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Winter Weekend in New Jersey (1 Viewer)

ovenbird43

Well-known member
United States
I had originally booked a spot on See Life Paulagic's 14-hour trip from Brooklyn in late January, but with a major winter storm with high winds on the way, that trip was cancelled. Determined to see alcids out in the ocean, I transferred my booking to a February trip leaving from Cape May - an fortunately, as time approached, it was clear that the weather would be good for the trip as well as for the 5.5-hour drive from Syracuse.

I made a weekend trip out of it, driving down early enough the day before to do some birding, and leaving around noon the day after. I stayed in Somers Point, because hotels in the Atlantic City area cost a fraction of those in or near Cape May (apparently even in the dead of winter!). Budget Inn was $39 a night online and serviceable - there were some closer to Atlantic City as low as $21, but they were on White Horse Pike road, which is such a clusterf*** the way it's set up, concrete barrier in the middle with no left turns allowed, I decided it was worth a few extra bucks not to deal with it. It was a half hour drive from Somers Point to Cape May.

Feb 5

A pleasant and uneventful drive down, though I was surprised to see it snowing and accumulating when I reached the Atlantic City Expressway - but no matter, it was soon to pass and I drove out of it as I headed south toward Avalon. Here my primary target was Purple Sandpiper - not a lifer, but I'd only seen them once before (actually, just last year at Cape May), so I was keen to see them again, maybe closer and this time in their purplish (some imagination required) non-breeding plumage.

The streets of Avalon were quiet as I drove toward the seawall, most businesses closed for the winter, a shadow of the bustle that fills the Jersey Shore in the summer. Pleasant, really. My first stop was along the seawall at the inlet on the north end of the island. I climbed up the seawall and down to a short rocky pier, greeted by a very close Common Loon diving just off the pier. Several other Common Loons could be seen out in the inlet, plus a distant Red-throated Loon. There was a flock of ducks not too far off, mostly Surf Scoter with three Common Eider mixed in, and stunning Long-tailed Ducks dotted here and there, some flying by, males with their long tail steamers flapping in the wind.

A flock of sandpipers flew by, appeared to be Dunlin, heading seaward - looking that way I saw a long rocky pier, and figured that would be the spot to find the Purple Sandpipers. I got back in my car and drove around until I found a small parking lot with an entrance to the beach and pier. I walked on the beach beside the pier to stay out of the wind and spray. As I approached the surf I could see hundreds of sandpipers roosting on the end of the pier - eventually I could make out that they were mostly Dunlin, with a smattering of Sanderlings. A few larger, darker sandpipers were milling around on the rocks closer to the surf - Purple Sandpipers! There were some working the rocks right next to the beach, quite complacent as I sat down to photograph and watch them. So here were the nice close views I had hoped for, as they picked little invertebrates out of the algae and scrambled up when an errant wave threatened to engulf them.
 

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Feb 6 - Pelagic Trip

We were instructed to arrive at the dock at 5:30, so I left my hotel a little before 5:00, stopping at a Dunkin Donuts for coffee as it was the only non-gas station source of coffee that early in the morning. When I arrived at the marina, there was some confusion about where to park, but it was eventually sorted I got on the boat before the 6 am departure. The seas were predicted to be calm, but I took some dramamine as a safeguard since we were departing in darkness, remembering too well how sick my last trip made me when I couldn't see the horizon in the night. Dramamine makes me very drowsy, but I've found that as long as I'm out in the cold ocean wind and busy looking at birds it's bearable.

By the time we got underway, the eastern horizon was beginning to glow, and silhouetted birds could be seen in the harbor as we motored seaward - lots of ducks, presumably Bufflehead based on shape, and lots of loafing gulls. As we passed the jetties leading out into the open ocean, there was just enough light to spot roosting American Oystercatchers and a few Great Cormorants - a few people spotted Harlequin Duck but I couldn't get on it. Long-tailed Ducks and scoters flew by for the first few minutes of open water, still a bit dark but I managed to ID some Black Scoters, plus many Common Loons and one close Red-throated Loon.

We soon reached water too deep for the seaducks and entered the only really quiet stretch of the trip, as we weren't yet far enough out for the alcids. The crew began chumming to bring in gulls, with the dual purpose of gull ID and hoping the gulls would attract more interesting species. It took a bit but we eventually built up a nice following, primarily Great Black-backed and Herring Gulls, which provided some entertainment as we journeyed to deeper, colder water. A few Ring-billed Gulls hung on early in the trip but soon dropped off, and one Bonaparte's Gull made a brief appearance. We were headed for the 44-degree water line (typically 50 miles offshore, but evidently only 25 or 30 at this time), which apparently is conducive to copepod blooms and is the go-to spot for seeing good numbers of Dovekie.

A couple hours in we began to see our first pelagic species - flyby Northern Gannets, a couple Black-legged Kittiwakes, and our first Razorbills - ones and twos at first, and then occasional flocks of 10-20. Our gull flock was growing and began to draw in Northern Fulmars - mostly light-morph individuals but later on we had one or two dark-morph birds. The light seas made it easier to spot birds sitting on the water and helped us find our first Atlantic Puffins, an adult and juvenile allowing the boat to drift relatively close before plunging in the water and resurfacing farther away.

The ever-growing gull flock created quite a stir when a light-colored bird was spotted and with study was identified as a Thayer's Gull - rare in New Jersey and especially unexpected so far offshore. It seems that there was subsequent debate about the ID though - it was recorded as Iceland Gull in ebird with a note of possible hybridization with Thayer's, with other participants insisting it was a full Thayer's - after studying my photos and the accounts in Howell and Dunn, everything seems to align fine with Thayer's to me, with fully black (not gray) primary markings including on p5.

Next up were the first Dovekies, a lifer for me - so tiny, hardly bigger than a dove and thus difficult to spot on the water at first. Dovekies are rather skittish of boats, so it took a while before we got nice close looks, but we saw hundreds over the course of the trip, in groups of 1-15 at a time, eventually seeing some in the relaxed, high-floating horizontal posture depicted in my Sibley guide.

As we reached our farthest point, things were quite active - lots of gulls, which had drawn in a high count of 8 Black-legged Kittiwakes (4 each of adults and juveniles) that obligingly hung around for the chum; always one or two Northern Fulmars in sight, occasionally making a close pass for nice views; Northern Gannets plunge-diving right off the stern; and always some alcids to be spotted from the bow for those who could tear themselves away from the spectacle at the stern. Things slowly dropped off after we turned around in the afternoon to head back toward shore, but not before one more surprise find - shouts of "Skua!" brought everybody scrambling back on deck in time to see a distant, dark bird harrying the gulls in our wake. No skuas were expected on this trip, so we made a great effort to get a better look and firm ID - so when it powered off toward the horizon, we headed that way, chumming furiously to get the gulls stirred up in hopes of attracting the skua back our way. And it worked - the skua came powering back toward us, flew by close enough for decent looks and photos, going after one of the Great Black-backed Gulls in our wake. ID clinched as Great Skua, this was a great find for New Jersey!

Now off for the long ride back to shore from about 50 miles out, things quieted down as we left the alcids behind, but the gulls and gannets remained and provided enjoyable watching for hours. One last find about halfway in was a single Common Murre, with a smudgy face as it was molting into breeding plumage. White-winged Scoters flew by as the distant shore appeared into view, and the sun set while we were still out; we entered the harbor in the same darkness that we had departed in.
 

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Nice report

I also always take dramamin or a patch when on a pelagic, it beats being sick and having the trip ruined.

Sarah
 
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