CRESLI Whalewatch off Montauk - 19 July 2009

This morning I joined the whalewatch run by Artie Kopelman and his team of CRESLI volunteers. We ran south of Montauk Point through good seas and quickly found some extremely cooperative whales. A mother/calf pair of Humpbacks and at least seven Fin Whales. The whales were actively feeding in surface water and performed admirably. There were fewer seabirds that I expected based on reason tallies from the previous CRESLI trips and from shore-based observations, but still the trip produced a nice tally and again with excellent views.

Cory's Shearwater - 113
Great Shearwater - 270
Sooty Shearwater - 13
shearwater sp. - 1
Manx Shearwater - 1 (on return, less than 1 mile from Point)
Wilson's Storm-Petrel - 410
Northern Gannet - 4
Monarch butterfly - 4 (offshore migrants)

Shearwater congregations off Montauk Point - 18 Jul 2009

This evening, a mixed feeding flock comprising 171 CORY'S SHEARWATERS, 46 GREAT SHEARWATERS, 1 SOOTY SHEARWATER, 2 MANX SHEARWATER and 3 NORTHERN GANNETS were directly south of the bluffs at Camp Hero near Montauk Point (Suffolk Co.). A similarly sized flock was actively feeding east of the Point but conditions were a bit too hazy to make out much beyond the Cory's and Greats.

A quick stop to look at Rita's Pond, revealed 12 Killdeer, 2 Spotted Sandpipers, 2 Least Sandpipers and a fresh juvenile Glossy Ibis (presumably hatched on Gardiner's Island, where the species may nest). A young Cooper's Hawk flew over the pond, chased by an angry flock of grackles.

Evening shearwater flight, Amagansett - 3 Jul 2009

There was a nice flight of shearwaters off Amagansett (Suffolk Co.) this evening. During a 1-hour count (6:48-7:48pm) I clicked off the following:

CORY'S SHEARWATER - 442
GREAT SHEARWATER - 14
large shearwater sp. - 17
SOOTY SHEARWATER - 1
MANX SHEARWATER - 1
WILSON'S STORM-PETREL - 22
Northern Gannet - 7
Laughing Gull - 2

A large ocean sunfish (mola mola) drifted east fairly close to the shore but was unseen by the beach goers. The gannets and Sooty Shearwater were traveling west, everything else was headed east, with some of the Cory's pausing to raft for a few minutes directly offshore.

Storm-petrels, jaegers and lingering loons - 21 Jun 2009

It rained off and on all morning but the visibility on the eastern tip of the South Fork was much better than yesterday. I seawatched from several spots and it was a case of 'boom-or-bust', meaning it was reasonably birdy in some spots and completely dead in others. Highlights included four Parasitic Jaegers, my first Cory's Shearwaters of the season, good numbers of Wilson's Storm-Petrels off Amagansett (but oddly nowhere else) and some very late Red-throated Loons.

**Amagansett** (6:50-7:15 am)
RED-THROATED LOON - 1 (alt. plumage, flying east)
Common Loon - 1
Northern Gannet - 6
WILSON'S STORM-PETREL - 55

**Montauk Point** (7:55-9:15 am)
Northern Gannet - 17
CORY'S SHEARWATER - 2
PARASITIC JAEGER - 3+ (all subads. seemed focused hounding on Laughing Gulls)
Laughing Gull - 100+
several hundred Common & Roseate Terns

**Amagansett** (10:20-11:20 am)
RED-THROATED LOON - 2 (one alt. flying east and one basic type on water)
Common Loon - 1
Northern Gannet - 7
CORY'S SHEARWATER - 1
WILSON'S STORM-PETREL - 125 (max. count on single sweep)
PARASITIC JAEGER - 1 (sub ad., at times close inshore. Successfully robbed Common Terns and Laughing Gulls but also chased storm-petrels)
Laughing Gull - 15
Eastern Willet - 2

Didn't spend much time looking inland because of the soggy and overcast conditions. A TURKEY VULTURE over Fort Pond and a LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL (3rd summer?) on the Montauk Town beach were the one things of note.

Manx Shearwaters, Wilson's SPs, Amagansett - 20 Jun 1009

The waters off Montauk Point (Suffolk Co.) were shrouded in fog today peventing me from doing any seawatching but by evening the visibility was improved off Amagansett, about 15 miles further east. During the hour before dusk (6:00-7:00 pm) offshore movement was slow but the diversity reasonable.

Northern Gannet - 28
D.c. Cormorant - 4
Common Loon - 2
MANX SHEARWATER - 2 (both zooming west)
WILSON'S STORM-PETREL - 44 ++
PARASITIC JAEGER - 1 subad.
Laughing Gull - 4 subads.

BOTTLENOSE DOLPHIN -1 (leapt clear of the water a couple of times showing a nice pink belly)

The jaeger set up shop on the ocean to the west of me and every 20 mins or so would lift off the water and go after a Common Tern, successfully on each occasion. The count of WILSON'S STORM-PETREL was very good for this location and likely a significant under-estimate of the real number. Storm-petrels were strung out all along the horizon and seemed to steadily working eastward. Considering the momentus arrival of the 'summer shearwaters' into the regions earlier in the week, I was suprised to see so many storm-petrels and yet log no Cory's or Great Shearwaters. Water temperature might be a factor in this, being a few degrees cooler around the eastern tip of the island compared to spots further west.

Parastic Jaeger and likey Arctic Tern off Montauk Point - 12 Jun 2009

This evening I seawatched for a couple of hours from Montauk Point. There was dense fog along the south shore especially over the low areas around Montauk Village but it was fairly clear on the north side of the point. Good numbers of Common and Roseate Terns, Laughing Gulls (100+) and larger gulls were feeding on bait fish. After a while a subadult PARASTIC JAEGER cruised through, making half-hearted runs at birds carrying fish. Oddly, the jaeger seemed uninterested in the abundant Common Terns, favoring Laughing Gulls and the few Least Terns that were also present. The only tubenose I saw was a single WILSON'S STORM-PETREL that also cruised past once and vanished. Given the limited visibility there could have been more activity further out, as illustrated by the 1st and 2nd summer NORTHERN GANNETS that would briefly emerge from the gloom and then disappear. I have no explanation for the tight raft of 30 CANADA GEESE ridding the chop surrounded by charter fishing boats.

As I was watching an excited group of terns feeding about 150 yards in front of the restaurant, I noticed a smaller 1st-summer type tern among them. It was surprisingly easy to track because of its shorter wings and distinctive 'twinkling' flight style - more like that of a Roseate than a Common. There were one or perhaps two other 1st summer birds in the group and they were clearly much more similar to the Commons that this individual which I suspect was an ARCTIC TERN. The dark bill looked relatively short and the black half-cap was solid across the nape and did not seem to extend as far down the neck as the other similar aged birds. The wing tips were pale with a well-defined black trailing edge visible on the underside. It was difficult to resolve any pattern on the upperside of the wing tips, certainly nothing like the obvious grey/block visible on the adult Commons. Obviously, the ID remains tentative given the distance and the fact that I did not get to see the bird landed when the very short legs become a valuble ID feature. Based on Shai Mitra's observations at Cupsogue, it seems likely that small numbers of Arctic Terns (mostly 1st summer birds) visit the inshore ocean waters off Long Island in June and July and are well worth looking for when an opportunity presents.