[CT Birds] Summer Pelagics

[Nick Bonomo]

Here's another option, with CRESLI:
http://www.cresli.org/cresli/GSC_offshore.html

More expensive and probably not as focused on birds (more whales?),
but another option to get offshore.

Nick Bonomo
Orange, CT

On Fri, Apr 25, 2008 at 10:07 PM, Nick Bonomo <nbonomo at gmail.com> wrote:
> 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
>