Unbridled Passion

I, will take the tour,
They said, and turned to go.
Can they be late for the Bridled Tern show?

A Bridled Tern, yet another heretofore southern species has returned to our area, more specifically Great Gull Island, for the third year! To add to the special visitor's appeal, this time it appears to want to hang around Great Gull Island instead of venturing off to Connecticut.

Other recent notables from this realm have been a few Roseate Spoonbill, Anhinga, Wood Stork, and even more remarkably, Great Black Hawk. The later is from central America!

With reports coming in that sightings from the Orient Point and New London ferry's “Light House Tour” of Bridie from the tour boat, it became far more feasible for those of us interested, and there are many who are interested, to make an attempt for this rare visitor.

At the suggestion of Pelican, a group of us decided to do the tour which she described as being both interesting and modestly priced. Add the opportunity to stop in Southhold for a lobster roll and it was a plan. Yay.

Ed Thrasher, Bob Prothonotary and Ardith Booby and I met Pelican, Johnny Gaggle-o-geese, and Kurt & Stacy Meyer's-Friarbird and we gormandized on our delectable repast. We then continued on to Orient Point in high spirits, possibly due to having consumed some spirits...

This quickly went south upon arrival, where the fellow at the entrance informed Pat, and the phone message I received having just restored cell service, was that the boat's mechanical issue meant the trip was off. Darn

Undeterred, we sought out our refunds and alternatives. We went to the marina a short distance back where we inquired of one of the boaters if they would be able to take us there. Willing yes, but unable at that time. Dashed hopes again.

We then approached another boat but they were preparing for an offshore trip and could not spare the time either. Darn and drat.

Undeterred we inquired w/in the bar and one woman there was the spouse of a boat captain and knew others. Yay!

Several calls and no one available. Darn yet again

Then we saw two young fellows come into the Marina to refuel... Stacy went over to charm them and not surprisingly she succeeded, and they were happy to take us. Yay.

Then upon looking they discovered that they only had enough life jackets to take 4 of the 8 of us at a time. They recently had a Coast Guard surprise inspection and were not willing to risk it if they got stopped again. Understandable. Grrrr.

Still undeterred, we again inquired at the bar. The nice woman called around but we could not find anyone that had extra life jackets that we could rent or borrow. Darn.

So then the guys on the boat offered to take us out 4 at a time. Yay! Of course this meant deciding which 4 would go first. Coin tossing, rock-paper-scissors, and fist fighting were suggested, but we finally decided that Pat, John, Kurt & Stacy would go first, as it was a potential lifer for them; the rest if us had seen this bird before except for Ed.

They set off while we sat in the air conditioned bar, and I drowned my sparrows in another beer. They finally returned after being given a generous amount of time. Happy, but not elated. Some got Parasitic Jaeger for a life bird, but the main target was not spotted. Darn.

They departed while we embarked on our attempt. Yay.

These two college students named Duncan and Sloan couldn't have been nicer to us. On the way out there was feeding frenzy activity and they asked if we minded if they tossed out a few lures to see what they could catch. They did get one small Bluefish, but that was all. We on the other hand had really close looks at Cory's and Great Shearwaters, as well as lots of Common and a few Roseate Terns.

We explained that these were good birds because they were difficult to see from shore, and the tern was a rarity here and we tried to put it into perspective. At the end of the trip they actually thanked us for teaching them about the stuff we were after. Bright, affable, genuine young folks; perhaps there is hope for the human race after all.

It didn’t take us long to get to the island, and we tried mightily to find Bridie. We couldn't approach closely because there was a lot of huge rocks in the area, and the guys kept the boat out in the 20' depth some 150-200 feet from shore. Landing is also forbidden, and I hear they have 110mm artillery on that island!

Being one of the largest Tern nesting colonies, it was no surprise there were lots coming and going. We scanned the rocky shore where the bird had often been seen, but to no avail. Then finally at around 5pm Bob called out that he had the bird. It was flying in with other terns, yet it was difficult to be able to describe where to look to the rest of us before it became obscured by the island. Well at least one of us saw it, but we wished it were Ed because, lifer – you know.

We stayed a bit longer hoping it would come to rest in view, but it did not. Then the guys asked if we minded going back because they had not eaten all day and were starving. Oh well, time to call it a day. It was an adventure with a lot of ups and downs – even if we didn't mightily succeed.

I get up, I get dow-ow own

Bridled Terns will pass you by...

As to the aforementioned Great Black Hawk which which was seen by Mike Zino's Petrel and Tim Heathhen the day before, we bandied about the thought of chasing it on the upcoming weekend.

Latest word though is that the bird flew away, (some say because of Mike's driving so fast,) for which he was rewarded with being given the opportunity to make a donation to the Maine constabulary.

And this is birding. You get some, you miss some, but you have an adventure either way.