Under Clear Skies

Just thought I’d post a couple of the fantastic Wilson’s Storm Petrel pictures that Larry Flynn sent me from his trip out from Norwalk to Stamford today. He apparently had 9 birds in total. Connecticut is notoriously embarrassingly bad for pelagic species with the shallow Long Island Sound waters far from ideal for many of these deep water specialists. Combine the fact that Long Island is in the way of most of these birds ever entering our waters and we have a situation where pelagics are usually a real rarity in the state. Nick at Shorebirder was lucky enough to see a few Wilson’s off of the New London/Orient Point Ferry last week. But considering the wealth of species being seen up in MA and over from NY it’s always a surprise to me that we don’t get a few more waifs and strays. I guess part of it is down to a lack of Sound observers (I include myself in those not doing enough of it), but I know that at least a few local birders put in a few hard hours by boat or from land looking out for these cool birds.

Anyway thanks to Larry for sending me these cool pictures and letting me use them on the blog. It’s good to know that a few people are taking time out to try and add to the seriously small amount of Shearwater, Jaeger and Petrel sightings for the state. I’m sure there is more to be found out there – it’ll just require some hard yakka (as my Australian friends might say) and a little luck.