Rhode Island Pelagic

Northern Fulmar

   This week I got to go on a pelagic trip to Cox Ledge southeast of Block Island. The trip was set up by Sue Palmer and Carlos Pedro. They did a great job setting the trip up. It was well organized and fun. The weather was perfect and the birds cooperated. 

The trip was from 7am-3pm. It takes a couple hours to get to Cox Ledge. The time flew by because I was talking to my friend Scott for most of the ride out there. 

The trip started off very slow. On our way out we didn't even see a Wilson's Storm Petrel. This is a common species, so if we didn't see those, we thought we could be in for a bad day. Luckily, when we ended up chumming we did have a great variety.

   On our trip we had two jaeger species. We had an adult Pomarine Jaeger and a Parasitic. I got to see both but had a much better view of the Pom. I did miss two species, there was a Red Necked Pharalope next to the boat but I was on the other side. More importantly we had a South Polar Skua but only a few people saw that. The Skua would have been a lifer. Nothing I could do about it, so I just considered it water under the bridge (or bow). 

We had two species of Shearwaters. Great and Sooty Shearwaters were common. Some of the Great Shearwaters were feeding in the slick next to the boat. I'm not sure why we didn't see any Cory's or Manx. Maybe the water is a little chilly for the Cory's. We ended up with 115 Wilson Storm Petrels. They were everywhere once we started chumming. 

 

Great Shearwater

 The best bird of the day for me was  Northern Fulmar. It was a bird I really wanted to see and a lifer. We had one fly behind the boat pretty far away but I got to see it and get a photo of a white dot on the horizon. But, fifteen minutes later, presumably the same bird, came to the stern and hung out there about thirty minutes. I thought all of my photos were blurry and was very disappointed, but when it came close to the boat a second time, I ended up getting five clean shots. 

The Fulmar made everyone's day. We all had a great look at it for as long as we wanted. It was a life bird for eighty percent of the people on the boat.  All in all, we couldn't have asked for a better day. 

Dick and Marge Bradley

Tim and Erin Metcalf

Tom Y and Dave C

Chris Veale

Our fearless leader
Carlos Pedro

Linda G

Phil Rusch and Scott's hat

Paul L and the main organizer
Sue Palmer

King Rail

 

  I was driving down I-95 on Saturday morning to meet my friend Louise to do some birding in Tiverton. I got an alert that my friend Sue Palmer had just found a King Rail at Trustom Pond. I felt I had to go see if I could find that bird. King Rail wouldn't actually be a lifer for me because I heard one on my trip to Washington DC when I visited Blackwater NWR. However, there is a big difference from hearing and seeing (with the possibility of a photo?). The wet area at Trustom is pretty small and I knew there was a decent chance of seeing it. It would still be a state bird and I was really excited of the possibility of seeing one. I called Louise up and we changed our plans. We met at the junction of Rt 1@138 and drove to Trustom. 

   King Rails along with most species in their family like to hide in thick swampy vegetation. They are really hard to get a photo of. Because they are nearly impossible to see, most people count a rail they hear for their list. Seeing them is hard enough so getting a photo was a dream I never expected to come true.

   It did not take long to see it though. My friend Linda (many of my friends were there, so bear with me) saw it cross the path. So a few of us went down the Red Maple Trail and waited on the bridge. We saw it behind a huge uprooted stump and some skunk cabbage. Of the four of us, I had the worst angle but I did get to see it but no photo. 

The Rail decided to head back upstream so we went back up to the main path. Linda again saw the rail and called my name. It was walking across the road. I snapped two pictures. The photos were blurry but you could ID the bird (Life photo!). 

   We then found it two more times walking and feeding around the little swampy pond. Those two times I got some decent photos. The King Rail did not mind our presence at all and kept feeding. Seeing such an amazing bird feeding along the edge of the pond and letting us photograph it was amazing. I've gotten four state birds in Rhode Island this year, two of them lifers, the King Rail was my favorite experience of them all. 

Plum Island Fallout (photo dump)

Wilson's Warbler

    I went to Plum Island today hoping to see a lot of birds. However, there were so many birds at Parker River NWR that it exceeded my expectations by ten fold. I got to the island about 7 am and planned on staying till about noon and exploring Martin Burns or going shad fishing in the Merrimack. There were so many birds all day that I didn't leave until 6 pm. I spent eleven hours birding and it flew by. The amount of common birds was amazing amount but there was also a ton of  the rare birds also. I saw more Wilson's Warblers Friday than I had in my life combined. 

Here is my tally for the day

18 species of warblers

3 Blackburnian

8 Wilsons

6 Canada

1 Cape May

15+ Bay Breasted

10+ Chestnut Sided

10+ Blackpoll

Over 25 each of Black Throated Blue, Magnolias, Black Throated Green, Black and White

Over 100 Redstarts and Common Yellowthroats

Other Warblers seen- Northern Waterthrush, Ovenbird, Yellow, Yellow Rumped,  Blue Winged

Other Good Birds- Scarlet Tanager, Lincoln's Sparrow, tons of Orioles, Kingbird, Purple Martins

Bay Breasted Warbler

Bay Breasted Warbler

Blackpoll Warbler

Blackpoll Warbler

Wilson's Warbler

Wilson's Warbler

Wilson's Warbler

Didn't sing but mot likely
Willow Flycatcher

Blackburnian 

Blackburnian

Northern Parula

Cape May Warbler

Magnolia Warbler

Northern Waterthrush

Lincoln's Sparrow

Lincoln's Sparrow

The first bird of the day, 
Female Scarlet Tanager

Weasel (I think Long Tailed)

Weasel jumping for cover

Canada Warbler

Black Throated Blue Warbler

Black Throated Green Warbler

Black and White Warbler

May Migration

 For a few short weeks in May birds that live in the tropics for much of the year migrate through to points north to procreate. For this short three to four week period the trees are full of colorful birds. These few weeks are fleeting, made worse by persistent bad northeast winds.  Sometimes these winds can ground birds for over a week as they wait for a favorable flight.

   Luckily, Thursday night the wind was right, so a bunch of birds flew into the area before the wind grounded them here. I got out both Friday and Saturday with a variety of friends. Unfortunately, I did not a photo of the  second best bird I saw, a Blackburnian Warbler. It was raining when I started birding this morning and did not take my camera with me. I did get to see the very rare for New England Yellow Throated Warbler. Some of the species below will breed in MA/RI but they are migrants coming from the south. 

Pine Warbler

Hybrid Blue Winged Warbler

Female Rose Breasted Grosbeak (and below)

Black and White Warbler

Black Throated Blue Warbler

Baltimore Oriole

Male Rose Breasted Grosbeak

Yellow Rumped Warbler

Palm Warbler

Yellow Warbler

Black Throated Blue Warbler

Below are two photos of Yellow Throated Warbler. Awful light, but this is a state bird for me. I had seen them in Florida and one in Mass, but never in Rhode Island. Found by Sue Talbot

Not a migrant but a photo upgrade of Belted Kingfisher

Obviously not a migrant or a bird

Female Orchard Oriole

Blue Winged Warbler