Vermont Rare Bird Reports 2020

THIS REPORT BEING CREATED BY CRAIG PROVOST, EBIRD REVIEWER FOR ORLEANS COUNTY AND MEMBER OF THE VERMONT BIRD RECORDS COMMITTEE. THE OBSERVER PROVIDED EXTENSIVE NOTES AND COMMENTS ON AN EBIRD CHECKLIST. THESE COMMENTS HAVE BEEN COPIED INTO THIS FORM IN THE VERBAL AND NARRATIVE SECTION BELOW.

Remnants of TS Isaias.

Binoculars and spotting scope.

Numerous prior sightings.

***rare; photos and video; spotted 6:05, and at 6:50 flew past channel marker and out to south and into cove at Newport Will add notes; photos identifiable as storm-petrel and maybe suggestive of Wilson’s; video shows foot pattering behavior and kangaroo hops in fairly calm conditions and should be diagnostic ***mega; pushed inland by Tropical Storm Isaias, and the only clear indication of avian treasure from the storm. I first picked this bird up at 6:02, within my first few scans. It was immediately obvious what it was, since it was a small black bird flying low to the water and holding its wings straight out into the wind, basically kiting in place, and just bouncing up and down. It would hit the water with long legs, pop up a foot or two and then drop down again. It basically did not flap while moving towards me, but with persistent scoping it eventually took some fluttery, shallow flaps and moved a bit to the left (west), making occasional veering banks before resuming the foot-pattering flights. I was able to get a couple videos, which I believe show the diagnostic behavior. I lost it for about 10 minutes and then picked it up again for another minute or two of observation, giving better views of plumage (see below). It was still moving slowly westward but not obviously getting closer. Then I lost it for a long time, finally finding it again at 6:49 much much closer, giving excellent plumage views in the scope, but moving fast to the southwest. I watched it fly past the channel marker and into the inlet to my west towards the town of Newport. It was lost from sight at about 6:53, heading towards Newport. (I have no idea where it went from there; I looked for it a few hours later and can not fathom this species leaving the lake by day, but it seemed not to be present). During this period I had some good scope views of the bird in steady flight and tried for digiscoped video to no avail, but was able to get some digiscoped photos showing the dark plumage, white rump, and short wings. This was clearly a small storm-petrel and not a swallow like a Purple Martin. This slow, almost stationary flight as it hung in place in a light 5-7 mph wind was striking. The behavior is described in more detail above. The plumage was sooty blackish throughout but with bold paler brown carpal bars, unlike Band-rumped which has dull carpal bars that often make the wing appear almost monotone. The bird had a short, squaring tail (never appearing notched) and it had a broad, white rump patch that wrapped at least a bit around on the sides of the tail (unlike Leach's). The wings were short and triangular, with a short hand unlike Leach's and Band-rumped. While Leach's and Band-rumped both can dip their feet to the water in high winds, neither persistent foot patters or "dances: on the water as this bird was doing, and their foot pattering behavior tends to be accompanied by dramatic swoops and banking behavior which this bird was not doing. In such calm conditions, I would argue that "dancing" on the water is 100% diagnostic for Wilson's. However, I was also able to confirm the ID in level flight by the short hand, squarish tail, and extensive white rump patch. I have seen hundreds of all three contender species of storm-petrel and feel extremely comfortable with ID by flight style. This is not just an extraordinarily rare bird inland, but disproportionately rare in all hurricanes and Tropical Storms as compared to longer-winged, more aerial species like Leach's and Band-rumped which have a much stronger track record of being entrained by storms and carried inland, sometimes by the dozens or hundreds (e.g., Leach's wrecks of yesteryear). Maybe fewer than a dozen inland records of Wilson's? Of course, those that occur are likely to be between 15 June and 31 Aug when Wilson's is most common offshore.

See comments in the verbal narrative.