[MASSBIRD] NH Audubon Spring Pelagic Birding Trip
Jon Woolf
Good evening, all:
Spring is here, so it must be time for Massabesic Audubon
Center's Spring Pelagic Birding Trip!
WHAT: An all-day trip into the Gulf of Maine, looking for
pelagic birds (although we'll also check out any whales and
other marine life that we encounter). As always, we've
chartered the whale-watching boat Granite State for this
day of birding along Jeffreys Ledge and wherever else the birds
may lead us. Steve Mirick will be on the microphone, Jane
Mirick will be helping spot birds, and our hosts will be the
highly skilled and experienced Captain Pete Reynolds and his
crew. We'll leave dockside at 8am and stay at sea the whole
day. We should return to Rye Harbor around 5pm.
WHEN: Monday, May 30 (Memorial Day).
WHERE: Meet dockside at Rye Harbor at 7:30AM for an 8:00AM
departure.
WHAT TO BRING: Binoculars, of course. Plan on bringing a lunch;
Granite State's on-board snack bar will be open, but it
serves primarily snack foods. A digital camera if you have one
-- these trips often produce excellent photo opportunities for
both birds and whales. Weather on the open water is
unpredictable, so dress warm, in multiple layers in case you get
too warm and need to take off a layer. Certainly bring
sunscreen, and either sunglasses or a hat. Bring
motion-sickness pills if you're vulnerable to seasickness. Granite
State's seating is mostly wooden benches, so a seat
cushion is a good idea if you have trouble with sitting on hard
surfaces.
WHAT TO EXPECT: Hopefully, good weather and lots of interesting
birds! Every trip is different, of course, but past spring
trips have produced Northern Gannets, Wilson's Storm-petrels,
Great and Sooty shearwaters, Northern Fulmars, Red-necked
Phalaropes in breeding plumage (a rare and impressive sight
indeed), a number of migrants, and a number of near-shore
species. We often get good looks at Common and Roseate Terns
from the White/Seavey Island tern colony, and Black Guillemots
also appear around the Isles of Shoals most years. We've also
gotten good looks at several whales of various species. In 2017
we got a once-in-a-lifetime gem: a wandering BOWHEAD whale!
REGISTRATION: You must register in advance for this trip. We
need a minimum of 30 people to pay for the trip. Captain Pete
plans to run without COVID-19 restrictions this year, so we've
raised the maximum group size back to 50. Sadly, there has been
one unpleasant change: due to increased costs, we've been
forced to raise the price a little. A ticket will now cost $75
for NH Audubon members, $95 for non-members.
To sign up, please use the NH Audubon website: https://www.nhaudubon.org/event/jeffreys-ledge-pelagic-birding-trip-2022/
Contact either NHA or me with any questions you might have.
When you sign up, please be certain that you leave a phone
number where you can be contacted on Sunday May 29, in case we
have to cancel due to weather. There is no rain date; we go on
the 30th, or not at all.
To go with the trip, I will be running a 1-hour workshop from 3
to 4pm on Sunday May 29, as a basic introduction to the most
common pelagic birds and how to identify them. Since we
generally see both whales and birds on these trips, the workshop
also includes information on the common whales of the Gulf of
Maine. This will be a virtual workshop, conducted online via a
Zoom conference. It's free to anyone who has signed up for the
trip on Monday; otherwise, the workshop will cost $5 for NHA
members and $6 for non-members. It has a separate sign-up link:
https://www.nhaudubon.org/event/introduction-to-pelagic-wildlife/
My thanks go out to all who have made these trips a success
in past years, and I hope to see you again this year ... along
with as many new faces as we can fit! :-)
-- Jon Woolf
Manchester, NH
(Massabesic Audubon Center Volunteer)