Ten minutes later, at 12:55pm the following email was sent out from Nova Star Reservations....
Apologies to all of us nine bird observers who had bought our tickets, with some of us already on our way to Portland ME and a planned GOM round trip on October 10, 2015.
Unfortunately we did not cross the GOM (Gulf Of Maine) this weekend, thanks to extreme winds around Yarmouth Nova Scotia, which were measured up to 79mph, but here is a speculation on what we probably would have seen! Think of it as a fantasy bird trip....
Here are ACTUAL bird numbers for the TWO early Autumn trips we organized on the Nova Star (2014 oct 12 and 2015 sept 23) for the Yarmouth-to-Portland ME daytime leg. These two numbers give some hint at the birds we would have probably seen IF we had taken this route on October 11th. Note that multiple Great Skuas were seen on both these previous trips, and we probably would have seen at least one skua this weekend, probably on the Canadian side. Northern Fulmar and Red Phalarope were also seen on both trips, as were the two more regular jaeger species. Looking at the species list below gives some feeling for how our trip would have gone.
Note that the later october trip (last year's HAS trip) had more "winter waterfowl", while the earlier september trip just a few weeks ago (not a HAS trip) had more species of shearwaters and storm-petrels, all of which would be expected.
In the list below, each species name is followed by two numbers:
In the list below, each species name is followed by two numbers:
FIRST number is from the HAS 2014 trip on Oct.12, mostly from deck 10 and 11. Entire team of observers. A bird-centric trip, including a marine survey with minute-by-minute counts of each species.
SECOND number is from the non-HAS 2015 trip on Sept.23, mostly from right rear corner of deck 7. One person Louis Bevier, plus T.Robben for part time. Gap in coverage 1-3pm, mostly because trip largely focused on the new ECO-program where birds are one part of the overall marine ecosystem.
Listed in non-standard order (which keeps changing anyway)...
BIRD SPECIES, 2014 TRIP (october 12), 2015 TRIP (september 23):
Great Skua, 4 (3 of these were as we approached Yarmouth), 3.
Skua species, 0, 1.
Northern Gannet, 27, 163.
Northern Fulmar, 32, 9.
Great Shearwater, 236, 519.
Shearwater species, 356, 0.
Sooty Shearwater, 5, 2.
Cory's Shearwater, 0, 5.
Manx Shearwater, 0, 3.
Wilson's Storm-petrel, 0, 3.
Leach's Storm-petrel, 0, 1.
Herring Gull, 53, 13.
Greater Black-backed Gull, 29, 12.
Black-legged Kittiwake, 0, 1.
Common Tern, 0, 1.
Arctic Tern, 0, 2 late juveniles.
Sterna species, 0, 1.
Red Phalarope, 2, 2.
Red-necked Phalarope, 0, 20.
Phalarope species, 2, 2.
Pomarine Jaeger, 4, 14.
Parasitic Jaeger, 1, 1.
Jaeger species, 5, 0.
Peregrine Falcon, 2, 1.
Alcid species, 3, 0.
Scoter species, 0, 0.
Surf Scoter, 4, 0.
White-winger Scoter, 17, 0.
Black Scoter, 0, 0.
Common Eider, 1, 0.
Red-breasted Merganser, 1, 0.
Common Loon, 17, 0.
Red-throated Loon, 5, 0
Loon species, 4, 0.
Double-crested Cormorant, 458 (most in one large flock), 1.
Black-bellied Plover, 0, 5.
Ruby-throated Hummingbird, 0, 1 (14 miles from land).
Common Yellowthroat, 0, 1 (onboard stowaway).
So this is the best we can do this time around... a "fantasy bird trip", actually a recollection of two previous trips on this route!
But next year we will get out on the GOM for real, and get those Skuas!!
Have a wonderful winter. See you next year!
Tom
