Ben Griffith and I led an all day pelagic trip last Tuesday aboard the
"Granite State" out of Rye Harbor, NH. The trip was organized by the
Seacoast Chapter of NH Audubon.
https://ebird.org/tripreport/569486
We started off by heading out to the Isles of Shoals where we did a
quick tour of Square Rock, Lunging Island, and White and Seavey
Islands. Here we located some specialty Island birds at this date
including American Oystercatcher, Black Guillemot, and Great
Cormorants. And once again, we spotted an adult Northern Gannet sitting
on Square Rock. Funny how this always happens....never juveniles or
sub-adults.....always adults. Generally Northern Gannets are rarely
seen sitting on land.
We then continued offshore to an area known as "Old Scantum" where there
had been recent whale activity. We found the whales, but they were
uncooperative, so we chased them around a bit while encountering
numerous Wilson's Storm-Petrels and an occasional small flock of
Red-necked Phalaropes. While chasing the whales north past Old Scantum
to a point approximately 10 miles ESE of the Isles of Shoals we chanced
upon the rarest bird of the day and possibly the rarest bird ever seen
in NH! A CHILEAN SKUA! While we didn't know that it was a Chilean Skua
at the time, we knew it was a Skua. It was extremely wary, but we
continually pursued it for over 30 minutes. Unfortunately, we never got
too close and the gray, cloudy skies didn't help, but we managed to get
lots of photos. At this time we were uncertain whether it was the most
likely South Polar Skua or the very rare Great Skua.....we didn't know
there was a 3rd option!!
We then resumed our planned route back south and east and found more
Phalaropes (including Red!) as well as an occasional Cory's Shearwater.
Manx Shearwaters were a bit more wary, but we managed some decent
views. The most common shearwater is generally Great Shearwater, but we
managed only a single flyby down the side of the boat. We worked over
Jeffrey's Ledge and even off the eastern edge of Jeffrey's, but it was
rather quiet out there so we turned back.
Heading back in we ran into an incredible pod of roughly 50 Common
Bottlenose Dolphins! This species is different (larger and more
pelagic) from the typical bottlenose dolphin now known as Tamanend's
Bottlenose Dolphin and found south along the coastal beaches to
Florida. The pod gave an incredible show as they rode the wakes and
jumped high out of the water several times. As we headed in, someone
spotted a jaeger on the water and as we turned to try to relocate it, it
flew and Ben quickly announced LONG-TAILED JAEGER! Sadly, it just kept
flying and flying.....but Captain Pete continued the pursuit and we
finally caught up to it! A beautiful juvenile Long-tailed Jaeger!
Finally, we were running late and turned and cruised home.....but there
was more excitement! As we passed through the area of the previous skua
sightings, we relocated the Skua! This time we had very brief views,
but VERY CLOSE views and in great lighting. It passed by the side of
the boat and continued out of sight. But not before a few people got
the best photos of the day of this bird. These photos showed some
semblance of a Great Skua so we excitedly announced that it was a Great
Skua! But when we got home, it was apparent something was wrong! The
first thing I said to Jane when I uploaded the photos onto my computer
was: "Jane, look at the strange color of this Skua!" Then Sam Zhang,
who wasn't even on the boat started texting me. And then Ben texted
me. It soon became apparent that this bird looked like a CHILEAN SKUA!
The Chilean Skua is a species that breeds off the southern coast of
Argentina and Chile, with wandering birds found as far north as Peru
(one report in Ecuador) and Brazil. They are not known for long
migrations like the South Polar Skua. THERE ARE NO RECORDS FOR NORTH
AMERICA AND POSSIBLY NO RECORDS FOR THE NORTHERN HEMISPHERE FOR CHILEAN
SKUA!
Ben Griffith has been working very hard on researching Chilean Skua and
seeking opinions of Skua experts from around the world. Thus far, I
don't know of anyone that has any doubt that this bird is within the
range of variation of pure Chilean Skua and all have ruled out the
possibility that this is any other species. The Chilean Skua is
actually the most distinctive of all of the Skuas! The only "fly in the
ointment" is that this species is not known for long migrations and the
unlikeliness of this occurrence is generating some "what-if" scenarios.
There is a HYPOTHETICAL possibility that this is a hybrid South Polar X
Chilean Skua which expresses itself phenotypically as a pure Chilean
Skua but adopts the DNA from a South Polar Skua which tells it to head
north!
For lots of photos and a bit more discussion of the Chilean Skua, see
this checklist:
https://ebird.org/checklist/S391300574
Thanks to Holly Bauer for organizing this trip through the Seacoast
Chapter and to Captain Pete Reynolds and crew for helping to spot whales
and birds!
8:00 AM - 5:30 PM
Cloudy with brisk NW winds in the morning, clearing in the afternoon
with winds dying down.
Seas 1 to 3 feet.
Map of Trip
----------------
https://www.flickr.com/photos/stevemirick/55522780243/in/photostream/lightbox/
Birds
-----------
Common Eider 86
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 1 migrating between Rye harbor and Isles of
Shoals
American Oystercatcher 3 all on Lunging.
Black-bellied Plover 2
Semipalmated Plover 2
Hudsonian Whimbrel 1 on Seavey Island
RED PHALAROPE 3 mixed in with Red-necked Phalaropes.
Red-necked Phalarope 119 scattered in mats of Rockweed offshore.
Ruddy Turnstone 3 on Lunging Island
Sanderling 23
Semipalmated Sandpiper 8
LONG-TAILED JAEGER 1 juvenile which we chased and caught!
POMARINE JAEGER 1 adult/subadult which flew by and disappeared.
CHILIAN SKUA 1. Bird of the day! Year! Life!
Black Guillemot 2 at Isles of Shoals
Bonaparte's Gull 2
Laughing Gull 5
Ring-billed Gull 5
American Herring Gull 69
Great Black-backed Gull 202
Lesser Black-backed Gull 11. Mix of adults and juveniles offshore.
Common Tern 8
Wilson's Storm-Petrel 351. Scattered throughout the trip.
CORY'S SHEARWATER 36
GREAT SHEARWATER 1 brief flyby of only one for the day.
MANX SHEARWATER 6. Scarce in recent years. Nice to see a few even
if tough to approach.
shearwater sp. 2
Northern Gannet 3. One adult SITTING on Square Rock.
Great Cormorant 7. Most around Isles of Shoals, but one flyby of
adult offshore.
Double-crested Cormorant 184
Bald Eagle 1. Adult in Rye harbor.
Belted Kingfisher 1 in Rye harbor.
Merlin 1 on White Island
Peregrine Falcon 1 on White Island.
Tree Swallow 4 in Rye harbor.
Barn Swallow 1 in Rye harbor.
Cedar Waxwing 14. Flock of 10 and flock of 4 far offshore!
passerine sp. 1
Marine Life
------------------
Humpback Whale - 6. Repeated sightings and some nice fluke shows, but
generally not cooperative. One named "Chromosome".
Minke Whale - 1
COMMON BOTTLENOSE DOLPHIN - 50. Spectacular performance! Riding the bow
and stern wakes and swimming under the bow. Numerous full body breaches.
Extended long views, photos, and videos!
Mola Mola (Ocean sunfish) - Several
Blue Shark - 3+ with one large individual
Steve Mirick & Ben Griffith
Leaders
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