Leo Mckillop, Susan Wrisley, Steve Bennet, Becky Suomala, and I went out
on an offshore fishing trip run by Eastman's Fishing Fleet out of
Hampton harbor, NH. We left the harbor and traveled due east to the
outside edge of Jeffrey's Ledge and moved around to a few fishing
spots. Then we turned around and headed home. All of the trip was
within NH offshore waters.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/stevemirick/51820176613/in/photostream/lightbox/
The weather was almost ideal. Calm, warm, and flat seas....even GLASSY
at times! Overcast in AM was nice, but sun in afternoon on return trip
created bad glare on south side of boat. Couldn't ask for a nicer
weather day in January....and the birds and fish were AWESOME!!!
In stark contrast to my last offshore trip in December, there were lots
of birds on this trip. Perhaps an influx of birds arriving with the
colder weather. The area of Jeffrey's Ledge where we were fishing
wasn't all that productive, but there were some patches of birds on the
way out and on the way back in. One area that was LOADED WITH BIRDS was
an area along the southern edge of "Old Scantum" (offshore fishing
ledge), where there were tons of kittiwakes and alcids on the way out
and on the way back. Thanks to Becky Suomala for managing to keep up
with the numbers!! An eBird "Trip Report" with some documentation
photos (seen by clicking show all details) can be seen here, but the
narrated list is below:
https://ebird.org/tripreport/31735
TRIP TOTALS - Includes mundane birds inside of Hampton Harbor
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Common Eider 38. Includes some MIGRATING SOUTH over Jeffrey's Ledge.
Surf Scoter 1
White-winged Scoter 12. Including a few MIGRATING SOUTH offshore.
Black Scoter 17. Including one flock of 8 MIGRATING SOUTH over the
inside edge of Jeffrey's Ledge.
Long-tailed Duck 39. Including one MIGRATING SOUTH over inside edge
of Jeffrey's Ledge.
Red-breasted Merganser 31
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) 1. Parking lot at Hampton.
POMARINE JAEGER 2. Historically, this species had been not recorded
in January/February for the Gulf of Maine. Prior to 2010, there are no
mid-winter records north of Rhode Island in eBird. Now Pomarine Jaegers
seem to be regular into mid-January. No doubt helped out by the
increased numbers of birders getting offshore on fishing boats this late
in the season.
DOVEKIE 186. Steady small flocks of 1 to 4 birds. At least one
flock of 18 or 19 birds.
COMMON MURRE 81. A personal high count for me for NH. Flocks of up
to roughly 7 birds. A few inside of Isles of Shoals with closest around
7 miles east of Hampton.
THICK-BILLED MURRE 1. One photographed by Leo Mckillop in flight.
Razorbill 80. Curiously very few on the way out, but lots on the way
back in! I think I've seen this before on trips.
large alcid sp. 88. There were obviously distant rafts of alcids in
area of kittiwake activity.
Black Guillemot 15. All from inshore.
ATLANTIC PUFFIN 9. I photographed 6 different individuals! Some
adults, some young.
BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKE 666. A personal high count for me for NH.
Almost all adults noted. There was a huge flock of an estimated 300
kittiwakes as we crossed out over "Old Scantum" and again when we
returned. This number may represent some "double-counting", but
regardless, there was a huge flock of Kittiwakes, Gannets, and alcids in
this area. Too bad the boat couldn't slow down in this area! :-(
Bonaparte's Gull 1. One inside of Isles of Shoals.
Ring-billed Gull 1. One individual 16 miles east of Hampton.
Unusually far offshore.
Herring Gull 258
Iceland Gull 6. Possibly some "double-counting" of birds here as
gulls follow boat. One adult and 2 first winter birds at least.
Glaucous Gull 1. "Baby Glock" in Hampton harbor.
Great Black-backed Gull 190
gull sp. 40
Common Loon 34. All inshore.
NORTHERN FULMAR 2. Once again, surprisingly few Fulmar. Especially
with the amount of bird life offshore. This follows the pattern of low
shearwater numbers from the fall.
Northern Gannet 41. Big group of 30 in vicinity of kittiwake flock
on Old Scantum. One 1st winter noted, but the rest appeared to be adults.
Great Cormorant 1. Outside of Hampton harbor
Great Blue Heron 2. Hampton harbor.
Snowy Owl 2. Possibly the same bird counted twice in Hampton Beach
State Park. Once leaving in AM and once returning in PM.
European Starling 20. Hampton harbor.
House Sparrow 1. Hampton harbor.
Snow Bunting 70. Hampton Beach SP.
Other wildlife
-------------------
Small Whale sp. - Very strange looking small whale with not much (or no)
dorsal fin and no significant blow roughly south of the Isles of
Shoals. Came up 3 or 4 times. Not sure what this was, but it didn't
have a dorsal fin like a Minke.
Dolphin sp. - Atlantic White-sided or Common Dolphins. Didn't really
count due to other bird activity, but decent sized pod in area of birds.
FISH - YES! We caught lots of fish! Haddock, Cusk, Red Fish, White
Fish, etc. Plenty for everyone!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/stevemirick/51820183078/in/photostream/lightbox/
Steve Mirick (for group)
Bradford, MA
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