Cape Cod – Orange Birding

Overnight Pelagic, 08/26/24

At 6:00 am, on Monday of this past week, I joined Rob Stone and we set sail on the Brookline Birding Club’s overnight pelagic birding trip. We boarded the Hellen H, a 100 foot deep sea fishing boat in Hyannis, Massachusetts, and headed out to the Hydrographer Canyon area (east and south of Cape Cod).

As always, I started the trip with my usual anxieties – what would the ship be like? Where would I store my stuff? Where would I sleep? What would the restrooms be like? Would we get any good birds? Some these anxieties were well founded – as we boarded, it was difficult to determine what areas were up for grabs and which had been taken already. I ended up stashing my gear under some occupied benches in the cabin; less than ideal, but at least my gear was out of my hands and I could wander the boat and start doing some birding. I eventually found an area on the deck which looked good for sleeping (and it was, to a point – more on that later). The layout of the lower deck was nice and lended itself to good birding. The upper deck, where I had spend most of my time birding on previous pelagics, was not as accommodating as it was filled with benches and sleeping areas which would allow for easy movement from one side of the boat to the other. And the men’s room. It was a tremendous upgrade to the restrooms I’ve experienced on every previous pelagic. It had both a urinal and a toilet, with plenty of room and handrails.

~The bird of the trip for me – one of two South Polar Skuas. BBC Overnight Pelagic 08/26/24.~

As for the birds, they certainly did not disappoint. We located all of my target birds on the first day, and I enjoyed adding a remarkable 5 species to my life list. Here’s a list of highlighted species, with my life birds indicated:

Red Phalarope
Red-necked Phalarope
Long-tailed Jaeger (life bird)
Pomarine Jaeger (life bird)
South Polar Skua (life bird)
Wilson’s Storm-Petrel
White-face Storm-Petrel (life bird)
Leach’s Storm-Petrel
Band-rumped Storm-Petrel
Black-capped Petrel
Cory’s Shearwater
Great Shearwater
Sooty Shearwater (reported but I did not see)
Manx Shearwater
Audubon’s Shearwater (life bird)

~Thankfully they call out all the bird species as they find them, because it took me some time to (hopefully) correctly identify all the jaegers in my photos. I believe this is a Pomarine Jaeger; what a sharp looking bird this is. BBC Overnight Pelagic, 08/27/24.~

And, sleeping. I ultimately did not get very much sleep. I went to sleep on Monday night somewhere between 9:30 and 10:00, as I was exhausted. I slept for a couple of hours and then woke up and started to toss and turn trying get comfortable on the hard deck. Then, around 2:15am, I was dozing when a crew member woke me up to let me know that there was a storm coming through and I’d have to get off the deck or get soaked. A couple waves of some serious thunderstorms rolled through; we enjoyed some of it from the deck (the lightning was fantastic!) until it started coming down sideways and we took refuge in the cabin. I did not get much sleep (other than dozing off from time to time while sitting up on a bench) after that, and I got gradually more and more seasick with the boat being anchored and just rocking away. It wasn’t until first light, when I could see the horizon again, that I started to feel a little bit better.

~Long-tailed Jaeger, BBC Overnight Pelagic, 08/26/24.~

Tuesday’s birding was as productive as Monday. The first good bird of the day was our second White-faced Storm-Petrel of the trip. We got good looks at both of them, but I’ll tell you that that’s a tough bird to photograph. That didn’t stop me from trying; see my less than stellar result below. On Tuesday we added one really good bird – Black-capped Petrel. The bird was on the move and although I saw it, it was not good looks and I didn’t get any photos. A second South Polar Skua capped off the trip, which was pretty remarkable. In the early afternoon, a thick fog rolled in, and from then on we just were on a steady course heading back to Hyannis. It was an excellent and exhuasting trip.

~Excellent bird, not so excellent photo. Very cool to see this bird and add it to my life list. BBC Overnight Pelagic, 08/26/24.~

~As I’ve grown to expect, we got great looks at plenty of Great Shearwaters, both on the water, and …~

~…in flight. Great Shearwater during the BBC Overnight Pelagic, 08/26/24.~

~Another Pomarine Jaeger zips by. BBC Overnight Pelagic 08/26/24.~

~Manx Shearwater on the water. BBC Overnight Pelagic, 08/26/24.~

~Manx Shearwater taking flight, BBC Overnight Pelagic, 08/26/24.~

~I got my best looks at Cory’s Shearwaters during this trip. BBC Overnight Pelagic, 08/26/24.~

~Pomarine Jaeger, BBC Overnight Pelagic, 08/26/24.~

~One more shot of Monday’s South Polar Skua. What a bird! BBC Overnight Pelagic, 08/26/24.~

~Wilson’s Storm-Petrel on Tuesday morning, not long after sunrise. BBC Overnight Pelagic, 08/27/24.~

~I kind of dig this photo. Long-tailed Jaeger banking during the BBC Overnight Pelagic, 08/26/24.~

~Pomarine Jaeger, BBC Overnight Pelagic, 08/27/24.~

Sunday Shots, 09/01/24

Sunday Shots: Overnight pelagic teaser edition. On Monday and Tuesday of this week, I enjoyed some really excellent birding on Brookline Bird Club’s overnight pelagic out of Hyannis, Massachusetts. We found all of my target birds for the trip, and I added an incredible five birds to my life list. I have loads of photos to get through still, but I will be publishing a full post with details and tons of photos, as soon as I can.

Meanwhile, back in Orange County, the excitement for me this weekend was finding a BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER in the black dirt on Saturday morning. BBSA is definitely one of the coolest birds that we can expect in our area each fall, so it was great to catch up with one.

~Corey’s Shearwater, BBC Overnight Pelagic 08/26/24.~

~Not a great shot, but it’s always great to see a Buff-breasted Sandpiper. Black Dirt Region 08/31/24.~

Cape Cod 2024

Tricia and I enjoyed a five day weekend on Cape Cod last weekend. The weather was a mixed bag and it felt like we had all four seasons during those five days and the birding was very enjoyable and relatively productive. I had 63 species for the trip (see complete list at the bottom of this post). This is up 11 species from when we last visited during the same week back in 2022. That said, nearly all the birds where what I would consider ‘expected’ species; the only out of the ordinary birds I had for the entire trip were a handful of very distant, unidentified flying alcids at Race Point on 05/07/24. The bird of the trip for me, was Red-throated Loon. I went to Race Point on 05/04/24 & 05/07/24 and High Head Beach on 05/05/24, and both places were absolutely loaded with Red-throated Loons (and a pretty good showing of Common Loons as well). What I really enjoyed about the RTLOs, was that many were in or nearly in breeding plumage – something that I’ve never seen before.

~A Red-throated Loon just off shore at High Head Beach, 05/05/24.~

As readers of the blog know, gulls are maybe at the top of my favorite types of birds. I was disappointed with the trip in this regard -in addition to the 4 expected species (Laughing, Herring, Great Black-backed, & Ring-billed), I only had a handful of distant Bonaparte’s Gulls. Two years ago, I had absolutely loads of Bonies, as well as Lesser Black-backed, Iceland, and Glaucous!

As for mammals, in the water I had Gray Seals, Humpback Whales, and a Fin Whale. I met an old timer at Race Point – he had a Right Whale feeding before I ran into him, but unfortunately I was unable to relocate it. I was bummed, because that would have been amazing. On land, of note I had two Coyote sitings, both on my drive out to Race Point very early in the morning on 05/07/24.

~Red-thoated Loon in nice plumage at Race Point, 05/04/24.~

One final thing. It struck me during this trip was how different being at the shore is aesthetically, as compared to Orange County. There is an airy, light feel to the surroundings and regardless of the weather, the palette seems to have more of a pastel quality to it, which I really enjoyed, both just existing in it and photographing it.

~You can’t miss these guys at Race Point. Piping Plover in the early morning sun on 05/04/24.~

~Herring Gull with a nice meal, flying over Wellfleet Harbor, right across the street from the place we stayed, 05/06/24.~

~Willet perched high on vegetation during a hike I took at Great Island Trail, 05/06/24.~

~Common Loon, Wellfleet Harbor 05/06/24.~

~Laughing Gull in flight at High Head Beach, 05/05/24.~

~Red-breasted Mergansers were present in MASSIVE numbers every day I was on the cape. This crew was shot at Race Point on 05/07/24.~

~Herring Gull at Wellfleet Harbor, 05/06/24.~

~A Gray Seal came in for a closer look at me on the shore at High Head Beach, 05/05/24.~

~This was awesome – I’ve never seen it before. This Humpback Whale was repeatedly slapping its pectoral flipper on the water! High Head Beach, 05/05/24.~

~Fin Whale at High Head Beach, 05/05/24.~

~Selfie at Race Point, 05/07/24. I believe those are Coyote tracks over my shoulder.~

Cape Cod 2024 Teaser

Tricia and I spent a long, lovely weekend on Cape Cod. I did loads of birding, of course, and I took many, many photos which will take some time to get through before I can post. It was really great to get away for a few days – when I wasn’t birding I was resting, relaxing and enjoying some great seafood. I look forward to sharing my experiences once I’ve edited all these photos (I am really curious to see how they turned out).