NH Audubon "Tri-State Pelagic" to Jeffrey's Ledge - 5/30/22

[Steve Mirick]

NH Audubon sponsored an all day pelagic trip yesterday aboard the
"Granite State" out of Rye Harbor, NH.  We started with a tour of the
Isles of Shoals where we saw the wonderful tern colony on White and
Seavey Islands and the Cormorant rookery on Lunging Island.  We were
also able to get nice views of American Oystercatchers which are now
nesting regularly (and in several pairs?) on the islands. We also saw an
incredible flock of Black Guillemots on the water between Appledore and
Smuttynose Islands.  After this, we cruised offshore toward "Old
Scantum" and "New Scantum" and "Jeffrey's Ledge" working slowly south
into MA waters.   After getting offshore we encountered some huge flocks
of Wilson's Storm-Petrels, which continued as we turned to the north and
traversed Jeffrey's Ledge from south to north.  We continued north into
Maine waters before turning west and cutting across "Jeffrey's Basin"
and heading home. Here is a map of our route:

https://flic.kr/p/2noUe68

Aside from the huge numbers of storm-petrels, bird activity was fairly
slow offshore, but we had a few nice sightings and some fantastic whale
experiences and enjoyed a great day on the ocean!

Thanks to Jon Woolf for organizing this trip through Massabesic Audubon,
to Captain Pete Reynolds, and to whale biologist Jonathan and crew for
helping to spot whales and birds!

8:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Mostly sunny with some afternoon clouds, but excellent visibility
Light southerly winds 5-10 mph.  Seas about 1-3'

Thanks to Becky Suomala and Zeke Cornell for doing their best to
estimate numbers for the day and maintain eBird checklists.  Below
is an eBird "Trip Report" of all species seen from the boat including in
Rye harbor.  Followed by totals and some species comments by me:

https://ebird.org/nh/tripreport/60434

Species totals and comments
---------------------------------------
Canada Goose    13
Mallard    1
Common Eider    X  Baby eiders are now out on the Isles of Shoals.
White-winged Scoter    1
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)    7
AMERICAN OYSTERCATCHER    5 including 2 sitting on rocks together at
Lunging Island and 3 more seen flying toward coastline.  This species is
now quickly expanding its nesting in the islands.  RUMOR has it there
may be 7 nests on the islands this year????  With several on Lunging?????
Semipalmated Plover    9
Killdeer    2
Ruddy Turnstone    3
Purple Sandpiper    1 on Square Rock.
RED-NECKED PHALAROPE    16 Nice views in breeding plumage in a few very
small groups.
phalarope sp.    3
Willet    1
BLACK GUILLEMOT    50 An exceptionally high count.  Almost all in "The
Gut" between Appledore and Smuttynose Islands.
Bonaparte's Gull    2
Laughing Gull    1
Herring Gull  X
Great Black-backed Gull   X
Roseate Tern    1
Common Tern   X
Common Loon    11  Almost all migrating birds singly and in twos.
WILSON'S STORM-PETREL    3,522  An incredibly high count.  I was on a
boat covering this same general region 5 days earlier and had a TOTAL of
only 31 Wilson's Storm-Petrels.  Reports from the previous 2 days also
indicated a large number of birds in this same area so there appears to
have been a massive arrival of birds sometime between 5/26 and 5/28. 
Almost all of the birds were concentrated along Old and New Scantum and
northward along much of Jeffrey's Ledge.  Far fewer inside of ledge. So
far this has been an interesting year for Wilson's Storm-Petrels with
record early arrival offshore on May 1st (easily beating previous record
early date of 5/18 for NH) when 40 were seen on Jeffrey's Ledge
(McKillop et al).  Far ahead of schedule.  The estimate yesterday
appears to set a new high count for NH waters with 2,237 beating the
previous high of 2,000 on 6/8/80.
NORTHERN FULMAR    1   Nice looks at light morph on water.  Sadly no
Sooty Shearwaters or any other shearwaters to be seen offshore yet. This
date is still early for arrival of Greater, Sooty, and Manx for these
waters.
Northern Gannet    38
Double-crested Cormorant    277 including one odd flock of about 50
flying north far offshore.
Great Blue Heron    1
Great Egret    3
Glossy Ibis    3
Tree Swallow    2
Barn Swallow    6
European Starling    6
Song Sparrow    4
Red-winged Blackbird    1
Common Grackle    6
Yellow Warbler    2
Northern Cardinal    1

Marine Mammals
------------------------
Humpback Whale - 7 including "Gondolier", "Owl" with calf!, "Proton"
with calf!, "Sedge", and "Palmer-Crary".  Of interest is the venerable
Humpback Whale nicknamed "Owl".  This whale is now 36 years old and has
survived 2 ship strikes over the years.  She returned this year with her
first calf in 5 years and has been seen every year by Captain Pete
during his many years of conducting whale watches offshore in Rye. 
Also, the whale named "Palmer-Crary" whose odd name comes from the
undertail pattern which resembles the sea-bottom ship wreck pattern of
two coal schooners that collided and sank locked together on Stellwagen
Bank in 1902!
https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/03portland/background/palmercrary/palmercrary.html
Fin Whale - 4
Minke Whale - 1
Harbor Porpoise - 1
Gray Seal - 2

Steve Mirick
Bradford, MA