[CT Birds] Summer Pelagics, AND tonight's Radar

[Nick Bonomo]

Hi all,

The warm weather probably has people thinking of summer birding
already. Some of the best summer birding, pelagic birding, is
unfortunately nonexistent in Connecticut (save the few Wilson's
Storm-Petrels and occasional waif). Luckily we have several options in
neighboring states that offer the chance to reach the deep waters of
the Atlantic. Here is a brief but certainly incomplete summary.

The Brookline Bird Club (MA) runs a few trips annually from Cape Cod
to edge of the Continental Shelf. These trips are highly recommended,
especially the August trip, which probably offers the best chance at
species diversity out of the 3 dates. Those of us on last year's 8/25
trip remember the stunning Macaronesian (Little) Shearwater, about the
fourth record for North America. The June and July trips offer great
potential for Gulf Stream rarities plus the expected summer pelagics.
Even without a rarity, Connecticut birders will be rewarded with
several species of bird and mammal not generally seen in Long Island
Sound. The dates are June 28, July 19, and August 23 (all Saturdays).
See here for more info, including last year's trip summaries:
http://massbird.org/BBC/BBCPelagicTrips2008.htm

See Life Paulagics offers a trip out of Belmar, NJ on Aug 24. This is
also a deep-water trip. More info is here:
http://www.paulagics.com/

It's a whole different world out there, one that should be experienced
by all. If you can handle the ocean and a looong day in the bright sun
(or rain and rough seas!), I would highly recommend it.

On a different note, there are a lot of birds moving through
Connecticut right now, according to the nexrad radar. However the
advancing line of showers from the west will be shutting down this
migration as they move eastward. Since the showers should reach us by
morning, the migrants will probably be knocked down overnight,
wherever the rain is. This could mean good numbers of birds for
tomorrow morning, especially if you're lucky enough to run into a
region where birds were knocked down by rain. Tomorrow might be a good
morning to go out looking for those southern overshoots, new arrivals,
or grounded shorebirds.

Nick Bonomo
Orange, CT