Where the Birds Are
photographs and trip reports from a teenage birder
Maine and New Hampshire, August 25-28 2006
A small group of borderline insane birders set out on August 25th around 10pm for a long drive to the New Hampshire and Maine coasts. The primary reason for this excursion was, of course, to see the Western Reef-Heron that has been traveling the Atlantic coastline for the past year (or more). Besides a brief stop at customs in New York for interrogation and torture, the drive went fairly smoothly and we arrived in New Castle, New Hampshire around 11:30am. As a somewhat anticlimactic ending to our long drive, we arrived and to our pleasant surprise the bird was sitting cooperatively on the far shore of a small cove. Although photos were difficult to obtain at the distance, the views were excellent and we were able to have prolonged views of this fantastic bird. I have posted a photo here for record purposes only, but I would strongly urge you to seek out better photos on the web to truly appreciate this striking heron.
After the bird disappeared from view we set out to bird the coastline north into Maine. In the Kittery Point dock/Fort Foster area we were able to locate several Roseate Terns and pick up a few distant Northern Gannets and a sizable flock (~15) of phalaropes. The shear numbers of terns (mostly Common) and gulls (Bonapartes,Laughing, Great Black-backed, etc) was mind boggling at times and often made it frustratingly difficult to pull out different species. Once we were finished scanning those flocks we traversed up the coast a ways in the evening to Nubble Lighthouse in hopes of picking up some more seabirds from shore. Far out on the horizon we were able to watch a pair of jeagers bomb into tern flocks and chase around a tern or two for awhile...they were not very successful. The other bird of note that was seen here was a Great Cormorant...unfortunately I was not one of the lucky who saw this bird.
Early the next morning we spent some time searching the New Hampshire coastline picking up a few new birds for our lists and eventually made our way to the Rye Harbor docks for a 8:30 whale watching trip. This boat trip turned out to be a very enjoyable and successful excursion, as we found some great birds. Perhaps the highlight for many on this trip was a juvenile Atlantic Puffin who gave us some brief, but close views somewhere out in the Maine waters. As the boat captain drove around in circles chasing some whales we kicked up several very sizable flocks of Red-necked Phalaropes (although most were to far out to tell, the ones we could see well enough to ID were mostly Red-necks). We were able to pick out a Red Phalarope or two and had fairly close views of one of them. We were very pleased to have a 1st year Black-legged Kittiwake fly over our heads and a close Parasitic Jaeger provided us with some great (although very brief) views. Wilson's Storm-petrels were fairly common, but the only shearwater of the trip was a uncooperative Greater Shearwater that flew directly away from our boat. A single Northern Gannet was spotted as well and we were able to pick out a single Roseate Tern and what appeared to be a Glaucous Gull in New Hampshire waters on our way back in. Whale highlights included several very cooperative Fin Whales and Minke Whales.
Although it was a very short trip we were able to pick up lots of great species and I think everyone was pleased with how it went. Many thanks to Scott Jennex, Jeff Schultz, and Robert Epstein for making this trip possible and putitng up with me the whole way...sorry for getting us stuck at the border
Im really to lazy to type up a trip list, but I think the trip list was somewhere between 100 and 200 and I picked up one lifer (the heron) and several year birds.
After the bird disappeared from view we set out to bird the coastline north into Maine. In the Kittery Point dock/Fort Foster area we were able to locate several Roseate Terns and pick up a few distant Northern Gannets and a sizable flock (~15) of phalaropes. The shear numbers of terns (mostly Common) and gulls (Bonapartes,Laughing, Great Black-backed, etc) was mind boggling at times and often made it frustratingly difficult to pull out different species. Once we were finished scanning those flocks we traversed up the coast a ways in the evening to Nubble Lighthouse in hopes of picking up some more seabirds from shore. Far out on the horizon we were able to watch a pair of jeagers bomb into tern flocks and chase around a tern or two for awhile...they were not very successful. The other bird of note that was seen here was a Great Cormorant...unfortunately I was not one of the lucky who saw this bird.
Early the next morning we spent some time searching the New Hampshire coastline picking up a few new birds for our lists and eventually made our way to the Rye Harbor docks for a 8:30 whale watching trip. This boat trip turned out to be a very enjoyable and successful excursion, as we found some great birds. Perhaps the highlight for many on this trip was a juvenile Atlantic Puffin who gave us some brief, but close views somewhere out in the Maine waters. As the boat captain drove around in circles chasing some whales we kicked up several very sizable flocks of Red-necked Phalaropes (although most were to far out to tell, the ones we could see well enough to ID were mostly Red-necks). We were able to pick out a Red Phalarope or two and had fairly close views of one of them. We were very pleased to have a 1st year Black-legged Kittiwake fly over our heads and a close Parasitic Jaeger provided us with some great (although very brief) views. Wilson's Storm-petrels were fairly common, but the only shearwater of the trip was a uncooperative Greater Shearwater that flew directly away from our boat. A single Northern Gannet was spotted as well and we were able to pick out a single Roseate Tern and what appeared to be a Glaucous Gull in New Hampshire waters on our way back in. Whale highlights included several very cooperative Fin Whales and Minke Whales.
Although it was a very short trip we were able to pick up lots of great species and I think everyone was pleased with how it went. Many thanks to Scott Jennex, Jeff Schultz, and Robert Epstein for making this trip possible and putitng up with me the whole way...sorry for getting us stuck at the border
Im really to lazy to type up a trip list, but I think the trip list was somewhere between 100 and 200 and I picked up one lifer (the heron) and several year birds.