Hi Birders,
Sorry about the delayed report as I was working Downeast until late Sunday and tied up yesterday. I had a nice assemblage of seabirds on and around Old Man Island in Cutler late Sat afternoon. I was scoping the island from Dennison Point, located at the end of Little Machias, 2 miles south of Rte. 191.
The wind had just increased to 15-20+ with the passage of the cold front and was hitting the cliffs from the west, although it was hard to determine if there was a SW component. In any event, many birds were lifting and holding in a WNW direction, mostly on the WSW side of the island.
What caught my attention were 3 northern fulmars in the air at the west end and a fourth at the east end, among the gulls (mostly herring) with a few kittiwakes also stiffly hovering. The kittiwakes were mostly gliding up and down. The fulmar's short stocky neck, short fanned-out tail and wings articulating stiffly (infrequently when pitched into the wind and more frequently when flying low over the water) stood out. Three of the four birds presented dark silhouettes, but their backs were slightly tilted towards the shore while hovering. The overall size, position of the wings (slightly forward), proper wing length for the species with stiff shallow wing-beats, a short thick neck, short tail and straight wings were noted. I have seen the birds on the water in the lower Bay of Fundy, but rarely from land (a half a dozen times).
Northern gannets sitting atop vertical ledges was a surprise! Gannets have historically nested in the region and individual pairs have been prospecting off and on over the last 30 years (e.g., Whitehorse Island in Passamaquoddy Bay where they have nested during this time period). Although this was a single observation, the site appears to be too small and the risk of wash-overs on those ledges is high. If other observors see birds sitting on the vertical ledges on these smaller 'islets' on the west end of Old Man Island should report them (the row of islets starts about 20-30 feet from the island (my distance is a guess but they are close).
The fulmars were only a part of the assemblage:
3 Atlantic puffin – Side views standing near razorbills
25+ Razorbills/Large alcids Most were standing on the vertical side of the main island where they nest. Some may have been murres as I only saw five clear razorbill heads. Technically, 20 should be listed as Large alcid sp. These were on the nesting cliffs and indistinguishable at that distance and falling light conditions.
2 black guillemots
5 Northern gannets Normally I do not get too excited about gannets in this area. However, two were sitting as a pair atop a vertical square-shaped flat ledge and a third bird was sitting on an adjacent vertical ledge (there could have been a bird behind it).
7 Harlequin ducks There was a pair below the turn-around at the end of Dennison Point
1 Common eider (male)
3 Purple sandpipers
1 Great cormorant Oddly, there were no double-crested cormorants there as hundreds were migrating along the coast that day and this is a nesting colony.
1 Imm bald eagle sitting near the ledge among a small group of kittiwakes. These guys look big next to a kittiwake.
250+ Black-legged kittiwakes roosting on the side of the island facing shore; there were another 50+ cruising around and I could not get a count on the south side.
20-30 Herring gulls with about 2/3 lifting on the south side of the island and the other third scattered over the upper surface of the island
10-15 Great black-backed gulls mostly scattered on the top of the island within the gull colony. Some were flying
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