Mudflats

Summer is short and my list of things to do is long. Some of the things on the list are one time only day trips such as going to a Polo match. Some of the things I want to do, I try to do often. With only about 10 weeks between the end of June and when albies come in, it is tough to cram everything in. I need to get to new Hampshire three times alone to fit in the six hikes I want to accomplish this year. 

This week I went to two of the places I try to visit a few times a summer. Yesterday I fished all day at New England's premier shore fishing striper hotspot only to come away with a big goose egg. Despite the lack of fish, I still had a good time. The weather was perfect by the ocean and I fished with one of my best friends.

Today, I went to probably my favorite place in New England south of the NH/MA border. Last night as I was walking into a movie I got a text from my friend Jan asking me if I was going birding Friday. Birding in the summer means one thing, shorebirds. Looking for shorebirds is tide dependent. The low tides today were roughly five o'clock. There was no way I was going down to South County Rhode Island in the afternoon to fight with beach traffic and vacationers. So this meant the other option was to go at the ass crack of dawn.

So Jan and I made plans to meet at Napatree at 6 am. This meant I set my alarm for the ungodly time of 4:50. I still didn't get there until 6:15 am. If it wasn't for my plans with Jan, there was no way I really would have gotten up that early despite my best intentions.

We walked out to the lagoon at Napatree. We saw the usual shorebirds, but nothing new. The best shorebird we saw were Red Knots. Knots are one of my favorite overall birds but the light was bad due to cloud cover so I couldn't get any pictures better than I already have. Out on the water we saw a Red Necked Grebe in breeding plumage. On our way back to the car we ran into Carlos Pedro. The three of us decided to go to Charlestown.

The mudflat behind Charlestown Breachway in Ninigret Pond is a special place. Despite being only a few hundred yards from a busy beach and campground it feels so wild. Every summer/fall thousands of shorebirds use the flats as a resting and feeding ground. Everyday is different. You never know when a rarity will show up. When one does, it usually only sticks around for a day. While I was working this week, I missed Whimbrel's and Stilt Sandpipers. I was just hoping to get a new bird.

Jan, Carlos, and myself crossed the channel. Carlos was at the mudflats yesterday and counted 1200 shorebirds. There weren't nearly as many today, but there were enough to keep us occupied for a couple of hours.

I did get one new bird for the day. Jan and I had a Forster's Tern after Carlos left. They aren't rare, but they aren't common either. It was nice to get them. Jan is a far better birder than I am. Terns look so much alike, I'm glad I was with an expert. The Seaside Sparrows which can be difficult to photograph were very cooperative today.

The tide was already rising when we got on crossed the channel to get to the mudflats. By the time we left, the crossing was "interesting" to say the least. When I got home, it was only noon time, but the temperature was up to 92 degrees and the humidity which was absent all morning was starting to come in.

A Willet pretty pissed off I was there

My friend Sue Palmer was on the flats with her grand daughter
She got to see the Forster'sTern for 240th bird of 2019

A couple more pics of the surprisingly cooperative
Seaside Sparrow