A Brooklyn Coastal Pelagic Trip

In what could best be described as ideal weather conditions for being out on a boat in January despite the cold temperatures, I led a trip out of Brooklyn on Captain Bob Hayes' boat the 'Karen II' that took us near shore and had us explore much of the coast of Brooklyn.

No wind, no waves, bright and sunny. This doesn't happen that often in the summer! So despite a slight delay caused by slow traffic on the Belt, we headed out looking for what was hanging about, particularly the shoreline where access is limited.

Heading out the creek, we saw a Sharp-shinned Hawk resting under the Belt parkway roadway as we passed under it. Bob turned us around for a better look, but it flew away. On the way back in though, we found the bird again resting on the rocks and we all got better views.

Passing the sand spit that extends south from Plum beach, we caught sight of a lone Oystercatcher before getting into the channel. We cruised the Queens side along Breezy Point and out to the jetty. The outflow ‘castle’ is under construction so the Great Cormorants had to find other places to hang out. 

Great Cormorants on the can. No privacy

Common loons and Red-throated loons were present as expected, and remarkably numerous Oldsquaw filled the waters of the inlet. 

Oldsquaw

As we approached the tide line Shane Blodgett spotted the first of many Razorbills that were diving for their food. It was as it always is with Razorbills, a bit tricky as they dive a lot, and rest on the surface much less. Then there is the factor that they usually hide between the wave crests. But pleasantly, the waters were very calm and great looks were had by all.

Razorbill

At the mouth of the inlet, Gannets became more numerous, and who doesn’t enjoy watching them plunge dive? A few were in the inlet as well, and flew over the boat allowing close inspection.

Northern Gannet

Cruising west, we searched for Purple Sandpipers, and found several on close to all of the many rock groins.

Sand Purples

On one of the groins, a male Red-breasted Merganser was resting on a rock, atypically out of the water. It initially threw me as it was devoid of the signature red breast. 

Floating is hard work, This Red-breasted Merg needs a rest

If that were not bad enough, we came across a dark duck that was not a straight forward ID. Initial thought: what is that? Second thought: it's a Goldeneye, but which species? After some misleading field marks such as the white on the flanks and especially the white mark behind the bill that could have been construed as a crescent that caused some vacillation, Bob maneuvered the boat so that we were able to get up close and personal with the bird and resolve the head shape. It was not sharply pitched as Barrows, so we found it to be consistent with Common Goldeneye in eclipse plumage. 

Common Goldeneye in eclipse Plumage... Tricky

We cruised into Coney Island creek where we found lots of Brant as well as Wigeon, Mallards, and Black Duck, before heading across to Swinburne Island. Bird wise, it was devoid of life, but on the western side we came across about a dozen Harbor Seals that appeared as curious about us as we of them. 

Harbor Seal

Heading back, we came across about 30 - 50 Bonaparte’s Gulls feeding on the wrack line. They were not there earlier on the way out. It was nice to see a few as they have become much more scarce compared to 10 years ago when they would ride the inlets on the south shore of Long Island by the thousands.

After so many years of birding the pleasure is in still being able to experience new things even in birds that one has seen so many times before. It was a great day out on the water, but all around us we saw evidence of the destructive power of the ocean.

The effects of super-storm Sandy

Sea, No Evil

Pelagics are more popular than I thought, and I have been enjoying running a few over the past several months. A nice crew of folks came out on the boat yesterday, and despite what sounded initially like a less than favorable forecast, it was pretty darn nice!

One original participant had to bail at the last minute, apparently preferring to chuck dirty diapers as opposed to chucking stale bread at Gulls. A replacement was found and being new to the pelagic scene she was apprehensive about mal de mer. For those in a similar space, what I told her is worth repeating. First- don’t psyche yourself out. Focusing on getting sick is one sure way to actually end up sick, or at best expend a lot of mental energy on a place you would rather not be. Second- experience is the only sure way to know how your unique body will react to being tossed by wind waves and random boat motions. So rather than trying to guess, your best bet is to take a few trips and learn first hand how susceptible you are. Having said this, also understand that sea conditions are never the same, the combination of motions rather than the intensity can often be what ‘gets you’ and if in doubt, take the OTC meds.

Dramamine a brand of dimenhydrinate works as does the ‘less drowsy’ Bonine, a brand of meclazine. Having tried both, I can tell you they both work, and despite the claims both make me drowsy. In practice, if one can see or have access to very current info, then the amount used can be moderated. ie, if it does not look too bad, take a half pill. On more vigorous seas, I’ll take a whole pill. Dramamine is also available as a generic at numerous pharmacies for a fraction of the cost of the name brand, and a more costlier option available by prescription is the Transderm patch brand of scopolamine. For some people this is the only medication that works, but due to slow absorption should be placed on the skin at least the night before. It’s side effects are dry mouth and or dry eyes. It also has the benefit of staying on even when wet, so if taking an extended boat trip, ie several days, it will not be affected by showering, and it will medicate you for several days.

Important to note is that the medications must be in your system ~prior~ to departure so that they have time to take effect. Waiting until you are starting to turn green is usually too late, and almost always those who take a pill at the latter time will be pushed over the edge by the medication rather than helped by it. Oh well. Yes it can make you drowsy, and speaking from experience of  being laughed at for falling asleep particularly easily, all I can say is sleepy is FAR better than begging someone to mercy kill you. In short, if you have any doubt or apprehension, just take the pill. Sleep doesn’t have to washed out of your clothes...

Finally, avoid heavy greasy foods prior to departure or on the boat. Pepperoni or salami are definitely verboten. To calm a queasy stomach I find snacking on starchy items to be an effective way to absorb stomach fluids, and candied ginger has a calming effect on the stomach too. So stock up on doughnuts or pretzels and you should be good to go. Mary by the way did not fall prey to any ill effects of the sea.

We got a nice start at 7 am and headed out to find calmer conditions than forecast. Yay! On the way we had Boat-tailed Grackle. Black Skimmer. BC Night Heron, Laughing Gull, Oystercatcher and lingering Purple Sandpiper, the latter of which was a lifer for Captain Bob.

Gotta Love That  Bright Red Bill on an Oystercatcher

Two of Four Purple Sandpipers

Out in the ocean, we were greeted by loads of Northern Gannets. Benjamin Van Doren attempted to keep count but after a while it must have become too overwhelming. Inshore or out 20+ miles, the Gannets were everywhere. I cannot think of a time in the past where there have been so many, and distributed so far and wide about us. Speaking of Benjamin, he was charged with the responsibility of finding me a good sighting, and he did so in the form of Harbor Porpoises that we all got to enjoy.

DC Cormorants were numerous, but noticeably absent were the Great Cormorants, having attained breeding plumage weeks ago, and departed for their breeding locations. Loon numbers were down, but still in good numbers were the Common and Red-throated, but most impressive was the Common Loons in their distinguished breeding plumage.

Also noticeably way down in numbers from the last trip was Scoters, Oldsquaw, and Red-breasted Mergansers. All were confined to a few sightings, not like the 10s of thousands not too long ago.

Out at sea we saw numbers of migrating birds. Great Blue Herons were spotted on several occasions in lines of 5 or 6, and one such group appeared to ‘kettle’, or perhaps they were arguing about who should be the leader.

Also in evidence were migrating passerines, most notably swallows. We counted Barn, Tree, and Rough-winged when we were able to pick them out against the glare and clouds. On one occasion we spotted a lone swallow being mercilessly pursued by Great Black-backed Gulls. Captain Bob tried to close distance with the swallow and the hoard of 10-15 GBBs but the gulls and especially the swallow were flying at a pretty good clip, and the 18 knots of speed we tried was no match for them. I am happy to report that the swallows typical flight style was able to keep it away from the gulls, and eventually it broke away from the crowd and to a less harried flight. I have added it to my “I’ve never seen that before” list

Still few in numbers, but nice to see anyway were some Bonaparte Gulls. We had 3, one of which retained it’s non-breeding plumage while the other two had attained their nice black head not witnessed about here as often as the former.

Other not so pelagic birds seen were Kestrels, Merlin and Coopers Hawk and by Sandy Hook on the way back in we added TV and Black Vulture, and Sanderling on one of the Lighthouses in NY Harbor. No seals though around Swinburn Island though...

Finished the day with a quick trip to Jamaica Bay, where I got FOS Black-and-white Warbler, Glossy Ibis, Barn Own, Fosters Tern, and Marsh Wren.

My FOS B&W Warbler

Birding Robinson Crusoe Style in New York Waters

Sunday Feb 19, 2012

What’s better than being out on the ocean in the spring or fall? Being out in the winter when the weather is comparable! The spate of mild weather continues, and for those who have experienced the rough seas and the brutal temperatures of winter pelagics past, all I can say is for the time being this climate change is a pleasure!

So a group of 7 of us, plus Captain Bob went out on an inshore pelagic. Present were Seth Ausubel, Pat Aiken, Heidi Lopes, Benjamin Van Doren, Doug Gochfeld, and Corey Finger. We went out the Rockaway inlet a ways, and down the coast a bit before returning to cruise within New York Harbor and Jamaica Bay.

This year has been a good one for pelagics due to a better than average concentration of Alcids [ or so I think] and as previously mentioned it has been uncharacteristically nice with temps in the 40's and low to no wind and little to no wave action. 

Razorbill!

Northern Gannet

Our plan was to peruse what might be out in the immediate ocean as early as possible. We got an early start by debarking at 6:30; it’s nice to have an enthusiastic group. We were not disappointed with a decent number of Razorbills, and feeding Gannets. Who doesn’t enjoy watching them plunge into the water? Also seen were Surf Scoter, gobs of Oldsquaw, and Great Cormorants in breeding plumage replete with white flank spot.

Great Cormorant

We then headed over to Swinburn and Hoffman islands, where we saw lots of roosting gulls, and quite a number of seals. The latter seemed to be as curious about us as we them!

Harbor Seals at Swinburn Island

Heading back over to the Brooklyn side, we patrolled Gravesend Bay and found an Iceland Gull and a Purple Sandpiper, and a raft of a whole mess of Greater Scaup.  It is nice to see them return around here in numbers, It was a bit harder to find them a few years ago.

Peregrine on Gil Hodges Bridge

We next headed over to Jamaica Bay in search of ducks and grebes. Stopping at the Gil Hodges bridge we saw a Peregrine sitting on the tower. Along the way Corey began chumming the gulls in with bread and popcorn attracting mostly Herring, but some Ring-billed and Great Black-backed Gulls as well. As we passed by Floyd Bennett Field we spied Gary Strauss on shore who spied us in his scope and saw the Iceland Gull off our stern. One of the Herring Gulls was banded, and Doug made note of it and was able to track it down to Appledore Island NH. It hatched in July 2011.

The grebes did not disappoint with numerous Horned Grebe being seen all about, and 4+ Red-necked Grebes in the east side of the bay. Continuing past the archery road, area, we scrutinized the shore but could not locate the Eurasian Wigeon that has been there recently amongst the numerous Am. Wigeon.

We headed over to Canarsie Pol, and had no special gulls there, and passing by Ruffle Bar Doug was able to pick out te Barrows Goldeneye in the distance. Hoping to get a closer look, Captain Bob obligingly motored us closer to Ruffle Bar, and a we bit to close to Nova Scotia Bar. The later is not visible until one is grounded upon it, so there we stayed for about an hour an a half as the dead low tide rose enough to get us floating again.

I felt certain that mutiny was imminent, but calm seas and calmer heads prevailed. In fact we had quite a good time doing a ‘Big Sit’ from the center of the bay. So what if we spent some time at a bar?  The weather could not have been better, and we basked in the warmth, -yes warmth -of the sun on the deck of the boat. We even got as many as 15 species including Turkey Vulture.

We pondered of Heydi and Pat who was Ginger, and who was Mary Ann. Corey who can go all of 5 min w/o eating, devoured all our remaining chum, half of the captain’s sandwich, and then stated: "We’re totally going to eat Arie Gilbert if it comes down to cannibalism."  I evidently was not consumed, but if anyone knows when Benjamin is...

Lest you think that navigation, particularly in inshore waters is “easy” a NYC Audubon trip on the same day got stuck in a sand bar at Swinburn Island too, and had to be towed off.  Sand happens. 

An added bonus was reconvening at Floyd Bennett Field after the trip and we got the Lapland Longspur in amongst the Horned Larks, and the others stayed and got a view of the furtive Northern shrike. 

For more on this trip and some nice pictures see Corey’s blog at 10000birds.com