Race Point Part 2- Yellow Billed Loon

A gaggle of birders

I was supposed to go on a pelagic boat trip today to see offshore birds. The trip was postponed from a really cold (below zero) day in February. I took the day out of work as soon as the trip was rescheduled. Needless to say, I was really looking forward to it.

Then bad news struck! The boat that was going to take us out (one of the Francis Fleet) is getting a new motor ahead of schedule. Unfortunately for us, that meant the trip had to be cancelled, and worse, will not be rescheduled again.

So, as usual, I came up with a plan B. Cuttyhuink Ferry does a seal cruise twice during March, and one of the dates was today. So I called up early this morning to see if the seal cruise was going and if there were any spots left. Sadly, the ship was going out, but no spots were left.

So I came up with a plan C. A few of the people that were supposed to go on the pelagic were going to go out birding. It was okay for others to caravan. Obviously, I jumped at the chance to go birding with folks a lot better than me.

So that's what I did for a couple hours. We hit a couple of hotspots looking for birds like eagles, killdeer, and rare gulls. Birding wasn't great and I didn't see anything new for the year. The thing that surprised me was the caravan broke up very early. I was under the impression we would be birding all day long covering a big chunk of the state. As cars were dropping out, it became apparent, that at some point I would be a "tag-a-long" so I had to come up with a plan D.

Since I wasn't too far from home and could still do anything I wanted, I chose to make the long

Sleepy Grey Seal pup, Race Point Beach

journey back to Race Point again. I knew the now famous Yellow Billed Loon was still being seen as recently as yesterday. I knew that a lot of people would be there because it was a Saturday. If the bird was still around, then some one with more skills than me would see it for sure. There was also another rare bird spotted at the Race this week, a Mew Gull. So I could literally pick off two lifebirds with one drive. Worse case scenario was striking out with the birds but seeing whales. So I sucked it up and made the two plus hour drive to Provincetown.

Worse than the drive, is the walk from the parking lot to the rip current. The walk is over soft beach sand and at least two miles. There were a lot of birders in one spot probably three miles from my car. I went up to them hoping they had the loon. They had seen it, but the group (of at least ten birders) were not looking at it. They were however looking at the Mew Gull. So I got that lifebird.

They pointed me in the direction of where the loon had last been seen. A few minutes after that, someone found it and had called his buddies to tell them. So I ran up the beach even further, after a couple minutes a group of six of us were all looking at the Yellow Billed Loon. It was in bad light but not too far from shore. As it moved right, it got out of the sun glare. We could see the pale bill and its overall pale color. We watched for a solid fifteen minutes.

The reason why the Yellow Billed Loon is such a big deal is because it is the first one ever

Black Bellied Plover, Scusset Beach

documented in Massachusetts. If you read my previous post about Race Point, last week I was talking with a guy from Ontario that drove all the way just to see it. Today one of the guys that saw it drove up from Staten Island. Although the loon is common off of Alaska, for most people driving to Race Point is the only chance people have to add it to their life list.

So I saw the Mew Gull and the YB Loon. After that, I was hoping to sit on the beach and watch a whale show. There were whales close enough to shore to see. However, they weren't showing themselves much today. I saw as many as fifteen blow hole spouts today, but maybe twice did I actually see a whale arch its back and break the surface. It was kind of frustrating.

On a more positive note, on the long walk back to the car we came across a baby grey seal. We did not get too close, but got some decent photos. It did not mind our presence at all. As we walked by, it lifted its head up to look at us, then went back to sleep.

I got back to the car and started to make the long drive home. When I got over the Sagamore Bridge, I decided to go bird Scusset Beach and the east end of the canal. It was a good call. I saw a black bellied plover, a bunch of loons and two seals swimming in the current.

Since I figured whats another hour to an already long day, instead of going home, I passed my exit and went to the Cumberland Monastery.

Two seals in the canal

 There right before dark I watched and listened to woodcocks display to impress a mate...Then I went home.

Common Loon, Cape Cod Canal

Giant ship coming through the canal