<<Trip maps and pre-dawn photos can be seen at this link... Trip maps and pre-dawn photos >>
I wasn’t planning on attending the July Canyon Pelagic Trip sponsored by Brookline Birding Club because I was approaching a deadline for few promised commissions. Two weeks ago, my friend Tom Robben mentioned to me that they had a few openings for the trip. He gently persuaded me into contacting Ida and sending my deposit…..which of course I did without too much hesitation and coaxing from Tom (I can always find excuses to spend a day birding on the ocean). With the mailing of the check, I had to pick up my pace a bit if I were to satisfy those promised commissions. With a few additional late-night and weekend hours, I was able to finish them but not without complicating this a bit more (which I will demonstrate later).
Tom met me at my house at 11:15 pm on Friday night and off we went into the night for a three hour plus ride to Hyannis. I am sure like most of us who had to travel, a quick nap in the few remaining hours before heading out is probably all the sleep we (enjoyed); if any at all! Even though it was late in the evening I was a bit concerned about traffic heading to and on the Cape. Being prime summer vacation time, and the heavy summer traffic on the Cape being very well known, the traffic was surprisingly light. We made Hyannis in great time; in fact we were the first ones there. The night was beautiful; clear and light winds. Being a fisherman and (former) waterfowler for most of my life my only concern was the very bright and very full moon. With the added opportunity of a bright evening sky, it has been my experience that fish and birds will take advantage and feed during the evening and (as far as birds go) roost during the day, resting and digesting. But as I mentioned earlier, any day birding on the ocean is a welcomed experience regardless of the outcome.
Within minutes, people began arriving including many great and notable birders from CT.: including John Oshlic, Tina Green and Nick Bonomo. After warm greetings and a few short tales, we began boarding the Helen H (see pelagic trip report from June below). Tom, myself and Chris Pagliaro also from CT huddled on the pulpit and began swapping stories and talking about the upcoming day. Everyone was cautiously anticipating one or more of the hopeful rare warm water sea birds of the canyon edges: Black-capped Petrel, White-faced Storm-Petrel or a Band-rumped Storm-Petrel. My warm water pelagic hopeful was a bit more ambitious: a White-tailed Tropicbird (insert laugh here)! The Tropicbird is one of the three tropical species I would like to note in New England waters. The other two pelagic species are the Magnificent Frigatebird (my favorite sea bird), and the Brown Booby. I have seen all three species in the Caribbean and Costa Rica, but the three species stand as a New England ocean quest for me. There is a bit of irony to my sea bird ambitions. This year I missed the Frigatebird photographed at Old Harbor, Block Island by two days, and I photographed a Brown Booby on the Gale Francis in 2001 at Coxes Ledge. The bird landed on the upper deck railing and allowed me to get so close, that I literally began to pet the bird as it sat there preening mere inches from me (watch for this story, it will be posted in the future on this blog). As it turns out, that Brown Booby was the third documented record sighting in Rhode Island. With one of my pelagic trinity photographed and noted, and another missed by only a few days, maybe the third species wasn’t reaching too far?
Brown Booby-Gale Francis May 2001...
Frigatebirds and Brown Boobies on shrimp boat- off Puntaranas, Costa Rica...
As we cast off and headed into the darkness, the anticipation of the day and the slight tease of dawn on the eastern horizon kept my eyes wide open. With the possibility of a quick nap in the remaining time (waiting for first light) fading as quickly as the night sky, it was time to start looking for birds! As the Helen H passed the mouth of the harbor, Captain Joe hit the throttle and the Helen H began to surge. With the 18-20 knot headway the wind surge over the bow strongly suggested to us that maybe we should find a seat on the bow benches giving us time to get use to the strong force of the headway. The dawn over Nantucket Sound was spectacular!
The dawn sky...
The sky filled with a palette of brilliant oranges, yellows and magenta. From the pulpit we began to see the first birds in the sky; Greater Black-backed and Herring Gulls. A single Common Tern flew across the bow heading outbound towards the s/east. More gulls appeared and then the first of 2 Gannets. Within a few minutes of passing the s/east tip of Martha’s Vineyard, the first pelagic species began appearing; a few Wilson’s Storm-Petrels, Greater Shearwater, Cory’s Shearwater, a pair of Manx Shearwater and the second and last Gannet of the day a third year bird.
Gannet...
Passing Martha’s Vineyard, a few more Wilson’s Storm-Petrels, Cory’s Shearwaters and the first Jaeger of the day: a huge dark morph Pomarine. The bird flew east, and was lost in the sun as the Helen H tried to follow the bird.
Pomarine Jaeger...
Within a few minutes of the Jaeger, a single Manx Shearwater passed nearby off the starboard bow of the vessel.
Manx Shearwater...
For the next hour or two, the birding was quiet as we passed over the “quiet water zone” North of the Canyon Ledges. For a better explanation of these areas, check the BBC pelagic site ( BBC Content: 2011 Pelagic Schedule ). As we settled into the “lull” in the trip, our adrenaline began to surge with the sighting of distant “blows” of whales on the near horizon. Discussions filled the decks with back-and-forth’s trying to identify the blow shapes as “columned” being Fin Whales and/or “more funnel-like” for Humpbacks. The whales soon surfaced and revealed their identity: Fin Whales. At one point, one of the giant Fin Whales surfaced near a passing tuna sport fishing boat, showing its large size in ratio to the vessel.
Fin Whale and tuna boat...
Continuing in a southerly direction and four hours into the trip, a single fin was spotted off the port bow about 200 yards distant. Approaching the fin revealed the first of two massive Basking Sharks, the second largest "fish" in the ocean. The shark was approx eighteen to twenty feet long and stayed very near the vessel for all of us to enjoy. The shark “basked” on the surface and then would sound a few yards down, only to re-appear again. We had great looks of this shark for fifteen minutes and it approached the Helen H very closely. From above on the pulpit, we could see the grey color to its skin, detailed with the unwanted scarring most likely from squid bites and parasites.
Basking Shark...
The birding was still slow with only an occasional Wilson’s Storm-Petrel or Greater Shearwater passing by the vessel. In the distance more whale blows were seen, and identified as Humpbacks, a Sperm Whale and a few more Fin Whales. Over the load speaker came a call of a giant Atlantic Manta off the starboard side; the first of two giants we saw that day. It was also huge appearing as twelve feet across its “wings”. The Manta had a very “bronzy” color to it, igniting quite a bit of discussion from the “experts on the upper deck” regarding its sub-species classification. It was an exciting find none-the-less! The highlight of the day (in my opinion) came within a few minutes of the Basking Shark and Manta. I noticed a large fin protruding from the surface of the sea. As I pointed to the object, an announcement came over the speaker of another Basking Shark. When Captain Joe expertly positioned the Helen H close to the shark, it became clear by the “spirited” announcement from the upper deck; this was not a Basking Shark, it was a WHALE SHARK, the largest "fish" in the sea! “HOLY COW” was exclaimed by many on the vessel; it was enormous!! You could see its spotted skin, huge tail fin and its triple ridges on its back. At one time the shark approached the vessel so close it actually bumped its head along the hull leaving a long swatch of blue paint along the side of its enormous head. This was a real thrill for everyone on the vessel including one of our hosts Steve Mirick! For wonderful images of this whale highlighting its massive size and scale of this fish, see Nick Bonomo’s blog Shorebirder ( Shorebirder: 16 Jul - BBC 'Extreme' Pelagic; WHALE SHARK, LT Jaegers+ ).
Whale Shark tail fin...
Whale Shark...
Whale Shark showing its characteristic three dorsal ridges...
As we said our good-bye’s to this awesome fish, we continued southerly. The birds were still sparse at this time with only a few Wilson’s Storm-petrels showing once in a while. Interestingly, we hadn’t seen a single Greater Shearwater in over two hours, giving more indication to the probability of their nocturnal dining. A pod of dolphins appeared and Captain Joe steered towards them. Within a short time, the species was identified: Grampus (aka-Risso’s Dolphins). Their large size was clearly evident, as well as the number of nearly white adults. It was an amazing site to see these beautiful nearly “fore” white dolphins steaming through the sea just below the surface occasionally breaking the surface for everyone to see.
Risso’s Dolphins...
After a short steam we approached deeper waters in the 500 foot range. Along the route we spotted more Risso’s Dolphins and two Blue Sharks basking on the surface. Soon after, a chum line was started and almost immediately a few Wilson’s Storm-petrels and Greater Shearwaters appeared. A few Leach’s Storm-petrels were sighted at the tail end and edge of the Wilson’s, keeping a distance from the vessel typical of this species.
Leach’s Storm-Petrel with Wilson’s Storm-Petrels...
Again, and excited announcement came over the loudspeaker of a possible Sea Turtle off the starboard side about a hundred yards out. Not sure if it is a Leatherback, Green or Loggerhead Turtle but it was swimming directly towards the vessel. As it approached closer, it was identified as a Loggerhead Sea Turtle and a fairly large one. The turtle swam closer to the vessel and at one time “peeked out” at the Helen H only to sound and disappear into the depths- another great sighting.
Loggerhead Sea Turtle underwater...
Loggerhead Sea Turtle “peeking”...
The chumming produced very little except for the good number of Wilson’s Storm-Petrels and a few outside Leach’s Storm-Petrels. We all got a bit worked up with the possible sightings of a Band-rumped Storm-Petrel and a White-faced Storm-Petrel, but the sightings went un-confirmed.
Heading to deeper water the only birds seen were the Wilson’s and a few Leach’s and Greater Shearwaters. Along the trip however, we saw many Portuguese Man-Of-War Jellyfish, which although transparent, are quite beautiful both in shape and ambient reflected coloring.
Man-Of-War...
Finally we reached our destination of the Canyon Slope at 1,000 feet; unfortunately no birds. Captain Joe searched valiantly with all his experience and knowledge, but there were no birds there. It was announced that the water was approx. 5 degrees cooler than they would have liked. Maybe the cooler water temps in conjunction with the full moon explained the lack of avian species in the area. In fact we didn’t see any “roosting” birds on the water all the way out, never “kicked” any off the water. The birds were rafted someplace, just not there. With the last hour of available birding time remaining, they decided to run another chum line. All at once the numbers of Wilson’s Storm-Petrels increased until there were approx 50 or more feeding off the stern of the Helen H.
Feeding group of Wilson’s Storm-Petrels...
Closer views feeding Petrels...
Close-up Wilson’s Storm-Petrel...
The numbers of Wilson’s increased and occasional call outs of “Leach’s” could be heard shouted from the upper and lower decks, of course typically they would be on the outer peripheral of the feeding Wilson’s along the chum slick.
Leach’s Storm-Petrel...
To enhance the birding experience, I wanted to entertain everyone on board with something that I have been doing for a very long time. Since I am a professional bird carver/avian artist and have been carving for my profession for over thirty-five years, it has become a part of my birding experiences of all types and locations. This will be explained fully in Part Two of this blog report (below). While the feeding activity of the Wilson’s Storm-Petrels continued along the chum line, a shadowy figure appeared 50 yards off the stern in the shape of a large fin. Suddenly I could hear Quint singing “Farewell Spanish Ladies” (from Jaws) in my head as a large shark showed itself in the chum line. It was a large Tiger Shark, the first one that I have ever seen, and a real beauty. It peeked over at us a few times, and then sounded only to re-appear again, this time closer to the stern. I hurried my pace with what I was doing and then it disappeared from view.
Tiger Shark...
Our time was about up, but the generous Captain Joe gave us “just a little more time” to see if something would happen. Although not much did, I enjoyed watching all the Storm–Petrels feeding on the chum slick off the stern of the vessel. There continued to be a good showing of Storm-Petrels, but where were all the Greater Shearwaters…..they were nearly absent? The boat headed in and a bit east at a slower pace just in case birds were found. Along the way, a small raft of 36 Greater Shearwaters were found taking it easy roosting on the water. Soon another group of nearly 50 birds, also Greater Shearwaters were found roosting on the water. Things were starting to look up; unfortunately it was late in our search, and we had to steam home.
It seemed like we had traveled only a short time and distance when all of the sudden the entire surface of the sea at the stern of the boat was covered with Greater Shearwaters. Where did they come from, why now? More and more Greater Shearwaters appeared which included a single Manx Shearwater.
Group of Greater Shearwaters...
At this point, there were approx. two hundred Greater Shearwaters in the water gorging themselves on the tossed over offal offerings from the very seasoned mates who were “on top of things”! The birds were so close to the vessel they were literally below your feet. The chorus of their feeding calls intermingled with the sounds of the frantic splashing of the diving birds. Because of the very clear water, you could see the swirling shapes and outlines of the Shearwaters as they disappeared below the surface of the sea.
Close-up Shearwater periscoping...
Diving Shearwater...
Since Captain Joe had given us an extra hour on the water, it was now time to say good-bye to our Shearwater and Wilson Storm-Petrel friends and head home. With a six hour plus ride home, the throttle was pushed strong and the Helen H headed north for port. After twelve hours on the sea it was now time to sit, relax and reflect on the day, and what a day it was! It was slow by birding standards, but not by pelagic fish and mammals. Tom and I sat there and talked about the day, of course now with much reduced energy. The seats along the vessel were packed side by side with everyone apparently doing the same thing, and a few eye lids drooping a bit. I mentioned to Tom, that the only thing that we didn’t see that day was an Ocean Sunfish. Ironically within a half an hour, a call came out over the p.a. system “we just saw a Mola-Mola off the stern of the vessel”!
Heading into the cabin for a little “power–nap” everyone was quiet. Many were entering their findings in their journals, some were reading, some were looking through their cameras of images from the day, and most were grabbing some much needed sleep. I fell asleep for about an hour and a half, when it was announced that dinner was being served. After a long day on the water with a cold sandwich and a few slices of dried mango, a hot dinner of baked ziti, meatballs and salad sounded delicious….and it was! After everyone finished their supper about two and a half hours into the trip, the call of “Long-Tailed Jaeger” passionately exclaimed over the loudspeaker. The bird flew out into the distance, and Captain Joe was right on it. The bird landed on the water, and soon was a hundred feet from the bow. The bird took off and landed several times and flew out ahead of the vessel for quite a while.
Long-tailed Jaeger...
After the Jaeger grew tired of us, it headed west and soon disappeared. For the next few hours, a few Cory's Shearwaters were spotted but not much else. Soon another call of Jaeger could be heard over the p. a. system, and sure enough, another Jaeger was visible off the port side of the vessel about two hundred yards out. The announcement said another Long-tailed, but then a little "back-and-forth" discussion about the bird, some thought a female Long-tailed or a male Parasitic because of the overlapping size.
Long-tailed Jaeger #2...
Long-tailed Jaeger #2 heading into the setting sun...
The day ended just as it began. We again marveled at the multi-colored palette of colors from the sun, this time falling into the sea. The drive home for many of us would be long, but it would be done with a smile on our faces and stories in our hearts. Thank you again to Ida, Steve, Marshall, Jeremiah and Naeem; you did it again!!
Setting sun...
Click here to go to Part 2 of this trip report
Keith Mueller
Killingworth, CT
