MA - Gill shorebirds including Baird's Sandpiper

September opened with a welcome temperature drop and brisk north-westerlies. The Caspian Terns at Barton Cove on August 31st certainly piqued my interest and I was back on September 1st finding a group of distant teal that I felt reasonably sure were Blue-winged. Fortunately this hunch was more or less confirmed in late afternoon with a male Blue-winged Teal seen in flight from Barton Cove campground. Elsewhere, I tried a hilltop west of Greenfield for raptors and had 3 Black Vultures dispersing northwards from roost with a about 15 Turkey Vultures. A handful of Broad-winged Hawks and single Red-shouldered Hawk were also seen but, generally, it felt early for raptor migration.

Blue-winged Teal - eclipse male, Barton Cove (campground side), Gill, Franklin Co., MA. September 1st, 2017. 

The Baird's Sandpiper and other shorebirds were using the exposed mud bar at the rear. 

Later in the day the focus shifted to shorebirds when Eric Huston contacted me with a probable Baird's Sandpiper being seen at distance from Barton Cove campground. Given Eric's conservative birding style I instinctively knew that it was a bird that I should try to see and eventually met up with him at the campground. Sure enough, although distant, we watched a beautiful juvenile Baird's Sandpiper foraging on a mud bar with a few Least and Semi-palmated Sandpipers. Rare shorebirds are not easy to catch up with in Franklin County and this was a county first for both of us - 'chapeau' to Eric for his excellent find.

The following morning (Sep 2nd) was shrouded in fog but Brian Kane tried his chances for the Baird's and located it just as the fog cleared. Just as I joined him, not only did we see the Baird's but Brian rather expertly found a White-rumped Sandpiper sharing the mud bar with several Killdeer, 5 Semi-palmated Plovers, up to a dozen smaller peeps mostly Least Sandpipers, and at least one Lesser Yellowlegs, plus 2 or 3 Greater Yellowlegs - not a bad haul for Gill in early September!

AK - Barrow

Red Phalarope - Barrow, Alaska. June 18th, 2017.

After meeting up in Anchorage on June 15th, the Birdfinders tour of  Alaska really got underway with a three day trip to Barrow. Some shorebirds, including Red Phalaropes and Pectoral Sandpipers appeared to be abundant in certain patches of wet tundra and a White-rumped Sandpiper in breeding plumage was a highlight for some. Tundra predators such as Snowy Owls and Long-tailed Jaegers were in short supply this year but, as usual, the eiders were very much the highlight of a visit to Barrow with Spectacled, Steller's and King Eiders all seen well along with larger numbers of Common Eiders migrating over the Chukchi Sea. Red-throated and Pacific Loons were also present in decent numbers and there was a fly-over Yellow-billed Loon for a lucky few within our group. Once again, Polar Bear eluded us, and we were shown crushing iphone shots of one of the ice near gas station taken just two days before we arrived!

Spectacled Eider (first-summer male) - Barrow, Alaska. June 18th, 2017.

Spectacled Eider (adult male) - Barrow, Alaska. June 17th, 2017. 

Spectacled Eider (adult male) - Barrow, Alaska. June 17th, 2017. 

Steller's Eider (adult male) - Barrow, Alaska. June 17th, 2017.  

Steller's Eider (adult female) - Barrow, Alaska. June 17th, 2017.

Common Eiders  - migrating over the Chukchi Sea, Barrow, Alaska. June 17th, 2017.  

Chukchi Sea looking towards Point Barrow - still iced up in mid-June. 

Overlooking the Chukchi Sea just south of Barrow.

Red throated Loon - Barrow, Alaska. June 18th, 2017.

Yellow-billed Loon - over Stevenston Street, Barrow, Alaska. June 16th, 2017.

One of the first loons of  the trip,  seen early on our first day in Barrow. Unfortunately this bird had passed quietly overhead before we realized that it had the potential to be a Yellow-billed. It appeared to be in active migration and turned out to the only the Yellow-billed Loon that we saw in Barrow. Those who missed it eventually caught up with a couple of first-summer Yellow-billed Loons on St.Paul Island much later in the tour.

Red Phalaropes - Barrow, Alaska. June 16th, 2017.

Long-billed Dowitcher - Barrow, Alaska. June 16th, 2017.

White-rumped Sandpiper - Barrow, Alaska. June 18th, 2017.

We enjoyed point-blank views of this bird courtesy of a High Lonesome/Rockjumper tour - thanks Stephan and Forrest!

Cape May Day 3 - Oct 18th

White-rumped Sandpiper - molting juvenile, Avalon, Cape May. Hand held digibin shots using Canon Powersot A560 through Leica 8 x 42 binoculars.


Avalon beach and seawall with shorebirds sheltering from the North-eastern wind in the foreground

We got a rather late start this morning but decided to try for Hidden Valley, part of Higbee Beach WMA. It was clearly much colder than the previous days with a strong North-eastern wind making birdfinding difficult. We had a few birds of interest (Wood Duck, Eastern Meadowlark, several Blackpoll Warblers and White-crowned Sparrows) but gave up in the conditions and headed north to the Avalon seawatch.
Black and Surf Scoters migrating south at Avalon, Cape May - thousands poured southwards all day.

The decision was a wise one. When we arrived the seawatch point was well represented with birders and stream upon stream of dark-winged scoters (all Black and Surf) poured past. Outside of the scoters, variety was rather limited with a handful of Northern Gannets plus a few dabbling ducks, mostly Green-winged Teal and Northern Pintail, passing with the scoters along with a single Greater Scaup. After an hour, I had a walk along the seawall with Matan and a found nice flock of shorebirds sheltering from the wind. The flock included a few Western and Semi-palmated Sandpipers and a single juvenile White-rumped Sandpiper. Just before we left an exhausted Blackpoll Warbler turned up in a tiny group of pines by the seawatch station with a Brown Creeper in the same pines just a few minutes later to add a touch of the bizarre!

Blackpoll Warbler - exhausted migrant next to the Seawatch point at Avalon.

Later I returned to the Avalon seawatch to find an even bigger group of birders, and the scoter migration continuing unabated. The migration included slightly more variety later in the afternoon with Common and Red-throated Loons, Brants and several large mixed flocks of Great and Snowy Egrets passing high overhead. The day ended on a high when a sub-adult male King Eider flew past alone just before 6pm. What was almost certainly the same bird was found off Cape May the very next day and featured in this post on Cape May Bird Observatory's website.

Birders gathered at the Avalon Seawatch, Cape May.

Today's scoter migration really was a spectacle which we felt privileged to witness. Although I haven't see the official totals from the day, I would guess that something in the region of 80,000 dark-winged Scoters passed the Avalon seawatch on October 18th.

Purple Sandpiper - on the jetty in front of the Seawatch point, Avalon, Cape May.