The Massabesic Audubon Center of NH Audubon sponsored an all day pelagic
bird trip yesterday aboard the "Granite State" out of Rye Harbor, NH.
After a week or more of dismal weather, the sun broke out and the winds
died down and gave us some of the best conditions we could ever hope
for, often with glassy seas! After receiving morning reports of
activity offshore near southern Jeffrey's Ledge, we headed straight
offshore. Arriving in an area known as "The Prong", we saw lots of
fishing boats and lots of whales and birds. After spending a couple of
hours in this area, we decided to head north. By noon, we were crossing
the inside edge of Jeffrey's Ledge. We started to veer north over the
ledge and into deeper waters where we encountered enormous numbers of
whales and Red Phalaropes. We followed the whale blows south into MA
waters before finally heading back and giving a quick check at the Isles
of Shoals and then headed home.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/stevemirick/54551498168/in/photostream/lightbox/
The trip will go down in history as one of the best ever with record
numbers of Red Phalaropes and Humpback whales as far as the eye could
see!!!! The Red Phalarope numbers reflect one of the highest counts
ever recorded in New England. What makes this trip incredible is that
the timing of the trip was perfect; not only for weather, but for the
birds. Prior to the strong coastal storm 4 days earlier, scouting
reports from fishing boats of birds indicated almost ZERO birds offshore
before the storm! Hardly any bird life at all! Often luck is the
biggest factor on these trips and we got lucky yesterday! :-) A
massive arrival of Phalaropes and Storm-Petrels with the first of the
season Sooty Shearwaters and Humpback whales everywhere combined for a
trip that will never be forgotten!
Thanks to Jon Woolf for organizing this trip through Massabesic Audubon
Center and to Captain Pete Reynolds and crew for helping to spot whales
and birds!
8:00 AM - 5:30 PM
Sunny, seasonable, and dry.
NW winds 10 knots dropping to calm. Increasing slightly out of south at
end of trip. dropping to 5 mph. Seas 1' to 2'.
Trip Report in eBird can be found here with marine chart and photos -
https://ebird.org/tripreport/377420
Birds (thanks to Becky Suomala for keeping count!)
Please note this includes birds seen from the boat while in Rye Harbor.
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Common Eider 40 at Isles of Shoals. Not too many, but not an
exhaustive search of islands. No luck with recent adult male King Eider.
Surf Scoter 3
White-winged Scoter 9
Black Scoter 15
Long-tailed Duck 26
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) 5 (Rye harbor)
Mourning Dove 2 (Rye harbor)
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 7 - Great offshore migration of
hummingbirds buzzing by the boat!!
American Oystercatcher 4 - On Smuttynose, Lunging, and Seavey Islands.
Short-billed Dowitcher 35 - Flyovers at Isles of Shoals.
RED PHALAROPE 14,780 - Mind blowing numbers in numerous huge carpets
of birds offshore and all seen within a 2 hour time period in deeper
water just east of Jeffrey's Ledge in an area known as Wilkinson's
Basin. Extremely difficult to "count", but they were in discrete huge
groups offshore and the boat slowly moved from one carpet to another
which helped to avoid double-counting. Interestingly these flocks were
comprised of 99+% Reds (only 1 or 2 seen to be RNPH in huge rafts).
These Red Phalarope rafts were completely separate from the Red-necked
Phalarope flocks located a bit further south and west in more shallow
water. According to Becky's difficult estimates (which I think
accurately reflect the total number of birds) 11,760 were in NH waters
and 3,020 were in MA waters. These numbers are among the highest ever
recorded in New England. For comparison, the highest counts I can find
(without extensive research) are as follows:
New Hampshire - (Keith & Fox) - 200+ by Libby off Portsmouth
(11/17/54). Since then I had 268 on 10/14/19.
Massachusetts - (Veit & Petersen) - 25,000 from land at Rockport
(11/15/57) and 2,416 at south edge of George's Bank 5/28/77 by MBO staff.
Maine - (Vickery) - 5,196 off e. Maine 9/14/08. (E. Hynes et al)
Nearly 100% were in high breeding plumage, but a couple of "basic
plumaged' birds were noted.
Here's a video of a small portion of the birds:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/stevemirick/54546772002/in/dateposted/
RED-NECKED PHALAROPE 707 - Huge numbers. All located along southern
Jeffrey's Ledge; most into MA waters. Almost completely separated from
the flocks of Red Phalaropes.
Spotted Sandpiper 1 - Isles of Shoals
Willet 4 - Rye harbor
Ruddy Turnstone 3 - Isles of Shoals
Purple Sandpiper 3 - Isles of Shoals
PARASITIC JAEGER 1 - Quick flyby right over the boat. Subadult bird
with no tail spoons. Originally thought to be a Pomarine Jaeger, but ID
changed to Parasitic after review of photos.
jaeger sp. 3 - Distant birds causing a "murmuration" of phalaropes
along the horizon!!
ATLANTIC PUFFIN 2 - Seen by only a few and photographed. Flybys.
Black Guillemot 20 - Mostly around Smuttynose Island.
Black-legged Kittiwake 2 - First summer birds.
Bonaparte's Gull 4
Laughing Gull 3
American Herring Gull 327 - Tons of gulls offshore around open-mouth
feeding of Humpback whales.
Great Black-backed Gull 127 - Tons of gulls offshore around
open-mouth feeding of Humpback whales.
Lesser Black-backed Gull 1 - 3rd year? bird in water.
BLACK TERN 1 - Nice adult bird sitting on flotsam offshore.
Common Tern 162
Roseate Tern - Heard vocalizing around White Island.
Red-throated Loon 5 - High count for date.
Common Loon 24 - High count. Some migrating, but several more well
offshore even out beyond Jeffrey's Ledge.
Wilson's Storm-Petrel 2,087
NORTHERN FULMAR 3 - Good views by all.
GREAT SHEARWATER 1 - Not seen by everyone and I haven't seen any
photos yet. If confirmed, this would be a record early date for NH.
Sooty Shearwater 31 - Nice number of Sootys. Almost all in the
vicinity of the huge groups of whales and Red Phalaropes. NONE with the
flocks of Red-necked Phalaropes.
Northern Gannet 95 - High count for date.
Double-crested Cormorant 75
Glossy Ibis 3 - One flying back out to Appledore Island
Great Egret 1 - Rye harbor
Bald Eagle 1 - Rye harbor
Blue Jay 2 - Rye harbor
Black-capped Chickadee 1 - Rye harbor
Bank Swallow 1 - Rye harbor
Tree Swallow 3 - Rye harbor
Northern Rough-winged Swallow 2 - Rye harbor
Barn Swallow 5 - Some offshore
European Starling 1 - Rye harbor
American Robin 1 - Rye harbor
House Sparrow 2 - Rye harbor
American Goldfinch 1 - Rye harbor
Song Sparrow 2 - Rye harbor
Red-winged Blackbird 1 - Rye harbor
Common Grackle 7 - Rye harbor
Common Yellowthroat 2 - Rye harbor
American Redstart 1 - Rye harbor
Magnolia Warbler 1 - OFFSHORE MIGRANT. Circled the boat a few times
for photos.
Yellow Warbler 2 - One on Smuttynose Island
Black-throated Green Warbler 1 - Rye harbor
passerine sp. 1 - Offshore
Marine Mammals
------------------------
HUMPBACK WHALE - 45 to 60 individuals (!!!!!!). Two discrete groups of
feeding Humpback whales. Interestingly, these two groups closely
corresponded to the Red Phalarope and Red-necked Phalarope flocks. When
I asked the experienced whale biologists on the boat for an estimate,
they just shrugged their shoulders. They were in complete awe! Some
said 60, others said 45 or 50. I'm not positive on what the attraction
of the whales was, but it may be that Sand Lance blooms (rare on
Jeffrey's Ledge) were the reason according to biologist Jonathan. The
result was OPEN MOUTH BUBBLE FEEDING TO THE SURFACE. This drove the
fish out of the water and attracted the large numbers of gulls and the
shearwaters. Fun to see Herring Gulls riding along on the nose of the
Humpback Whales hoping to get a fish flying out of the closing mouth of
the Humpbacks. I'd be interested to understand what attracted the
phalaropes to this same spot as the whales (the Sand Lance food?), and
why the two species of Phalaropes were so segregated and not intermingled.
Fin Whale - 12
Minke Whale - 3
Harbor Porpoise - 12 (including some far offshore interestingly)
Harbor Seal
Basking Shark - 1 brief views in clear calm, water.
Steve Mirick (for the group)
Bradford, MA
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