323 for my CT list.  The bird eventually came in pretty close, where I was able to get these phonescoped photos. 

It’s interesting that my pursuit of Hudsonian Godwit in CT has been quite similar to Caspian Tern.  The Godwit is rare but regular as a migrant on the CT coast, but I’ve never chased after one in CT given the same time and tide challenges that I’ve had trying to go after Caspians.  I’ve now seen Hudsonian Godwit in 10 states in the northeast (though I still need it in RI) as a fall migrant, 3 Plains states as a spring migrant, in AK as a breeder, and in WA as a rarity.

Steve made some calls to local birders and several were able to see the bird before nightfall, including ironically Tina Green with whom I started my day in a failed attempt for the Painted Bunting.  Interestingly, the Caspian Tern did not stick around - another one that wouldn't have been chaseable.  Sure didn’t think I would get one, let alone two, new CT statebirds after missing my key target bird.  And not bad for a little light birding late in the day.  Once again Milford Point lives up to its reputation as one of my favorite CT birding spots.  

And one last postscript on the day - although Painted Bunting is much rare than Caspian Tern and Hudsonian Godwit in CT, it is likely the easiest of the 3 to chase after.  I just have to hope that one has an extended stay at a feeder somewhere in eastern CT.