Somehow I lost my internet connection at the condo so this is a day or two late. But at last I added a few new ones to the list on Monday. Before going out to sea, I checked out several spots on the New Hampshire seacoast for shorebirds, Lesser Yellowlegs and Short-billed Dowitcher in particular. While scanning the salt marshes behind Little Jack’s, who should suddenly appear but Susan Wrisley, brimming with the latest information on where to find these two species. Nothing beats good local knowledge. She took me down the road a ways and there in the salt marsh was this Lesser Yellowlegs (450):
I was hoping to get to 450 during my stay in New Hampshire but at first I didn’t think that would be possible. Then the list grew little by little and here, on my last birding day, I reached that milestone. More importantly, in the same pool was a Short-billed Dowitcher (451), my last chance for this species. (Thank you, Susan!) While I was there, I learned that a Tufted Duck was seen Sunday in Exeter but the sewage ponds are only open on weekends so I missed this good rarity.
A quick pass through Plum Island failed to add anything new so it was on to Gloucester, surely the most storied fishing port on the East Coast.
Thanks to Zeke Cornell, I learned about a whale watch to Stellwagen Bank from Gloucester last Friday that recorded all 4 shearwaters in good numbers. So I booked a trip with 7 Seas Whale Watch. As we left the harbor, the captain announced we were going to Jeffrey’s Ledge, NOT Stellwagen Bank! Nooooooo!! Let me off the boat! Nothing doing so I had to try to make the best of it. As it turns out, our captain was the same one who was at the helm Friday at Stellwagen and he described that incident as “anomalous”. Shearwaters have been few so far this season. And so it was on Monday. I saw a few Greats and 2 Sootys. The captain pointed out a Cory’s Shearwater at 3:00 o’clock but I was at 9:00 o’clock and by the time I worked my way around the stern the bird was long gone. So I added nothing new from the trip and had to be content with big mammals, like this one:
I have since left New England. Today was the first of a six day slog out to Colorado. I predict my next new bird will be Black-billed Magpie. It could happen in Nebraska but more likely in Colorado, where I should add 5 to 10 new species. See you in a few days.