[Maine-birds] South Polar Skua & Bonxie - Maine Audubon Pelagic, 9/14

Hey everyone:

Maine Audubon's Annual Pelagic Trip leaving from Bar Harbor went out this morning and we had an amazing day to say the least; arguably my best pelagic in Maine. The highlight had to be seeing 4(!!!) skuas, with one of each in Maine and New Brunswick waters. Our boat, the Friendship V, is truly amazing with its speed and stability. Our first skua, a South Polar Skua in Washington County water, immediately took off on us but the boat was able to chase it down - at one point we were barely keeping pace while going 37mph!!

Otherwise the trip was fairly diverse and most counts fell within rage of what is 'expected' for this trip. A few noteworthy birds being our first Blue-winged Teal in this trip's history. An impressive 10(+) Lesser Black-backed Gulls was a new trip high count but not unexpected given this time of year. A Northern Parula, one of our only passerines for the trip, may also be new for the trip list.

I can't wait to see all the photos people took from this trip and would like to encourage flickr users to share them on the 'Maine Bird List' group: http://www.flickr.com/groups/mainebirdlist/

Thanks to Maine Audubon, the captain, crew, and especially all the participants for making this trip work!

I will be entering segmented checklists from the trip into eBird but need a day or two. If any participants did not give me their email or username then feel free to send it to me now. Here is a [mostly] complete list from the trip:

Mallard - 24
American Black Duck - 10
Blue-winged Teal - 9
Common Eider - 384
Surf Scoter - 2
Common Loon - 3
Northern Fulmar - 7 (one dark phase)
Great Shearwater - 370
Sooty Shearwater - 84
Manx Shearwater - 1
Wilson's Storm-pretrel - 40
Leach's Storm-petrel - 120
Northern Gannet - ~100
Double-crested Cormorant - 52
Great Cormorant - 8
Great Blue Heron - 1
Bald Eagle - 1
Black-bellied Plover - 1
Least Sandpiper - 1
Red-necked Phalarope - 110
Red Phalarope - 200
GREAT SKUA - 2 (one in Maine, one in New Brunswick)
SOUTH POLAR SKUA - 2 (one in Maine, one in New Brunswick)
Pomarine Jaeger - 21+
Parasitic Jaeger - 2
Razorbill - 16
Black Guillemot - 2+
Atlantic Puffin - 9 (one adult carrying food)
Bonaparte's Gull - 1+
Laughing Gull - 7
Herring Gull - ~200
Lesser Black-backed Gull - 10 (far above the previous high of 2 for this trip)
Great Black-backed Gull - ~250
Common Tern - 8 (including begging juvies)
Ruby-throated Hummingbird - 6-7
Merlin - 2
American Crow - 4+
Northern Parula - 1

Mammals:
Fin Whale
Humpback Whale
Atlantic White-sided Dolphin
Harbor Porpoise
Gray Seal
Harbor Seal
Red Bat

Odes:
Wandering Glider

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Good birding,


Doug Hitchcox
Hollis, ME

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