June 2010 Pelagic

Marshall Iliff's report:

The first of this year's deep-water pelagic trips by the Brookline Bird Club (BBC) was a great success. Although we did not find any unusual birds, we did have spectacular marine mammals (including a mega-rarity), as well as a very rare sea turtle and an overall great pelagic experience. There were lots of birds around all day.

We departed Hyannis aboard the Helen H at 4:00 am and within a half-hour it started getting light and we say our first seabird, a Cory's Shearwater, well within Nantucket Sound. We passed just east of Nantucket on a direct route to Veatch Canyon, at which point we slowed down and cruised into deeper water while laying a chum slick. After a big loop offshore, we turned and crossed the Continental Shelf just west of Hydrographer Canyon and headed back towards Hyannis. 

Highlights of the trip were many. There was a light SW or WSW wind in the morning, but for much of the day the winds were negligible offshore. Seas were very light, making it very easy to spot birds on the water. On the way out we had a nice group of birds over a small pod of Common Dolphins, including all four species of shearwaters. Before reaching the continental shelf, we turned around for a sea turtle and we all had great studies as the small animal swam alongside the boat and provided great looks. The scute pattern and scalation of the head revealed it to be a GREEN SEA TURTLE, a rare species this far north (Loggerhead, Leatherback, and Ridley are the three more likely species in Massachusetts, and this was a first for these trips). Some lucky people got to see it tangle with a shark briefly, and after the tussle, the turtle swam right towards us revealing an obvious bite mark in its shell. We also noticed a bright banded pilotfish under the turtle. Both the fish and the bite mark are visible in photos such as this one:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jrtrimble/4742996574/in/set-72157624377613380/
From just beyond Nantucket Shoals until the continental Shelf we were seeing lots of Leach's Storm-Petrels, so had great opportunities to study their field marks at sea. Our total of 138 was the highest ever for these trips. The species was most common over the deep water beyond the Shelf, where we had up to 40 in some half-hour segments. Best of all, they responded to our chum and came right in to the back of the boat; Luke Seitz and others got great images of this usually hard-to-photograph species:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/51533299@N05/4741240556/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/51533299@N05/4741241856/in/photostream/ 
Overall chumming worked great in the offshore waters, although we were unable to chum in any mega-rarities, it was certainly a joy to see so many storm-petrels and shearwaters around the boat during the entirety of our time in the waters far offshore.

But the highlight of all were the whales. After a couple distant spouts, we spotted a baleen whale that was moving really fast and we sped up to keep pace. Its identification was elusive to us at first, and it was not until photos came back that we realized it was a small BLUE WHALE. See photos here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jrtrimble/4743004238/in/set-72157624377613380/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ryser915/4739377022/in/set-72157624244791609/ 
This species is seen only very rarely off New England, and this was unquestionably our rarest find of the trip. Amazingly, we got photos of a second animal about an hour later.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ryser915/4739373462/in/set-72157624244791609/
A bit later we had more excitement with a Fin Whale and then a close SPERM WHALE that provided great close looks for all on board. Photos by Ryan Schain:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ryser915/4739364730/in/set-72157624244791609/ 
On the way back in we had nice looks at Risso's Dolphins and Pilot Whales, and the finale was a group of 450 Common Dolphins that completely surrounded us with their attendant shearwaters. 

TOTALS (All photos copyright Jeff Slovin):


Greater Shearwater - 459

Cory's Shearwater - 82 (all seen well consistent with C. d. borealis, although a couple interesting individuals were photographed with thinner bills and slightly more white in primaries)

Greater/Cory's Shearwater - 7
Manx Shearwater - 24 (a high count for this trip; one bird was far offshore beyond the  Continental Shelf--an area we don't often see this species.
See this photo by Luke Seitz:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/51533299@N05/4740605001/in/photostream/) 
Sooty Shearwater - 27
Wilson's Storm-Petrel - 187
Leach's Storm-Petrel - 137 (perhaps the avian highlight of the trip was the high number of Leach's; we had many birds coming in to chum right behind the boat and eating suet from the surface of the water)
Herring Gull (American) - 2
Great Black-backed Gull - 1
Common Tern - 18 (two birds over deep water)
Pomarine Jaeger - 1 (immature, apparent 1st-summer, bird pursued and seen at a moderate  distance)
Northern Gannet - 7 (all nearshore)
Common Loon - 6 (all near Nantucket)

MAMMALS etc.

Short-beaked Common Dolphin - 450 (great groups of several hundred)
Pilot Whale - 17 (one area with several small groups)
BLUE WHALE - 2 (very rare; two young animals seen well and photographed. One seen was "running" at 16 kts and breaking the surface dramatically with the large head, almost porpoising!)

Fin Whale - 1
SPERM WHALE - 3 (two distant, but great looks and photos of one cooperative animal seen by all. A rare and special species for these offshore trips)
Minke Whale - 3
Risso's Dolphin - 8
GREEN SEA TURTLE - 1 (small individual was attacked by a shark while we watching and later had a chunk taken out of its shell!)

FISH etc.
Half-beak - x (1 school)
Yellowfin Tuna - 4 (2 seen, 2 caught; everyone went home with fresh tuna
steaks!)
Bluefin Tuna - 1 (caught)
Blue Shark - ~8
shark sp. - ~6
Mola mola - 2
Portuguese Man-o-war - 1

Thanks as always to the BBC (and Ida in particular) for making sure this trip went, to Capt. Joe, Matt the mate, and the rest of the Helen H for these consistently professional and accommodating trips. Every data point we get from these far offshore waters is fascinating. It seems that Audubon's Shearwater may not show up here until later (the earliest records in Veit and Petersen are mid-July), and perhaps the same is true of Band-rumped Storm-Petrel. The fact remains that these are the most undiscovered waters of Massachusetts, so we are all looking forward to the August overnight pelagic which will afford more opportunity to ply these waters. If you haven't yet signed up for this trip I encourage you to do so soon. Space is
more limited (due to bunk space) and this is the ideal time of year for White-faced Storm-Petrel. Last year's trip had 8 Band-rumped and a whopping SIX White-faced, making it the most successful White-faced Storm-Petrel trip ever. It seems that these trips are succeeding in proving that these waters are the most consistent area for White-faced Storm-Petrel off Massachusetts, so hopefully this year will see a repeat performance! Sign up now!

Best,

Marshall Iliff

PS - I will be sharing eBird checklists with all participants. The checklists will be broken down as a summary list as well as half-hourly totals, which show the differences in where the birds are distributed on the trip.

Steve Mirick's Map
Jeff Slovin's full set of photos

Photos from others:
Myer Bornstein
Alex Burdo
Christopher Ciccone

Boreal Birding in New Hampshire - 6/13/10

Last Saturday, I led a trip to from Massachusetts to New Hampshire for my annual co-sponsored Brookline Bird Club/Menotomy Bird Club "Boreal Birding" trip.  I usually plan for Caps Ridge Trail as the trailhead is the highest in NH at a little over 3000', allowing you to drive into Bicknell's Thrush territory.  But, since the access road to Caps Ridge Trail had still not been opened by NHDOT, we chose a back-up plan of taking the tram to the top of Cannon Mountain, followed by birding at Pondicherry NWR and finishing at Trudeau Rd in Bethlehem, NH.

The Cannon Mountain Tramway proved to be a very pleasant alternative - informative and very scenic, even in the clouds and drizzle.  At the top of the mountain, we walked the short circuit trail and were treated to good numbers of Red-breasted Nuthatches, Dark-eyed Juncos, and Yellow-bellied Flycatchers, with singing Winter Wrens and Blackpoll Warblers everywhere. It also wasn't long before we heard - and then got great looks at the big target bird of the trip - singing Bicknell's Thrush.  (On one bird, we were able to see the back of it's throat at times!)  In all, we heard at least three and probably 4 Bicknell's Thrushes.

A few more scenic views, then we headed back to the tram for a comfortable ride back down the mountain (with hot chocolates and coffees in hand from the visitor center - truly plush boreal birding).

 (view looking south in Franconia Notch)

We then continued on to Pondicherry NW,R we walked in the entrance trail from Hazen Road, finding warblers all along the way, including Blackpoll, Black-throated Green, Black-throated Blue, Chestnut-sided, Nashville, at least three Canada Warblers, American Redstart, Northern Parula, Ovenbird, Common
Yellowthroat, as well as Hermit and Wood Thrushes and Veery.  In addition to the birds, we also encountered, Butterflies, Dragonflies, Damselflies (including both Ebony and River Jewelwings) and a number of other interesting insects, which I am woefully undereducated about.

We worked our way towards Little Cherry Pond where we watched both male and female Black-backed Woodpeckers visiting a nest cavity. Then on our way back out, watched an immature Yellow-bellied Sapsucker call and participate in an intersting behavior consisting of perching parallel to a horizontal branch and dropping its wings on either side of the branch (almost like when a raptor "mantles" over its food).  Common Loon and an American Bittern at Big Cherry Pond were great sightings as well.

We stopped for a lunch break and rest stop then continued on to Trudeau Road, where we were able to add Magnolia and Black-and-White Warblers to the day list as well as a few Alder Flycatchers, several Rusty
Blackbirds (and great looks at another Canada Warbler) and stood amongst at least a dozen Cedar Waxwings, hearing their bills clapping shut as they were fly-catching insects in the air around us.

I've always thought that these were such handsome and dapper birds, and getting to see them like this really is a treat.

In all, our group of seven had a pretty nice day (despite the weather), tallying over 50 species of birds, some cool bugs, and with some wonderful scenic views, an and enjoyable tram ride.

Franklin Park 5/2

From Bob Mayer:

More than 30 people joined this nice walk through the Resting Place and Scarborough Pond sections of Franklin Park in Boston. We had several species that were FOY for most of us including 6 warbler species. Hairy Woodpecker was our last bird, a nice way to end. Complete List:
Location: Franklin Park
Observation date: 5/2/10
Notes: temp 65 clouds
Number of species: 40

Canada Goose 12
Mallard 10
Herring Gull 2
Rock Pigeon 6
Mourning Dove 4
Chimney Swift 2
Red-bellied Woodpecker 1 heard
Hairy Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker 1
Eastern Kingbird 2
Blue-headed Vireo 1
Warbling Vireo 4
Blue Jay 3
American Crow 20
Tree Swallow 2
Barn Swallow 2
Black-capped Chickadee 4
Tufted Titmouse 1
White-breasted Nuthatch 2
Hermit Thrush 2
American Robin X
Gray Catbird 7
Brown Thrasher 1
European Starling 6
Nashville Warbler 1 heard
Northern Parula 3
Yellow Warbler 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler X
Palm Warbler 1
Ovenbird 1 heard
Chipping Sparrow 2
Song Sparrow 3
White-throated Sparrow 4
Northern Cardinal 2
Red-winged Blackbird 12
Common Grackle X
Brown-headed Cowbird 2
Baltimore Oriole 4
American Goldfinch 1
House Sparrow 5

Mt. Auburn 5/1

Lots and lots of birds and birders at Mt. Auburn today. Highlights from the BBC walk:

Wood Duck - 2 flyover
Common Loon - flyover going west
Green Heron - flyover
Cooper's Hawk - 1
hawk sp - interesting bird flew by as I was leaving, not a Cooper's and not a Red-tail but didn't get much on it
Blue-headed Vireo - 3+
Warbling Vireo - 1 Dell/tower
Hermit Thrush - 6+ (also heard of Veery in the Dell)
Gray Catbird - several
Cedar Waxwing - everywhere
Nashville Warbler - 3+
Northern Parula - 3+
Black-throated Blue Warbler - 2
Yellow-rumped Warbler - everywhere
Black-throated Green Warbler - 3
Palm Warbler - many
Black-and-white Warbler - 5+
American Redstart - 1 (thanks Linda)
(second hand report that the Worm-eating was still around in the same general area)
White-crowned Sparrow - 1 Spectacle
Baltimore Oriole - 2+ (1 singing outside my window right now as well)
Orchard Oriole - 1 Spectacle (thanks Jeff)
Somewhere around 50 species.

Birding Parker River NWR by Bike ~ 05-01-10

This morning, Mark Burns and I led our annual spring birding by bike trip for the Brookline Bird Club at the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge. Eight other bike and birding enthusiasts joined us at Parking Lot #1 at 6:30AM (in photo: Mark, Bev, Paul, Diana, Susan, Stan, Jane, Barbara, Lenny, and yours truly in shadow.)

Weather-wise, this was one of the best days we have had for this trip - the temperature ranged between 51 and 75 df, no wind, and abundant sunshine! We birded our way south to the Hellcat Trail and back over a 5-hour period. We tallied 77 species for the Club list, of which 12 species were warblers! Following is a complete list of the birds we saw:

Common Loon - 2
Double-crested Cormorant – 4
Great-blue Heron – 4
Great Egret -7
Snowy Egret – 3
Glossy Ibis - 7
Canada Goose - 70
Mute Swan - 4

Gadwall – 5

American Black Duck - 12
Mallard – 53
Blue-winged Teal - 3
Green-winged Teal - 2
Ring-necked Duck - 1
Osprey - 5
Northern Harrier - 2
American Kestrel - 1
Merlin - 1
Peregrine Falcon - 1
Sora – 1
Killdeer - 3
Greater Yellowlegs – 9
Willet - 11
Wilson’s Snipe – 1
Ring-billed Gull - 3
Herring Gull - 20
Great Black-backed Gull - 1
Mourning Dove – 26
Belted Kingfisher – 3
Hairy Woodpecker – 1
Northern Flicker – 1
Eastern Phoebe – 2
Eastern Kingbird – 7
Blue-headed Vireo – 12
Warbling Vireo – 1
Red-eyed Vireo - 2
Blue Jay - 5
American Crow – 42
Fish Crow - 1
Purple Martin - 5
Tree Swallow - 350
Barn Swallow – 60
Black-capped Chickadee - 8
Golden-crowned Kinglet – 4
Ruby-crowned Kinglet – 280
Hermit Thrush - 5
American Robin – 75
Gray Catbird - 3
Northern Mockingbird - 2
Brown Thrasher - 14
European Starling – 120

WARBLERS:
Nashville – 10
Northern Parula – 12
Yellow - 40
Black-throated Blue – 3
Yellow-rumped - 150
Black-throated Green – 7
Prairie – 3
Palm – 16
Black-and-white – 53
Ovenbird – 2
Northern Waterthrush – 27
Common Yellowthroat – 2

 

Eastern Towhee - 55

Savannah Sparrow – 13

Seaside Sparrow - 2

Song Sparrow – 33

Swamp Sparrow - 6

White-throated Sparrow – 175

Northern Cardinal – 24

Red-winged Blackbird -190

Eastern Meadowlark - 1

Common Grackle - 90

Brown-headed Cowbird - 20

Purple Finch - 1

American Goldfinch – 24

House Sparrow - 10

 

We had an aMAYzing morning of birding and I hope you did too.

Happy Migration!

Laura H. de la Flor
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"So much to learn about Mother Nature...
...always racing with father time." (lhf)

Mt. Auburn 4/28

From Naeem Yusuff:

The worm-eating warbler found yesterday by Jon Damian was seen and heard
on the BBC Mt Auburn walk this morning, in the tall black oak at the base of Mountain Ave. With poor weather for migration forecasted until the weekend, there is a good chance that this bird will stick around.

Other highlights include a wood duck at Halcyon pond, as well as lingering palm and yellow-rumped warblers.

Salem Woods Birding Hike ~ 04-24-10

On April 24th, Mark Burns and I led our joint Brookline Bird Club and Friends of Salem Woods trip to the Salem Woods. Marj and Daan joined us for the morning.

We followed the yellow blazed trail which took us around the woodland edge (about 2 miles) and through forested, scrub-shrub, and emergent wetlands; open water marsh (Thompson's Meadow); and upland habitats. After our kike through Salem Woods, we took a ride to Nahant and walked through the Heritage Trail and Thicket. The temperatures were in the mid-50s, the wind was light, and the sky was clear. It was a quiet morning overall but it was nice to be outside enjoying the beautiful weather and emerging spring signs.

We tallied 38 species for the Club list: 

Double-crested Cormorant - 1 overhead; Canada Goose – 12; Red-tailed Hawk - 1; Killdeer – 1; Ring-billed Gull – 6; Herring Gull – 10; Great Black-backed Gull – 3; Rock Dove – 40; Mourning Dove – 13; Downy Woodpecker – 3; Northern Flicker - 4; Eastern Phoebe -4; Blue-headed Vireo – 3; Blue Jay – 12; American Crow – 24; Tree Swallow – 2; Black-capped Chickadee – 10; Tufted Titmouse - 6; White-breasted Nuthatch – 1; Carolina Wren – 7; Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 1; Blue-gray Gnatcatcher – 2; American Robin – 43; Northern Mocking bird – 4; European Starling – 8; Yellow-rumped Warbler – 2; Palm Warbler - 1; Eastern Towhee – 8; Chipping Sparrow – 9; Field Sparrow – 7; Swamp Sparrow - 6; White-throated Sparrow – 3; Northern Cardinal – 18; Red-winged Blackbird - 60; Common Grackle – 25; Brown-headed Cowbird – 20; American Goldfinch - 14; House Sparrow - 15

As we were leaving Salem Woods, we met up with several members of the Friends of Salem Woods who were busy restoring a section of the main trail. Many thanks to the Friends for their hard work and dedication and keeping the Woods accessible to all who wish to visit!

Until next time, take care and good birding!

Laura H. de la Flor
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"So much to learn about Mother Nature...
...always racing with father time." (lhf)