To start the day off, Doc picked me up from the Walderdorff residence at around 8:50 (slightly late due to the inconsistent ferries). Thomas already waiting, the three of us set out to pick everyone else up. As the car quickly filled up, including some non-birders... we met up with "P.P" at Ross, and picked the other strays up along the way. When we arrived in MTK, we agreed to meet at the MTK Bake Shoppe, where I knew my long lost godparents owned and worked. (By long lost, I mean not lost at all, but simply haven't talked or seen them in a good ten years.) We caught up briefly, received a free Suddyn CD, (the Irish band in which my god brothers started), and left. We started heading towards our first stop, Suddyn playing through the stereo that was not meant to be touched due to Michele's audio tape's marked spot. We arrived, got out, and connected with the other car, which held a fake birder named Sam Kramer. Sam was not the only impostor, for there was Ella Stoloff as well. While I felt like they were imposing, (just kidding), their presence was quite welcomed, seeing as Sam was more prepared and well-informed than most of the class. While at the Lobster Deck, we spotted a Common Loon, identified by the black beak, black head, red eyes, and black and white stripes and spots on its body. We also saw a wide array of Gulls, and an American Coot, which has an all black body, except for a bright white beak and blood-red eyes. Moving on to the next stop, I felt the urge to give the giant lobster a hug, which Thomas took as a photo-op to make an exceedingly weird face ;). Ella was left there to be picked up, missing some of the most enjoyable parts of the trip. Getting out at the dunes, we all walked up to a little spot up high, looked around and spotted "Skunk Heads", AKA Surf Scoters, which are recognizable by their hard-to-miss back body, white skunk stripe on top of their heads, and very distinct beaks, which are a very unusual shape, yellow-tipped, and gradually blend into a bright orange into an almost neon red. They were very cool! Not only did we see these beauty-beaks, but we also saw... and wow did I get excited at this one, none other than the LONG-TAILED DUCK!! It was so cool with its black and pink beak, and multi colored body. However, the most beautiful part was definitely its long and up-curled tail! It was an exciting find! Along the shore, we also spotted a Black Bellied Plover. At the next stop, Gaby and I saw a huge amount of gulls in the parking lot sitting in the rain water, preening, taking baths, and just chilling like the villains that they are. While Doc and P.P got out their scopes, Gaby and I exchanged glances, wondering why we were getting so intense with these boring gulls that were so close by. We realized, (as everyone was walking away on a mission), that they were in fact, going someplace else to look at real things. While we rushed out of the car to catch up, I realized we had not seen the "special visitor bird" that was so frequently talked about at the other stop. We posted at Gourney's dock, binoculars and field guides in hand, searching the water, sky and island opposite us for birds. More gulls, and some Brants across the water, which are Geese that are mostly black with a white stripe on the front of their necks and black feet. There was nothing else too exciting.... UNTIL (dot. dot. dot.)
A BROWN PELICAN WAS SPOTTED. It was lying down on the island across from us, doing such a great job of hiding that Gaby could not even see it. The long beak stood out, while it was sedentary and listless, relaxing from its large meal of fish earlier this morning. Then....... we saw the other one!!! This ones back was towards us, giving us a different view of the bird entirely. JULIA AND I WERE SO EXCITED!
We drove back to the ranch we had previously been to, and along the way, we spotted a Red-Tailed Hawk. When we arrived, we spotted the Greater White Fronted Goose we had seen there previously. After waiting there for a while, we moved on to the final stop of the day...
There we spotted a bloated and drowned deer, but also spotted some Mallards, with a Widgeon swimming about. A Widgeon has an iridescent green patch on its face, a white beak with a black pointed tip, and a cream colored strip on top of its head.
Overall... this trip was really nice and SUPER exciting to see such cool ducks and geese and PELICANS.
We ended on a nice note of brunch with the boarders, and Gaby and I played bird word search in the gym for a while. I beasted...
Noah, Maddy, Anthony, Zeb, and Mamoun.... you were greatly missed. Hope you had great birding experiences as well and I can't wait for our trip on Wednesday together as a group! :)
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