Day 4, Year 1: Passage from Cape Cod to Delaware Bay—Migration
Date: Friday, October 21, 2005
Weather: Total Cloud Cover, Sprinkles; Upper 50’s; Winds NE 5-10 knots
Location: Offshore New York to Offshore New Jersey

The weather today was consistent-temperature in the upper 50’s, total cloud cover, and occasional sprinkles. For most of the day our barometer said that it was sunny. We’ll have to get that barometer checked out! The winds have been 5 to 10 from the northeast which is directly behind us, so we have been motoring most of the day. The winds are starting to pick up late this afternoon, and we are hoping to be able to sail, probably wing and wing, through the night. If you are not a sailor, wing and wing simply means that the main sail is out to one side and the head sail is out to the other, in order to catch as much of the wind from behind as possible. We could have put out the spinnaker but decided against it because of the rain. Motoring means that we have to check and fill the fluid in the leaking v-drive gear box every hour. We know we have a leak but we cannot find it. We have decided to get the boat to Annapolis on Monday and have someone take a look. But hopefully our make-shift maintenance will get us to there. We will overnight again tonight and should arrive in the Delaware Bay sometime tomorrow morning and head straight for the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal. If we make it that far, we will spend the night in Chesapeake City in the C & D tomorrow night and head for the Magothy River near Annapolis for Sunday evening. My nephew, Tommy Martin, and his wife, Marilou and five children live there and we will take this chance to visit.

Now for the amazing part of the day today . . . Early in the morning I was on watch and a little bird flew into the cockpit to say good morning. This little bird had a red splotch on his head. Then more birds came. They looked the same but had yellow and orange defined spots on their heads. I went below to find my Audubon Guide to Birds of North America, but then remembered that I had decided to put it in storage since most of our planned trip is not in North America. Bad decision. Anyway, I have a book that generally describes birds of the world, but it has been difficult trying to identify the bird life we have seen today. I have never seen so many different kinds of birds in one day in my life. Almost all were land birds that must be migrating south and hitching a ride. I was able to get pictures of some, but not all. The bird with the red splotch on his head was definitely a Ruby-Crowned Kinglet and the ones with yellow and orange spots on their heads were Golden-Crowned Kinglets. But this was just the beginning. There were lots of Dark-Eyed Juncos, both male and female, American Tree Sparrows, Red-Eyed Vireos, House Wrens, a beautiful Northern Flicker that rode on our bow pulpit for over an hour, Red-Winged Blackbirds, and I’m not sure what else. The kinglets were not afraid of anything and flew all through the cockpit, down into the main cabin, sat on my head and shoulder for quite a long period of time, and have stayed with us all day. They don’t sit still for long, but they have obviously adopted us. As a first grade teacher, we always did a unit on backyard birds in early winter. Today, I had my first introduction to “boat yard” migrating birds. The display of colors has been amazing and the range in size of the birds has been interesting. All of the birds were very small except for the Red-Winged Blackbirds and Northern Flickers. The only water birds I saw today were one tern and one flock of migrating ducks. When we reach land, we will post the pictures we were able to get. They do not convey the fantastic array of color and kind, but they will give you some idea of what it was like. What a wonderful diversion from the not so pretty weather today.

It is 5:00 pm, and the day is far from over, but I learned my lesson yesterday about waiting until later in the evening to post the log. Once dark descends, the sleeping shifts begin and posting logs is not the priority. I think 5:00 pm will be my posting time. Now it’s time to fix dinner and get ready for the night watches. Until tomorrow . . .

051021 Day 4 Boston to Norfolk, USA–For the Birds