At Sea - $215, 26 Hours, 7 Species - and Only 1 Counts

Everyone wants to know how my "pelagic" trip was.  Remember, pelagic means that you go out to sea on a fishing boat to see birds that live out there. We went out of Lewes Delaware on a 95 foot boat named Thelma V. We left the dock at 10 PM on Friday night (after working a full day and driving to Delaware) and headed out about 100 miles to the edge of the continental shelf.  The seas were rougher than I expected. Sleeping was almost impossible. I tried to sleep on the top deck but got blown around and splashed by wave crashing over the boat. Then I tried to sleep inside on a bench but the cabin smelled like chemicals and old fisherman's boots.  The toilet didn't flush so that smelled bad too.  The mates cut up "chum" all night which also smelled.  People threw up.Thankfully, not me or Barbara.

They got us up at the crack of dawn - not that we were sleeping, mind you. They started chumming to create a "slick" which the birds can apparently smell from miles away.  We saw birds flying around.  The lighting was terrible. All we could really see was little black dots moving around over the waves - the big, big waves.

The leaders started yelling out bird names - "Wilson's Storm Petrals!" "Leach's Storm Petral at 9 o'clock!"  "Band-rumped Storm Petral flying across the bow, headed to the slick". Mind you, all of these birds look pretty much the same when you see them on a sunny day. You can imagine the difficulty of picking out the subtle difference in leg length, shape of wings, etc when the birds are flying around at 30 MPH ducking behind 4 foot swells while looking through binoculars on a rocking boat.  Sound like fun?  NOT!

We saw a total of 7 species of birds for the entire day. Some people saw 8 species including Manx Shearwater but I was laying down in the cabin trying to nap when that bird flew past.  We got back to the dock 1 1/2 hours late. Oh, and did I mention that only 1 of the 7 species counts for the stupid contest?  Yup. All of the other birds were seen in Maryland waters which is outside of the contest zone.  CRAP!

OK, enough bitching.  I did get 3 "life birds" out of the deal. Not bad since we only saw 7 species. Here are a few photos. Notice how gray all of the photos are. Notice the white caps . . . Just sayin' 

The first is Black-capped Petrel which is a huge life bird for me.  I actually got a decent shot of it where you can see the black cap. Of course, you can't see one of the wings which is hidden behind the big, big wave.

Black-capped Petrel

This is Cory's Shearwater which is not a life bird but still one of my favorites. We saw alot of these during the trip. I already saw one for the stupid contest, so I couldn't add it to the list this time. 

Cory's Shearwater

Here is a terrible photo of Leach's Storm Petrel (front) and Wilson's Storm Petral (back). I'm putting on the blog so that you get a better understanding of how difficult it was to pick out the different species.

Leach's (front) and Wilson's Storm Petrels

 Here is a pretty good photo of Wilson's Storm Petrel. These are the most common storm petrels. We can see them from the beach sometimes.  I have posted photos of these birds before. They are the ones that pedal on the surface of the water with their feet.

Wilson's Storm Petrel

 The only other creature that I saw on the trip was this Oceanic Sunfish which is also called Mola Mola. It looks like a shark fin, but it is a really big fish that has long fins. The can weigh up to 2200 pounds!

Oceanic Sunfish (Mola Mola)

I hate to say it, but I'm signed up for another trip in September.  Yes, I am certifiably crazy but I have to go on all of the trips in order to win the stupid contest. 

Long Week of Winter Bird Clean Up

This contest is like having a second job. It is now March and it is time to clean up lingering birds that I need to see before they fly the coup!  First of all, there have been Crested Caracaras all over the place in New Jersey this winter which I have not been able to see. Then, as if sent from heaven - another one showed up in Delaware on Friday.  Patty and I decided to make a run for Delaware to see it. I left the house at 4:30 AM and met Patty in Delaware at 6 AM.  We wanted to get to the bird before it took off looking for roadkill which would make it harder to find.  We were in Bethany Beach by 7:15 and had the bird by 7:30.

Take THAT Jersey birds.

Crested Caracara

We did really well on Saturday wracking up 5 new birds before 10:30 AM including the elusive Snow Buntings, Black-necked Stilt, Horned Lark and American Avocet - shown below.

American Avocet

Oh, did I mention that I needed to be back in Philly by noon in order to coach a hockey game?  Yep. I left Patty at Bombay Hook and made it back to coach the team to victory.  I was back on the road by 2:30 - this time with Diane driving.  We were in Atlantic City watching Marbled Godwits, Oystercatchers and Willets before 4 PM. In the Villas by 5 PM.  On the beach with a beer  to walk the dogs and watch a beautiful sunset by 5:30. And out to dinner at Jake's by 6:30.  What a day!

Unfortunately, Sunday was kind of a bust for the Big Year although still exhausting.  We didn't get anything new.  Patty went out to Tuckahoe and got Eurasian Wigeon and Golden Eagle while Diane and I spent an hour searching for Yellow-headed Blackbirds which we couldn't find before heading back to Philly to play another hockey game and then off to our niece Meaghan's 21st birthday party in West Chester.

Are you exhausted from reading this? Wait til the next post.

Delaware - 5 Owls, Cops, and Update

Intriguing title eh?  First the update - the Bullock's Oriole that I saw last Wed at 3:30 PM hasn't been seen since.  Apparently, I was the last person to see it. Thank goodness I got a photo of it. 

Now for the cops.  The cops have not questioned me in the disappearance of the Oriole if that's what you were thinking.  Patty and I did a big day in Delaware to try to scoop up some bird species that we need for the stupid contest.  I made a list and planned a route that took us all the way down to Indian River Inlet which is below Rehoboth and Dewey Beach to get an Eared Grebe.  Needless to say, I was driving faster than the speed limit on Route 1.  They had a pretty intensive speed trap set up and busted me.  We took advantage of the forced stop to scan for Pipits and Larks in the field, but all we got was an $80 ticket.

Looking for Pipits

After that brief stop, we headed to Indian River Inlet. I was already heading up onto the new (beautiful) bridge when Patty yelled "they have scopes out down there!" so we turned around and went back over the bridge.  Lucky for us that she noticed the people with scopes because they were all looking at our target bird - then Eared Grebe.  They are very rare in our area and a very stunning looking bird in summer.  In winter, they are as drab as you can imagine. The bird was pretty far out in the back bay, but we clearly saw it through our scopes.

We crossed the bridge for a third time and headed out to the jetty at the end of the inlet to scope for other birds.  We had close looks at Great Cormorants, a few ducks and scoters but no Snow Buntings which we were really hoping to see. This is a pretty good photo of Great Cormorant as it flew past us into the inlet. 

Great Cormorant

Over the bridge for the 4th time heading north to Silver Lake in Rehoboth, we got Canvasback ducks which I needed for the contest.  Here is a pretty good shot of a female fluffing her wings.  There were about 400 Canvasbacks on the lake but most of them were asleep.

Canvasbacks

We continued north to Cape Henlopen in search of another target bird - the Brown-headed Nuthatch.  This is about the only place in our area to see this bird.  After driving around the park aimlessly for awhile, we finally hit pay dirt at the Nature Center where these little cuties were supposed to be regulars at the feeder.  The feeder was covered with Red-winged Blackbirds when we arrived and no nuthatches in sight.  We accidentally got the nuthatches to come out by getting too close to the feeders and chasing the blackbirds away.  Once the blackbirds were gone, all of the little birds came rushing in including our target.

Brown-headed Nuthatch

Carolina Chickadee

Here is a great photo showing 4 species of birds on the feeder at the same time.  Pine Siskin on the left, Brown-headed Nuthatch in front, House Fnch on the right and Chickadee in the back (I know you can't see the Chickadee in the photo, but trust me). 

Pine Siskin, Brown-headed Nuthatch, House Finch

We crossed the Indian River bridge 2 more times in hopes of getting the Snow Buntings but never got them.  By now, it was 2 o'clock so we headed to our final stop of the day - Bombay Hook NWR.  We planned this as our last stop in hopes of getting Barn Owl, Black-necked Stilts, Avocets, and ducks.

We didn't get the Stilts or Avocets, but we did get owls. In fact, we got 5 species of owls in a matter of 2 hours, which is just unbelievable to me.  A few people in our club know Bombay Hook like the back of their hands and told us that there are Barn Owls nesting in the maintenance shed.  Although that area is off limits to visitors, we were told that you can hear the owls scream from the parking lot and occasionally get to see the owls flying past as they depart for a night of hunting so we planned to hang around the parking lot.  I mentioned something to the ranger in the visitor center about this and she told us that we were not allowed in the park after dark. No big deal. We would just park outside of the gate.

She also told us that we might be able to hear a Barred Owl back in the woods at Finniss Pool and may be able to see a Screech Owl poking his head out of a Wood Duck box if we were lucky.  We drove to the Finniss Pool area and parked.  I made my Barred Owl call - "who cooks for you, who cooks for allllll" a few times then, an amazing thing happened - a Barred Owl called back to me from the other side of the water.  We almost fell over.  This has never happened to me before.  The call has never worked until now. 

We pressed our luck and stopped at another patch of woods to see if we could get a Screech Owl. This time, we played a taped call from our iPhones. Miraculously, a Screech Owl called back from deep in the woods! Owl number 2.  We also heard a Great-horned Owl call from the woods - number 3.  We stopped along the road to scan the marshes for Short-eared Owl and got to see the Great-horned owl perched in a tree.  We saw a few Harriers and a possible Short-eared owl, but couldn't confirm it.  The ranger came along and told us that we needed to leave the park, so we headed to the main gate and parked outside with about 6 other carloads of people who were also hoping for Barn Owl and Woodcock display. A large owl flew past the group which looked like a Great-horned.  We stood there for 30 minutes.  Some people left.  Finally at 6:37, the Barn Owl screamed from the maintenance area.  Success! Owl number 4.  We stood there with 2 other people hoping to hear it again when all of a sudden, another owl flew past us.  This owl had long wings and wasn't flapping - Short-eared Owl - number 5 for the day.  Holy crap.  5 owl species in 2 hours.  Holy crap. Totally worth the trip and the speeding ticket. 

Veteran's Day at Bombay Hook and Surrounding Areas

I played hookie on Veteran's Day and took Connie down to Bombay Hook NWR in Delaware. It's been a few years since we were there last. The weather was perfect. Big blue sky, not too cold. We made great time from our house in Abington down to Smyrna exit of Rt 1.

Our first stop was Woodland Beach off of Rt 9. There are a few entrances. We pulled into the southern most entrance and were greeted by an 8 point buck running through the field. We saw some birds in the mud flat there that looked like shorebirds from a distance. They turned out to be Horned Larks! 5 of them scurrying through the mud field. We got great looks.

We got into Bombay Hook just at 8:00 AM. The office was officially closed due to Veteran's Day, but there were a few volunteers that let us in for maps and such. Outside of the office we immediately saw what we came for - thousands of Snow Geese swirling around the beautiful blue sky. Wow!

On the wildlife drive we pulled off to scan the agriculture fields for anything interesting. We found American Pipits right at Tour 2 sign. Life bird for both of us. We have probably driven past Pipits a hundred times and never bothered to look at them before. However, I checked the Delaware RBA before our trip and read that Pipits had been seen. So, thanks to Andy Ednie for continuing to post to Virtual Birder.

Other notable birds seen at Bombay Hook - Green Wing Teal, American Avocet, Pintails, Dunlin, Semi-palmated Plovers, Greater Yellowlegs and 4 Harriers.

We drove south on Rt 9 to explore 2 sites that are regularly mentioned on the Delaware RBA that we have never been to - Port Mahon Rd and Little Creek. Thank goodness for eBird's Google Maps integration. It makes finding these sites so easy. We saw 5 Black Crowned Night Herons at Little Creek. It looks like they are building a serious levee there that will eventually allow you to walk all the way out into the marsh.

Anyway, it was a really nice day and we were home before supper.