Little Stint

   If you read my blog posts in early July, you saw there was an eight day period that had four super rarities show up. All were European and Asian shorebirds thousands of miles from home. One of these birds was a Little Stint. It was either the second or third one ever seen in Rhode Island. It is a very rare bird for sure.

   So it was a bit of a surprise when  Scott Tsagarakis found a second one on the mudflats in Charlestown Wednesday. I got a chance to see it on Thursday morning before a whale watch I went on at 1 pm.

When the first one showed up in early July, I was at Napatree in the evening looking at one of those other mega rare birds. I rushed to the Breachway getting there just before sundown. I got to see the bird, but because the light was fading, I only got a few proof photos. However, I saw two lifers in the same day, so I wasn't complaining about photos!

   Thursday and also Friday morning I hit the Breachway. The Little Stint was still there both days. Unlike yesterday where I had a whale watch boat to catch, today I didn't have anything else to do. I spent about four hours on the mudflats. I watched the stint for around an hour. I sat down on the wet sand about thirty feet from the stint and a few hundred other peeps. The nice thing about sandpipers is they really don't fear humans. I think some of them prefer to be near people because they are safer from a swooping Peregrine Falcon.

   Because I was sitting and not posing a threat, the peeps got really close to me. Some of the Semi-Palmated and Least Sandpipers were just out of arms length. They were all around me feeding as though I wasn't there. This is a regular occurrence if you are quiet and still.

    As I said, the first time I saw a Little Stint a month ago, the light was fading. I didn't have a chance to sit quietly and enjoy the bird. Today, I had everything going for me. I had the time, better light, and a bettter camera. It was a privilege to photograph a bird that should be at a minimum in Portugal right now!

I could and will crop and play with the lighting on some of the photos, but all of these are uncropped and untouched

Least Sandpiper

Semi-Palmated Sandpiper

This little Least Sandpiper decided to take a nap
only about eight from me.

This was my best photo of the Little Stint I saw on July 6

Sandy Point and Napatree via Sue Palmer

Black Skimmers doing what Black Skimmers do best.

Yesterday I went out on friend Sue's boat. We didn't leave until 2 pm because of the possibility of morning thunderstorms. However, we packed in a full day right up until dark.

First we went to Sandy Point which is an island in Little Narragansett Bay. The island is a nesting area for gulls, terns, and oystercatchers. After we left Sandy Point we continued across the bay to Napatree. It was joyous to take the boat ride there and not slog through the sand. Napatree was awesome. We saw Bonaparte Gulls, Red Knots, and many common species of shorebirds. The highlight of the day was watching two Black Skimmers skim their lower bill across the water to catch food.

After the birding we went to a spot where we easily got 15 pounds of quahogs each. If that didn't make for a perfect day, Sue's mother made me stay for supper which was a half dozen raw oysters each and a homemade lobster roll. I could not have asked for a better day.

If you read my last post you saw that I was waiting on a new camera. Friday was my first chance to point it at anything worthwhile. Needless to say I had multiple views of great birds. Some were close and some were far away. The close ones were nice, but the ones that were further away were more important. I wanted to see what 24 MP could do compared to the 18 on my old camera. The cropping power is amazing. The picture of the Bonaparte Gull sitting is a very cropped photo. They have a comfort zone and for whatever reason they keep a safe distance from people. The bird is twice as large in this photo than the original. Yet the photo is sharp, even with the so/so lighting. I couldn't be happier. 

As for birds flying, this camera focuses so much quicker than my old camera. I couldn't have gotten any of the photos I got yesterday with my T5. As you would expect, I got plenty of duds of flying birds where they are not in focus. However, it only takes one good one to make it worth it, and I got far more than that. 

Common Tern

Young Gull begging for food

American Oystercatcher

Young American Oystercatcher

Herring Gull family

Great Black Backed Gull. Obviously
wondering how my face can be so tan and
my feet so white.

This photo and the next six are of the two Black Skimmers flying. It was obviously good practice getting flight shots.

Heavily cropped photo of a Bonaparte Gull

Not a sharp photo of a flying Bonaparte, but the bird is still
beautiful.

My last memories with this camera

Laughing Gulls
The black-headed one is in breeding plumage

For many years my Canon EOS T5 camera has been my trusty companion when I go birding or hiking. I have captured literally thousands of memories with it. I've taken tens of thousands of photos with it from as far away as South Dakota and Florida to the bird feeder in my backyard.  It has never broken or let me down.

   However, it was time to upgrade. Since I bought my camera Canon has made four generations of the T series of cameras. Despite always being there for me, my camera has some obvious limitations. Those limitations are getting more obvious the older my camera gets. 

   

   The camera that I should have by Tuesday is a Canon T7i. I have wanted it for months. This was not an impulse buy. I was going to wait until next year to buy it with my tax money. However, I am going on a boat trip to the Gulf Stream in September and I am going to Forsythe NWR in NJ in August. I figured if I'm going to these hallowed grounds for birders, I may was well get the camera now. The reviews are great and the camera is capable of doing things of much higher priced cameras.

   The first limitation that is driving me crazy is the "cropping power" of my camera. As you can imagine, when you get photos of little birds from a distance, you need to crop many of the photos. My camera is 18 megapixels. It just doesn't have the power to crop without distorting the image making it look fuzzy unless I get perfect light. My new camera is 24 megapixels. Getting sharp photos should be easier.

   Secondly, my camera takes forever to focus. I can't tell you how many birds have flown away while my viewfinder was trying to focus. Not only will the T7i focus faster, but the autofocus is incredible. Mine has a 9 point autofocus system the T7i has a 45 point autofocus. The faster focus should make life a lot easier when trying to get pictures of birds in flight. 

The T7i also comes with a bunch of other new features. It is capable of taking six photos/second. Mine takes 3/second. The camera is WIFI compatible, but I doubt I will ever use that.

My "weekend" this week was Thursday and Friday. If this was the last time my camera gets used before being retired, it went out with a hell of a bang. I saw some really great birds over the last three days.   Here are some photos from this past week

This photo and the two below are of Indigo Buntings at
Carter Preserve, Charlestown, RI

The front photo is a Stilt Sandpiper at Napatree
The back bird is a Greater Yellowlegs for size comparison.

Stilt Sandpiper alone. These are a rare visitor and a really
good find.

Viceroy Butterfly

Female King Eider another rare visitor from the north,
much more so in the summer

Bonaparte Gull, Napatree

Spotted Sandpiper, Napatree

Although I did a quick post about the American
Avocet below, it is such a great bird and worthy of another
photo

Forster's Tern

Lesser Yellowlegs

Willet

Least Tern
Photo upgrade

Thank you for the memories. Thanks for always being so reliable. It has been a hell of a ride with you. 

American Avocet

   I had planned my day to go to work early and get out early and go to the ocean today anyway. So it was a lucky coincidence that another awesome bird showed up. An American Avocet usually shows up every year. Yesterday and today so happened to be when it showed up. I had only seen three previously and didn't get very good photos of any. So I was more than happy to spend an hour photographing it today. The bird was in front of the sun so these photos aren't as nice as I would like but everyone is an upgrade from the only Avocet I had gotten a photo of. what a beautiful bird.

Least Tern Photo upgrade

Also seen today, Western Sandpiper

A Crazy Week for Rarities

This is a crappy photo of a Ruff I saw on Friday last week

   In my last post I wrote about a bird that should be in Siberia right now, a Tereks Sandpiper. Only a few had ever been seen in the Lower 48 and never in Rhode Island. Many birders were on a high all week from seeing a bird that should be in Asia and Europe.

   On Thursday I went on a whale watch. We didn't see any whales which was bad for people looking for whales, but quite delightful for people looking for birds. Because we didn't see any whales, we got a free pass for a future whale watch (after Covid restrictions are lifted). While on the whale watch I was talking with my friend Alex. After we got home, Alex texted me to tell me about a Ruff (that is the full name) that was in Fairhaven, MA.The last one that was seen in Rhode Island was a few years back. I chased it but missed it. Alex and I made plans to go look for it for Friday morning.

The bird was easy to see. It was hanging out in the middle of a saltmarsh with the sun at our back. We had it within seconds of getting out of the cars. However, we watched it for a couple of hours. Ruff is a really cool looking bird. It has feathers that stick out. My pics are nothing more than proof photos. Still I was pretty excited to get a second lifebird in less than a week (I had gotten two all year before last week).

   On Sunday while Laurie and I were driving to a little hike my phone started blowing up that a Red Necked Stint was at Napatree found by Bill Thompson. My first thought was the same as the week before "Why does it have to be a Sunday? Why the F does it have to be Napatree? I decided not to drag Laurie down. She was kind enough to go last week I wasn't asking her to go again. So we went on our little hike. Did I mention this is another bird that had never been seen in Rhode Island!!!

 

Red-Necked Stint

 But... when the bird was still there on Monday I went. A Red Necked Stint is a European shorebird (that is the theme for this post), I had at least heard of it as opposed to the Tereks. I went straight after work and my friend Jan met me. While we were walking out, our phones were blowing up. Apparently another possible stint was being seen at Charlestown Breachway! I kept walking. I wasn't leaving one bird for another possible bird. I saw the Red Necked Stint and got some crumby photos into  the sun.

   While I was trying to enjoy this unbelievably rare species it turned out the other stint in Charlestown was a Little Stint. A Little Stint (say it with me) is a European shorebird. It was found by Tim Metcalf. As you can expect it is unbelievably rare to see in the US. However, there has been one other report of one in Rhode Island ever! I made the decision to stay

Little Stint

 with the Red-Necked Stint, the devil may care. I didn't want it to just be a check mark. I wanted to enjoy it and get good photos. I may never see another one again. If I missed the Little Stint, I could live with that decision. Luckily we refound the bird. I had good light and got good, not great, photos of it. I really enjoyed my time I spent.

   After I got my photos the bird flew to the other side of the channel where I first saw it. I knew I couldn't get any better shots. It was about 6:20 pm. I hauled ass out of there and headed to the Breachway. I knew I'd get there with close to an hour of daylight. There were a bunch of  birders getting this bird since most of them saw the Red-Necked Stint on Sunday.

Another photo of the Little Stint. The main difference
between the two is it has white on the throat.

Sure enough when I crossed the channel to the mudflats there were five birders there including my friend Jess that stayed to keep an eye on the bird for me. I had it in my scope within 20 seconds of looking through it. It was pretty far away and the light was fading so my view wasn't great. Since it was getting dark everyone else left. However, since I just got there I tried to get some photos.  It was with a flock of 50 or so other birds. Every couple minutes they would spook and fly around. Then I would have to sift through them again to find the Little Stint. It was a challenge but I got one good photo. Nothing compared to the ones I've seen today, but still I got a decent life photo of a lifebird.

  As you read this, I can not impress upon you enough how amazing this week was. Having two state first in a week is almost statistically impossible. The most common of these four birds, the Ruff, shows up like every five years. The best fishing equivalent is catching a fifty pound Redfish from shore and then driving down the road and catching a 200 pound tarpon both in Rhode Island. Because neither of them belong here.  In a nine day period I saw four European shorebirds. All lifers, three are state birds for RI and one in MA. Two of those birds had never been seen by a birder in Rhode Island. The Little Stint had been seen once. This week was crazy!