Fabulous Shorebird Migration.....Inland

These past few weeks have been almost magical when it comes to shorebird migration. Not that may not seem so surprising when you consider Plum Island and other hot spots.....but Sterling Peat? Worcester County birders have know for years that this is a great place to check for the occasional Great Egret and some of the more typical species like Yellowlegs, Least, Semi's. On the two occasions we've visited recently we've been treated to great views of 8 Great Egrets. As the dry weather has continued the pools have shrunk and it's a virtual smorgasbord for the herons and egrets.

These two bold birds really wanted to feed in the pool where I was photographing shorebirds so they kept inching closer and closer.

There were lots of Least Sandpipers running around and they seemed fairly comfortable with me and my camera, especially after sitting in one spot for 15 minutes.

Good looks at Lesser Yellowlegs.....

and Greater Yellowlegs too. Nice comparison on the overall delicate "jiz" of the Lesser and the much longer bill of the Greater.

Probably the most nonchalant bird there was Solitary Sandpiper. There must have been more than 1/2 dozen feeding in the pools.

This Great Blue Heron caught a nice, tasty (I assume) bullhead for dinner.

One of the specialties I really got to study though was this Pectoral Sandpiper.

You could clearly see the clean break in the streaking on his breast. It's almost like someone drew a line and then said "don't color below this line".

When you see this bird feeding it can just look like a large peep -- which technically it is.

As special as these birds are, though, for me the highlight was not 1 but 2 Buff-breasted Sandpipers! The coloration was perfect and watching it meander over the little grassy and sandy patches was a real treat.

I've seen some super close-up photos of these birds from this location, and the birder/photographers were either very lucky, had super lenses, or just got too darn close. I'm always afraid that I'll flush the birds off so I tend to stay quite a distance away.

But that clearly didn't diminish my enjoyment. And to be able to focus on that distinctive patterning was tremendous.

I really think I could have sat there for hours just watching her. Of course, hoping that she would come much closer for that National Geographic-kind of shot.

At one point on our second visit in 3 days, we had a glider come sailing over and the birds luckily didn't even look up. Or if they did, they must have recognized it as something other than a predator. Even though we held out breath, the birds didn't flush.

For most Worcester County birders, the real treat was to get a call that Bart Kamp had just had 5 Stilt Sandpipers fly in. Inland these are not common birds at all. And when they do show up, it's usually only 1 bird and they can come and go pretty quickly.

These 5 birds stayed for two days....or rather they flew off and returned the next day.

They were quite tolerant of all the birds and photographers who kept creeping closer and closer.

There was this surreal moment when I was going back and forth between shooting the Stilts and the Pectorals. And they I would focus in on the Buff-breasted just to make sure I didn't lose track of them.

I probably should also mention there were a couple of Baird's Sandpipers there as well. While I got okay looks through the scope, they never really came close enough for me to photograph.

As the evening started to close in, the Stilts headed out.....capping a totally wonderful birding trip for shorebirds close to home.

Over our two separate trips to Sterling Peat we tallied 11 species of shorebird. Not bad for an inland count!!!

Enjoy....Sheila

Nighthawk Watching on Rt. 56

For a few weeks in August we try to hit the fields along Rt. 56 in Leicester that overlook the Worcester Airport so that we can catch any Common Nighthawks that might be migrating. Sometimes you get good numbers (almost like hawk watching without the species diversity!)We try to get there around 5 and start scanning for nighthawks. Often there are other birds in the area to distract us. This year there has been a large flock of turkeys in the fields right in front of us. Many are still in family groups and the young ones are all different ages. Two weeks ago we had a group that we categorized as PY for the atlas....although Bart Kamp tells us they can fly a short distance very soon after birth.

Some of the young birds can be quite feisty with one another....

and they start a little trouble that everyone in the group flocks around to see.

This bird wanted to check us out before attempting to cross Rt. 56. Both nights we were up there my heart was in my throat as the flock crossed this busy road. Luckily most drivers didn't want to have a turkey hit their windshield any more than I want to see it.....so on both nights all birds got across safely.

Besides the 3 species of falcons that we've had actually done on the runway, we also had this nice Northern Harrier hunting much closer.

This is such a great area for these guys to hunt; very similar to how we see Short-eared Owls when they're in the area. Here's hoping that we get a flight of them later in the season. In the meantime I'll have to be content with this immature harrier.

Once the nighthawks start to appear, they can come from any direction....sometimes close by and sometimes quite far out. It can be really difficult when you have a blue sky and no clouds against which to see the birds.

If the birds comes close enough you can often see the white bar near the base of the primaries in flight. This is particularly noticeable on male birds, along with the white throat.

This year for some reason I've been unusually lucky getting a few shots that show the markings quite well.....many times they're just too far off.

The following shots are my best of the season...maybe my best so far. They show the markings very nicely on both the male and female (buffier) birds.

Nice look at the barring on the underside as this bird passed over...

And the white throat picked up the light nicely on this male. Look how broad the white bar is.

Sometimes the flight profile of these birds look quite falcon-like.

Here you can actually watch this female looking around for food on the wing!

After about 2 hours the show's over (if there is one). We've gone up 3 times this year, with 2 nights producing a good show -- 300+ on one night and 500+ on the other.

While I enjoy see these birds migrate every year, it is a little bittersweet -- often marking the end of summer and you can notice the shortening day by about 7 p.m. when we're heading home.

Of course, I can always look forward to next year when, hopefully, they'll be back. Although I do worry about that more and more. Common Nighthawks have NOT been doing well as breeding birds in the recent atlas work. We used to have them regularly in summer in Worcester at night over the lights....but for the last few years they've been definitely absent. I'm always afraid that a bird like this will get overlooked as it declines and then it'll be gone and we'll all be talking about what it used to be like.

But for now, there may still be one or two good nights left....so get out and count birds!

Enjoy......Sheila

Gooseberry Neck and Westport

With so much time being spent in the Berkshires, we headed off to Westport a few weeks ago to see if shorebirds were starting to migrate. As we drove down Rt. 88 to Gooseberry Neck, we spotted this young Cooper's Hawk sitting on the phone pole. He allowed us to get quite close and we, in fact, left him calling (for his parents?) as we continued on our way. As we crossed the causeway, we caught these Double-crested Cormorants sunning themselves. With all the rocks along the coast in this spot, it was funny to watch them both try to fit on one smaller-sized rock.

The Ospreys were all over....

and so were the American Coppers as we walked out the road to get to the first good overlook for shorebirds.

The numbers of Tree Swallows were definitely building up.

In fact we estimated tens of thousands....but we saw very few species other than Trees!

This is such a good time to watch a Peregrine come -- both to look for shorebirds to harass.....

and to get the swallows up and swarming. In the picture below the Peregrine wasn't after swallows, but decided to make a run at a gull.

Considering the size difference, this was one mighty little Peregrine.

We started to see shorebirds by the first walk down to the rocky shore on the western side of the road.

The Ruddy Turnstones (of which there were quite a few) were in all different plumages. No matter how often I see this shorebird, I find it totally fascinating. Maybe it's the bright orange legs, or the confusing pattern as these birds start to change into their winter coats. I do enjoy seeing them poking around on the rocks like this one was doing.

There were also good numbers of Semipalmated Plovers starting to build up. When I see them running along the shore or outlined against a sandy beach, I never appreciate them as much as I do when they're sitting in and among the rack line or the rocky shore.

And the peep of the day was certainly the Semi-palmated Sandpiper.

These 3 photos are of the same bird, and I wanted to include all of them so you could appreciate how lighting can make a bird look totally different.

In the photo above you can also get a really good look at the bulbous tip to its bill......and the side view lets you see just how short and blunt the bill really is. Not at all like a Least's.

After spending a few hours on Gooseberry Neck we checked out the shoreline before heading off to Acoaxet.

In the pool across from the Town Beach we had a good-sized group of Snowy Egrets....most were immature birds and they flew back into the marsh as we pulled into the rocky parking lot. These 3 birds, however, stayed for a few minutes before flying off to join their friends (or siblings).

At Acoaxet, the shorebirds were much further down the beach than we were prepared to walk, so I had to settle for this Spotted Sandpiper that landed right in front of me as a sitting quietly waiting to get some shots of terns.

There were both adult and immature Common Terns feeding in front of me, and after a bit they perched on the nearby rocks some still begging to be fed.

You can see the immature bird (with the white forehead) calling as the adult flies over.

After about 15 minutes some folks came down the beach with their dog and that was the end of the tern show. But as they flew off I got a good look at their wing patterns.

Visiting the ocean in summer is always such a mixed blessing....the people can be all over, but if you want to see things like breeding Common Terns you don't have a choice.

My vote is always for the Westport/Acoaxet area because you don't have the crowds that you have on the Cape or Plum Island and it's relatively close to home. Depending on the tides and the weather conditions, you can get great shorebird and passerine migration when you hit all the hot spots. If you haven't gone there too much, it's definitely worth a try.....just don't tell too many people!

Enjoy.....Sheila