Pelagic birding
Tom Momeyer
The New Hampshire Audubon pelagic birding trip in October 2023 was canceled due to high wind and waves, so I decided to take a closer look and 'post' photos of birds, a gray seal, whales, porpoises, landscape, and an ‘area’ and GPS track maps from the trip last year (10/10/22), which was my first NH Audubon pelagic birding trip.
We boarded the MV Granite State boat at 7:45 am in Rye Harbor, New Hampshire, and returned around 5 pm. Steve Mirick led the all-day trip, calling out bird (and other) sightings from the cabin for all to hear. The weather... "Partly to mostly cloudy. Light to moderate southerly winds 5-10 mph in late morning creating heavy chop and white caps. Seas about 1-2'." "Thanks to Holly Bauer for organizing this trip through Seacoast Audubon which offers free field trips and programs." "And thanks to Captain Pete Reynolds and his crew for helping to spot whales and birds! And thanks to Becky Suomala and Zeke Cornell for doing their best to estimate numbers for the day and maintain eBird checklists."(S. Mirick email 10/11/22 to NHBirds google group).
"We started with a tour of the Isles of Shoals where we were able to get nice views of American Oystercatchers on Lunging Island and both Peregrine Falcons and Bald Eagles on Appledore and Smuttynose Islands. We also saw a huge flock of Common Eiders just past the islands. After this, we cruised offshore toward "Old Scantum" and southern parts of Jeffrey's Ledge in MA [Massachusetts] waters before turning north and traversing the mid to outer edge of Jeffrey's Ledge north through NH [New Hampshire] and into ME [Maine] waters almost to the northern edge of Jeffrey's Ledge before turning back for home." (S. Mirick email 10/11/22 to NHBirds google group)
"Unfortunately, like last year, the paucity of pelagic birds offshore continued from this summer and fall. Zero alcids and zero shearwaters were noted and large areas of Jeffrey's Ledge had not much else but a small number of gulls and gannets. However, we were treated with excellent views of Pomarine Jaegers and brief, but nice views of Fulmar and Kittiwakes." (S. Mirick email 10/11/22 to NHBirds google group).
There were two banded juvenile American Oystercatchers on Lunging Island and one banded Great Black-backed Gull on Little Seavey Island (banding info in photo captions). We saw "Huge rafts [of Common Eiders] east side of the isles in the vicinity of Cedar Island ledge, straddling the ME/NH state line. Very impressive number for NH and perhaps the highest count for the State. According to Keith & Fox (2013), the highest count for NH was 2,500 at the Isles of Shoals on 11/17/68." (eBird checklist https://ebird.org/checklist/S120490101)
Photos and story at https://www.momeyergallery.com/Journal/2022-10-10-Pelagic-Birding-in-NH-MA-ME/
eBird (public) Trip Report at https://ebird.org/tripreport/167238
Tom
Thomas E. Momeyer
Peterborough, NH
https://www.momeyergallery.com/