16 THE*AUD U BONS BUD Eee 
Birding Along the Atlantic Coast 
By C. TURNER NEARING 
For TWENTY-TWO Days Ted Greer and I toured the East Coast in his 
station wagon and peeped into the homes of nesting birds on offshore 
islands and along inland waters, through cameras equipped with telephoto 
lenses. From Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge, north to Bonaventure 
island, off the Gaspe peninsula, we spent many interesting and thrilling 
hours hunting the nests of waterfowl. 
Ted had arranged the trip from Pettingill’s A Guide to Bird Finding 
and correspondence with photographers and bird banders of the East. We 
planned to be in the right spot when the birds were nesting. However, we 
were always a week or more late for the nesting warblers; at all places 
they had raised families and abandoned the nest before our arrival, We 
were fortunate, though, in finding waterfowl exactly where we wanted them. 
For 22 long nights we slept in the back of the station wagon, piling 
baggage on top and closing the car tightly to keep mosquitoes out, as we 
were always at the edge of the water or a wooded area. From June 18 to 
July 9 we got up early and went to bed by lantern light. I lost 16 pounds 
as we did not take time for fancy meals at our dining table — the end- 
gate of the station wagon. 
From Ocean City, Md., we went to the refuge at Stone Harbor, N.J. Ted 
had been told of a nesting area for Black Skimmers and Common Tern 
which was down the beach from Stone Harbor. On the morning of June 25 
we started plodding south, heavily loaded with camera equipment, tripods, 
and blinds. The wind was blowing a terrific gale from the west. This day 
a tornado raged across eastern Pennsylvania; probably we were on the 
edge of the storm. It was hot, and we hiked about 1% miles before turning 
southwestward through the sand dunes to reach the area of nesting birds 
another half mile away. 
When we got near enough to have a clear view through our binoculars, 
we saw a group of six to eight children. They were picking up and carrying 
objects to create a pile on the ground. Then they began jumping up and 
down, and when they spotted us they scattered immediately and soon were 
out of sight. We could not imagine why they ran. When we got to the nest- 
ing area, we Saw that the children had gathered Black Skimmer and Com- 
mon Tern eggs into a pile to stamp on them. It was a precious omelet. 
These children ranged from about 4 to 10 years; some of them were very 
small. We did not see them again. 
After stops at Popham Beach, Acadia National Park, and Machias Seal 
island, off the coast of Cutler, Maine, we drove to Eastport, where they 
have the highest recorded tide in the United States, 28 feet. Our problem 
was to find a way to get to Kent island via Grand Manan island, At the 
Wadsworth Marine Store they told us that there would be several herring 
freighters going to Grand Manan after lunch. Captain O’Neal of the ‘“‘Caro- 
lyn and Michael” agreed to take us to Grand Harbor on the southern tip 
of Grand Manan, where we could find another boat to take us to Kent 
island, home of the Bowdoin College Biological Research Center. We ar- 
ranged with the skipper of the “Wilbur G” to go to Kent island, about 6 
miles south of Grand Manan. It was foggy; our skipper had trouble locat- 
ing the island because of the fog and the fact that his compass was being 
affected by the magneto of his motor. We had to stop the motor several 
