June 16, 2019 from 8:10am to 4pm (local time, EDT).
SPECTACULAR TIGHT (2-mile?) CONCENTRATION OF FIFTY! WHALES AND HUNDREDS OF SEABIRDS FRENETICALLY FEEDING, ABOUT 18 MILES EAST OF MONOMOY, MA. No rare seabirds, but all the regular June species were there.
Trip was organized by Krill Carson, for NECWA fund raising and scientific research. Naturalists included Wayne Petersen, David Clapp and yours-truly (TomR), plus NECWA staff of Michael O'Neill and Joan(?). Captain Paul and his two crew kept us safe. Also see David Clapp's excellent posting of this trip at:
Whales off Cape Cod – On The Road With DEC
and of course Krill Carson's two websites:
New England Coastal Wildlife Alliance - NECWA and
New England Basking Shark & Ocean Sunfish Project | Home
We had a very successful marine trip out of Saquatucket Harbor in Harwich, MA, with 45 participants onboard the Yankee 2 deep sea fishing boat. Cloudy 60F, occasional light drizzle. SST water temperatures changed from 64F a few miles outside the dock, to 54F an hour later, down to 45F at 11:20am as we entered an area of high activity of whales and birds (most of that eastern patch of active water averaged around 49F sst sea surface temperature). SW winds 10 to 15 kt with gusts up to 20 kt. Seas 2 to 4 ft.
Our goals included seeing seabirds and whales, and learning more about the ocean. We did all that. We ended up getting the two expected storm-petrels (see the Wilson's Storm-petrels on far left and far right side of this photo), the four expected shearwaters (see the Great Shearwater on the far right) and 4 Parasitic Jaegers, along with lots of Laughing and Herring Gulls and terns. You can click on most of these photos below to enlarge them, and then press ESC key to return...
Here is a feeding Humpback Whale, along with Herring Gulls, Laughing Gulls and one Wilson's Storm-petrel behind the whale...
A whale blowing/exhaling into a flock of pursuing gulls...
And here is an excellent photo of SIX of the many humpback whales taken that morning by David Clapp of Natural History Services ( Whales off Cape Cod – On The Road With DEC )...
Here is our route, the blue line below.
We departed Harwich Port, MA at 8:10am EDT on June 16, 2019, returned to dock at 4pm (about 8 hours duration), covering 79miles round trip according to GSP tracking (using the trails.io app for iOS). Click on the maps below to expand each, and then press ESC key to return...
Almost all whale and bird activity occurred at the far eastern end of this trip (the rightmost area of the blue line above). Almost no seabirds, and zero whales, were seen before 11:20am, when we entered this hot spot, a concentration of about 50 whales (40+ humpback, 3 fin, 7 minke, 30 white-sided dolphins in several pods) and hundreds of seabirds, all actively feeding, in the patch circled in red below...
Here is the official eBird checklist, taking shape: eBird Checklist - 16 Jun 2019 - US-MA-Atlantic Ocean (41.5462,-69.9699) - 20 species
BIRDS:
. Canada Goose - 35
. Mallard - 3
. American Black Duck - 1
. Common Eider - 32
. Parasitic Jaeger - 4
. Laughing Gull - 250
. Herring Gull - 200
. Great Black-backed Gull - 30
. Least Tern - 6
. Common Tern - 150. Most were with the other seabirds.
. Common Loon - 2
. Wilson's Storm-Petrel - 350. They showed up in the distance on every photo.
. Leach's Storm-Petrel - 2. Quick distant fly-bys during the simultaneous multiple whale feedings. Easy to ID with their unique way of flying (like a Nighthawk X Kestrel, and in-a-rush to get somewhere, very purposeful).
. Cory's Shearwater - 2
. Great Shearwater - 45
. Sooty Shearwater - 200
. Manx Shearwater - 1. One or two were swimming on the water in a flock of Sooty Shearwaters and flushed as we entered this active area of water.
. Northern Gannet - 5
. Double-crested Cormorant - 60
. Snowy Egret - 1
. Osprey - 1
MAMMALS:
- Humpback Whale - 40+.
- Fin Whale - 3.
- Minke Whale - 7.
- White-sided Dolphin - 30 in several pods.
Some of these numbers are estimates and will be adjusted soon.
All the seabirds (shearwaters, storm petrels and jaegers) and most of the gulls and terns were concentrated in the region at the east end of our trip, about 18 miles due east of the center of the Monomoy NWR peninsula.
This photo was taken during the trip, of 7-inch-long Wilson's Storm-petrel. Note long feet extending beyond (squarish) tail. Several hundred were seen within binocular range, and photos revealed many beyond that range, spaced out over the distant water...
All photos are mine, unless otherwise noted, some frame-captured from 4K video, taken using Sony RX10.4 with Zeiss f4/600mm, and can be used by anyone (citation for T.Robben is optional). The image quality is not always the best, because of the extreme cropping/magnification needed for some distant birds.
Fishing information about these waters is available several places including...
Tuna Fishing East of Chatham - Salty Cape
THE MARINE FOOD WEB QUESTIONS:
So, what are these active whales and birds eating, in these concentrated patches of ocean?
How much of it is small fish, squid, amphipods, copepods, other zooplankton, phytoplankton, etc??
Are there enough plankton there to supply all these higher life forms? Will our plankton tow show it?
Or are they mostly eating small fish, maybe sand lance?
What does the marine food web look like in these active patches?
What is so special about these high-productivity patches?
And then the next level of questions:
How does this food web(s) change throughout the annual cycle, the four seasons?
Are these food webs changing longer term, over decades? How?
Are micro-plastics and other pollutants working their way into this food web, and our food supply?
And perhaps the most interesting food web question:
Is climate or something else changing the PHYTOPLANKTON (which produce almost half of
the oxygen we breathe) in the seas! And the full future implications of that are unknown...
the oxygen we breathe) in the seas! And the full future implications of that are unknown...
This is the underlying reason for our Gulls and Plankton Project!!
The source article:
What do Humpback Whales eat?
"The humpback is an energetic hunter, taking krill and small schooling fish such as juvenile Atlantic and Pacific salmon, herring, capelin and American sand lance, as well as Atlantic mackerel, pollock and haddock in the North Atlantic.[114][115][116] They have been documented opportunistically feeding near fish hatcheries in Southeast Alaska, feasting on salmon fry released from the hatcheries.[117] Krill and copepods are prey species in Australian and Antarctic waters.[118]"
Humpback whale - Wikipedia
"Pilson, M.E.Q., and Goldstein, E. 1973. Marine Mammals. In: Saila, S.B. (Ed.), Coastal and Offshore Environmental Inventory: Cape Hatteras to Nantucket Shoals. Marine Publication Series No. 2, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, Rhode Island, 48 p."
OCS (Outer Continental Shelf) Sale No.40, Mid-Atlantic States (NJ,DE ... - Google Books and
What do Storm-petrels eat?
Storm petrel - Wikipedia
Wilson's storm petrel - Wikipedia
"They [wilson's storm-petrels] feed predominantly on planktonic invertebrates close to the surface, rarely plunging below the surface to capture prey. They may however sometimes take 3–8 cm long fish in the family Myctophidae.[Lanternfish - Wikipedia]... Chicks remain at nest for about 60 days and are fed on krill, fish and amphipods.[15]"
bulletin78_03.pdf "Fish prey of Wilson's Storm Petrel..."
the food and feeding habits of wilson's storm petrel - Google Search.
Food and feeding ecology of Wilson's storm petrel Oceanites oceanicus at South Georgia. VG.
What do Leach's Storm Petrels feed on?
linton, a. 1978. the food and feeding habits of leach's storm petrel - Google Search yields a long list of references.
PLANKTON TOW:
Our five-minute plankton tow (12:41-12:46pm) was conducted at 2 knots speed, in the middle of the active patch of water, and the results will be published here, in a month or two.
