SeaBirding, Marine Surveys and Changing Ocean EcoSystems

2017 December 30 NewLondon-Orient Ferry

THESE ARE THE HI-LIGHTS FOR 2 CBCs in 2 STATES ALONG ONE FERRY ROUND TRIP:

We took our annual round trip ferry ride on December 30, 2017 from New London CT (9:00am departure) to Orient Pt, NY and back (11:00am departure). We did this during the coldest week of 2017. During this round trip we contributed to two Audubon Christmas Bird Counts, the New London count in CT (CTNL, compiler Robert Dewire) and the Orient count in NY (NYOR, compiler Pat Hanly). This trip is partial input to those two Christmas Bird Counts, whose official total lists will be published by their compilers.

Best Ferry Route in the CT-NY area... the dashed blue line from New London in upper right, to Orient Point NY near Plum Island. Note the Christmas Bird Count 15-mile diameter circles for NewLondon CT and for Orient NY....
Click on map to expand it, and then press ESC key to return...

Best Bird of the day was this Black-legged Kittiwake, seen first in CT waters (photo by S.Broker)...

Best (and Coldest) Birding Team of the Day (photo by T.Robben)...
J.Teltser, J.Oshlick, F.Mantlik, M.Wolter, S.Broker, D.Rottino, P.Wolter...
Click on photo to enlarge it, and press ESC key to return...

Best Owl of the Day (photo by T.Robben) at Orient Point, NY...
Click on photo to enlarge it, and press ESC key to return...

Best Weather Photo of the Day (I'm not going to admit who took this photo)...
Look closely and your can see the snowflakes, which my camera preferred to auto-focus on... not the bird...
Click on image to expand, and see more snow flakes...
What a day!

Best 3 eBird reports of the Day (by Frank Mantlik - Thank You Frank!)...

New London CT CBC: click on these 3 eBird reports for species lists and photos...
eBird Checklist – New London CBC by Ferry, New London County, Connecticut, US – Sat Dec 30, 2017 – 21 species (+2 other taxa)
Frank Mantlik is Captain for this part of the New London CBC.

Orient NY CBC:
eBird Checklist – Orient CBC by Ferry, Suffolk County, New York, US – Sat Dec 30, 2017 – 16 species
Thanks for everyone's continued focus on the NY side of this trip, in support of the Orient NY CBC, where Pat Hanly is the NY compiler and Frank and I are his co-captains, for the ferry leg.

Birds around New London Harbor and ferry dock:
eBird Checklist – New London Harbor, Ferry Dock , New London US-CT (41.3554,-72.0916), New London County, Connecticut, US – Sat Dec 30, 2017 – 9 species

Okay, enough of this cold stuff,
BEST IDEA OF THE DAY:
I need to get back to my warm fireplace, now....
Happy New Year
Tom

2017 October 22 Gloucester pelagic trip

THIS TRIP REPORT IS STILL OPEN FOR ADDITIONAL INFO TO BE ADDED:

We had a terrific trip on Oct.22,2017 in extremely pleasant weather.
What a great group of friendly people on board. It felt like we were all enjoying the beautiful ride, as if it was a nice party, with some good birds (a wide variety of seabirds) and whales, continually throughout the trip.

SST water temperatures ranged from 57F around Race Point down to 54F in mid Stellwagen Bank.
No great rarities (we looked for Scopoli's Shearwater, Short-tailed Shearwater and Sabine's Gull, but to no avail), but a nice variety of species, and unusually good looks at several species, including Razorbill and Ocean Sunfish.
More details coming this week, both here and in Krill's NECWA site NECWA News Blog .

Here is the full GPX track of our trip (about 100 miles round trip), in blue... green circles are 15-mile diameter Christmas Bird Counts circles, and the Stellwagen Bank NMS is outlined in white (you can click on this or any image here to enlarge it, and then press ESC key to return)...

Our track, in blue, near Race Point MA....

Thanks to Wayne, Steve, "navigator" Peter and Captain Jay we studied seabirds concentrated just off Herring Cove Beach...

The white outline is the areas which had the intense seabird activity over the last two months, and we navigated the ship into those waters to study what birds were there on October 22; nothing rare but lots of terns and jaegers...

Race Point...

The Race Point Lighthouse (photo by Annette Pasek)...

Peter Flood worked with Captain Jay to carefully navigate us in close to the Race Point waters which have been so productive and active. Here is a photo of some of the 80 people onboard, including Peter Flood and Steve Mirick on the right side of the photo, both looking to the right...

We did a 5-minute plankton tow in these waters off Race Point. The sample will be analyzed and results reported here in a few weeks. Hundreds perhaps thousands of 0.5mm plankton (probably some copepod species) were seen jumping around the collection bottle (see the photo below, by David Zomick), but fewer than last year. We will make a comparison and publish it here in December...

A simplified draft food web will also be proposed here next month, for Stellwagen waters, for experts to review and correct, etc.

One of the best photos from our trip, taken by Melissa Sovay.... proving that we had some great views of birds and whales, along with some calm waters during part of our day...

Great Shearwater photo by Melissa Sovay.
You can click on this photo and enlarge it further, and then press ESC key to return.

Here are four photos by Eduardo Del Solar (delsolar.org) showing a Parasitic Jaeger pursuing Common Terns until it steals a fish from one of them...

Jim Sweeney constructed the official trip report for bird species, and broke the trip into three segments -- thank you Jim!! Click on the following links to see the 3 lists of birds seen:

eBird Checklist – Gloucester Harbor to Stellwagen Bank, Massachusetts – Sun Oct 22, 2017 – 11 species (+2 other taxa)

eBird Checklist – Stellwagen Bank NMS, Massachusetts – Sun Oct 22, 2017 – 28 species (+1 other taxa)

eBird Checklist – Stellwagen Bank to Gloucester Harbor, Massachusetts – Sun Oct 22, 2017 – 14 species (+1 other taxa)

Here is a summary matrix corresponding to Jim's eBird checklists (numbers are all offshore, including the songbirds). The 3rd column of numbers is from the end of the trip, from Stellwagen Bank back in to the dock in Gloucester:

"Misses" (none of these were seen) included phalaropes and storm-petrels.

And here are a few trip lists contributed to eBird by others on the boat that day:

eBird Checklist – Stellwagen Bank NMS, Massachusetts – Sun Oct 22, 2017 – 31 species (+6 other taxa) with photos.

eBird Checklist – Stellwagen Bank--NW Corner, Massachusetts – Sun Oct 22, 2017 – 28 species (+1 other taxa) with photos.

eBird Checklist – Stellwagen Bank--NW Corner, Massachusetts – Sun Oct 22, 2017 – 21 species (+1 other taxa)

eBird Checklist – Stellwagen Bank--NW Corner, Massachusetts – Sun Oct 22, 2017 – 23 species (+4 other taxa)

And for comparison here was what was seen at Race Point this same day, FROM LAND...
eBird Checklist – Race Point, Massachusetts – Sun Oct 22, 2017 – 21 species

and at Hatches Harbor nearby, the day before...
eBird Checklist – Hatches Harbor, Provincetown, Massachusetts – Sat Oct 21, 2017 – 46 species

and at Herring Cove Beach nearby, the day after...
eBird Checklist – Herring Cove Beach, Massachusetts – Mon Oct 23, 2017 – 15 species

Non-avian life forms seen during the trip included:
===============
20+ Common Dolphins
10 Humpback Whales
1 Minke Whale
2 Gray Seals
1 Ocean Sunfish (Mola mola)
===============

We enjoyed a good view of a Mola mola (see photo below by David Zomick). Click here NECWA - NEOSunfish and scroll down to the NEOSunfish section to learn more about sunfishes.

more info on our oct.22 trip results will be added here over the next few days...

TRIP PREPARATION:

STELLWAGEN PELAGIC:

Ocean Exploration Cruise with Krill Carson.

October 22 from Gloucester MA. 8-hour trip.

Seabirds, whales, & marine science.

Liability waiver will be required. Please print, sign, date and return this document...
PLEASE USE THIS OCTOBER WAIVER, NOT THE JUNE WAIVER... thank you!

*Liability waiver for 20171022 pelagic trip v1

#1 Target Species: Sabine's Gull. 20% likely. We had 1 last year.

MEETING TIME: 7:15am Sunday October 22.

MEETING LOCATION: Gloucester, Mass. at 63 Rogers Street (7 Seas Whale Watch pier).

TRIP COSTS: Your costs will be about $90 for adults. You must register & pay at this webpage:

October 2017- Ocean Exploration Cruise (OEC)

OUR EQUIVALENT AUTUMN TRIP LAST YEAR:

October 22, 2016 OEC: Sabine's Gull YES

Krill Carson's blog for this trip and other NECWA trips:
NECWA News Blog

Here was the offer for this 2017 October 22 trip:

2017 Sept. 29-30 GOM Pelagic Trip RESULTS

"SKUA SEARCH" : Our annual cross-GOM search for skuas

NEWS:
Four more skuas were seen in this general area on Oct.4th, including one Great Skua and one South Polar Skua.

TRIP SUMMARY:
The top goal of this trip was to search for and find skuas, and we were successful, with four or five skua sighting on Sept.30th, at least 3 of which were different birds, spanning both species (2 Great and 1 SouthPolar were identifiable) which can be expected in northern hemisphere waters (excluding the other two species, Chilean and Brown Skuas). This report will emphasize those skuas, although many other seabirds were also seen. Links to our eBird checklists are available below; scroll way down.

Here are two photos (by Bill Asteriades) of our two different identifiable Great Skuas, a light one and a dark one. This light bird (well-seen through binoculars -- including some gold streaking/tones on the mantle & scapulars) was a warmer color than this photo shows...

From this photo alone, this is a skua, but not 100% sure it is a Great Skua. When combined with detailed binocular observations (further down this blog), however, this bird is a Great Skua, and Confirmed as such by eBird.

and the bird below is a dark Great Skua, which was molting. It is our last skua sighting of the trip and the sharpest Great Skua photo of the trip (the auto-focus overcoming the distracting waves). Note the gold streaking on the back (mantle and scapulars, distinguishing it from a South Polar Skua)...

This dark Great Skua was at the west side of our planned yellow oval target zone, at longitude W 67.6:

Yellow oval is our planned target zone for skuas, based on our many trips on this route.
Green circles are Christmas Bird Count 15-mile diameter circles.
You can click on this map to enlarge it, and then press ESC key to return.
This blue line is our actual GPS-logged 212-mile westbound route from Yarmouth NS to Portland ME on Sept.30, 2017.

This is our ferry, with the yellow oval showing our open viewing area, on both sides.

eBIRD CHECKLISTS FROM OUR 9/30/2017 TRIP:

Nova Scotian waters (from 809am ADT = 709am EDT):
eBird Checklist – Portland, Maine - Yarmouth, Nova Scotia Ferry (NS waters), Nova Scotia – Sat Sep 30, 2017

Maine waters (from 1010am ADT = 910am EDT):
eBird Checklist – Ferry Trip - Yarmouth, NS to Portland, ME, Maine – Sat Sep 30, 2017

DETAILED TRIP REPORT FOLLOWS for September 29-30 trip:
Ornithologists' knowledge of skuas continues to evolve, so we often have to say "probable".

Full details will be published here and on eBird, by Bill Asteriades and myself.
But here is a preliminary DRAFT summary of birds seen Sept. 29 & 30 by the following team...
William Asteriades (CT).
Charles Avenengo (RI).
Eduardo delSolar (MA).
Margaret Hodgkins (IL).
Richard Hodgkins (IL).
Tom Robben (CT).
Joe Wallace (NY).

We have photos of most of the best birds (thanks to the long-distance photo work of W.Asterides, E.delSolar and R.Hodgkins), and the most pertinent photos will be published here.
Two counts are shown next to each species below. The first number is for Friday 9/29 (limited to first 3 hours, due to sunset, from Portland to mid-GOM -- we departed Portland dock around 15:25 = 3:25pm EDT = 4:25pm ADT), and the second number is for Saturday 9/30 (full 6 hour trip from Yarmouth to Portland).
This list is now being circulated to make sure the entire team has provided their input, and additionally the full sectory-by-sector transect survey count will also be published (based on this raw data which is being assembled from audio notes: **20170929-30 GOM pelagic ferry currently under construction ), along with a map of the track we followed (see below). It will take a few more days to do all this trip documentation....
The more interesting crossing was Saturday Sept.30th, departing Yarmouth dock at 7:10am EDT (8:10am ADT Atlantic time), lasting 6hr15min, covering 212 miles dock-to-dock.

SKUA BACKGROUND:
The 3 species of jaegers are sometimes included in the group called Skuas, but by Skua we mean only the large skuas, of which we currently recognize four species: Great Skua (the only one breeding in the Northern Hemisphere), South Polar Skua, Chilean Skua and Brown (aka Antarctic) Skua (and its several subspecies). The last two species have almost never been recorded in the northern hemisphere, so they are rarely considered for field ID purposes in New England waters.

SKUA SUMMARY on Sept.30,2017:
We saw several characteristic skuas off Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. Having seen a lot of skuas, the birds which I saw were all unambiguously skuas, not jaegers or anything else. Two were viewed close to the ship (#2 & #3) and shortly after that they were photographed at a distance as they flew away. We had clear fairly close views of those two, including focusing on their mantle/scapular areas (from our 30-foot high viewing locations). Two skuas (#1 and #4) were viewed only at a distance, the second one (#4) mostly behind the ship.

#1: 8:26am EDT (9:26am ADT) one skua sp. not seen by all, and so distant that it is difficult to distinguish species/genus, because distant photos are ambiguous. This bird may or may not have flown-in surreptitiously and become the following bird #2 sighted a few minutes later....
#2: 8:31am EDT (9:31am ADT = 12:31 GMT) one well-seen brownish & colorful skua; warm cinnamon breast, belly & flanks; back speckled/patchy; Great Skua. We were at LAT 43.737074, LON -66.825441. This was 1hr20min after leaving the Yarmouth dock (the ship cruised at 31knots outside the harbors).
#3: 8:51-55am EDT (9:51-55am ADT) one colorless dark gray skua, uniform coloration of dorsal surfaces, South Polar Skua. Coloration looked strikingly different from the previous 8:31am skua. Two very different looking skuas.
#4: 9:10-9:15am EDT (10:10-15am ADT) one distant dark skua sp. Shape, flight and white patches seen but too far away to see colors on the dark skua. This may have been skua #3, which may have trailed the ship at a distance and re-approached from the rear around 9:10am.
#5: 9:37am EDT (10:37am EDT = 13:37 GMT). One actively molting darker Great Skua, just west of the Hague Line (therefore, in US waters, since the Hague Line divides the GOM into US and Canadian waters).

eBird CONFIRMED the identity of #2, #3, and #5.
So there were at least three and possibly five different skuas within about one hour ten minutes, in the GOM waters, mostly just east of the Hague Line. Birds #1 and #2 may be the same bird, and birds #3 and #4 may be one and the same bird. Bird #5 was unique, and on the west side of the Hague Line.

THE NEXT FEW PARAGRAPHS ARE ABOUT THE VERY PROBABLE GREAT SKUA (at 8:31am EDT):

#2: Great Skua [Stercorarius skua] (probably Great rather than South Polar or other) 0, 1 with photos below (first 4 photos at 500mm thanks to RichardHodgkins, around 8:31am EDT Eastern Daylight time, and thanks to Margaret Hodgkins for spotting this #2 bird on the other side of the ship [possibly the same distant #1 bird Bill Asteriades spotted] and then running across the main deck to tell us to check it out). Photos taken about 50miles west of Yarmouth, Nova Scotia in the colder waters of the Gulf of Maine (we recorded SST as 43-44F in the waters near Yarmouth, and 54F, ten degrees warmer in mid-GOM!).
OPTICS: My following comments were based not on viewing the photos but the much better views I saw through my 10x42L Canon IS image-stabilized binoculars, after I was able use the IS to lock-on to the bird (to each of the skuas) for sustained rock-solid viewing, from our 30-foot high vantage point on the starboard north side of the ship. I was also able to adjust and hold a perfect focus on the bird(s), unlike the auto-focus photographs below, which focused automatically on the ocean waves rather than the bird. I studied the bird through my binoculars when it was much closer to the ship (just as it crossed in front of the ship and continued to the right) than the following photographs (which were not taken until the birds were more distant and going away). Other observers used high-quality binoculars and both Nikon (500mm lens) and Canon (400 & 600mm lenses) DSLR cameras.
OTHER TECHNOLOGY: A small digital voice recorder was used to make note of the birds we all saw, minute-by-minute, and the key field marks as we all called them out, e.g., with the skuas. A digital wristwatch was set to the exact time (by an iPhone) at the beginning of the trip and used throughout as the official clock for observations. An infrared temperature sensing gun was used to measure SST sea surface temperature of the water. An iPhone GPS program was used to log the track of the ship. Three walkie-talkies were used (successfully) to facilitate occasional coverage of both sides of the ship, although 90% of observations were made on the north side of the ship (with most focus in the 1-o'clock to 4-o'clock angle of view), so we could have the benefits of back-lighting.
PREPARATION: To get fully prepared for this trip, three weeks earlier on Sept.10th I spent time in the Harvard University Dept of Ornithology bird collection with curator Jeremiah Trimble doing comparisons of skins of Great Skua, South Polar Skua and dark morph Pomarine Jaegers, so I was fully reminded of the importance of the way the back (both mantle and scapulars) looks for distinguishing skuas, and looked for that when I saw the skuas on Sept.30th.
OBSERVATION DETAILS: This bird #2 was obviously a large skua, not a jaeger (we saw a dark morph Pomarine Jaeger at 10:46am, in the same light, in the same viewing angle from the ship). Large, chunky, short-tailed, big broad wings, bright white flashes at the base of the primaries (on both upper and lower surfaces), powerful in flight, heading straight for an active patch of many Gannets and some Great Shearwaters. I have seen a high number of large skuas, (especially in Iceland, off the US West Coast, off Massachusetts, and in the GOM), and this bird is the "lightest" most colorful large skua I have seen.
Skua #2 was strikingly different from the typical South Polar Skua (we got a good look at one typical colorless South Polar Skua, skua #3, 25 minutes later, at 8:51-55am, and the difference between the two skuas (#2 vs #3) was striking to all observers, especially regarding the overall color of the birds -- we had a text-book A-vs-B comparison, in the same front-right quadrant, in the same lighting, in the same flying orientations).
Dorsal surfaces of skua #2 were dark brown not black/gray/colorless, with some areas of lighter golden brown (see inner secondaries on top photo), and some unevenness/streaks with golden tints on the back (hinted at in photos 2 and 3 and 5 in the left scapulars). Chest and belly were light-brown cinnamon-colored (with a bit of reddish tint, not showing in the photos), flashing large white wing patches, broad wings, large and chunky with short tail, seen well from multiple angles and photographed with backlight in clear bright direct colorless morning sunlight. Mantle and scapular dorsal surfaces darker than undersides, but still brownish (see first photo below), and somewhat streaked, not colorless uniform dark gray, as the other skua was. A very light warm colored skua.
SIMILAR BIRDS: The other possibility is that this #2 is a South Polar Skua adult intermediate morph (#197b in Peter Harrison's book -- see his famous skua plate 54 below), but the non-uniform streaked back argues against that, as does the warmish tint of the breast, flanks and belly.

First, this Norway video shows pretty much what our bird #2 looked like, although this is an adult and our bird probably was not...
(1) STORLABB Great Skua (Stercorarius skua) Klipp - 32 - YouTube

and for comparing still photos, here is what Audubon Guide to North American Birds (Great Skua | Audubon Field Guide) shows as a Great Skua:

and now here following are our actual photographs (the first 4 thanks to Richard Hodgkins), which certainly look SIMILAR to the Audubon photo above (note that we got a much BETTER and closer look at this bird through binoculars as it flew in front of the ship and flew right/north, eventually leading to these distant photos, i.e., these photos ALONE may not be conclusive to ID Great Skua, but along with the binocular views we saw, in combination they are both sufficient)...

Note the deep powerful wingstroke & the golden, cinnamon brownish tint on the upper wing surfaces (right secondaries).

The following photo thanks to Bill Asteriades:

And for comparison, here are two Great Skuas photographed by Michael J. Good on Sept.12, 2015 in the Gulf of Maine. Note the similarity of plumages to our bird above, which was in strong bright sunlight and made it look lighter (click on image to expand it, and then press ESC key to return). The left bird shows the dark cap, the protruding head and neck, the broad wings and bulky body, the short wide tail, the molting wing, including perhaps a slightly short P10 growing in.

RESEARCH IN THE KITCHEN!
For those of us who want to be sure what "cinnamon" and "ginger" should really mean, I photographed a jar of cinnamon from my kitchen(!) and this resulting photograph lost a significant amount of the darker brown and almost red tint of actual cinnamon in the jar. This warmer brown must be a difficult color for digital photo sensors to capture and reproduce. Similarly the skua photos above lost a significant amount of the warm brown and almost red tint we actually saw in the field! So the color on the skuas above in reality was warmer than those colors shown in these skua photos. Could any South Polar Skua have those warm colors (significantly warmer than the colors shown in our 5 photos above)?

This photo of the same cinnamon was closer to the color of our bird (that's real ginger on the left)...

This plate is from page 130 of Peter Harrison's landmark 1983 book, "Seabirds: An Identification Guide".
Click on image to expand. Press ESC key to return.

FIVE MORE INTERESTING PHOTOS -- skua #5 :
Here are two photos (taken at LAT 43.691618 LON -67.620683 around 9:37am EDT = 13:37 GMT, on Sept.30th 2017, from right/starboard side of ship) taken by photographer Eduardo del Solar in the 1500 shots he took on Sept.30th (see many of his other 9/30 photos at: Gulf of Maine, CAT Ferry ). This is clearly a large skua, with its broad wings, bulky short body relative to wings, short tail, and its bright white flashes visible on upper surfaces of wings, in the outer primaries and the coverts near the inner primaries.
Regarding the apparent dark gap in the white area which should span the primaries, the white showing in the outer wing coverts (middle of the wing) suggests active molt in the corresponding feathers at that point, namely the inner primaries (inner primaries are replaced early in the full molt cycle, so this bird breeds in the northern hemisphere). This active molt would synchronize with the molt timing of a greater than one-year-old Great Skua. The color of this bird also suggests Great Skua. This is very probably a Great Skua... molting its inner primaries...

This is the same one bird, with five progressively sharper photos...

And then Bill Asteriades found a 3 more photos of this same bird, but with autofocus working better...

Notice the back! The golden streaks.... a Great Skua "trademark"...

Some potentially useful references include:
Great Skua (Catharacta skua) videos, photos and sound recordings.

Great Skua | Birding Frontiers -- using molt timing for ID of skuas

South Polar Skuas - Bullies of the Oceans - with Tom Johnson | BirdNote
South polar skua videos, photos and facts - Stercorarius maccormicki | Arkive <<
South Polar skua | New Zealand Birds Online
South polar skua - Wikipedia
Catharacta maccormicki (South Polar Skua)
South Polar Skua
Skuas and Jaegers - Klaus Malling Olsen - Google Books
Skuas and Jaegers: Klaus Malling Olsen, Hans Larsson: 9781408189078: Amazon.com: Books
South Polar Skuas
Memorandum to:
Microsoft Word - Stercorarius maccormicki NSW 2012.doc
National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of Eastern North America - Paul Lehman
National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America

BROWN SKUA (Catharacta antarctica)
Brown Skua in North America
Discussion Paper Sydney Skua 2006.pdf

Click on this image to enlarge; then press ESC key to return...
The "large skuas" are numbers 1-4. The "jaegers" are numbers 5-7 (where Parasitic Jaeger is 6)...

SKUAS SEEN BY OTHER NEARBY TRIPS:
This was not our trip, but a nearby trip, 50 miles away, four days later, reporting two skua species...

eBird Checklist – Outer Tuskets--Seal Island, Nova Scotia – Wed Oct 04, 2017

eBIRD CHECKLISTS FROM OUR 9/30/2017 TRIP:

Nova Scotian waters (from 809am ADT = 709am EDT):
eBird Checklist – Portland, Maine - Yarmouth, Nova Scotia Ferry (NS waters), Nova Scotia – Sat Sep 30, 2017 – 24 species (+4 other taxa)

Maine waters (from 1010am ADT = 910am EDT):
eBird Checklist – Ferry Trip - Yarmouth, NS to Portland, ME, Maine – Sat Sep 30, 2017 – 22 species (+3 other taxa)

LIST OF SPECIES WE SAW (with numbers for September 29 & 30) :

#1: Skua spp 0, 1 Seen around 8:26am EDT (9:26am ADT). Too distant to ID species.
#2: Great Skua [Stercorarius skua] (probably Great rather than South Polar or other) 0, 1
#3: South Polar Skua [Stercorarius maccormicki, adult dark morph] 0, 1 . ( South Polar Skua Internet Bird Collection and South Polar Skua | Audubon Field Guide and South Polar Skua ) Seen at 8:51-55am EDT. An extremely dark gray to seemingly blackish individual (no warm coloration, very unlike the first skua above), uniformly dark gray colorless on upper wing surfaces (the back had no speckling, scalloping, mottling, etc), lighter neck and head, flashing large white wing patches, broad wings, large & chunky with short tail. See the photo below, taken after the bird had flown some distance away from us. Unlike the dark-morph Pomarine Jaeger seen a bit later at 10:46am (which was distinctly smaller than the South Polar Skua, the POJA had a comparatively more slender chest and silhouette, longer tail-section, and much less white flash in its wings).
#4: Skua spp 0, 1 Seen around 9:10-9:15am EDT mostly trailing the ship at a distance, mostly high at about two hundred feet, but no good photos of this bird. White wing flashes distinguishable through 10x42L image stabilized binoculars.
#5: Great Skua [Stercorarius skua] (probably Great rather than South Polar or other) 0, 1
dark Pomarine Jaeger 0, 1 (at 10:46am EDT).
Pomarine Jaeger 1, 2
Parasitic Jaeger 3, 6
Jaeger spp 3, 1
Wilson's Storm-petrel 0, 1
Leach's Storm-petrel 0, 2
Red Phalarope 1, 2
Phalarope spp 3, 2
Great Shearwater 30, 150
Cory's Shearwater 12, 5
Manx Shearwater 2, 2
Sooty Shearwater 0, 2
Northern Fulmar 1, 20
Black-legged Kittiwake 3, 5
Bonaparte's Gull 3, 0
Great Black Backed Gull 5, 12
Herring Gull 5, 10
Gull Spp 10, 50
Terns 0, 0
Alcid species 2, 0
Razorbill 1, 0
Common Loon 3, 15
Red-throated Loon 0, 1
Northern Gannett 250, 300
White winged Scorer 0, 18
Surf Scoter 0, 5
Common Eider 1, 6
DC Cormorant 16, 3
Canada Goose 0, 22
Osprey 1, 0
Kestrel 0, 1

Species were listed in an ad hoc order of convenience.
Birds observed in the 2 harbors were not included in this list.

Marine mammals (and butterflies), thanks to the expertise of Charles Avenengo....

Finback whale 3, 5
Atlantic white-sided dolphin 12, 20 (plus one expired dolphin floating on return trip. Fulmars in close company)
Harbor porpoise 3, 1
Gray seal 0, 4 (in Yarmouth harbor)
Harbor seal 0, 2 (in Portland harbor)

Monarch butterfly 10, 0
Painted lady butterfly 1, 0

OTHER TRIP INFORMATION:

Over the last 5+ years we have made numerous crossings along this route (plus crossings from Bar Harbor in the 1960s-1970s), and almost all of the skuas we have found were in the area of the yellow oval, including on this trip on September 30th. This blue track is our 6-hour 212-mile route on 2017 Sept 30 from Yarmouth NS (on the right side) to Portland ME (and the green circles are 15-mile diameter Christmas Bird Count circles)...

Our team...Richard, Peg, Charles, Eduardo, Bill, Joe and Tom...

There is an open area like this on both sides of the ship, about 30 feet above water level. This is the starboard/right side. On Saturday Sept.30th most birds were viewed in the front right quadrant (on north side of ship, with backlight), mostly between "midnight and 4o'clock" using the clock metaphor for the angle of view. The first skuas were observed in this quadrant, mostly between "midnight and 3o'clock". The skua #4 was observed more distantly, starting at 4o'clock and continuing around the back to 8o'clock, at high altitude (several hundred feet), seemingly trailing the ship, following a behavior I had observed previously with large skuas, perhaps gaining altitude to look many miles around for a grouping of birds they could harass.

Two of our several big-guns onboard: Eduardo (600mm Canon) and Richard (500mm Nikon)...

Race Point seabird spectacular

Click on this, just do it...

eBird Checklist – Race Point, Massachusetts – Sat Sep 23, 2017 – 59 species (+2 other taxa)

Plus a possible Short-tailed Shearwater, from Australian waters.

2017 Sept. 29-30 GOM Pelagic Trip PLANS

You can still join this trip, which departs Friday afternoon, less than two days from now. You need to notify us and to make your own reservations at the hotel and the ship, as described below...
YOU ALSO NEED YOUR PASSPORT.

G.O.M. CROSSING:

"Marine Survey #17" is our group name.

September 29-30 Friday-Saturday, departing from Portland ME friday mid-day, to Yarmouth NS, and back the next morning. 24-hour trip.

Cross the Gulf of Maine, 210 miles each way (each crossing is 6.5 hours on the water -- both crossings in daylight).

PASSPORT REQUIRED.

REGISTRATION REQUIRED with Tom Robben ASAP (robben99@gmail.com). This trip is less than one week from now.

Liability waiver will be required. Please print, sign, date and return this document (either by email or bring it with you on Friday)...
**Liability waiver for 20170929-30 GOM trip v1 << click here to display & then print.

FAIR WARNING: This is a specialized trip. This is not your typical birding trip, and not even your typical pelagic trip. We will not see many species of birds, and most of what we do see will be distant, usually on the wing, and some will be quickly gone. We will not chase them, on this public high-speed ferry. This is a hunt for a very few species, across a vast expanse of ocean (1/4mile scan x 420miles = 105-square miles of ocean viewed). If we see only one bird, and that bird is a Great Skua (which are few and far between in North America), we will consider this trip a success. But you will never forget this trip.

#1 Target Species: Great Skua. 50% likely. We had 2 last year.

This trip replaces the ones scheduled for both Oct.7-8 and Sept.22-23.

MEETING TIME: 1:15pm Friday September 29.

MEETING LOCATION: Portland, Maine at 12 Ocean Gateway Pier. At small CAT building, a few hundred feet NE of intersection of Thames and Hancock Streets.

TRIP COSTS:

1. Portland parking can run $10-40 for 24 hours. Park in the open lot right across from the CAT building, or in nearby Ocean Gateway Garage, where cars enter around 10 Middle Street (it can cost $40 or more for 24hours).

Other parking options may include these:

Not that much further away is the county courthouse garage 871-8275 @6 blocks away. On Newburyport st at rear of police station, entrance on federal st. $18/max daily. 6-9 ft restriction. Pay machine on way out. $1.25 half hour. Lots of space weekends, not sure about weekdays.

Casio bay garage 774-8653 max $40. Adjacent to Casio bay lines ferry terminal. $40 max day.

Custom house square garage 774-2203 @5 blocks corner of pearl and fore st.

Also fisherman’s wharf parking lot 773-6649 5 blocks away. 202 commercial st @chandlers wharf. $10/day, $3/hr.

Portland fish pier lot 874-2842 @6 blocks away 350 commercial st at center st. Parking $8/day but very few spaces on weekdays.

Spring st garage 874-2842 $21 daily rate 20-25 minute walk. On spring st between high and center street.

The following map shows how high Portland parking prices are getting (click on the map image to enlarge it, then press ESC key to return). Our meeting spot is just right of the red icon, just below the $20 badge, at that little CAT building, near the upper right corner of the map. I opened Parkopedia and asked for parking from 1pm tomorrow for 25hours, and got these parking prices within walking distance of that CAT building. The $20 Thames Street Lot is the one which is about to undergo reconstruction within a day or two, and getting in there for $10 or $20 may be impossible tomorrow. Take a look at the options. Get there a few minutes early, drive around and check them out tomorrow. If anybody finds a good parking solution, please call me to share it with the group.

2. Rodd Grand Yarmouth Hotel, group discount rate about $109PT (109 Canadian dollars, plus tax). You do your own hotel reservation please (1-800-565-7633). You must mention our group name, "Marine Survey #17", to get this rate.

3. Ferry round-trip group discounted price is 25% off the posted list prices (list price is about $141 round-trip) (please call 1-902-742-6800 to buy your own ticket/s, and request discount for the "Marine Survey #17" group -- have your passport and credit card handy during this call). List prices are shown at the following website...

Yarmouth Ferry Schedule | Maine to Nova Scotia | The CAT

OUR TRIP LAST YEAR:

September 17-18, 2016 Great Skua YES

September 17-18, 2016 Planning the trip

Special thanks to Peter Harrison for this wonderful skuas plate in his 1983 classic, "Seabirds: An Identification Guide" (click on this image to enlarge it, and then press ESC to return). All-dark Pomarine Jaegers (#199b) can be confusing, but compared with skuas, they are slimmer, less broad wings, with longer tail section (even without the central tail feathers). Skuas seem broader winged, bulkier, short-tailed, with more white in the flash, at the base of the primaries, by comparison....

Click on image to enlarge it. Press ESC key to return.

BINGO! -- Great Skua

Ah, finally, the FIRST Great Skua of the season in North America!
That RED point, reported from a shrimp boat at 5pm Sept.20th 2017, 6km off the NE coast of Newfoundland...
The BLUE points are earlier reports, more than 30 days ago, most/all going back years and decades, not from this season...

Hopefully we will get one down in the GOM for our Sept.29-30 trip.

And indeed, two skuas flew by Baccaro Point (Baccaro Seawatch. | Cape Sable Birding) near the southernmost tip of Nova Scotia (eBird Checklist – Baccaro Peninsula--Baccaro Point, Nova Scotia – Thu Sep 21, 2017) one day later, on Sept.21 around 7am in heavy weather (photo by Mark Dennis)... hopefully heading west for a rendezvous with us on Sept.29-30!...

Trip Postponed Until Sept.29-30

Maine Audubon Pelagic Trip

Maine Audubon ran their GOM pelagic trip on 9/17, one week before our planned GOM trip this year.

You do not have to join FB to click on this interesting video, which you can expand to full screen...
Maine Audubon - Registration is open for our fall Pelagic... | Facebook

We are waiting to hear what birds they saw on Sept.17th, and that will be summarized here very soon.

Initial indications via eBird are that skuas were NOT seen...
eBird Checklist – Bar Harbor whale/pelagic trip--Ballpark to Petit Manan Island, Maine – Sun Sep 17, 2017 – 20 species

NO GREAT SKUAS IN NORTH AMERICA IN LAST 30 DAYS?
Will we get Great Skua on our Sept.22-23 trip across the GOM?
Zero Great Skuas have been reported in the GOM to eBird in the last 30 days, although here is a nice photo of a South Polar Skua in the GOM several weeks ago...
eBird Checklist – Brier Island--Bay of Fundy Whalewatch, Nova Scotia – Thu Aug 24, 2017 – 1 species
and here are several good photos of that SPSK...
eBird Checklist – Brier Island--Bay of Fundy Whalewatch, Nova Scotia – Thu Aug 24, 2017 – 23 species
Note the lack of warm/cinnamon tones, the lighter nape/collar, the broad wings and short tail (broader & shorter than a jaeger)...
This photo thanks to Graham Williams...

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Marine Trips: five for 2019

LIS = Long Island Sound, CT and NY waters.

GOM = Gulf of Maine, US and Canadian waters.

AC = Atlantic Canyons, mostly US waters.

March 9th, in LIS, from Norwalk CT. Completed and successfully got target gulls and plankton.

LIS Gulls and Plankton Trip << click to view.

June 16, from Harwich Port, on CapeCod.

Spring 2019- Ocean Exploration Cruise (OEC) for Chatham waters

This is a joint trip with Krill Carson (NECWA).

Leaves dock at 8am, returns around 4pm.

In ocean waters off Chatham MA.

Dock and meeting point is here:

Yankee II Deep Sea Fishing, Harwich Port.

715 Rt. 28 Saquatucket Harbor

Harwich Port, MA 02646.

Be here by 7:30am on Sunday 6/16.

Marine forecast, east of Cape Cod:

National Weather Service Marine Forecast

August 31, from RI. TBD. 4am to overnight (two-day trip). This is a new trip under development, requiring coast guard permits, because it will go out so far, to the canyons and beyond. POSTPONED TILL 2021.

September 29, Sunday, from Gloucester, MA. From 7am to 1pm. In Stellwagen Bank and nearby waters. With Krill Carson and NECWA. Click on the following link for details: Fall 2019- Ocean Exploration Cruise (OEC) and the required liability waiver for this trip can be found at: ***Liability waiver for 2019 pelagic trips

THE FOLLOWING TRIP HAS TO BE CANCELLED, because the ferry service is still not running for 2019, and will NOT be running on Oct.5-6!

October 5-6, across GOM, departing 3pm from BarHarbor ME to Yarmouth NS and returning next day. Hotel overnight and bird on the return trip. CHECK THIS SITE TO SEE IF THE FERRY IS ABLE TO RUN ON THESE DATES: Yarmouth Ferry Schedule | Maine to Nova Scotia | The CAT . IT SEEMS THE FERRY HAS BEEN CANCELLED. Passport required. Search for Skuas. This is the first year a ferry has crossed the GOM on this BarHarbor-to-Yarmouth 110-mile route in many years. We will only go ahead with this October trip if the Sept.14 Maine Audubon pelagic trip (Sept.14 pelagic trip) finds some good seabirds or other marine activity along this route during these few weeks. So do not buy a hotel or ferry ticket until after Sept.25th, when the Oct.5-6 decision will be announced here (along with travel suggestions, e.g., for the Canadian hotel see: September 17-18, 2016 Double-Crossing the GOM). Thanks for understanding.

2020:

POSTPONED TO 2021:

March 2020 gulls and science trip in the CT waters of LIS Long Island Sound, being planned now. Following up on this 2019 March 9th trip: LISgullsPlanktonTrip

History of Seabirding

We are assembling a history of seabirding and pelagic birding trips (initially at trips33.blogspot.com). This is meant to cover professional and amateur efforts, globally, but initially emphasizing the East Coast of the US and Canada. It is meant cover all of the 1900's, but is initially focusing on 1920-1980. The emphasis is primarily on seabirds-at-sea ("pelagic trips"), with a lesser focus on seawatches and seabirds on their breeding grounds. This is a collaborative effort. Please contribute by email to Tom Robben at robben99@gmail.com including personal anecdotes, publications, references, pelagic trip schedules, bird checklists, etc. If you'd prefer to do this by phone call, just let me know that, and whether we can cite you as the source of information which you contribute. Thank you!

History of Seabirding << this is just the rough beginning

Skua's 5-year Report Card

Also see this post: SKUAs in the GOM

On our regularly scheduled HAS GOM Gulf Of Maine field trips (between Portland ME and Yarmouth NS Canada) we have seen skuas on every trip which sailed. The ferry was the 500ft Nova Star in 2014 and 2015, and the 300ft new CAT in 2016-2018.

2018: two Great Skuas.

2018 October 7-8 two-day GOM Skua trip

2017: two Great Skuas, one South Polar Skua, two Skua sp.

Sept. 29-30 GOM Pelagic Trip RESULTS

2016: two Great Skuas.

2016 September 17-18 Great Skua YES

2016 September 12-13 Reconn trip for 9/17-18

2015: trip cancelled by extreme weather.

2015 Nova Star & HAS trip on GOM Cancelled!!

2014: one Great Skua, 3 Skua sp.

2014 Oct 11-12 GOM Marine & Seabird Survey

Our multiple other GOM crossings over the last five years have recorded skuas the majority of times. Here are some...

2015 October 8 GOM crossing with Bigelow Lab

2015 Sept 23 GOM pelagic trip

2015 August 5th Gulf of Maine on the Nova Star

2015 June 27-28 Nova Star trip - Google Docs

2015 June 27-28 ECO : Everyone Cares about the Ocean

I also took several GOM crossing in 1960-1970's but skuas were more difficult to find (not as regular).

Marine Trips 2018

2018 marine trips (4 or 5 planned for 2018) :

THESE TRIPS ARE OPEN FOR ANYONE TO JOIN. The Hartford Audubon Society ( http://www.hartfordaudubon.org/terms.htm ) sponsors/supports/partners with all of these 2018 pelagic trips listed below. And you are welcome to join Hartford Audubon Society at any time, of course. Tom Robben leads or co-leads these several series of pelagic trips and can be contacted at:

robben99@gmail.com.

UPDATE on Oct.5th : because of the weather forecast our Oct.6-7 trip has now been postponed one day to Oct.7-8, Sunday-Monday. The ship owner decided not to run on Oct.6th.

YOU ARE INVITED TO JOIN THE FOLLOWING TRIPS, which search for skuas:

◆ Sept. 22-23 AND also Oct. 7-8. Two different Skua Search Trips (both are Saturday-Sunday), each spans two days (with a hotel overnight in Yarmouth, Canada), crossing the Gulf of Maine spanning 210 miles to Canada, departing from Portland, ME. These are TWO similar trips, two weeks apart, during this exciting time in these waters. Please register with me for one or both of these trips. Your passport is required.

Note that this is one of the few birding trips in the USA which searches for Great skuas ( Stercorarius skua ), and regularly finds them.

These dates were dependent upon the ferry schedule... which appears not to be running Sept.28-29 ...

Portland-Yarmouth Ferry Schedule

====================

Here are the steps to take:

1) FIRST, SIGN-UP: Email to me to register, at robben99@gmail.com

2) HOTEL: You need to call the Rodd Grand Yarmouth Hotel directly, at THIS phone number: 1-902-742-2446, say you are with the group called "Marine Survey #18", and ask to reserve your room at the group discounted rate of $114CAD PT (114 Canadian dollars, plus tax, for a room with two beds), for the one night of October 6th. You must mention our group name, "Marine Survey #18", to get this special group rate.

3) FERRY: You need to call the CAT ferry company (Bay Ferries Ltd) at 1-902-742-6800 (their Yarmouth terminal) to buy your own ticket/s, and request our 25% group discount for the "Marine Survey #18" group -- have your passport and credit card handy during this call. The list price is usually about $141 US dollars, round-trip, so reduce that by 25%. They said they will apply this discount "manually" so your emailed receipt may show $141 but your credit card will get the discount.

4) MEET AT DOCK: Join us on October 6th in Portland ME. Park your car in Portland. No car is needed during this 24-hour trip. Parking suggestions can be found at this post, here: Parking suggestions from 2017. The best place is an open lot right across from our meeting spot, which usually has open spaces. You must remember to bring your PASSSPORT, please.

MEETING TIME: 1:15pm Saturday October 6, 2018.

MEETING LOCATION: Portland, Maine at 12 Ocean Gateway Pier. At small CAT building, a few hundred feet NE of intersection of Thames and Hancock Streets.

5) REMINDERS:

-- Bring your Passport, which has not expired or close to expiration.

-- Set your cameras clock to the exact minute, Eastern time.

-- Updated waiver document is now available for you to print out and sign and return to me:

**Liability waiver for 20180922-23 GOM trip v1 - Google Docs

-- You are paying for your own parking, ferry ($106USD), hotel ($114CAD) and food. There is no other charge for this trip.

-- Bring warm clothes. September can feel like winter in mid-GOM if the wind is blowing, and we will be up to 70 miles offshore from the nearest land.

====================

Check this website during the two weeks leading up to this trip, in case any details change, e.g., perhaps due to extreme weather. You are financing your own trip, and if this trip does get cancelled, by the ferry company, due to weather or other extreme event, it is up to you to get whatever refunds you can.

Skua GOM trips 2018

Sept.22-23 and also Oct.7-8 NEW DATE.

MORE DETAILS ON THIS TRIP, below:

(see trip summary above)

We will definitely do the Sept.22-23 trip, but we will do the Oct.6-7 trip only if we do not get good skua looks on the first trip, for any reason.

This trip focuses on finding skuas, principally Great Skuas, which generally migrate into these waters in the second half of September, from Iceland and NW Europe.

The birds in the GOM are very similar on these two dates, only two weeks apart. Here are the birds we saw last year in late September:

2017 Sept. 29-30 GOM Pelagic Trip RESULTS

You can park your car in Portland ME, and will stay overnight at the top hotel in Yarmouth, the Rodd Grand, at a discounted rate of $114CAD Canadian Dollars plus tax, for your own room. Here are the logistics/plans for the trip last year, and this year they will be very similar...

2017 Sept. 29-30 GOM Pelagic Trip PLANS

You do NOT need to rent a car in Canada. We take the afternoon ferry from Portland and arrive in Yarmouth early evening. We walk or taxi 1/4 mile to the nearby hotel, eat dinner, sleep, and take the early ferry Sunday morning back to Portland (this is the leg where we are most likely to see skuas, the first three hours out of Yarmouth, and sometimes in USA waters too). You are only on Canadian soil for 12 hours, mostly to sleep.

The discounted rate for the ferry round trip is 25% discount.

You need to make your own reservations. Mention "Marine Survey #18" to get both these discounted rates.

You will make your own reservations and payments for the ship and the hotel. Neither is full at this time of year. There is a small risk that extreme weather might stop the ferry round trip, but this rarely happens. And the ship is very stable, even in heavy weather.

Your PASSPORT is required, as this is an "overseas trip". We will all need to also sign a waiver of liabilities, to cross-protect everyone involved with this trip.

You will pay for your own car parking in Portland, your ferry round trip, and your hotel in Yarmouth, plus food or other incidentals. Details for you to do this will all be provided. There are no other charges for this trip, which is sponsored annually by the Hartford Audubon Society.

One thing I usually forget to ask: if you bring any kind of camera(s), before the trip please set your camera's clock correctly, to Eastern time, to the exact minute, so we can cross-reference our photos if needed after the trip. I record every bird seen, minute by minute on these long transects, for possible future comparisons, and to cross-ref with photos, for ID purposes. Thanks.

Just get mentally prepared to scan a LOT of marine waters -- this is a 420 mile long pelagic trip, where seabirds can show up anywhere.

By the way, I always say getting a skua on this trip is 50/50 -- but it often works out well!

Tom

August 30, 2018

OUR TRIP LAST YEAR:

2017 Sept. 29-30 GOM Pelagic Trip RESULTS

2017 Sept. 29-30 GOM Pelagic Trip PLANS

Marine Trips 2018 completed

THESE TRIPS WERE COMPLETED:

◆ June 3rd (Sunday) Stellwagen, from Gloucester, MA. Our May 19 trip was postponed to June 3rd... TRIP WAS COMPLETED on June 3rd.

2018 June 3rd pelagic trip from Gloucester MA .

Spring 2018- Ocean Exploration Cruise (OEC)

with your single signing of this one 2018 liability document covering OEC all trips this year...

***Liability waiver for 2018 pelagic trips

◆ September 30 (Sunday) Stellwagen, from Gloucester, MA. No rain date for this trip. Note that this trip had been aimed for Saturday September 29th but that had to be changed to Sunday 9/30. This 9/30 date is now finalized.

Fall 2018- Ocean Exploration Cruise (OEC) << register & pay here, and get trip details. This trip is a partnership with Krill Carson and NECWA and features multiple guest Naturalists.

◆ October 7-8 (Sunday-Monday) GOM Gulf Of Maine , details coming soon...

Other Marine Trip Websites

Other organizations run marine/pelagic trips during the year. Here are some of their websites, covering the US east coast, the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, north to south:

2017 Bar Harbor Pelagic Trip Summary

Maine Audubon

New Hampshire also runs one Autumn trip. Info coming.

NECWA and Krill Carson who we partner with for 2-3 trips annually, including the 2018 June3 and September30 trips listed above.

Whale & Seabird Trips

Mass Audubon occasional pelagic trips.

Pelagic Trips – Brookline Bird Club

Including several trips to the Atlantic canyons.

Chatham "Mini Pelagic" trips, run by Blair Nikula who can be reached by email at odenews@odenews.org

Paulagics.com | TRIPS

Focusing on NY and NJ waters.

Seabirding | Gulf stream pelagic trips

Brian Patteson's great trips from Hatteras, NC.

North Caroli na and the Gulf Stream

Angus Wilson site.

Marine Trips 2017

The next trips in this series will be in 2018.

THIS 2017 TRIP WAS COMPLETED!

STELLWAGEN PELAGIC:

Ocean Exploration Cruise with Krill Carson.

October 22 from Gloucester MA. 8-hour trip.

Seabirds, whales, & marine science, including Prof. A.Jordaan.

Liability waiver will be required. Please print, sign, date and return this document...

*Liability waiver for 20171022 pelagic trip v1

#1 Target Species: Sabine's Gull. 20% likely. We had 1 last year.

MEETING TIME: 7:15am Sunday October 22.

MEETING LOCATION: Gloucester, Mass. at 63 Rogers Street (7 Seas Whale Watch pier).

TRIP COSTS: Your costs will be about $90 for adults. You must register & pay at this webpage:

October 2017- Ocean Exploration Cruise (OEC)

OUR AUTUMN TRIP LAST YEAR:

October 22, 2016 OEC: Sabine's Gull YES

THIS 2017 TRIP WAS COMPLETED!

G.O.M. CROSSING:

"Marine Survey #17" is our group name.

September 29-30 Friday-Saturday, departing from Portland ME friday mid-day, to Yarmouth NS, and back the next morning. 24-hour trip.

Cross the Gulf of Maine, 210 miles each way (each crossing is 6.5 hours on the water -- both crossings in daylight).

PASSPORT REQUIRED.

REGISTRATION REQUIRED with Tom Robben ASAP (robben99@gmail.com). This trip is less than one week from now.

Liability waiver will be required.

#1 Target Species: Great Skua. 50% likely. We had 2 last year.

This trip replaces the one scheduled for Oct.7-8 because ferry company cut its schedule recently.

MEETING TIME: 1:15pm Friday September 29.

MEETING LOCATION: Portland, Maine at 12 Ocean Gateway Pier. At small CAT building, a few hundred feet NE of intersection of Thames and Hancock Streets.

TRIP COSTS:

1. Portland parking can run $10-40 for 24 hours.

Yarmouth Ferry Schedule | Maine to Nova Scotia | The CAT

OUR TRIP LAST YEAR:

September 17-18, 2016 Great Skua YES

September 17-18, 2016 Planning the trip

June 10, 2018 from Gloucester MA. This is the probable date for next year's June 2018 trip.

NOTE: our 3-year "Great Skua Report Card" will appear here by end of October.

2017 June 11 pelagic trip

This June 11th trip occurred, with beautiful calm weather, although few whales and seabirds were found. The trip report will be published on the left, over the next week or two.

June 11th trip is now ON. Departing Gloucester MA, 8am-2pm.

1) Click here to register and pay...

June 11 2017- Ocean Exploration Cruise

2) Please mention Hartford Audubon Society.

3) Please complete our waiver and mail it to my email or USPS street address...

*Liability waiver for 20170611 pelagic trip v2 - Google Docs

Tom (robben99@gmail.com)

Sabine's Gull 7year report card

IS THIS THE BEST TRIP FOR EAST COAST SABINE'S GULLS? PROBABLY!!

One goal for these annual autumn trips around Stellwagen Bank, MA and nearby ocean waters was to find Sabine's Gulls, which are rare on the US East Coast (and anywhere along the Western Atlantic). How well did we do? Two years we succeeded and saw SAGU (Sabine's Gulls), and four years we had near-misses. Not too bad for a bird which is hard to target and find anywhere on the US East Coast...

2018: No Sabine's Gulls on our two 2018 trips.

2017: oct.22 No SAGU on this trip.

2016: oct.22 we got 1 juvenile SAGU.

2015: sept 13 missed 1 SAGU by a few miles.*

2014: sept.7 we got 1 breeding plumage SAGU.

2013: sept. 8 missed 9! SAGU just NW of Maine*

2012: sept.29 we missed 1 SAGU by 300 miles.*

2011: oct.15-16 we missed 2 SAGU seen Oct.12

* = on same day as our trip.

Click on blue trip dates to jump to that trip report.

2016 Marine Trips

Updated October 23rd: Both trips done, and successful.

These paragraphs need to be updated again...

There are TWO different 2016 ocean trips here:

1) October 22 from Gloucester MA. See posts on left. Was rescheduled from 10/1.

2) September 17-18 from Portland ME. See posts on left.

Both these HAS pelagic trips are different from last year, using different ships, with different owners, different captains, and details have been adjusted and fine-tuned week by week. Please send an email to me (to robben99@gmail.com) indicating your possible interest, even if you are undecided so far.

NOTE: the October 1 trip had to be rescheduled to Oct.22 because of weather. It is NOT SOLD OUT, and you can still send an email to register.

1) STELLWAGEN TRIP (October 22): OPEN.

Had to be re-scheduled for saturday October 22, 2016 from 8:00am to 4:00pm, departing from Gloucester, MA. This is a NECWA trip, supported by HAS. A new trip, combining bird watching, whale watching, and lots of marine science. Several top scientists/naturalists. This trip is OPEN again! email to robben99@gmail.com for more info.

SEE POSTS ON THE LEFT FOR DETAILS.

And come back to this site periodically to learn more about this exciting trip.

2) GULF OF MAINE TRIP (September 17-18):

Make sure your passport is up-to-date... it is needed. Please register by email to roben99@gmail.com

Nova Scotia to Maine Ferry << our ship.

Ship departs Portland ME on saturday at 2:30pm (check-in by 1:30pm), goes to Yarmouth NS, and returns to Portland around 1pm the next day, sunday. Think of this trip as beginning Saturday at 1pm in Portland ME, and ending back there exactly 24hours later, at 1pm Sunday... and in between these TWO 5-hour daylight cruises you will sleep in the hotel Rodd Grand Yarmouth, Nova Scotia (approx $99 for your room) in central Yarmouth, NS, Canada (at 417 Main Street, within 1/2 mile walking distance of the dock).

We have not been on this new ship yet, and are relying on reports from others... New cross-GOM ferry

Note that this trip consists of TWO 5-hour daylight cruises across the wide 210 mile GOM, for a total of 420 miles, far off shore, to look for seabirds and other marine life (more miles than almost any other "pelagic birding trip")! Remember also, that we have had very good luck with Great Skua on this exact GOM route over the last few years.

You need to register with robben99@gmail.com and do NOT purchase your tickets until you register, to get the discount.

We have possibilities/probabilities of seeing the following species of seabirds:

50% Great Skua. YES, WE GOT TWO+.

5% South Polar Skua. NO.

20% Black-legged Kittiwake. YES.

40% Northern Fulmar. YES ON 9/12.

95% several of our 4 basic shearwater species. YES.

80% Wilson's Storm-petrel. YES.

20% Leach's Storm-petrel. YES.

90% Northern Gannet. YES.

30% some phalarope species. YES.

60% some jaeger species. YES, ALL 3.

20% Razorbill. NO.

10% Atlantic Puffin. YES.

2% some wildcard species. NO

etc.

BACKGROUND re the Gulf of Maine trip:

10 things to know about the new Maine-Nova Scotia ferry

Will good bird watching be possible from this new ship? Is it too enclosed? Too bumpy? TBD.

Will we be able to do good marine surveys of seabirds, whales and other marine life on this transect?

OTHER TRIPS (TBD):

More info in September.

WINTER Sabine's Gulls

A WINTER Sabine's Gull off Newfoundland!!

The Bruce Mactavish Newfoundland Birding Blog: A mid-winter SABINE'S GULL in Newfoundland - A very true story.

Stranger at St. Vincent’s - Living - The Telegram

Sabine’s in the Snow!

What is going on here?

Bruce and Eric Mills confirmed that this is the first and ONLY Sabine's Gull ever reported IN WINTER in Newfoundland!

Still percolating through the US Great Lakes as of 2015 mid November! Sabine's gull at Erieau this evening 2015Nov12 just across Lake Erie from Cleveland, Ohio.

2015 Oct 10-11 HAS pelagic trip across the Gulf of Maine

This trip is ON, as of today 10/09.

2015 October 10-11 Gulf Of Maine pelagic trip

All tickets are purchased, and we are all ready to go!

See you by 6pm Saturday oct.10th in the Nova Star Cruises Portland Terminal, Portland ME (a red brick building which says "Ocean Gateway" under its white clock), just east of the intersection (the red stick pin on the map) of Thames St and Hancock St in Portland ME. Note that Thames St is the NE extension of the well-known Commercial St which runs right along the wharves.

You can try to park in the street lot on the north side of that intersection (sometimes it is full) or in the municipal parking building (aka Ocean Gateway Parking) at 167 Fore Street, just one block NW of that intersection.

PASSPORT REQUIRED!! You must bring it with you, to get back into USA.

PLANNED: Our second H.A.S. October GOM Gulf Of Maine round-trip crossing (we had several skuas on this trip last year, plus several Great Skuas just last week Sept.23,2015) is ON for Oct 10-11, 2015 (24hours, from saturday 5:30pm parking in Portland ME until sunday 7pm return to Portland). Registration required: please email it to robben99@gmail.com

2019 extended pelagic trips

Scope of this website

We have several blogs and websites which focus on oceans, from various points of view. This particular web log emphasizes seabirds: targeting, finding, observing and mapping seabirds, at increasingly greater distances from New England, especially Sabine's Gull, Skuas, Buller's Shearwater, pterodroma petrels, Bonin Petrel, Barau's Petrel, Prions and other striking/interesting seabirds (plus learning more about the food items they prey upon, and the marine ecosystem they live in). One hope is to learn more about how all these pieces-of-the-puzzle fit together (e.g., including how we/humans benefit from all this, and why some seabirds and fish are changing their ranges & numbers?).

Blog Goals

One goal of this blog (and of these trips) is to increase the interest in seabirding and oceans and planetary ecosystems, which is why this site contains so much material. Scroll down and skip whatever you want. Many of you already know most of what's here. For others, there may be some new information. We tried to cover all bases. A second and related goal of these trips is to enjoy the wildness of Nature while not having to travel too far from home in New England. A third goal is to get more younger people interested in Birds and Nature, hopefully leading to a lifelong hobby and respect for the planet's health. A fourth goal is to raise-the-voltage around one beautiful arctic gull (Sabine's Gull), to raise the interest in its life cycle and connections to its marine ecosystem. And please forgive some of the rough-edges here, due to this blog being a continuing work-in-progress.

2014 Sept 10-12 Trip Results

During September 10-12 (just a few days after our Sabine's Gull success at Cape Cod) I was in CALIFORNIA and did three pelagic trips with Debi Shearwater. I had not done any pelagic birding trips there in decades and the waters around Monterey Bay seemed just as amazing as previously, including good looks and photos of one of the nicest seabirds, New Zealand (or Grey-backed) Shearwater (although now known by its new name as Buller's Shearwater). Click on this link to jump down to my trip report...

The Week After our 2014 Sept 7th Trip

Should we plan a HAS trip to Monterey Bay next year?

2014 October 25-26 marine survey trip must be rescheduled to October 11-12

I just learned that NovaStar Cruises is shortening their schedule, and the last crossing of the year will be on October 13, so we need to rethink if this is a good time to run this trip, on October 11-12, exactly two weeks earlier than planned. PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF YOU MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN THIS REVISED DATE. Tom, on Sept 20, 2014.

We had been planning a second HAS "pelagic trip" this Autumn (HAS Field Trips), in the framework of a rigorous MARINE SURVEY (focusing on the sea surface, and including mapping of seabirds, whales, etc), going 200miles across the GOM (Gulf of Maine) from Maine to NOVA SCOTIA and back, on October 25-26. BUT the ferry company decided to terminate their schedule three weeks earlier than they planned!! Please let me know if you would be interested in joining this trip October 11-12. Great Skua is a possibility, but a long-shot.

Get your un-expired PASSPORT ready ASAP, since it will be required to board the ship for this 24hour round-trip, even if you do not disembark on the Canada side of this trip.

CLICK HERE to see more details about this trip....

SeaBirding the Northeast Continental Shelf and Beyond: 2014 October 11-12 Pelagic Ferry to Nova Scotia

Note that the second quarter of 2014 has seen some remarkable seabirds in the Northeast USA: Yellow-nosed Albatross (in MA waters), Fea's Petrel (MA state record), Tufted Puffin, Ancient Murrelet, and a Trinidade Petrel that washed up on a beach in Maine (another first state record)! So by these recent standards anything is possible on this long trip across the GOM.

2014 Sept 7th trip is ON

2014 September 7th Pelagic Trip << click to jump here

The ship has reached its maximum quota, and no additional registrations are available for this trip this month.

This annual September HAS "pelagic trip" is ON again this year, for Sunday September 7th, 2014 (HAS Field Trips), taking the same general 8-hour route, going offshore from Plymouth MA, heading about 20-30 miles east of Cape Cod, collaborating again with Krill Carson & NECWA. This is a relatively "near-shore pelagic trip" (approx within 20miles of shore), unlike the "extreme pelagic trips" which go out 100miles to the edge of the NE Continental Shelf in search of seabirds favoring warmer Gulf Stream waters etc.

Details on the HAS view of this trip will be announced HERE at this site as we approach 9/7. Meanwhile, reserve this date on your 2014 calendar and email me if you may be interested (in that way I can send you the HAS trip waiver and email updates as we get closer to September 7th). As of today (9/2) we have 20 HAS people joining this trip... hopefully we will get good seabirds.

TomR (robben99@gmail.com)

September 4, 2014

Sabine's sightings 2014

East Coast USA Sabine's Gull sightings in 2014 second half: Very few so far this season... 2014 HAS NOT BEEN A GOOD YEAR FOR SABINE'S GULLS ON THE EAST COAST... SO FAR.

2) 2014, Aug 26. One SAGU seen at Head Harbor Passage, Charlotte County, New Brunswick, CA.

1) 2014, August 24 at 7am. One seen at Race Point Beach, Provincetown, MA. Adult bird cruising west up shore, briefly pausing to forage with large tern/gull/shearwater congregation. [WAS THIS THE SAME BIRD WE SAW ON SEPTEMBER 7TH, IN THE SAME LOCATION?]

Sabine's sightings 2013

Here are the first reports this year of south-bound Sabine's Gulls passing through the greater New England area (and other Eastern locations).....

26. 2013 Nov 10th. One juvenile Sabine's Gull at Allegan Co, MI. Note the clearly forked tail: Sabine's Gull

25. 2013 Nov 9th. One juvenile Sabine's Gull off Coast Guard Beach in Eastham, MA with lots of Gannets and Bonaparte's Gulls, as seen by Becky Suomala.

24. 2013 Nov 3rd. One juvenile Sabine's Gull, five miles off Rhode Island. Photographed by Keith Mueller.

23. 2013 Oct 30th. One juvenile Sabine's Gull east of Chatham. Seen and photographed by Blair Nikula: eBird Checklist – East of Chatham, MA – Wed Oct 30, 2013

22. 2013 Oct 23rd. One juvenile Sabine's Gull, off Robert Moses State Park, LI, NY. Reported by Isaac Grant.

21. 2013 Oct 3rd. One adult alternate plumage Sabine's Gull near the Isle of Shoals, NH. Seen by Jay Frontierro.

20. 2013 Sept 30th. One adult winter plumaged Sabine's Gull, at Mill Pond, Merrick Road, Wantagh, LI, NY. Seen by Robert Proniewych.

19. 2013 Sept 18th. One Sabine's Gull on Tern Island flats viewable from Cow Yard Ln, Chatham MA. Likely the North Beach Bird. Only 1500 Laughing Gulls to sort through... (as per Mark Faherty).

18. 2013 Sept 16th. One adult Sabine's Gull reported from Nauset Outer Beach, Orleans, Cape Cod. Sitting in flats with other gulls behind the beach, 3miles south of general parking lot (as per Peter Trull).

17. 2013 Sept 15th. Two Sabine's Gulls in Georgia, at Lake Hartwell, Long Point Recreation Area. 2 imm.

16. 2013 Sept 14th. Sabine's Gull at North Beach, Cape Cod, MA (Carl Goodrich) or was that Nauset Beach, as others have said.

15. 2013 Sept 12-13th. One first-year Sabine's Gull was in Oklahoma at Lake Yahola. Where is he/she headed, into the Gulf of Mexico?

14. 2013 Sept 12th. One juv Sabine's Gull in Indiana! At Miller Beach, Lake County, along the shore of Lake Michigan. Along with 1 Little Gull and 3 Parasitic Jaegers! Give me a break! We spend ten hours on the seas trying to find one SAGU, and this one shows up in somebody's backyard 1,000 miles from any ocean. I'd love to know if this one will turn to its right to the distant Pacific, or turn left toward the nearer Atlantic, and give us a shot to see it in the coming weeks.

13. 2013 Sept 8th. At least NINE juvenile Sabine's Gulls between Tadoussac and Bergeronnes, Quebec 60miles NNW of Maine. Where do these birds go next??

12. 2013 Sept 8th. FOUR Sabine's Gulls in Hamilton, Ontario at Wagner Beach. Where do these birds go next?

11. 2013 Sept 6th one Sabine's Gull juvenile reported (among 3,500 Bonapartes Gulls) in Tadoussac, Quebec, just 60miles NNW of Maine's northernmost tip... Birding News | #birdingnews via @aba

10. 2013 Sept 5th: up to a DOZEN scattered Sabine's Gulls went through Hamilton, Ontario (near Buffalo, NY) after the cold front went through on 9/5. Hopefully these SAGU will pass through our area this weekend..

Birding News | #birdingnews via @aba

9. 2013 Sept 5th: still NO reports of Sabine's Gulls anywhere along the eastern seaboard since Aug 26th, on eBird or any bird forums. Hopefully these gulls are saving themselves for us on Sunday Sept 8th.

8. 2013 Aug 26th 10:15am ten miles ENE off P'town, CapeCod..... Three Sabine's Gulls.... via the Dolphin Fleet Whale Watch out of Provincetown, MA... "Two single adults (likely the same bird) and later a pair right next to the boat in the same area as the Humpbacks. All birds in breeding plumage with complete sooty hoods. Fantastic views." Seen by John Mittermeier... eBird Checklist – Stellwagen Bank--SE waters, Massachusetts – Mon Aug 26, 2013 – 11 species

7. 2013 Aug 27 one juvenile Sabine's Gull on Lake Michigan... These Great Lakes birds may proceed to the East Coast on their way out to the South Atlantic...

Anything Larus: Early Sabine's Gull on Lake Michigan

6. 2013 Aug 25th near Pelee Island, one Sabine's Gull on the US side of Lake Erie, Ohio. One of those individuals which migrate cross-continent, and may be visiting our area next, on their way out to the Atlantic and southwest African waters.

5. Several Sabine's Gulls passing through Quebec in the second half of August. One more reported 8/31 at Tadoussac, Quebec.

4. 2013 Aug 14th Coast Guard Beach, Eastham, MA... Josh Gahagan... photo of adult SAGU at Eastham MA Aug14 by Josh Gahagan

3. 2013 Aug 1st South Beach, Chatham, MA.... Drew Weber was visiting from Syracuse NY, got this nice SAGU (the commonly used code for Sabine's Gull), and took the following video...

Sabine's Gull - YouTube

and I posted his photo above (rotated). His very interesting website is this one... Nemesis Bird | fast paced birding

Also reported on eBird... eBird Checklist – South Beach, Chatham, Massachusetts – Thu Aug 01, 2013

2. 2013 July 14th at Martha's Vineyard:

Gull Week | The Vineyard Gazette - Martha's Vineyard News

1. 2013 July 13th at Eastern Egg Rock, Maine. 1 SAGU reported as a juvenile.

Sabine's Gull

Our "icing on the cake" target bird. Very do-able off the West Coast, but a low-probability phantom on the East Coast. We missed this bird by a few days in 2011 and by a few (300) miles in 2012. Discovered in Greenland in 1818 by Anglo-Irish scientist Edward Sabine, whose family name is pronounced SAB-ine (according to the OED), like "stab-pine", not say-bin, or sa-been with a French or Italian accent.... although everybody still debates how this gull should be pronounced. Any pronunciation is ok with me, assuming that by the end of our trip we can say the bird has been-seen!

Sabine's Gull on live eBird map

Click here to see map of all Sabine's Gulls reported to eBay over recent years... eBird Range Map--Sabine's Gull (Xema sabini)

Here is one such report from 2012, from Stellwagen Bank, with photo... eBird Checklist – NOAA trip, Massachusetts – Thu Aug 23, 2012

Sabine's Gull is gorgeous but not an easy bird to find on the US East Coast, which is exactly why we have chosen it as our #1 target species, to make our "hunt" more difficult, more interesting.

Sabine's gull photo - Xema sabini - G142907 | ARKive

Sabine's Gull Q&A

Questions and Answers will be added here...

Q. What species is genetically closest to Sabine's Gull?

A. Ivory Gull, according to recent DNA studies!

Q. Which gulls migrate across the equator?

A. Only two: Sabine's Gull and Franklin's Gull.

Q. Which are the most pelagic gulls?

A. Sabine's Gulls and Kittiwakes

Q. Where do most Atlantic Sabine's Gulls winter?

A. In the rich Benguela Current upwellings off the southwest coast of Africa.

Q. What do Sabine's Gulls eat?

A. Arthropods (terrestrial & acquatic), crustaceans, fishes, and rarely small/young birds, eggs, vegetation.

Is This Crazy?

Yes! Hunting for EAST Coast Sabine's Gulls is crazy. We wanted to focus on one beautiful hard-to-misidentify seabird, but nobody on the East Coast sets out to search for a new undiscovered Sabine's Gull, because it is on-the-edge-of-impossible in our area, and the probability of finding a new one on any particular day is very low. Although they are much more numerous off the U.S. West Coast, they are too rare on the U.S. East Coast, too irregular, too unpredictable, too transient. But hunting for this species focuses the mind (and it motivates us to get out and search through other seabirds and learn more about the ocean ecosystem), and that is what this trip is about (and sooner or later this HAS trip will catch up with this elusive phantom [AS IT EVENTUALLY DID ON SEPT 7, 2014! and AGAIN on Oct.22, 2016!!]).

2013 Sept 8th

We have all decided to run this trip again in 2013, on Sunday September 8th, and aiming for a longer boat ride in the Stellwagen Bank waters off Provincetown MA ( the 110 foot ship will depart at 10:00am from Plymouth MA and return to Plymouth harbor at 6pm; cost will be $90-100 per person, depending upon how early you register ). The trip will focus on seabirds, whales, dolphins, etc. A net will be used to catch plankton and view them through a microscope. Some unused bycatch may be put out. We will be on the water for about 8 hours, searching for seabirds and other oceanic wildlife. We will not do any sea-watches from land this year (unless bad weather prevents our ship from sailing).

Note that our 2013 departure point will be Plymouth MA, which is NOT on Cape Cod, in case you are planning a hotel that weekend.

Not sure our 2013 trip can top our 2012 trip, but we are going to try, especially by doubling our time on the water. So hold that weekend on your 2013 calendar. By the way, this is probably the best week for Sabine's Gull on the US East Coast, so cross your fingers. This gull is our "icing-on-the-cake" species, which is do-able on the West Coast, but a challenge on the US East Coast (largely because most of them tend to migrate far off shore, while some may fly over the continent at very high altitude).

Note that we share the boat for these HAS trips with others, including whale watchers, biologists and other birders. This is the only way we can afford the otherwise very high cost of a large luxurious ship.

2014 and Beyond (as of 2013)

In 2014 we are planning to take the soon-to-be revived ferry from Maine (Bar Harbor or Portland TBD) to NovaScotia (Yarmouth), assuming there is an open bow and we can get access to the bow. This was a wonderful old seabirding trip during the 1960s through 1980s, but that ferry (the conventional open-deck MV Bluenose) was changed and then terminated. The plan is to revive it soon, probably in 2014. This used to be (and will again be) a GREAT seabirding trip and we will take it as soon as it is available, immediately after it reopens, any month of the year (assuming the new ferry runs in daylight, has an open deck, and is not a sealed-in high-speed catamaran).

If that ferry to NovaScotia is not available for a few years, then the proposed schedule will be: in 2014 we will probably return to Cape Cod as our departure point (via the Dolphin Fleet from Provincetown). In 2015 it might be nice to depart from Gloucester or New Hampshire to Jeffreys Ledge offshore areas. In 2016 we will consider a seabirding trip in the waters off East Port, Maine near the Canadian border. The goal is to keep experimenting with the best possible September/October seabirding trips for HAS, emphasizing short to medium pelagic trips, and hunting for the elusive Sabine's Gull and other exciting seabirds.

2012 Trip to Outer Cape Cod

PRELIMINARY INFORMATION:

We will again be using this site in 2012, to plan our 2012 trip to the Outer Cape, searching primarily for Sabine's Gull (and some good seabirds) on September 29, 2012, doing several sea-watches from land on Saturday, plus a 4-hour boat trip to parts of Stellwagen Bank, focusing on both whales and birds.

More info shortly....

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2012

Outer Cape Cod, Massachusetts

Join us for a one-day series of one-hour sea-watches with your scope & tripod (starting in Provincetown, CapeCod), AND a 4-hour whale&seabird public boat trip with the Dolphin Fleet (www.WhaleWatch.com).

This trip is focused on searching for the elusive Sabine's Gull (plus some good seabirds and pelagic species) at several of the best seabirding spots along the “Outer Cape”, and offshore.

Bring lunch and meet us at 8:30am at the MacMillan Pier departure point for the Dolphin Fleet boats (see their website, and buy your own tickets). And you have the option to also join us for earlier birding if you want, starting at 6:15am at Herring Cove Beach parking lot, also in Provincetown, MA. After the boat trip we will do several more sea-watches as we work southward, ending around 5pm or 6pm. The Cove Motel in Orleans is recommended, although hotels are up to you. Bring warm wind-resistant spray-resistant clothing and a hat. Wind can be good for these birds, and if the boat sails, we will be on it.

Its essential to email to robben99@gmail.com to register for this trip (and get the boat booking #). Please also follow news, Q&A, instructions and late changes at the website for this trip (http://trips33.blogspot.com), as we adjust the itinerary to last-minute weather and rarities. We expect a good team, including some experienced seabirders.

Thanks from the whole 9/29 team:

Bill Asteriades, Keith Mueller, Tom Robben, Guy Tudor.

Trip Goals for 2011 trip

Last year's 2011 trip was designed from scratch, with numerous ambitious goals, including finding a Sabine's Gull (but we locked ourselves into a date that was too late for that, although there is sometimes a second minor peak for that species in October), the Sunday boat trip, good (close) views of seabirds, experiencing beautiful natural places on Cape Cod, the dual start times, etc. I apologize that some of these goals were not fully met, that some of our seabirds stayed at long distances offshore, and that I spent so much time scoping the ocean and beaches for a Sabine's Gull, but we "took our best shot", tried to get everybody to see most of those seabirds, and hope you had a good time. We invested a huge percentage of time and effort targeting and then searching intensely on 10/15 for Sabine's Gull, but none were reported after October 12th -- maybe we should run this trip about a month earlier next year. Our list of seabirds seen was pretty good, considering that we had to stay on-land (our Sunday pelagic boat never left the dock, because of high winds & waves)! Thank you for joining the trip and for your time. It was great to meet all of you. If you have any suggestions for next year, please email them. Thank you!

Tom Robben

robben99@gmail.com

Two Trips: Sept.22-23 and Oct.22

TRIP PREPARATION:

"SKUA SEARCH" : Our annual cross-GOM search for skuas