I had the privilege today of joining College of the Atlantic’s marine mammal research organization, Allied Whale, on a search and recovery trip: a dead, large whale had been reported in the vicinity of Mount Desert Rock, 25 miles offshore. I went along to lend another pair of eyes to search for the whale. Alas, after a long day on the water, we did not find the whale, but I did manage to find a good list of pelagic bird species! Highlights include: 13 Dovekie, 1 Great Skua, and 1 King Eider.
Below is my complete day’s list, from the time we left Bar Harbor until sunset:
52 Canada Geese – A skein of 52 flew low to the water about 40 miles offshore.
6 American Black Duck
1 King Eider – A lone King Eider was in the middle of a flock of 5 White-winged Scoter.
31 Common Eider
10 Surf Scoter
5 White-winged Scoter
4 Black Scoter
1 scoter sp.
4 Bufflehead
1 Great Skua – Several of us had good looks at a Great Skua that landed close to the research vessel.
13 Dovekie – The surprise of the day was so many Dovekies! Very cool!
2 Common Murre
2 Black Guillemot
2 Atlantic Puffin
6 Black-legged Kittiwake
113 Herring Gull
7 Great Black-backed Gull
5 Red-throatd Loon – Five Red-throated Loon flew past in sloppy formation.
7 Common Loon
97 Northern Fulmar – Mostly we saw Northern Fulmar in 1s, 2s, 3s, and 4s, but we had several groups of 20+.
1 Great Shearwater – 1 Great Shearwater seemed late.
30 Northern Gannet
8 American Crow
Richard MacDonald
The Natural History Center
P.O. Box 6
Bar Harbor, Maine 04609
207/266-9461
Rich@TheNaturalHistoryCenter.com
www.TheNaturalHistoryCenter.com
www.facebook.com/TheNaturalHistoryCenter
0 comments:
Post a Comment