KEY POINT: The ongoing QUESTION for this trip is why do seabirds (and whales) concentrate in some parts (aka "hotspots") of the ocean and not other locations (and what are these seabirds & whales eating there?). We found one such hotspot on 10/22/2016, which included intense whale activity, many seabirds and especially one Sabine's Gull. We took samples of the water to analyze, to see if we could identify some differences. More on those comparative results in the coming weeks, at this website.
Wow!! What a surprisingly good trip. Highlights included seabirds ( Sabine's Gull ! plus fulmars, kittiwakes, jaegers, and 4 species of shearwaters), whales (4 species and lots of close-up action), a striking difference in plankton between two areas of the sanctuary, and a great group of about 90 appreciative people:
SEABIRDS:
Common Eider, 40.
White-winged Scoter, 1.
Surf Scoter, 3 (plus 19 in harbor, Sarah Faulkner, HAS).
Common Loon, 3.
YELLOW-NOSED ALBATROSS, 1 adult, photographed near us on 10/22 but not from our ship. See the photos below.
Northern Fulmar, 5.
Cory's Shearwater, 1200.
Great Shearwater, 400.
Sooty Shearwater, 15.
Manx Shearwater, 12.
shearwater species, 150.
Northern Gannet, 164.
Pomarine Jaeger, 5.
jaeger species, 1.
Black-legged Kittiwake, 60.
SABINE'S GULL, 1 juvenile (we originally thought it was two individuals). Quite late in its migration cycle.
Bonaparte's Gull, 2.
Herring Gull, 102.
Great Black-backed Gull, 20.
albatross species, 1. Seen nearby, late afternoon, by BHC marine trip, but not by our trip. Am researching the details and will publish more here soon.
www.bostonharborcruises.com/naturalists-notes/october-2016/october-22-2016/
Naturalist Rich D, at BHC, told me that the albatross was seen on 10/22 at Latitude 42*25.05, Longitude 70*24.05, at approximately 14:23 (not far from where we were). No further info available at this time. Note that an albatross was reported nearby in early October by Blair Nikula and others...
eBird Checklist – First Encounter Beach, Massachusetts – Mon Oct 10, 2016 – 33 species
Mary Keleher got 8 photos of that same(?) distant bird on 10/10...
IMG_5829 | Mary Keleher | Flickr ... including this one...
On Dec.23rd, thanks to many people's efforts, we received good photographs (shown below) of an albatross seen in this same area, on the day of our trip. Most likely there was one albatross in these New England waters this year, and all sightings were of this one bird.
Here are two photos of that bird, which we missed by only a few miles on October 22nd!
This is an adult Yellow-nosed Albatross (almost certainly the recently split-off Atlantic species). Note the mostly black bill with a yellow culminicorn (ridge of the bill) and a pinkish tip (premaxillary nail)....
These 2 albatross photos were taken on 10/22/2016 at position 13825/44167 (in TD form TD conversion ).
The photographer was Captain Danny Holmes of the F/V Perseverance out of Plymouth, MA.
We got these photos thanks to Wayne Petersen, Anne-Marie Runfola, David Wiley, David Slocum and Captain Jonathan Stasinos. Thank you all, and especially to Danny Holmes, the photographer!
MARINE MAMMALS:
Harbor Porpoise, 3-5.
Fin Whale, 1.
Minke Whale, 1.
Humpback Whales, 12-15.
(come back here in a week to see more photos of the birds, whales, etc)
(come back in a month to see the plankton analysis results).
Also please see Krill Carson's blog for the NECWA review of this terrific trip: NECWAnews.blogspot.com
It was a really enjoyable trip! Tammy Silva, Krill Carson, Mike Thompson, and Courtney Callahan. Photo by Anne-Marie Runfola....
And to captain/owner Jay Frontierro, thanks for many things, including finding the whales in limited visibility, and spotting the Sabine's Gull which everybody onboard enjoyed seeing. Photo thanks to Krill Carson, NECWA...
SUMMARY:
About 90 people on board. Perhaps 1/3 were bird watchers. Departed Gloucester, MA, USA at 8:00am. Traveled 97miles, round trip. Returned to dock 7.5 hours later, around 3:30pm. Cloudy all day, with fog in the AM and occasional light rain in the PM. Morning winds were out of the north, northwest at 3-9 mph, and later they were west, northwest at 6-13 mph. Seas 3-6 feet.
PLANKTON:
One research question for this trip was: Are there any differences in the water where whales and seabirds are active (i.e., a so-called "hotspot"), vs waters where they are not active? We towed a plankton net (150 micron mesh, 20inch diameter at net mouth) just below the surface, about 50ft behind our ship, at about 5km/hr, in both those types of waters, for 5 minutes, and looked for differences in what we collected with the net...
Station #1: The first five-minute plankton tow was begun at 8:37:00 LCL at 42 31.458, -70 33.885.
Station #2: The second five-minute tow was begun at 11:27:30 LCL at 42 14.057, -70 18.27.
These two stations were about 20 nautical miles apart. The first was in the NW corner of Stellwagen Bank NMS (outlined by the white polygon on the map), at the NERACOOS buoy A01, and the second (the "hotspot" of activity) was in the south central part of the NMS. These two locations are shown on this map, provided by courtesy of its creator Michael Thompson, NOAA...
The trip included discovery of a striking difference in phytoplankton between two areas of Stellwagen/GOM (more on this next week, and after we confirm this by a lab analysis). The greater greenish-yellow of the second sample (where there was a hot-spot of activity of whales and seabirds) is almost certainly caused by chlorophyll-a, telling us there is much photosynthesis happening here, at this "hotspot" patch, in phytoplankton (but these are usually too tiny to be caught in a 150micron mesh, so lab analysis is needed), which feeds the zooplankton, forage fish, and the entire food chain/web, right up to the whales and seabirds. The differences in these two samples, taken the same day in different areas of GOM, certainly confirms that the spatial distribution of plankton is indeed PATCHY! These two samples are preserved (with 5% formalin) and refrigerated, and are going to UConn labs (Prof. Hans Dam) for a full plankton analysis on 11/4, after which the results and comparison will be published, here and elsewhere:
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| These samples were taken at two different areas of Stellwagen Bank. The second one, on the right, was from an area which had many whales and seabirds feeding, unlike the one on the left. The second bottle's coloration is probably due to chlorophyll, which enables photosynthesis in phytoplankton, which are the microscopic "plants" of the ocean, and the base of the marine food web. These phytoplankton also provide 40-50% of the oxygen we breathe on the planet, and absorb a lot of CO2 from the atmosphere, and send it via the carbon cycle to the bottom of the ocean. |
Yours Truly and Wayne Petersen showing and describing the two sample bottles. The clearer one on the LEFT was taken from the waters around the A01 buoy where we saw no whales and almost no seabirds. The yellow-green one on the RIGHT was taken from a "hotspot" area of intense whales and seabird concentration and activity.....
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| Photo by Anne-Marie Runfola |
Here (below) is a photo of the plankton net collection bottle, after the first sample was taken. Notice the dozens of Salps. The black dot is their digestive tract.
ALES at Stony Brook: What IS a Salp???
Scientists believe that salps have one of the first occurrences of a primitive nervous system. More complex nervous systems, such as ours, likely evolved from salps!
Salps are a fascinating life form, and much more coming on them next month...
Salp - Wikipedia
Pelagic Tunicates – Featuring Jellyfish & Other Gelatinous Zooplankton
Dive and Discover : Expedition 10 : Antarctica
Rethinking the Role of Salps in the Ocean: Trends in Ecology & Evolution
The role of salps in marine ecosystem function << very good article.
"Salps ... consume phytoplankton and bacteria that are at the bottom of the food chain (Muller, 1983), allowing them to respond quickly to increases in primary production. Salps are often either avoided or a prey of last resort for predators such as fish (Mianzan et al., 2001), due to their low nutritional value."
Salps: 20 Q&A will be inserted here...
Note that Salps are NOT " Jellyfish " (true jellies, box jellies, etc); they are CHORDATES, like us!
Professor Hans Dam , Univ. of Connecticut, taking a first look on Nov.4th at our samples from Oct.22, 2016...
The first quick scan by Hans and Lydia suggests the major difference between the two samples is lots of photosynthetic phytoplankton in the second sample, and almost none in the first sample. Both had plenty of copepods and other zooplankton. A detailed analysis of these plankton samples will be received and published here in the coming weeks.
Here is an example, temporarily displayed here, to show what a zooplankton analysis can look like. Here is part of such an analysis for Long Island Sound, in December 2009, by Prof. Hans Dam, Matt Lyman and Katie O'Brien-Clayton (click to enlarge, and press ESC key to return)...
We hope to have an analysis something like this for each of our two sample bottles of water, and to be able to compare their different plankton contents. And perhaps then to speculate on what those differences might mean.
As of Feb.4,2017 here is a very preliminary DRAFT of some RAW and extrapolated counts data we have just started working on, and this will change during the month, so do not take this too seriously yet...
Note that the largest difference between these two samples is the marine Diatoms ( Diatom - Wikipedia ), which are phytoplankton, very small photosynthetic "plants", which look like this...
A draft proposed simplified food web will be inserted here, next month...
Recent satellite photo map, with green indicating areas of chlorophyll-a, probably due to phytoplankton, which need the chlorophyll to perform photosynthesis. Thanks to Lydia ....
FISH & OTHER NEKTON:
Nekton (unlike plankton) are aquatic animals that are able to swim and move independently of water currents, such as fish and squids. Unfortunately we were not able to observe or catch any of these (other than viewing several whales) during our trip. Many seabirds feed on small fish (bait fish, forage fish), but this is a link in the food web which we are missing.
SEABIRDS:
Some of the top-gun birders onboard: Jim Sweeney, Wayne Petersen, Peter Flood, Maureen and Paul Wolter. Peter is also an amazing photographer, and you can see his white Canon sticking out from under his jacket. Photo by Anne-Marie Runfola...
Here is Jim Sweeney's official (near final) checklist for our trip:
eBird Checklist – Stellwagen Bank NMS, Massachusetts – Sat Oct 22, 2016 – 15 species (+2 other taxa)
Here are some of Peter Flood's excellent photos of 10/22 birds:
SabinesGull and Kittiwake
Sabine's Gull excitement. THANKS to captain Jay Frontierro for finding the bird! Wonderfully timed photo by Anne-Marie Runfola...
First sighting of a Sabine's Gull: Here are Peter Flood's 3 photos of our first sighting of SAGU (= Sabine's Gull):
Notice the relatively straight trailing edge of the dark gray zone on the wing (the greater coverts), without much of a "notch" (that notch is more common), without the white of the secondaries notching sharply forward toward the front edge of the wing...
The same SAGU on the left, near the larger Black-legged Kittiwake... (Peter Flood)
Another Peter Flood photo of the first sighting SAGU. Notice again the relatively straight trailing edge of the dark gray zone on the wing (the greater coverts), without much of a "notch" (in the green oval)...
Is this the same bird as shown in the Dan Prima photo below, with the red oval, taken half an hour later? Notice the sharp notch in Dan's photo, in the red circle below, where the three color zones on the upper wing meet (this is more common in SAGU), compared with the relative lack of a notch in the first bird, in the green oval above (probably because the greater coverts get shorter more gradually further out on the wing)...
Here is our SAGU second sighting, as photographed by Dan Prima, at very long distance, at 11:00am. Our first SAGU sighting was around 10:30am. Both were juveniles, without the light gray area on the mantle or the clean black hood (either complete or partial). To be conservative we have to assume that one SAGU was responsible for both sightings, half an hour apart, although analysis of these photos (and the trailing edge shape of the greater coverts) caused considerable conversation among our team. We finally decided that they were one and the same bird. We felt that the evidence was not strong enough to conclusively prove there were two different birds, especially since this is the ONLY eBird report of any Sabine's Gull(s) along the entire US East Coast in the past 30 days, between 9/22 and 10/22...
Here are the locations of the two SAGU sightings, at 10:30am and 11:00am on Oct.22:
On this Autumn trip we have had a Sabine's Gull in 2014 and 2016, and just barely missed one in 2015 by a few miles. So it is fair to call this trip the "annual search for Edward Sabine's gorgeous small gull"!
Many more details coming, but here was our first-draft bird numbers, thanks to Jim Berry. Note that October 22 is very late to see Sabine's Gulls along the US East Coast, and if there were TWO, that would be amazing:
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> Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary > Oct 22, 2016 8:30 AM - 3:20 PM > Comments: We covered the bank from end to end. Totals are tentative, > pending comparison of numbers with Jim Sweeney and Peter Flood. > 13 species (+1 other taxon) > > Common Eider 53 These were birds seen well out at sea and do not > include any in Gloucester Harbor. > Northern Fulmar 4 > Cory's Shearwater 350 > Great Shearwater 280 > Sooty Shearwater 8 > Manx Shearwater 6 > shearwater sp. 650 My rough estimate of large shearwaters seen at a > distance--there were many hundreds of shearwaters out there today, well > over 1000 in total > Northern Gannet 195 (all ages, but mostly adults) > Pomarine Jaeger 4 > Black-legged Kittiwake 28 (mostly immatures) > SAGU: Sabine's Gull 2[actually 1] Immature and adult [photograph later showed that neither was an adult, and that they were the same bird!], seen by virtually every birder > onboard. Both had the beautiful black and white triangles on the wings. > They were smaller than the kittiwakes they flew with, and the immature > kittiwakes provided a nice contrast. > Bonaparte's Gull 1 this bird too was on the bank > Herring Gull X > Great Black-backed Gull X========
This map is just for Sabine's Gulls. It reflects every Sabine's Gull ever reported to eBird in this region. Red icons indicate Sabine's Gulls seen in the last 30 days (since Sept.23,2016). Until our 10/22 trip there were none seen on the East Coast in the last 30 days! And we had two (well, two sightings half an hour apart, but probably the same bird)...
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| Click on image to enlarge it. Press ESC key to return. |
WHALES AND OTHER MARINE LIFE:
For information on whales seen and all other marine life, see Krill Carson's NECWA blog ( NECWA News Blog and the post for this trip: Ocean Exploration Cruise on Oct.26,2016 ) and website ( New England Coastal Wildlife Alliance - NECWA ).
Thanks to Krill Carson for creating NECWA and all the good work it does, and for running these annual pelagic trips for a decade. Without Krill these 8-hour New England trips would not exist.
Thanks to ship owner/captain Jay Frontierro for his excellent ship (7 Seas Whale Watch), his captain skills, and his bird/whale spotting and ID skills. He found and called the first sighting of the Sabine's Gull.
OTHER:
Here is our 7.5-hour 97-mile round-trip route on 10/22/2016, cutting across the Stellwagen Bank NMS, off the coast of Massachusetts...
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| Click on image to enlarge it. Press ESC key to return. Green circles are Christmas Bird Count circles, 15miles in diameter. The white polygon shows the area of the Stellwagen Bank NMS |
Our stop #1 was the red dot on the map, at the buoy A01, where we towed for plankton for five minutes. The 13 measurements at that buoy, shown on the right, were taken at 8:30pm the night before our trip...
This graph of the trip shows ship speed vs distance travelled, including the initial pause around ten miles, at buoy A01 to take samples at our first "station", which had almost zero activity of whales or seabirds, and also yielded a very clear uncolored sample of water....
Heading back to Gloucester MA after the heavy rain started around 3pm...
Mike Thompson & Anne-Marie Runfola from NOAA...
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NOTIFICATIONS & LATEST UPDATES: will be shown here
Oct.21 update at 730am:
This trip is ON for Oct.22, leaving on time, but MIGHT have to cut it short after 4-5 hours IF the weather becomes as windy as is forecast for the afternoon. The NECWA blog gives further details about this 10/22 trip: NECWA News Blog <= click on this link
THIS 10/1 TRIP HAS BEEN POSTPONED to October 22!
Based on the marine weather forecast, we had to reschedule this 10/1 trip to October 22.
THIS 10/22 TRIP IS NOT FULL, NOT SOLD-OUT, as of Monday, October 17, 2016 at 11am:
1) If you are NOT registered for the 10/1 trip, but want to register and pay for the 10/22 trip, just go to the following website and click on the "Register Now" button at the bottom...
Ocean Exploration Cruise 2016 <<< click on this link to register and pay.
2) If you ARE already registered and paid for the (cancelled) 10/1 trip, and want to join the new 10/22 trip, please email to KrillCarson@mac.com and notify her, and you will be transferred to the 10/22 trip automatically.
You can contact KrillCarson@mac.com or robben99@gmail.com with questions, etc. for this 10/22 trip.
This is NECWA's annual autumn trip ( New England Coastal Wildlife Alliance - NECWA ), which HAS supports.
New info on this trip will be published here (and at the NECWA sites, listed below), if there are any changes or additions between now and 10/22... we use this site to help trip coordination, especially for the bird watching community.
WEATHER AROUND GLOUCESTER MA:
Gloucester, MA (01930) Forecast | Weather Underground
WHAT MAKES THIS 10/22 TRIP DIFFERENT:
We will search for uncommon seabirds & whales, hopefully finding high-activity "hot-spots" (ocean areas where recurrent patterns and processes sometimes generate high activity) where they are feeding. We will then measure and sample those waters to try to determine what is different there, what is being eaten there, and causing the high-activity (without us disturbing the whales, etc). During this trip we will try to explain the overall marine ecosystem and use that to help trip participants better understand our sightings of seabirds, whales, plankton and other ocean elements and how they relate to each other.
In addition to hot pursuit of whales and seabirds, we will also tow a plankton net to see what prey items are available near the surface, and cast a CTD probe into the water in-real-time to measure its changing characteristics, such as water temperature, acidity, oxygen, plankton indicators, etc. ( see the photo of the Hydrolab DS5 CTD probe below, in a box on my living room floor )...
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| These photos were taken in ocean waters off Massachusetts and these species are possible on our trip. What are the seabirds eating & what are the whales eating? On Oct. 1st we are going to try to find out. |
As water becomes a more and more precious resource it is crucial that we have ways to measure and monitor all its characteristics: physical, chemical and biological. Some of the very best equipment for this is provided by OTT/Hydromet/Hydrolab ( OTT Hydromet USA ) which is a part of Hach ( Manufactures Water Quality Testing and Analytical Instruments & Reagents | Hach USA ). They have generously lent us expensive equipment for our pelagic trip, and that is greatly appreciated. THANK YOU!
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This CTD probe we will cast into the water during our trip to measure
changes in ocean temperature, acidity, oxygen, plankton, etc.
The sensors are the multiple black cylinders at the right end of the two-foot long instrument. This excellent DS5 instrument was very generously lent to us by Hach/Hydrolab...many Thanks to them! |
An example of a mini "hot-spot" is shown in the 2012 photo below, where a Humpback Whale is bubble-net-feeding and Manx Shearwaters, Common Terns and Laughing Gulls are swarming around, sometimes actually touching on the mouth of the whale... taken east of Race Point, MA on our 2012-09-29 trip ( that trip report is here... Results of our 9/29/2012 seabirding trip )... Click on this image (by K.Mueller) to enlarge it, and then press ESC key to return...
And here is a photo of a somewhat similar mini hot-spot, which I photographed over Carmel Canyon, California in mid-Sept. 2014. That trip is reported here... The Week After our 2014 Sept 7th Trip . Click to enlarge, ESC to return...
LIST OF KEY POINTS:
WHEN: October 22, 2016 Saturday (had to be rescheduled from Sept.11 and again from Oct.1).
WHERE: departing from the docks at Gloucester, MA, USA. (a 2-hour drive from Hartford CT). At 63 Rogers Street, Gloucester, MA…. next to the Gloucester House Restaurant. Dirt parking lot is 300ft north of dock.
DESTINATION: Gulf Of Maine (GOM) waters, including Stellwagen Bank & Jeffrey's Ledge. Heading NE, East, or SE, depending upon best locations that day, TBD.
TIME: 8 hours on the water, beginning at 8am when ship leaves the dock. Please arrive before 7:30am
SHIP: modern 108-foot ship 7 Seas Whale Watch: Our Vessel The Privateer IV
GOALS FOR THE TRIP: includes seeing great birds & whales AND learning a lot more about how the whole marine ecosystem fits together, with birds, whales, fish, plankton, etc.
ACTIVITIES: searching for whales and seabirds offshore, PLUS stopping at a few high-activity hot-spots and collecting some water and sealife samples (fish, plankton, etc), and taking some water measurements, to address the question, "What are the whales and seabirds eating, and is it changing?"
POST TRIP: Trip will be well documented. Track, photos, videos and lab results will be published.
PRIORITIES: Seabirds, whales/dolphins, marine-science, marine-ecosystem, human interactions.
POSSIBLE SEABIRDS: Northern Fulmar, 3-4 shearwater species, 1-2 storm-petrel species, Northern Gannet, and possibly phalaropes, Black-legged Kittiwake, Sabine’s Gull, 1-3 species of jaegers, and alcids.
SEVERAL WHALE SPECIES: probably including Humpback, Minke and Fin.
GUEST NATURALISTS/NARRATORS: will include a team of wildlife experts, including W.Petersen, J.Sweeney, J.Frontierro, T.Robben (plus NECWA's naturalists K.Carson & T.Silva).
MARINE ECOSYSTEM FOCUS: L.Kaufman | Biology
POST TRIP PLANKTON LAB ANALYSIS: Hans G. Dam | Marine Sciences
COMMUNICATION: interactive opportunities, with lots of Q&A encouraged. Multiple experts to address questions.
AUDIO SYSTEM: Exceptionally clear loud audio system all around the ship.
ORGANIZERS: NECWA (K.Carson, T.Silva), working jointly with HAS/COA (T.Robben).
SPONSOR: NECWA - New England Coastal Wildlife Alliance
PRICE: $90@ payable to NECWA. This is the annual fund-raiser for NECWA. 100% non-profit.
LODGINGS: if anybody has suggestions near Gloucester, please let us know. One possibility is www.CapeAnnMarina.com which may offer 10% discount for those going on a "whale watch".
CLOTHING: Ocean often 10 degrees colder than on land, and some October days can be cold and windy offshore. Wind & rain resistant hoodie recommended, along with layers of sweaters underneath, & hat for sun protection.
BINOCULARS: Please do not forget your binoculars (-:
ADVERTISING WEBPAGE: advertising one pager #1 DRAFT & advertising one pager #2 DRAFT
NECWA TRIP DESCRIPTION: Ocean Exploration Cruise 2016
NECWA REGISTRATION & PAYMENT: Ocean Exploration Cruise 2016: register and pay
NECWA BLOG: NECWAnews.blogspot.com
THIS 10/22 TRIP HAS OPENINGS FOR MORE PEOPLE.
MORE ABOUT THIS TRIP:
See good whales and seabirds and other marine life forms in the GOM
AND learn more about their life….
- What birds, whales, dolphins, etc can we find here today?
- Why are they here? Why do they migrate? Why are they in just a few patches?
- Is it all about food? What do they eat? Can we collect some of their prey items?
- What about temperature?
- What is their life cycle throughout the year?
- What are the four seasons like under the water? What changes month-to-month?
- What are scientists studying here, in the GOM? Why?
- What does today’s satellite photo of the GOM tell us?
- How many robots are already patrolling GOM waters? Why?
- Can we collect and view some of these life forms?
- What is special about the Gulf Of Maine?
- How are the fishermen doing here?
- How is the energy industry doing here?
- Is this marine environment changing over time?
- What was different here, 20, 50, 100 and 200 years ago?
- What is changing about these life forms and the ocean? Why?
- Might there be any impacts on us?
This trip will feature scientists and naturalists, and your direct experiences with all this.
We will make a few brief stops and collect samples, and explain everything.
This is not a typical trip and you will learn a lot about the ocean.
Bring your camera.
This trip will be well documented, on the internet, soon after the trip.
Bring your camera.
This trip will be well documented, on the internet, soon after the trip.
BIRDS OFF RACE POINT IN THE DAYS PRIOR TO 10/1:
eBird Checklist – Race Point Beach, Provincetown, Massachusetts – Thu Sep 29, 2016 – 18 species (+2 other taxa)
eBird Checklist – Race Point Beach, Provincetown, Massachusetts – Fri Sep 30, 2016 – 31 species (+4 other taxa)
Birding News | #birdingnews via @aba 10/1 Race Point seabird spectacular
THE WEATHER FORECAST WHICH POSTPONED THE 10/1 TRIP TO 10/22:
This was part of the weather forecast which caused us to POSTPONE the trip especially regarding wind:
National Weather Service Marine Forecast for MA and RI coastal waters: <=MARINE FORECAST.
The image below shows the ten-day weather forecast for Gloucester, MA, as of Sept.27 at 2pm. The yellow line is forecasted for 11am on October 1st. Click on this image to expand it, and press ESC key to return...
Looks like several fronts are going to stall around mid-Atlantic on Oct.1st ( WPC Sea-level Pressures and Fronts )...
