16th September- CALL MY BLUFF!

Observers ready to be humbled by the Bluff Point morning flight spectacle

Mid-september, Bluff Point, CT, the day after a cold-front is a perfect recipe to witness the spectacle of morning flight of passerines, predominantly wood-warblers as they funnel through the so-named “hot corner”. This phenomenon of concentrated visible diurnal migration was first discovered in the late 90s by Dave Provencher, and astute and sharp local observer. Standing at the edge of the railroad tracks at the northern end of Bluff Point State Park, thousands of birds pour out at daybreak offering would be gladiators the challenge of identifying these projectiles in flight.

A longtime birding friend of mine, Patrick Baglee, visiting from the UK had his retinas well and truly wrecked by his first-ever morning flight spectacle.

Today was a c.5000 bird day, involving a combined total of 26 species of warbler! The most interesting were a Prothonotary Warbler and 2 Connecticut Warblers.

Nick Bonomo and I positioned ourselves to the north of the tracks to try to get a better vantage point to identify them in flight and to attempt some “fun flight” photography. There were some surprises least of all a Connecticut Warbler. Nick was far better on the draw with this one and his photographs of the bird in flight make mine look silly!See here: http://www.shorebirder.com/2012/09/connecticut-warbler-bluff-pt.html

How nearly all of my images turned out of warblers in flight!!

Red-eyed Vireo, one of the more numerous birds of the flight.

Chestnut-sided Warbler

Apparent Blue-headed Vireo migrating with prey

 

Swainson’s Thrush – no problems iding this baby!

Surprise Yellow-throated Vireo!

 

My sub-par Connecticut Warbler shot!

Here is a run down of some the species seen (in some instances numbers are conservative estimates):

Northern Flicker (60-70)

Eastern Wood-Pewee (10)

Yellow-bellied Flycatcher (1)

Eastern Phoebe (3)

Great Crested Flycatcher (4)

Yellow-throated Vireo (2)

Blue-headed Vireo (4)

Philadelphia Vireo (3)

Red-eyed Vireo (25)

Red-breasted Nuthatch (20)

Ruby-crowned Kinglet (15)

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (5)

Veery (2)

Swainson’s Thrush (15)

Cathurus thrush sp (20+

Cedar Waxwing (100+)

Blue-winged Warbler (2

Tennessee Warbler (7)

Nashville Warbler (3

Northern Parula (200+)

Yellow Warbler (3)

Chestnut-sided Warbler (10)

Magnolia Warbler (20+)

Black-throated Blue Warbler (15) surprisingly low number

Yellow-rumped Warbler (10)

Black-throated Green Warbler (200+)

Blackburnian Warbler (10+)

Pine Warbler (1)

Prairie Warbler (4)

Palm Warbler (4)

Bay-breasted Warbler (1)

Blackpoll Warbler (100+)

“Baypoll” Warbler (400+)

Black-and-white Warbler (50+)

American Redstart (400+)

PROTHONOTARY WARBLER (1)

Ovenbird (2)

Northern Waterthrush (1)

CONNECTICUT WARBLER (2)

Oporonis species (1)

Common Yellowthroat (10)

Wilson’s Warbler (2)

Canada Warbler (2)

Unidentified Warblers (approx 3,000 to 3,500)

Scarlet Tanager (15)

Rose-breasted Grosbeak (15)

Indigo Bunting (1)

Baltimore Oriole (1)

Purple Finch (75+)

Brookline Pelagic, August 2012

A Connecticut contingent of Frank Mantlik, Frank Gallo, Nick Bonomo and myself road-tripped to Hyannis to participate in the Brookline Bird Club’s annual extreme pelagic out of Hyannis. After a few hours sleep we assembled at the dock and were joined by fellow CT birders John Oshlik and Phil Rusch and a boatload, literally, of birders from New England.

From (l) to (r): Julian Hough, Frank Gallo, Phil Rusch, Nick Bonomo and Frank Mantlik.

As with any pelagic, hopes are always high for a mega-rarity and the reality is always more sobering than the fantasy. However, on this trip, expectations were met..and exceeded, in what was regarded as THE best pelagic in Massachusetts history and one of the best trips most birders had been on in the Atlantic!

So, without much further ado, here’s a few photos of mine from the trip. CLICK FOR LARGER IMAGES.

Long-tailed Jaeger – intermediate-type juvenile. Note long central tail feathers, zebra-striped undertail coverts and characteristic 2 pale primary shafts.

Red-necked Phalaropes. Slim build with well-defined wingbar that is slightly narrower than Red Phalarope. Differences hard to notice on fast-moving birds at sea.

Great Shearwater. Lots of great looks!

Scopoli’s Shearwater. Typically smaller and slighter than ‘borealis’ with more white ‘fingers’ evident on the primaries. (Difference is similar to the differences in underwing pattern of Sooty vs. Bridled Tern.) Difficult to determine underwing pattern in the field, with a review of digital images often needed. Some smaller birds seen resting proved to be borealis so size wasn’t often a clincher.

Leach’s Petrel

Band-rumped Petrel

Band-rumped Petrel

White-faced Storm Petrel. Nuff Said.

Steve Howell and leader Marshall Iliff talking minutiae.

26th August – Day 2.

After an overnight anchor at the canyons, dawn and coffee was welcomed. As light was breaking Nick spotted a small shearwater coming in which quickly turned into a stunning, world lifer Barolo Shearwater!!!

Barolo Shearwater. Small size, small bill with white face with dark eye standing out. Blackish above and snow white below with extensive white on the underwings, neatly rimmed with black. Upperparts lacking pale median tips and silvery wash of adults, indicating a juvenile bird. Only the 2nd/3rd record for Mass and the 1oth/11th record for the US.

Nick Bonomo, obviously happy at ticking off Blair Nikula (left)..or maybe the Barolo Shearwater that just nearly flew into the back of the boat!!

Tom Johnson needed a calculator to add up the number of Barolo Shearwaters he’s now seen in the past week! Scoring 4 off his NOAA research cruise off Nova Scotia last week fuelled expectations that this trip might deliver, but nobody thought it would!

Feeling a rush of adrenalin, I decided it was time for me to pay a visit to the bog. I had just got settled, when everyone started shouting and James Smith banged on the door..”Tropicbird, Tropicbiirrrdddd!!!!”. I thought Holy S!!$$$..literally, right now. White-tailed Tropicbird was a nemesis bird for me, so I couldn’t believe it. Busting out onto the back deck, I was confronted with a stunning juv. tropicbird winnowing overhead!

Red-billed Tropicbird- juvenile. A stunning bird. Black inner greater covert pattern identified this as a Red-billed rather than the expected (and hoped-for White-tailed).

Pomarine Jaeger- 1stsummer.

Audubon’s Shearwater. Note long tail, dusky undertail coverts, stout bill, dark lores and extensively dark primary bases.

Manx Shearwater. Torpedo shaped body with long bill, dark earcoverts, Compared to Barolo and Audubon’s it seemed quite brutish.

Highlights:

1 or 2 BAROLO SHEARWATERS

“SCOPOLI’S” CORY’S SHEARWATERS

1 RED-BILLED TROPICBIRD (juvenile over the boat)

1 BRIDLED TERN, on flotsam next to the boat at sunset 8/25

7 WHITE-FACED STORM-PETRELS – excellent views by all

9 BAND-RUMPED STORM-PETRELS – excellent views by all

3 AUDUBON’S SHEARWATERS

1 LONG-TAILED JAEGER (juvenile)

4+ POMARINE JAEGERS

Black Terns (many)

100+ Red-necked Phalarops

2-3 Red Phalaropes

10+ Hudsonian Godwits migrating

1 Finback Whale

Common Dolphins

Mola mola

Sharks

2 Loggerhead Sea Turtles

1 Leatherback Sea Turtle

Portuguese Man-o-War

Flying Fish

And still not a stint in sight..

Semips still abound..but not a stint in sight…

Still good numbers of birds congregating, but despite going over them I couldn’t unearth anything of Eurasian origin.

Here’s another shot of Alex practising his fieldcraft skills.

slowly does it….

Roseate Terns

After a couple of sporadic seasons, the tern colony at Sandy point is bustling with activity with a good post-breeding flock in evidence. It is this time of year that Roseate Terns can be found hanging out with the local Common Terns. They are an uncommon breeder in CT, and many of the coastal Roseate records relate to wandering adults from breeding colonies at Faulkner Island in Long island Sound.

One of the challenges can be picking out these uncommon visitors from the masses of similar looking Common Terns. Simply put, Roseate’s are slightly bigger, ‘whiter’ with a longer, more tapered bill that is often (but not always) blackish. Since many adult Common Terns are acquiring a darker, more blackish bill now as they begin their moult to winter plumage, bill color may be of limited use when trying to pick out a Roseate.  The masses of Common Terns can often mask the other more subtle features and make picking out a Roseate a little more difficult, especially if birds are distant.

Adult Roseate Tern and Common, Sandy Point, West Haven, August 2012 (Julian Hough).

One of the best ways of locating an adult Roseate Tern is to look at the wingtips of sitting birds. Common Terns have mostly dark, worn blackish primaries. Adult Roseate’s often show a very pale and contrasting panel on the inner primaries that contrast with the dark outer webs. Once you find a bird exhibiting this feature, you can check other features listed above.

Wingtips in Common and Roseate Tern.
Note pale, contrasting primary panel on Roseate. This is due to most of primaries being pale grey with white fringes. Longer tail streamers extending past tail often obvious.

Some Roseate’s in breeding plumage develop a red base to the bill that can be extensive and can be similar to Common Tern. Typically the dark is more extensive and the division between red and black is less clear cut on Roseate, but they can retain this into August, so not every Roseate will have a blackish bill. The gonydeal angle of the bill on Roseate is closer to the base of the bill which results in a more fine-tapered bill.

Adult Roseate Tern (Julian Hough). Note bill is quite red on this bird. Also, note that the dark trailing edge often obvious on Common Tern is reduced in Roseate due to the pale fringes of most of the outer primaries. Also, the dark outer web of the outer tail feathers on Common tern is absent on Roseate Tern.

Roseate’s have tail streamers that project beyond the tail, a result of them having shorter wings than Common Tern rather than longer tail streamers. Their flight manner is different with shallow, rapid wingbeats. Their call is a Semipalmated Plover-like “chuwit”, quite distinctive once learned.

11th August, Sandy Point, West Haven

Alex enjoying being out in the field

A nice evening, wonderful night hanging out with my son and a lot of roosting shorebirds and terns. Nothing unusual, just a lot of cool stuff to keep the retinas working overtime. A pristine juvenile Forster’s Tern and 2 adult Roseate Terns were cool.
Notable were a good number of juvenile shorebirds: Lesser and Greater ‘legs, Least and Semi-palmateds and Short-billed Dow. Not sure, but it seems that juveniles are on the early side this year..perhaps an indicator of a successful breeding season??

Summer Surprise

5th August, Sandy Point, West Haven

After last weeks surprise adult BAIRD’S SANDPIPER – only my 2nd adult ever in late summer/fall, numbers of shorebirds continue to rise. A private guided walk yielded the usual suspects but also a nice adult ROSEATE TERN. Difficult to pick out of the hordes head on, but the tell-tale primary pattern was useful – more on that in a later post.

Surprise was an adult and juvenile Least Sand – my earliest juvenile ever! The tern colony is looking really healthy and good numbers of Common Terns abounded.

Southbound Semis…despite a thorough grilling no Red-necked or Little Stint could be found. Mid-July-early August is the best time for these Eurasian vagrants to show up in the north-east.

Interview on BirdCalls radio

Here is the archive of the Sunday, April 8, 2012, BirdCallsRadio show with yours truly as the special guest.

There’s discussion on wildlife photography and art, as well as birdwatching tips, the CT Avian Records Committee, and coming to America from England and birding in Cape May, N.J.

Click here for the archive BCR 4-8 julian hough

April 8 Bird Calls Radio

I will be the next guest on BirdCallsRadio on April 8, 2012. It will air on Sunday from 1 to 2 p.m EST on 1490am WGCH & WORLDWIDE internet Streaming
Check out:  http://birdcallsradio.com/listen-live/

Hope you will listen in!

From the Archives..on this day in 1984!

While birding is at a slow-ebb, I thought I’d post a page out of my journal from this day back in 1984 when i was a rabid twitcher at the naive age of 16.

Sociable Plover, London, March 1984 (Julian Hough, age 16)
(click for larger image)

This crippling Sociable Plover (or Sociable lapwing as it is often called) was present on the London/Kent, UK  border. In those pre-mobile, pre-internet days, word of such megas was spread by the telephone grapevine. This bird had been present the week before, unbeknownst to us, as we drove past it on the way back from seeing another top-class vagrant at the time, a confiding female Little Crake in Sussex. So, the following week we had to drive the 4 1/2 hours back down but had superb views of this bird as it foraged in a small grassy area. Still a rare bird, I have seen a few more in the UK, but always a classy vagrant.

click for larger view

I was going through some images and found these of THE mega gull. I’ve seen a few in the UK but have yet to connect in the US.  CT has a record, coincidentally not fifteen minutes from my current house. An adult in basic plumage in West Haven, 11-22 April 1984. Found and identified by D. Varza and R. Schwartz.