Continuing.......... Whenever you can find a Dovekie from shore in winter its a really good day. If its really close to shore (often below your feet on a dock or pier) that's even better. I had many of those opportunities over the past few years. The best location offering this opportunity is still MacMillan's Wharf in Provincetown. There were several birds in the harbor this morning. They continual moved through and around all the docks and the main pier, I spent the morning following them around and photographing them Here are a few examples..........

When I was home going through all my images of the Dovekies and other birds I photographed, I found this one bird that is reared-up exercising its wings very interesting and inspiring......so I carved a decoy of one doing the exact same thing!!

Dovekie are a plankton-eating Alcid. However in the winter, they adapt their diet and food selection. This tiny Dovekie caught a rather large salt water shiner near the dock piling at MacMillan's. 

Common Murres and Dovekie are my favorite (living) Alcids. I am always inspired to carve more decoys after spending a successful day watching them. Here is another pair of Dovekie decoys I made-

                       Another Thick-billed Murre decoy I made- 

         From last winter, early January, Welfleet Harbor, commercial pier- There was a large concentration of birds in the harbor this day, mostly waterfowl (Scoters, Eiders, and Oldsquaw), nearly 2 dozen Razorbill and a handful of Dovekie. Two of the Dovekie came closer to the pier for a short time. I was able to grab more photos- 

      The best opportunity you can have for winter Alcids and other seabirds is from the deck of a codfishig boat. I like to combine some cod fishing and Alcid watching on the boats especially from mid-December through early March. This way you have the opportunity to see the birds in both migration directions.. I have always preferred late December to late January on the boat which is prime time for Dovekie! You can also find impressive numbers of Razorbill and Common Murre, Black-legged Kittiwake, Fulmar, Gannets, Pomarine Jaeger and a few Thick-billed Murre....and even a possibility for a Puffin or two! 

 

                                     Often, many of the birds will be quite close to the boat-

             The last few years, MacMillan's Wharf in Provincetown has been a good location for Black Guillemot in the winter months. On several occasions there have been multiple birds in the harbor. The most I remembered seeing was 7! One year we were all treated with the rare Arctic ssp. Black Guillemot (C. g. mandtii)! 

                    .....and of course, I had to make a decoy of this rare (for New England) Alcid- 

                     Still working on the Alaska images and soon to be Alaska seabirding blog, but for now, my "Quick Blog" filler will continue............