An account of a trip to New England etc in fall 2009

Getting to the East Coast

August 26, Wednesday

Various delays had forced a late start and haste getting to the east coast where I hoped to catch the southbound shorebird migration. First I headed north into Missouri, and a place called Eagle Bluffs CA, south of Columbia, where the local birders had established it as hotspot. I hadn't been there before. It was deceptively hard to get into since there was a single route, and none too direct. Once there, it had great promise, but not on the particular day I arrived. I spent an hour there, and lost another from the detour. I was attracted by the promise of shorebirds there as well as at my next stop, Otter Slough CA, which I had been to and which was very attractive, as well as the area roundabouts. Once more I came up short on shorebirds, but did manage a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher. I found several of those on the trip, and though generally just a flitting form in the canopy, the distinctive call was a theme for the trip. Per-weee. A lot like a Peewee but without the tonal dip in the middle, and never followed by a second installment of we-ooo. It's surprising that they call so much in the fall.

From there I crossed into Tennessee, and made a stop at the north end of Reelfoot NWR. It wasn't very birdy, but there was one critter on a fence-line that reminded me of something I'd seen in a field guide, but never could find it. Just another mystery. From there it was north into Kentucky where I camped at a Land-between-the-Lakes campground. Reasonable and fully equipped, and a short drive to the morning target. I drove 500 miles in fourteen hours, so there really wasn't much birding.

August 27, Thursday

In the morning I birded around the campground briefly, then north back out of the park and over to the Clark's River NWR office as they opened. It's the only NWR in Kentucky. It's new enough that it's not very consolidated or developed, so the map is a patchwork, stretched out in pieces along the river. I picked a couple of spots that didn't require a long drive and birded those. I managed to hit 30% in KY, but the rest of the day was mostly driving. I cut into Indiana for Big Oaks NWR, but found that access was limited in time and space, it's an old military proving ground, complete with UXOs (Unexploded Ordinance), orientation sessions, and signed waivers. Good thing I got there too late to actually get to an accessible area. But there's a state park SW of Madison, Clifty Falls, that looked really promising, river access on the Ohio, geology, and access to the historic part of town. Some other time.

Back across the river to Big Bone Lick SP, site of early paleontological finds that put the early US on that science's map and caught Thomas Jefferson's attention. Too bad that the genuine sites have been swallowed by the meandering river, and camping seemed too dear as well. I kept driving. I was following the river, passing lots of big industry, some active, some moth-balled by the current bad economy or the march of far eastern technology. Still very impressive. I drove well into dark along the northern bank, 620 miles for the day. Finally found camping north of Ironton at Vesuvius Lake. I was in good position for West Virginia the next day.

August 28, Friday

The morning was drizzly and I was up before dawn hoping for owls. Found parking at a boat launch on the lake, and played tapes to no avail. As it got lighter a trail appeared at the end of the lot, handicapped accessible, and excellent habitat. It went through an area that was an early American iron works, and ended at a neat overhanging bluff that the Indians must have loved. Good birding. Added a couple of tics for OH in an hour. Then back across the river into WV, and a stop at Green Bottom on the Ohio R, again hoping for shorbs. There aren't many places in WV that hold a lot of promise that way. My notes say the birding was good there, but I only added 1 tic. A long drive across the state to the northern edge and Cranesville Swamp. I've never had good luck there, not in line with how interesting the habitat looks. It's a relict alpine pothole, vegetation from much further north, and significantly colder than the surrounding countryside, which may account for the paucity of birds. I managed to feed myself a nice supper at "Melanie's" across from Cathedral Grove SP before going to the swamp, and afterwards crossed into Maryland, Garrett County, targeted for it's high altitude Appalachian birds. Stayed in Garrett State Forest sleeping long in the rain.

August 29, Saturday

A drippy morning and a slow start, but after looking around where I'd parked and slept. I started back for the highway and made a stop by a small wetland. Hit the jackpot. Several warbler species new for MD, some other passerines, and for a finale, an Evening Grosbeak. I made a couple of other stops in Garrett County, including another park and a different section of Garrett State Forest. Managed to find one of those non-roads in the GPS database, and its consequent long backtrack, but in all picked up ten new species for Maryland. After that I was happy to get into Pennsylvania and simply drive to my brother's house near State College, with just one stop at Black Moshannon State Park. I need to stay there overnight sometime in the spring, it's great and unique habitat, an extensive boggy wetland and shallow lake with upland Allegheny woods all around. At Chris's it was visit and wifi and steak dinner on the barbie with his son, my nephew John, and a couple of his classmates at Penn State.

August 30, Sunday

In the morning I hiked up the road that runs in front of Chris's cottage. The area is called Fisherman's Paradise and it is. There's a beautiful 50 foot wide bubbling trout stream right down the middle of the narrow little valley, and at the upper end, a State Fish Hatchery. I poked around in there, watching fish and looking for birds. Mostly they were scarce except for Ospreys, about twenty of those, I'd never seen so many so close and close together, and even a Bald Eagle for an accent. Got back to the house and hung out until we took a drive later in the day. I had found a description of a nature center nearby, and we poked around in the PA byways until we found it. Walked around in there about an hour, Chris had never been there and really liked it. On the way back we stopped at a nice restaurant for sports food and baseball games on TV, then he showed me some more back-ways including the road that runs above the Paradise valley on the side I had never approached from. Whiled away the evening with more Internet surfing and Little League championships on the tube.

Into New York, western Mass, and Vermont Spruce Grouse

August 31, Monday

I had called ahead on Sunday to Ithaca, NY where my friend Laura Erickson is the editor of Birdscope, the non-technical publication of the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. We arranged for lunch and maybe some birding at Sapsucker Woods, the lab's woodland habitat setting. I got out of Fisherman's Paradise before sunrise and arrived at the lab, which was easy to find since I'd tagged it into the GPS. Got there a little earlier than we'd planned to meet, so I walked around some, especially the loop trail around their small lake, then checked in with Laura. We walked around more extensively, since she naturally knew her way through the woods. She's published several books, and was thrilled when Cornell hired her, which was smart of them since she's eminently qualified. She's a way better birder than I am, but I was happy to catch and point out a calling Yellow-bellied Flycatcher. She says, so that's "per-weee". We went to a local quality sandwich place, really good, what you'd expect in a major University town. A great visit and a chance to see the insides of the premier academic ornithology center for the US, and possibly the world.

From there I headed into Adirondack State Park and stayed at one of the campgrounds on the south end. Arrived too late to do much birding, the place was mostly empty, no staff around. Same in the morning and a quick scan of the lake there revealed very little. Too early for waterfowl and I couldn't find any shorebird habitat.

September 1, Tuesday

It took a couple of hours to get to the approach road for Mount Greylock in Massachusetts, but it was immediately wonderful. I'd been there once before, but had found the road closed for a major rebuild, and had to retreat to a nearby SP in the rain. This time it was a beautiful late summer day. I'd stop every couple of miles at a pull-off, walk into the woods a hundred yards, play the owl tape, and harvest tics. At the top there's some kind of memorial, WWI I think, but I was more interested in birding around the mountain-top. The road down the other side was through more open woods with some meadows, hence different critters. Made a final stop at the Visitor Center at the south entrance, there's camping and some good mature woods there as well as the usual brochure and info grazing opportunity. In all about 3 hours on the mountain and six new tics for MA. Headed back north into Vermont, several stops including a good wifi spot in a library, but no particular luck finding shorebirds, not many promising spots, and what few there were failed their promise. I ended up just heading all the way north, and camped out at Wenlock WMA east of Island Pond. A pretty good day, but still mostly driving.

September 2, Wednesday

The reason I was at Wenlock was to try again for a Spruce Grouse. It was almost a nemesis bird, and I and two excellent birders from Rhode Island had failed to find one in the same place two years previous. I had studied the bird-finder book very thoroughly and decided that I had to be willing to walk to the very end of the trail, way beyond where we had turned back. I also had the advantage this time of an earlier start, and the quiet of a one person approach. I got hiking before sunrise with heavy dew on the trail, took my time, stayed quiet, didn't play the tape on the way in, and wasn't having any luck until it was there. I froze, expecting a flurry of feathers and a brief glimpse, since I was only about 30 feet away, maybe less. It had obviously seen me, and was watching. Then it stood up, slowly. It looked me over out of one eye, then the other. Very slowly it started turning around, ready to fly. But it kept turning, two full rotations, and by then we had both calmed down. I had the glasses on him, a beautiful male, speckled black with a greenish sheen on the chest, red around the eye, mostly above. The gold rim of the spread tail feathers was striking. He was displaying to me. After at least a minute of birder heaven he flew, but only went to a limb in a nearby tree. Stayed there for another minute, and finally dropped back into the woods. Everyone asks if I got a picture. No, but i got a camera that fits in a pocket and don't go without it now.

As far as I was concerned the trip was a success already. Walked back out to the road, like always amazed at how far I'd walked into the woods not really paying attention to distance. The sun was well up and I walked down to a bog near the trailhead where the road crossed it. The tape did its wonders there, and another birder came by and talked about finding Black-backed Woodpeckers, which I'd seen once in California. She drove on down the road that loops the WMA, and I played the woodpecker call. And one flew in, then the female as well. I hung around knowing she would have to come back by since the road is dead-end. Maybe twenty or thirty minutes later she came back, and I said she should stop and get out and I played the call again. Back they came, and then crossed the road over our heads and landed in a tree about twenty feet away. She got her picture, I didn't. Now that is a morning of birding at its very finest. Ended up with seven new tics for Vermont.

It was only about noon, and I drove on into New Hampshire and north to the Connecticut Lakes area. I had just missed a Spruce Grouse there also, when I arrived for a meeting with another excellent birder who had seen one just a minute or so before I arrived. I was greedy, and figured I could use another look in another state. Didn't happen. Drove around the area, making small stops which were productive, including a Cape May Warbler. I slept in the truck after birding around as the sun set, in a good spot for owls and already in place for the dawn action. Had four new tics for NH without much trouble. Finally had a day with more birding than driving, and slept well.

Coasting through Labor Day

September 3, Thursday

Headed into Maine in the morning with a good stop at Dix Notch State Park. A parking area along the highway let me poke into a little watershed. Made it to the coast at Freeport, the great gear emporium. Managed to resist any unnecessary purchase, hardest was a nice Northface two piece parka, but it was too small. I had to admit it was too small. One piece of good fortune to go with my small stature is that the last items left of any clothing or footwear design are often my size so shopping the remainders can be very good. Stopped by DeLorme to have them look at my PN40 GPS, which was behaving weirdly. Left it for them to check out. From there south to Scarborough Marsh which has often been really good, and it has knowledgeable folks at the Audubon Center for current news and tips. I ended up staying at Bradbury Mountain State Park, couldn't get the owls that the host told about, and the folks in the next site had noisy kids, but they eventually went to sleep.

September 4, Friday

Back to DeLorme to get the GPS, they said it was fixed, but it messed up as I was driving off, so I took it back again, and this time they said it had a cracked motherboard and gave me a new one. While they were fiddling with it I had a great day birding from Freeport to Biddeford, finding twelve new Maine tics. I ended up going back to the same state park since I couldn't find a better place in the area in spite of my habit of always trying new spots on the chance for new birds.

September 5, Saturday

And the beginning of Labor Day weekend. That ended up messing up several things, way too many people on the coast, beaches over-run, campgrounds full. And now, the tale of the skunk:

While working my way back down the coast to Scarborough I was poking through some suburban half commercial neighborhood trying to correct taking a wrong exit. There was a skunk in the road with its head stuck in one of those fast food cups with a lid with a hole large enough for a small skunk's head. I got out to study the situation since it was blinded and staggering around in the street. Followed it into a service drive and figured that I could yank it off quickly and retreat fast. That worked, but the retreat was really awkward since I was backpedaling like hell, and I fell down hard. Spots were sore for a couple of weeks. All was well though and I was almost to Scarborough and scoping the marsh from a spot on the west side along the highway. For some reason I wanted to refer to the iPod, and when I reached for it, it wasn't there. Figured out that it must have escaped when I fell down. So I had to drive back which would have been impossible in the warren of little streets I'd been on, except that I had the computer running a GPS track. As Always when recording a trip. So I found the place where I assumed someone had either found the Pod or run over it. Neither. It was laying in the driveway, with a new scratch or two, but working.

Back to finish up at Scarborough, then drive south out of Maine, with a stop at Rachel Carson NWR. I added 19 tics in Maine, making 30%. Way too much traffic. I had been hoping to stay at a great looking state park, Pawtuckaway, but it was literally over-run with folks. Snuck a shave in their men's room and worked my way further down the coast. It wasn't far to Parker River NWR in Massachusetts, and I spent some time there. Met a guy, Keith ?, taking photos from his truck, turned out badly crippled but very game. Truck had complex assistance gadgets. We talked and birded, and he mentioned an abandoned weigh station further south on the Interstate. I found it and it was perfect, though a little spooky. Got over to the back side and had a good quiet night's sleep with no lights.

September 6, Sunday

Up really early and into Salem to see the Old Seaport National Historic Site. Nothing was open, so I walked to the end of the wharf and back. Some folks were starting to clean the bathrooms. Studied the signs and checked out the construction details, tried to imagine the place full of sailing ships and commerce. O well. Hung around long enough to see the sunrise over the harbor. I drove on into and through Boston to a place called the Blue Hills, a forest preserve on some medium size uplands. I had read about them in a book called "Landscape with Reptile", the herp being a rattler. Made several birding stops, but it wasn't very birdy.

I followed the coast into Rhode Island, checked out the Block Island Ferry. No way I would go today, very busy and very long waits, and probably over-run on the Island. From there it was all the coastal National Wildlife Refuges, got some birds, mostly warblers, and then on down to the east end of the RI coast, but a place that might have been shorebird habitat was over-run also. Bad traffic and no parking. I retreated toward Providence, re-found a Panera where I had wifi and some food, then up to the northwest corner, less inhabited, and crashed at Black Hart WMA.

September 7, Monday

I was up around 3:30, beat the traffic to Cape Cod. Stopped at the Wellfleet Audubon Center, and out on the beach of the bight I found a bird that didn't ring a bell, yellow legs, but not a Yellowlegs, Lots of red on the body, two distinct white areas on the head above and below the bill. Detail was murky because of distance, but I stuck with it until it disappeared, and had a pretty good description by the end. When I got back to the Visitor Center I found the best shorebird person on duty, and she and I went over the markings. She finally agreed with me that the best fit was a Sharp-tailed Sandpiper. That's a really good bird. Maybe six state records, mostly fall, and not ruled out by anything. She promised to spread the heads-up, but I never hear of anyone else re-finding it. I headed back toward the mainland, to Standish State Forest, my usual camping spot in that area. Geeked a couple of hours at a Panera, followed the directions of a desk girl to a great ice cream place (pistachio), called my friend Zinc to see about a visit the next day, which he said was OK, and birded and crashed at my campsite.

Visiting Zinc

I started to go back out to Cape Cod, but changed my mind and called Zinc. Found his house with only a slight mis-step stop at a neighbor's. We drove around most of the day, getting the local tour and down to the south coast of the Cape, with a view of Martha's Vinyard. He has a small boat, summer use only, and has an intimate knowledge of the coast and waters. The general area is the original Plymouth colony, and since I had just read the King Philip's War book, a lot of the place names and persons he mentioned were fresh. Also got a sense of the commerce and geology.

I had lost Zinc for thirty years or more, and then he found my email associated with some web site about Ivory-bills. The mail he sent me caught up with me in Silver City, NM the previous summer. We called etc and I made up my mind to visit as soon as I was in his area. He had been my best friend in college during the absolute heart of the sixties revolution, as well as a major influence on the course of my life. He dropped out in his senior year to work as a designer in a furniture factory, where he got to indulge his passion for tools and making stuff. And I bailed from grad school three years later when I was fed up with too much talk, and work that just produced paper that was instantly ignored. Being free of the draft helped too. Not to mention having my fill of exploitive academics. I suppose some substance experimentation made a difference too. I had already started buying tools. Eventually I made a sort of career as a craftsman-builder. Thanks Zinc.


September 8, Tuesday

And we birded, he had some favorite places we checked out, as well as beach walking and shorebirds. Cute scene of Least Sandpipers huddling in the sea wrack, instant nests, and they seemed very easy with us. I also bought a small digital camera to use for emergency digiscoping, since of course I hadn't had one for the Sharp-tailed. Nice little lacy sandwich place for lunch, pizza for dinner at home with his wife Eileen who's been a professor at Boston area schools since she graduated from Harvard. Zinc is a Master Union Carpenter, and an instructor for the new guys. Quite proud of the many big projects he's worked on, and also a collector of antique hand saws. They weren't as entrancing for me as for him, but I liked the passion they stirred in him. I finished the evening with reading the last of the "Return of the King", which had been my bedtime book for most of the trip.

The visit wasn't all I'd hoped for even though it was more than I expected. Nearly forty years out of contact is a lot of time for personal evolution, not parallel, and we had grown some apart even before losing contact. He had moved to Boston, had a business, married, Eileen was still in grad school. I had fallen deep into the counter-culture during and after my grad school. He was not well the day I was there, but had marched along doing his duty as a host. I missed his old fire and humor and irreverence. I'd certainly lost some of those too, age had sapped some energy, reality had made all the humor very dark, but irreverence had grown colossal, minus a little more consideration for the difficulties of good-willed individuals. He was practice for that. I couldn't imagine getting up every day and heading off to hard dangerous physical work in all weather. He was some worn. And married all those years, which I had no way of understanding, mister lifetime non-gay bachelor here.

We sent a couple of desultory emails after I got home, but I've let it lapse. I want to try again, hope he's feeling better, hope we can talk closer to the bone, hope that some time to mull over the first visit will pay off. I've lost a lot of close male friends, mentors, dear relatives (including my mom) over the last few years, and the ones who are left are potential treasures and allies on this slog to the finish line.

Cape Cod to Cape May

September 9, Wednesday

Back to Cape Cod, drive to Provincetown. While I was waiting for the Whale watch, I walked the jetty from the very northern parking lot that crosses the bight to the outer beaches. It was really windy, and that was in a "protected" place. I played around with the new camera to try digiscoping. It'll take some practice, zoom has to be partly out to escape vignette-ing, the scope needs to have the focus adjusted to get the camera image in focus too. All this adjusting time has to not allow the bird out of the field of view. Like I said, some practice needed.

I went to the Whale Watch early enough for ticket etc, and heard rumors that the water was really rough, trips might be called off, but ours was on for the time being. I'd taken a Dramamine the night before, and another that morning, and another was offered when we boarded. I thought I'd be Okay, but I should have taken the third. The outbound trip was OK, had asked the naturalist to point out a Greater Shearwater if one showed, which he did, getting me another lifer. There weren't a lot of them, and none got close enough for really good looks. Still... There were whales, Humpbacks, mostly distant, but one came close enough that I got a pic of the flukes out of the water.



Once we cleared the north end of the Cape, the two days of strong east winds had their way with us. Big swell, big waves, the eighty foot boat was bouncing like a dory, and my stomach was in serious distress. Enough that I was finally sick, which gave some relief. Didn't really get in much observing, mostly lost in my guts, that weird turned inward vision while waiting to get far enough back to port to get some protection in the lea of the Cape. Anyway, paid mu money, got my lifer. There was a chance for Manx Shearwater too, but no luck. That was enough of that, headed back to Rhode Island, geeked again after checking out a small Audubon Sanctuary, then stayed at Buck Hill WMA.

September 10, Thursday

Couldn't call up any owls so headed on out of RI into Connecticut. Kinda poked around checking out places I'd marked in the GPS database, some were new, some places I'd been before. I had stopped at Hammonasset State Park once but had been turned back by the parking fee on a summer weekend, even though all I wanted to do was go to the Nature Center. This time it wasn't a problem, an off-season weekday. The Nature Center was good, but I had better luck along the shore. One piece was a guy with a scope looking at a White-winged Scoter. Then he told me where to find a King Eider, and I did. But my main goal was the Milford Point Audubon Center. This has been a consistent winner, and this time after finding good shorebirds I was standing on the marsh overlook platform when a woman started showing me pictures of a Northern Wheatear. From an hour ago ten miles away. Guess you could say I jumped. Found the place and with some work by several folks we finally found the bird hanging on a huge dirt-pile from some construction. Then it flew down and posed for half an hour on the cyclone fence. Yep, got some pix, but not expensive camera quality. Fourth lifer for the trip, very much a lucky gift.

Not much later rain started, with lots of wind, and the places that looked like okay camping didn't pan out. Ended up driving on across CT, then NY fifty miles north of the city, and crashed in a rest area on a ridge overlooking Port Jarvis right sat the Northwest corner of New Jersey. I ended up adding 20 tics in CT, made it over 30%.

September 11, Friday



Had to re-calibrate my driving time estimator when I entered New Jersey. By western standards, Cape May was three hours max. By NJ reality more like five, with rain and wind and traffic and tortuous roads. The Turnpike when I got to it was fast enough, but then it was south Jersey two lanes into Cape May. Went straight for the Hawk Watch which is bird gossip central, and was soon off to the Airport where the rain had shined up the great plots of short grass, now invaded by grass-pipers. Best were Buff-breasted Sandpipers, but also Black-bellied Plovers, Willets and others. There had been a report of a possible Ruff, but several folks looking never found it. Back to the Hawk Watch for whatever showed up. Also poked into the Beanery for a Sandhill Crane, and Higbee for brush pounding. As dusk approached, I ended up driving back north about 25 miles and stayed at Belleplaine State Park, which is also supposed to be good birding, but it was dark and I couldn't call up an owl.

September 12, Saturday

I was up at 3:30 and at the Hawk Watch while still almost dark. Birded around the Lighthouse Woods and along the backside of the beach dunes where there's a string of little pools with brushy edges. Bayberry bushes it turns out, should have plucked some seasoning. When the Watch opened and the spotters and counters had arrived, we had decent action for the early morning shuffle from roosts to browse. I left about ten and went over to the Beanery to find the Sandhill Crane that had been hanging there. Then Higbee to scare up passerines with the owl tape. Met Nancy, stalking with a camera, and got her some good pics with the tape. Tried the airport again, it was dead. The rainwater pools had soaked in, and there was word that the airport folks had driven off what birds remained. I birded the TNC meadow on the Point, then HW again



One of the fascinating things, actually folks, at the HW was a group of Finnish birders. One spoke English well, the others so-so. My Finnish sucks. They had an arrangement with their binocs on a short pole so they could support them with their hands at their waste. The explanation was that in Finland there are not so many birds and they are often way off. The pole allowed long time scanning with heavy high magnification binocs. These folks were amazing , able to ID raptors that I could only see as spots. So I hung around there, walked the woods trails again with a small pick-up group of very good birders, they were kind to me, and we found neat passerines. By the end of the day I'd added 19 tics, and made 41% for NJ.

September 13, Sunday



Came back down to the Cape to do the morning flight. Arrived well before sunrise. Though most of the south-bound migrants pile up on the Cape overnight, at dawn many fly back north looking for habitat to browse. The Morning Flight tower is right in the middle of a patch of brushy woods neat Higbee, and at least twenty people were there to hope for goodies. I got to know Jessica Donahue, the self labeled bird-nerd, who's a docent at the HW, employed by CMBO (Cape May Bird Observatory). She let me befriend her on Facebook, and has been an entertaining addition with her stories of venomous critters on the Texas military base where she got a job with endangered species.



I finally had to take up the burden of family, drove over to Media, PA and hooked up with my brother Mike, who I found at his job at the Catholic church rectory. But it was cheese-steak hoagie time, and that's always good. We went together for cheap Chinese, and I was able to leach a little wifi to get email at his apartment.

East Coast, then home

September 14, 2009, Monday


My Brother Mike

Since I didn't sleep all that well, I was up way earlier than I'd wish. Went over to Tinicum NWR, officially John Heinz NWR, which turned out a good morning with three new PA tics. Back over to Mike's apartment and a long nap to make up for the previous. Later we walked up State Street, just grazing the stores. Mike's a shopper. We ended up going to visit my Mom's grave after dark. Mike knows his way around there, and knows a lot of folks buried there.

September 15, Tuesday

Got away fairly early, kept missing another brother, leaving messages. Drove south into Delaware to Bombay Hook NWR, a never miss place and source of more than half my DE tics. The big news when I got there was a Eurasian Golden-Plover found the previous day, which would have been another grand stroke of luck, but the forty or so folks along the highway couldn't re-find it. Back into the refuge proper, some good birds, but couldn't find any Buff-breasted Sandpipers no matter what. Still added one tic.

Further south to Assateague National Seashore. Now it used to be that it was also part of Chincoteague NWR, and I could get in with my duck stamp, but they had changed that, and wanted the price of a week's pass to enter. $25 for a couple of hours of birding was a ridiculous rip-off, so they got nothing. Funny that I still got a couple of good birds in the borrow pits along the road in. So there! I headed on down to Chincoteague NWR proper, and had a great time. Spent four hours driving the tour loops and working the beach and back-water, finding thirteen new VA tics. Hit the timing perfect as I'd finally caught up with the southbound shorbies. Stayed at the Bridge-Tunnel parking lot for about the fourth time.



September 16, Wednesday

Had a tiny sliver of the moon with Venus in the morning before poking around in the refuge next to the parking area, Eastern Shore of Virginia, then crossed into Norfolk. No stops in Virginia, just headed into North Carolina, wanted to get to Cape Hatteras National Seashore. Spent a couple of hours at Nag's Head Woods, then on down to Pea Island NWR. I did really good there, the tide was out, went looking for Piping Plovers by the inlet, and found Snowy and Wilson's also. Also some good birds on the landward side, including a small group of Roseate Spoonbills. Kinda unexpected, but heard later that they had shown up at Cape May as well.

Drove back up to Nag's head for library wifi, and then stayed at the Oregon Inlet campground. Added 12 tics for NC, thanks to shorebird timing luck. Getting closer to ABA threshold for there, it's one of the scattered eastern states I want to make the list on to have a good feel for that region.

September 17, Thursday

There was a little light when I got up, after a good night's sleep with the sound of the ocean. Back into Nag's Head for breakfast and more library wifi before morning birding in the Woods. Nothing special showed up, so headed on out to Pocosin Lakes NWR, last of the big refuges on that interior cape that I'd not checked out. Disappointing, very few birds, roads and signage were very poor too. Then headed west on the Interstate through the endless cities of NC, finally fetched up at Pilot Mountain State Park, which was a sweet place, neat piece of geography that I'd never heard of. A tidy little park with good habitat, misty twilight when I got there, with Wood Thrushes.

September 18, Friday

I had hoped to spend some time at Roan Mountain State Park in Tennessee, but the morning drizzle turned to steady rain as I drove west, and I just kept driving. Finally stayed at David Crockett SP near Lawrenceburg, which was funky and cheap.

September 19, Saturday

Again woke in drizzle that changed to rain. Just went home.

I ended up adding 164 total tics, many shorebirds which had been the hope, but not as many in New England as in the Mid-Atlantic area. Only saw 205 species for the whole trip, which sorta reflected the transitional time of the trip, weak on summer breeders, and weak on winter refugees.