Wednesday, September 21, 2011

South Beach Birding~Chatham, MA

Howdee all,

Hope you all are having a nice September.

We have been out of our Homey for one and a half weeks while it is in the repair shop for a minor fender bender..Jeff ran over a big rock a few months ago. We have been staying in Jeff's sisters home on the Cape during the repair. We are hoping our Homey will be finished today and we will then head just a bit north to Lexington, MA for a few weeks.

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Last week Jeff and I went birding South Beach, Chatham again..

This was the second time in a few weeks and it wasn’t our last.

We invited Kathie Brown of Kathie's Birds to join us. We took the 7am water taxi. We met Matt Malin on the water taxi~he joined us for the day.. and shared his birding knowledge.

south beach little_003

We  decided to leave the bay side and go for do some ocean birding as the tide wasn’t quite right for birding on the bay.

south beach little_011It was a beautiful morning…

We had great views of Parasitic Jaegers and distant views of Wilson's Storm-Petrel and Northern Gannet

Kathie, hasn’t birded that much on the shore…she started racking up Lifers.

south beach little_012

We were being watched by Gray and Harbor Seals

Birding south beach_036I found tracks in the sand.

Birding south beach_040Coyote tracks..

Birding south beach_041OH NO!

You never know what you might find on the beach….

Birding south beach_047

Nothing we could do to help this naked gal…and..we were rather afraid to touch her.

S0uth Beach_BodySeals hanging out at the shore..

Birding south beach_052Hundreds..

Birding south beach_055I found coyote tracks leading to this carcass..The coyote dragged this away from the shore to eat…the gulls were having a feast on the leftovers.

Birding south beach_057

After great fun birding the ocean side of South Beach we headed to the bay side.

Birding south beach_070Beautiful isn't it?

south beach little_018Plenty of Tern..

Birding south beach_017Matt helped us with Tern ID~ there were Least, Black, Roseate,Common and Forster’s Tern

Kathie counting more life birds…

Birding south beach_073

Oh lookie here…I love finding hearts. Smile
Birding south beach_074

Least Sandpiper

Birding south beach_078

Two Shell fishers~Human and Bird

(American Oystercatcher)

Birding south beach_025We saw many birds…but not the numbers we had hoped for…

Kathie was pleased~ 15 life birds for her this day!

Congrats Kathie!

Birding south beach_081We were running out of time…and had to hurry to catch the 4pm shuttle.

Birding south beach_080On the way back to the shuttle…

We started seeing piles of birds..

Birding south beach_082

We couldn’t stop to give them proper notice..

We had a shuttle to catch and water to wade thru..

Birding south beach_083Jeff and Kathie walked the shore rather than wade thru the water.

Birding south beach_084

We passed

Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs

Birding south beach_091And then this..

Birding south beach_093And this..

Birding south beach_094With no time to sort thru them..

Birding south beach_095Scads of birds…we had to walk by..

Birding south beach_096

To catch our shuttle home…

Birding south beach_087

Such is birding, on a schedule..I need a boat. Smile

 

Birds of the Day~via Ebirder Kathie Brown

White-winged Scoter
Common Loon
Wilson's Storm-Petrel
Northern Gannet
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Northern Harrier
Black-bellied Plover
Semipalmated Plover
American Oystercatcher
Greater Yellowlegs
Willet
1 western, 2 eastern
Lesser Yellowlegs
Whimbrel
Hudsonian Godwit
Ruddy Turnstone
Red Knot
Sanderling
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Dunlin
Short-billed Dowitcher
Laughing Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Lesser Black-backed Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Least Tern
Black Tern
Roseate Tern
Common Tern
Forster's Tern
Parasitic Jaeger
jaeger sp.
Horned Lark
Tree Swallow
Savannah Sparrow
Saltmarsh Sparrow

Thanks Kathie for your wonderful record keeping!

Thanks Matt for your helpful Birding skills!

It was a super day!

Links of the Day

  • Outermost Harbor Ferry

  • Birding on South Beach

  • Kathies blog post on the day

  • Kathies blog post on the Jaegar

  • Kathies post on the Whos hiding on South Beach.

  • 9 comments:

    1. That was certainly "Long range birding" Dawn.

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    2. Dawn, sounds like everyone had a great birding outing at the beach. Impressive list of birds. I enjoyed your photos Sorry, you couldn't stay longer.

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    3. Sounds like you had a wonderful day of birding. How exciting for Kathie to see 15 new birds! Your images are beautiful. Love the lazy seals and Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs.

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    4. Dawn, you certainly captured the feeling of the island and the day with all your magnificent photos. I love all the things that you see when I am so distracted by trying to find more birds! together, we make a great team! glad you posted this. I hope Homey is all fixed soon!

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    5. Dang...I am sorry that I haven't visited your blog sooner. Great post!
      Love your lifestyle.:)

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    6. I love it when you find hearts, too!

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    7. What a great day. So many birds, so little time.

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    8. Thanks everyone for stopping by and commenting.

      Roy ..
      Yes..some of the birding certainly was long range.

      eileeninmd
      Eileen..it was a real bummer that we had to pass the masses of birds..

      heyduke50
      Thanks..we had a great day of birding

      Julie G.
      Thanks ..we had a super day. I loved that we could find Kathie some life birds!!

      Kathiesbirds ...
      Kathie~we do make a great team!

      Jean ...
      Thanks so much for stopping by!

      merrilymarylee ...
      i am glad you like the hearts I find..thanks for sending that beautiful picture with the strawberry heart :)

      NCmountainwoman ..
      So..so..true....It was so hard to pass those birds by!

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    ok what do you really think?????