More Shorebirds

I had a really great experience the other night after work. Harvey found a Wilson's Phalarope at Higbee dike dredge spoils and told me about it. He said that he had never been that close to one before. He was right. Patty and I went to the dike to photograph the bird and got really close - even with Roxy at our side.  Here are some photos of this amazing bird. It's a shorebird that also swims! Highly unusual.

Wilson's Phalarope

Wilson's Phalarope - raising a ruckus!

 The Wilson's Phalarope is on the left. Check out those beefy legs. They need them to swim in open ocean. The bird on the right is a Lesser Yellowlegs.

Wilson's Phalarope, Lesser Yellowlegs, peep

Check out how close we got to the bird. That's Patty in the foreground and the phalarope in the water.

Patty and the phalarope

I hope for more migration this weekend.  Happy Labor Day!

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. 

"Famous" Dave

I meet alot of people while birding. Some of them are Famous (with a capital F) like Pete Dunne the famous author and birder.  Some of them are locally famous because they report alot of birds on text and email alert systems. And some of them are "famous" by way of making a name for themselves on the Internet. I met one of the Internet famous birders this weekend - David LaPuma aka woodcreeper.com. He was up on the dike at Higbee on Sunday morning.  Dave has been on my radar ever since I realized that radar could be used to track bird migration movements. In fact, it was Dave's website www.woodcreeper.com where I learned all about it. He used to be a local Jersey birder who was doing research into using radar to track bird movements but he moved to Wisconsin (of all places) and works for Leica optics. The radar is now being presented through Cornell Lab at Birdcast so Dave doesn't have to do it by himself anymore.

It was really nice to meet him and get to bird along side him and other locally famous birders on Sunday morning. It was especially nice because there were no crowds like there will be in Sept/Oct. Just a few of us watching the first big migration flight of the year that had hundreds of Yellow warblers, Redstarts, and other warblers flapping past us.

Here are a few photos from the day. I spent some quality time with this Blue-winged Warbler down behind the dike.

Blue-winged Warbler

 Also spent quality time with this not-so-Spotted Sandpiper. They lose the spotted breast in fall and winter. This bird is ready for winter for sure.  They are easy to ID even when they don't have the spots because they constantly pump their tails up and down.  This bird was picking through a puddle and didn't seem to mind me and Roxy watching it from close range.

Spotted Sandpiper

 This was a mystery bird for me. It flew to the top of the phragmites along the dike and only sat for a few seconds.  It's too big to be a warbler. It's an immature Baltimore Oriole - not orange yet. I had to ask a friend to confirm the ID for me.

Baltimore Oriole

More Terns and Shorebirds

A quick post to let you know that I added another Tern species and Shorebird to the list for the year (and the stupid contest).

Here is the tern - a Sandwich Tern seen at Cape May sitting on the railing with Common Terns.  The Sandwich Tern is the one with the mustard on the tip of the bill which is how we remember the ID.

Sandwich Tern (left) and Common Tern

Here is a pretty good photo of White-rumped Sandpiper where you can actually see the white rump. The rump is usually hidden by the folded wings, so I got lucky that this little guy was chasing other shorebirds away from his plot of goo.

White-rumped Sandpiper

Also wanted to remind you that I have a new link on the blog - look above this post - called "Flickr Photostream". You can use that link any time to see photos that I have posted. Some of them don't make it to the blog.  I also added a link to the shore houses called "Blue House Green House".  Diane is in charge of updating that blog so nudge her a bit if you want to see new photos there.

Mud Birding

Late July and early August might not seem like "Fall" to anyone else except us crazy birders.  We know that Fall Migration starts in July when the shorebirds start heading south after a brief nesting season in the arctic.  They leave their babies to fend for themselves and high-tail it south in July.  By August, the number of shorebirds in NJ and DE starts to build up. Don't get me wrong, they keep coming until late October but the crazy people start looking for them in July.  By early August, a handful of warblers start to make their way south too.  I spent the birding part of my weekend with my birding buddy Harvey looking for these early migrants.

Harvey is an expert birder and also an expert about where to find them at Forsythe.  He knew right where to look for each species. I added 2 birds to the list for the Stupid Contest at Forsythe - Stilt Sandpiper and White-rumped Sandpiper.  We only heard the White-rumps but the Stilts put on a great show as evidenced by this photo. They even have reddish patches on their face which is leftover breeding plumage.  I know that they don't look like much to the average person, but they are pretty cool shorebirds - and a sight for sore eyes to me since I missed them in Spring migration for the Stupid Contest.

Stilt Sandpipers

Another good bird for the day was this Caspian Tern who really put on a show fishing in the channel next to the road.  This is the best photo that I have of one of these birds.  They are giant compared to all other terns and have that terrific red/orange bill that you can see from a mile away.

Caspian Tern

I ended the day on the beach at Cape May sorting through the hundreds of Common Terns hoping for a rare Sandwich Tern. No luck on the Sandwich Tern but Connie and I got to observe the Common Terns up close.  This guy brought a fish back for one of his babies.

Common Tern with fish

Harvey might be the expert at Forsythe, but you-know-who has a few tricks up her sleeve too ya' know.  I suggested that we check out the dike at Higbee for shorebirds.  This is definitely out of the ordinary, so he looked at me like I was crazier than normal.  The dike is really just a big pile of mud that is about 2 stories high next to the Cape May canal.  This is where they dump the goo that they dredge out of the bottom to keep the canal deep enough for the ferries.  Birders climb to the top of the dike to see birds like warblers and sparrows flying by during migration, not shorebirds.  Ah, but what I noticed earlier in the summer was big cranes and bulldozers up there.  That means that the dredge was on!  That means oohey, gooey, mud.  And that, my friends means shorebirds!

Here are some of the birds that took advantage of the muddy mess at the dike - including Northern Watherthrush which is a warbler but likes goo anyway.

Least Sandpiper

Lesser Yellowlegs

Northern Waterthrush

(un)Spotted Sandpiper

Needless to say, I got kudos for dragging Harvey and George up the muddy hill. We will definitely make this a regular stop this "Fall".

Selfies

Do you know what a "selfie" is?  I didn't either until recently.  A selfie is a photo that you take of yourself with your phone.  Typically, people do this and post the photo to FaceBook or something.  I did this several times on Friday (brace yourself) which started out pretty dull with a full day meeting in Wilmington DE with my boss and a few coworkers.  The day got a lot more interesting at 3 PM when the boss let us all go early for the weekend.  Yay! 

I seized the opportunity to chase a few rare ducks that were reported in Rehoboth during the week.  These are Black-bellied Whistling Ducks which are normally only found in the deep south like Texas, Arizona and occasionally in Florida.  The reports stated "private property" but I found out that they were really on a Country Club's golf course so I decided to try my luck sweet talking the golf pro into letting me go look for the ducks.  You may or may not know that a few of the Bird Nerds belong to a local Country Club so they gave me tips on how to dress in order to have the best shot at getting onto the course.

I showed up a the country club at 5:15 PM dressed in my polo shirt and tan khakis and met a young guy in a golf cart in the parking lot.  I explained that I was here to see the rare ducks and put on my most official demeanor - leading the young man to think that I was an official of some sort.  I didn't lie, I just let him draw his own conclusion.   I was shocked when he said that I could get on the course at 6 PM after the tournament finished.  Great!  Then he even told me to go inside when I asked him about a restroom (it was a 2 hour drive from Wilmington). After a trip to the restroom, I decided to hang out in the air conditioned Pro Shop rather than out in the 100 degree parking lot.

Here is the first selfie - me in the new golf top that I bought at HALF PRICE in the pro shop!  I needed a new top to wear to the work since it is so hot in my office.

Bargain

At 6 PM on the nose, I went outside to figure out where to start walking to find the ducks.  I figured that I needed as much time as possible to cover the expanse of the course and get to the ferry before it shut down for the night. The young guy in the golf cart showed up and I asked if it was OK to go out.  He said yes. Then, I pressed my luck and asked if there was any way that I could use a golf cart - why not, all they can do is say no - but he said "Sure, take this one". Holy Crap.  Here is selfie #2 (ignore the wrinkles).

on the course

So off I went - bombing around the private golf course looking for rare ducks.  I found them pretty quickly on the 3rd pond that I zipped past.  Yup, rare ducks. Check another one off the list for the stupid contest. It took all of 15 minutes thanks to the cart.

Black-bellied Whistling Ducks (BBWDs)

With that completed, I returned the golf cart, ordered a large cheese pizza from Grotto, picked it up and headed for the Cape May - Lewes Ferry to make the 7:45 trip.  I love Grotto pizza. It is only available in Delaware so I get it when I can.  Selfie #3 is me eating a slice in my car while waiting to board the ferry.

Grotto Pizza - Delaware's #1 export

The day just kept getting better at this point.  Who knew that they had Happy Hour on the ferry?  That was good enough, then they announced that the LIVE BAND was starting on the back deck - a live band!  That rocks.  Selfie #4 - me on the ferry.  I will save you from watching the videos of the band but suffice to say they were pretty good for a band that plays on a ferry.

Happy Hour on the Ferry

That's about as much of me as anyone can take. I promise more birds in future posts.  I just couldn't resist telling you this story.  Sometimes everything works out great like it did on Friday.

Donut Hole Trail - Take 2

Well, I definitely feel vindicated after this year's installment of the Donut Hole Trail (DHT).  Last year, I was absolutely miserable and really never wanted to show my face on that trail again.  Remember it with me by clicking this link - Donut Hole Trail #1.  That was a one day hike that should have taken about 6 hours but ended up being longer than planned and took 8.  What was I thinking when I agreed to go on a 2 DAY hike this year?  I must have been drunk or something. Poor Frank started planning this trip the day after we completed our hike last year.  He sent me maps and trail guides and a hundred emails about who was bringing what.  I kept replying things like "sure, that sounds great" and "uh-huh, whatever" not realizing that June  21st was fast approaching and that I was being counted as a definite participant.  Unbeknownst to Barbara, I started slowly roping her into this plan by forwarding the maps and emails.  She couldn't resist! She's a hiker from way back in the day and actually spent 2 weeks on the Appalachian Trail in her younger days.

I borrowed Di's backpack and Barbara brought a tent that they bought awhile ago.  We packed up what we thought we would need an headed up to Potter County on Thurs after work.  The hike was scheduled for 5:30 AM Friday morning.  We met Frank at his cabin for some tea and muffins, packed up the cars and headed to the trail head.  Connie drove one of the cars so that we could drop Frank's '84 Volvo station wagon at the end and she could shuttle the 3 of us and our gear to the start.  (The Volvo will come back into the picture later).  Off we went into the woods at about 9:30 AM! Notice the smiles.

Donut Hole Trail - Start

Our Packs

Frank planned the hike for June 21st - the Summer Solstice - which turned out to be absolutely perfect.  We had great weather and lots of sunshine which makes camping especially nice. As with all long hikes or excursions, the first part of the hike was filled with talk and hopes of seeing some wildlife or whatever.  The beginning of the hike was quite pleasant and not that strenuous which gave us all time to get used to the 30 pound backpacks (Frank's was much heavier for reasons that will be revealed later). Oh, and Roxy went along with us too. She quickly fell into step and understood that she should just keep up with us and stay on the trail - good dog.

Day 1 wore on. We heard a ton of birds including Black-throated Green warblers but didn't see many since we were mostly looking down at the trail. This part of the trail had a few nice sections that went along a pipeline cut out of the woods.  We made an effort to see a few birds there.  Barbara saw a Coyote but I was too far behind her at that point to see it before it skulked away.

Linda and Roxy birding the DHT

Barbara leading the pack

Frank listening for warblers

We took a few breaks and stopped for lunch which was quite nice - cheese and baguet, grapes, etc.  As we were leaving the lunch spot, I looked up into a nearby tree and spotted a metal coffee cup hanging from a rope. You know we weren't leaving without it, so Frank and I hoisted Barbara up and she was able to grab it.  It is now proudly displayed at Frank's cabin!

The Donut Hole Trail is not exactly what we called "maintained".  It's basically a deer trail that someone from the forest service walks maybe once a year with a chain saw and cuts through some (only some) of the logs that have fallen across the path. In some cases, he ( I am assuming it's a guy) doesn't even cut through the logs but rather reroutes the trail uphill and around the obstacle.  We had a heck of a time following the trail at the end of Day 1 when it zig zagged across a stream about 20 times instead of just staying on the same side but we eventually made it to the pre-determined campsite at about 7 PM.  Let's do the math here - we hiked 10 miles in 10 hours. How many miles per hour did we hike?  That's right kids - a whopping 1 mile per hour!

We were pretty tired, but not exhausted. Unfortunately, none of us remembered to take photos of our campsite or the food or the BEER, that's right BEER, Frank brought us 4 cans of Yuengling BEER.  That man is a hero! He lugged 4 cans of beer and a pint of Rye Whiskey along with all of the dehydrated pre-packaged dinner meals including Beef Stroganoff.  Did I mention the BEER?  We popped those cans into the stream to get them nice and cold.  Canned Yeungling never tasted better. Imagine how much lighter Frank's pack was on Day 2 after getting rid of the BEER and food.  My pack lightened up a bit too since I was carrying the breakfast muffins, trailmix, etc.  Frank also gained much admiration for bringing the water filter which allowed us to make drinking water as we went along rather than carrying it for 2 days. Here is a photo of me "making water".

Linda Making Water

Day 2 was supposed to be shorter and easier due to the long downhill to the finish.  HA.  You know darn right well that didn't happen.  We took our time at the camp having a leisurely breakfast, packing up the tents and headed out on the trail at 9 AM ( a whole 30 minutes earlier than Day 1).  About 30 minutes into the hike we met a person on the trail - our first and only person that we encountered on the actual trail. Then, we hit the Stinging Nettle. It was everywhere.  If you don't know what this is - you can probably guess by the name that it isn't good.  Nettle is a plant that grows in moist areas - mostly along streams. The plant is covered in little prickers that stick into your skin and sting like a jellyfish. The stinging doesn't stop either. It keeps stinging for hours. You can see by the photos that we all wore long pants but that doesn't stop the nettle from penetrating.  That is only the beginning of our troubles with this plant.  The other (and more annoying) problem with the Nettle is that it grows to about thigh high and obscures the trail which makes placing your foot down without twisting your ankle on the slippery rocks impossible. 

Stinging Nettle

Our short easy hike on Day 2 ended up being longer and more difficult than we anticipated.  At about 6 PM we were nowhere near the end point.  We met our second human being of the trip when the trail combined with a dirt road. This guy has a cabin along the trail. He asked if we were hiking the DHT and told us that the next end point was about 3 1/2 miles away.  Remember our math from earlier?  1 mile of trail = 1 hour of hiking which meant that we weren't going to see the end of the trail until after 9 PM - almost dark, through Stinging Nettle.  I admit it.  I lost my shit when I heard that!  Another 3 1/2 miles swatting my way through Stinging Nettle so I didn't fall down with a 30 pound backpack? I didn't know if I could make it.  Frank suggested a break. I refused . . .

"I see a cabin" Barbara exclaimed after about 2 hours of grueling downhill hiking through slippery rocks and up around detoured trail.  "I see it too".  And then, the most wonderful words in the English language - "Is that the Volvo?"  Yes, yes, it was the Volvo. We were actually happy to see an '84 Volvo sitting across the street from the cabin.  Can you imagine the looks we got from the people at the cabin as we staggered out of the woods dripping with sweat.

Exhausted at the DHT sign

Poor Roxy!

I don't think I have to tell you this, but Frank is already planning next year's hike.  Feel free to join us . . .

Beach Babies

Here are some pretty cute photos of beach babies - American Oystercatchers and Least Terns - all taken while I waited for the Brown Booby to show up at Seven Presidents Park in north Jersey.  The Booby only made a brief appearance way offshore which counts for the stupid contest but can't top last year's sighting (remember it with me by clicking this link).

The Oystercatchers have one chick that they were feeding while I was there. Dad (or Mom) brought some sort of little black mussel or clam or something back, dug it out and then let the chick pick it up and gulp it down.

Oystercatcher with chick

Chick with gooey clam thing

Chick with clam

Down the hatch

The other beach babies were Least Terns. They all nest in a roped off area.  This Mom was pretty close to the rope and revealed 2 chicks when she got up and walked over to squawk at us for being too close - even though we were outside of the roped area.  I snapped a few photos of the babies before she got back to them.  Then she didn't sit on them anyway. I guess they could use a little sunshine before it got too hot.

Least Tern

Least Tern - new chick underneath (look closely)

Least Tern - chicks (there are 2 of them) and Mom

Least Tern Chicks - look closely

The next post will be a compilation from our trips to Potter county.

Beach Buddies - Corrected

Some of you may have read a post on the NJBirds listserv about the Philly Bird Nerds this weekend.  Have no fear, we don't need bail money!  We spent the morning with our friend Harvey starting out at Cox Hall Creek, grabbing breakfast at Sunset Grill so that we could eat and watch the bay at the same time.  I noticed a pair of ducks that looked like Scoters bobbing around one of the jetties, so we drove up to get a better look after downing the last of our breakfast sandwiches.

Scoters in Cape May in June is weird.  Black Scoters are the most common scoter that is found around our area but mostly from October through April when they take off for northern breeding grounds. The first 2 that we saw were a male and female. It got really interesting when we got out to the beach and saw 3 more scoters - which we thought were all juveniles. These birds almost looked like they could be White-winged Scoters because they had a white strip on the wing.  Closer examination showed that the white wing strip was actually molting feathers. Thanks to Rick Wright and Harvey for setting me straight on this.

Black Scoter - in wing molt

Here is the adult male swimming around the jetty.  I had to sweet talk the beach tag lady to let me onto the beach for these photos. This is interesting, but not worth $10 (our Cape May beach tags don't work at Cape May Point)

Black Scoter - adult male

Things got really interesting when 2 of the birds started getting closer to the beach and then popped out of the water.  Scoters are sea ducks and not regularly found on land - hence they look kind of awkward.

Comin' ashore

 

Look, I can dance

You can see by the next photo that these birds are unable to fly. Look at those ratty wings! 

Testing my wings

These 2 stayed on the beach for a good 15 minutes waddling, preening and generally taking in the scene before finally heading back out to join the rest of the family.

Surf's Up!

I couldn't resist this shot.  That's Harvey photographing the same scoters. You can see that these birds didn't really care about being close to human activity - that's the Cape May Point life guard and some other brave beach-goers in the background too.  You can also see why these photos aren't that great. It was threatening rain the entire time we were on the beach.

Harvey's buddies

Harvey did some research on the birds and found out that they don't nest until later in the season which means that all of our birds were adults - born at least last summer.  So, why are these 5 birds hanging around Cape May in June when they should be up in northern Quebec or Labrador Canada?  Could it be that they are only first-year birds?  Probably, since they don't breed until they are at least 2 years old. I still think its weird that they are hanging around NJ.  Harvey told me that there are only a dozen reports of scoters in NJ over the past 13 years so it isn't THAT common.