Yesterday, I organized an all day pelagic bird trip aboard the "Granite
State" out of Rye Harbor, NH. The weather had been very windy over the
last few days, but they quickly died down for our trip. The residual
seas and chop made for an unpleasant morning at times, but by the
afternoon conditions improved greatly. Skies were mostly clear, but
with smoke/haze from the western fires. We traveled east to the Isles
of Shoals where we wandered around the islands looking for odds & ends
while we waited for the seas to calm down. We then continued offshore
forming a counter-clockwise loop over the "Scantums" and dropping into
MA waters before turning north over Jeffrey's Ledge through NH and
following it north into Maine waters and then circling back and
eventually heading back home.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/stevemirick/50355440908/
Birds were scarce and numbers were low, but we still managed to get a
decent list of birds including some tough ones like Leach's Storm-Petrel
and Pomarine Jaeger. And, during a summer like we've been through, it
was just wonderful to be offshore and to see a few shearwaters!
Leo Mckillop
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https://www.flickr.com/photos/28422494@N02
Jim Sparrell
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https://www.flickr.com/photos/89302424@N02
Me
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https://www.flickr.com/photos/stevemirick/
Trip Totals for Birds at the Isles of Shoals and beyond - Separate eBird
checklists submitted
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Surf Scoter - 2 in mixed flock of scoters flying north offshore.
White-winged Scoter - 14 in mixed flock of scoters flying north offshore.
Black Scoter - 2 in mixed flock of scoters flying north offshore.
AMERICAN OYSTERCATCHER - 2 flying back and forth between Appledore,
Smuttynose, and Star Island. Recorded for both ME and NH.
Red-necked Phalarope - 16 in a few small flighty groups. Finally one
bird settled down for good views.
POMARINE JAEGER - 1 offshore in NH waters. Flew by boat and we were
able to chase it down for excellent views and photos.
PARASITIC JAEGER - 1 offshore in NH waters. Difficult views as the bird
would not slow down.
Black Guillemot - 1 flyby off Snuttynose Island.
Laughing Gull - 3 all juveniles offshore.
Herring Gull - 9 offshore. Great Black-backs were the dominant species
offshore.
LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL - 4 including two on Smuttynose Island in ME
and 2 offshore on ledge in NH waters.
Great Black-backed Gull - 68 offshore. Essentially all near fishing boats.
Common Tern - 20 or so offshore. One possible Forster's, but all that I
saw looked good for Common.
Common Loon - 1 migrating offshore.
Wilson's Storm-Petrel - 1 briefly seen by S. Mirick.
LEACH'S STORM-PETREL - 2 birds. One in NH waters and one in ME waters.
Decent views and photos as we gave chase.
Cory's Shearwater - 6 total in MA and NH waters.
Great Shearwater - 22 spread out in MA, NH, and ME waters.
Northern Gannet - Almost none offshore. Several inside Isles of Shoals
and two adults SITTING ON SQUARE ROCK at Isles of Shoals.
Great Cormorant - 10 sitting on Square Rock.
Double-crested Cormorant
Peregrine Falcon - 2 at Isles of Shoals with one on Seavey Island in NH
and one on Appledore Island in ME.
Other Marine Life
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Fin Whale - 1 only and not very good views. Terrible whale show as we
stayed away from recent reports off Cape Ann and chose to explore areas
further offshore on Jeffrey's Ledge.
Minke Whale - 2
Atlantic White-sided Dolphin - 150 total. By far the mammal highlight
of the trip. Nice close encounters with two large pods and accompanying
shearwaters.
Harbor Porpoise - A few inside Isles of Shoals.
LEATHERBACK TURTLE - 1. A bit uncooperative, but good views of it's
head. :-) It's been a good year for Leatherback Turtles.
Ocean Sunfish (Mola mola) - At least 9 including close views of one and
another breached! A big year for mola molas.
Bluefin Tuna - A few splashes at surface
Blue Shark - 1
Steve Mirick
Bradford, MA
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