Late summer is usually a busy time, filled with pre-work preparations and plenty of outdoor exploration as vacation ends and migration begins. This year I was fortunate enough to join a pair of offshore journeys with See Life Paulagics. The first was a two-day cruise from Point Pleasant, New Jersey on the Voyager in mid-August. The latter was a September … Read More
Lewes Pelagic – June 4th, 2016
Another boatload of anxious birders gathered at Fisherman’s Wharf in Lewes this past Friday evening for an overnight Seelife Paulagics trip into Maryland (and a little bit of Delaware) waters. Weather conditions looked fantastic for the day ahead with light east winds, a very low chance of rain, 3-4 foot waves, and 70 degree water out on the continental shelf. Paul … Read More
Vermilion Flycatcher! – Cape May, NJ
Cape May is having a great run of rarities this fall, and yesterday morning Richard Crossley (of the Crossley ID guides) added to the madness by discovering a beautiful young male Vermilion Flycatcher hawking insects at the Rea Farm (aka The Beanery) in West Cape May! The flycatcher spent the rest of the day showing off for birders by perching at … Read More
Jaeger Weekend
I think it is pretty safe to say that most birders understand the thrill of seeing a jaeger, either from a firsthand experience or from hearing about these bird’s uncanny ability to steal the show in any situation. Multiple times this past weekend I was reminded not only of how impressive jaegers are, but also how amusingly difficult it can … Read More
Provincetown Birding Part 2
Check out this link to ‘Provincetown Birding Part 1’. By 11:00am, we had arrived at the parking area for Race Point Beach.  Despite how dark and dreary it was, it wasn’t quite raining and the ocean wasn’t too choppy. Darker conditions often provide the most natural lighting while scanning with a spotting scope and it’s never very fun to sea-watch with … Read More
Hurricane Sandy storm-birding at Bald Eagle SP, PA
Hurricane Sandy created perfect conditions for rarities to show up in Pennsylvania. I will admit I was skeptical of just how disruptive this storm would be. Hurricanes in the northeast tend to get exaggerated by the media, and they always seem to lose power quickly and break up once they hit land. But Hurricane Sandy was really the perfect storm; … Read More
Jaegers and other west wind rarities
[dc]T[/dc]his afternoon I got a call that a Northern Gannet had been seen heading west from Derby Hill Hawk Watch. This is a pretty uncommon bird for Lake Ontario so I decided to make the drive up and hope for it to circle back around. When I arrived Bill Purcell told me that it had not been reseen and other … Read More