Hyannis to Hydrographer/Veatch Canyon pelagic (General), Nantucket, Massachusetts, US
Aug 20, 2016 6:00 AM – 7:00 PM
Protocol: Traveling
140.0 mile(s)
Comments: First day of BBC Extreme Pelagic to the Continental Shelf edge. We cruised through the Nantucket Shoals towards Hydrographer Canyon, headed east from there, through Dogbody Canyon and towards Welker. We hit cooler, greener water on our way to Welker, so we turned around and headed into deeper, warmer water for our dusk chum session.
40 species (+3 other taxa)
Mallard 15 in Hyannis Harbor
Common Loon 2 Nantucket Shoals
Black-capped Petrel 1 *Rare but regular here; passed down the port side at dusk; brief and rather distant views for only some passengers.
Cory’s Shearwater 911 Most on Nantucket Shoals; carefully estimated and counted
Cory’s Shearwater (Scopoli’s) 1 At least one photographed
Great Shearwater 186
Sooty Shearwater 58 Great views on Nantucket Shoals
Manx Shearwater 10 Great views on Nantucket Shoals
Audubon’s Shearwater 2 Regular in these warm waters up on the shelf; small shearwater with relatively long tail, dark undertail, fluttering wingbeats.
Wilson’s Storm-Petrel 1383 Carefully counted throughout the day; mostly concentrated around our couple chum sessions.
White-faced Storm-Petrel 2 One bird gave all passengers great close views; another was leader-only. Regular here.
Leach’s Storm-Petrel 30 *Exact count; large, long-winged, brown storm-petrel with obvious buffy carpal bar, forked tail. Regular in small numbers in these waters.
Band-rumped Storm-Petrel 3 *Rare but regular in these warm deep waters. One near dusk gave us several nice close passes; otherwise quick and distant views. Large storm-petrel similar to Leach’s but generally colder brown with less distinct carpal bar, more squared-off tail, and different flight style – more shearing, less erratic and bounding, with glides on smoothly bowed wings.
Double-crested Cormorant 14
Osprey 2 Hyannis Harbor
Whimbrel 45 Estimate. Close flyby flock during our dusk chumming (!!!); always amazing to see shorebirds migrating so far offshore.
Hudsonian Godwit 5 Exact count; all visible in photo. With Whimbrel flock; flyby at dusk (!!!). Always amazing to see shorebirds migrating so far offshore.
Red-necked Phalarope 81 Exact count; most on Nantucket Shoals, where regular in decent numbers.
Red Phalarope 10 Exact count. Larger and paler than Red Phalarope; seems more buoyant and sits higher on the water.
Pomarine Jaeger 2 Great jaeger show over the Nantucket Shoals; at least two bulky Poms, but views were rather distant.
Parasitic Jaeger 2 Great jaeger show over the Nantucket Shoals; at least two Parasitics but views were rather distant.
Long-tailed Jaeger 6 Great jaeger show over the Nantucket Shoals was highlighted by great numbers of Long-tails. Mix of ages including at least one fresh scalloped juv, one third-summer type, and a few first-summers.
jaeger sp. 5 distant birds
Bonaparte’s Gull 1
Laughing Gull 10
Herring Gull 78
Lesser Black-backed Gull 7 Regular over Nantucket Shoals. Mix of ages, mostly first and second-summers. At least one was close to adult, and one juv.
Great Black-backed Gull 44
Least Tern 4
Black Tern 1
Roseate Tern 41 Many calling adults and juvs with Common Terns over Nantucket Shoals; see photos.
Common Tern 562
Forster’s Tern 1
Sterna sp. 30
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) 50
American Crow 6
Tree Swallow 1 Flying around with Wilson’s Storm-Petrels in our slick at dusk! Our first offshore record, I believe.
American Robin 8 dawn flyovers
European Starling 60
Cedar Waxwing 22 dawn flyovers
Common Grackle 165 dawn flyovers
House Finch 12
House Sparrow 25
View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/
Hyannis to Hydrographer/Veatch Canyon pelagic (General), Nantucket, Massachusetts, US
Aug 21, 2016 5:30 AM – 5:30 PM
Protocol: Traveling
140.0 mile(s)
Comments: Day two of BBC Extreme Pelagic. We drifted overnight towards Hydrographer Canyon, and spent much of the morning slowly cruising along the shelf edge west of there. We headed back up through Veatch’s Canyon and back over the Nantucket Shoals before heading in to Hyannis
19 species (+2 other taxa)
Cory’s Shearwater 221 Exact count; most on Nantucket Shoals
Great Shearwater 36
Sooty Shearwater 3
Manx Shearwater 2
Audubon’s Shearwater 3 Regular in the warm shelf waters
Wilson’s Storm-Petrel 221
White-faced Storm-Petrel 4 Along the shelf edge between Hydro and Veatch’s, including close views of one sitting on water.
Leach’s Storm-Petrel 21 Regular here
Band-rumped Storm-Petrel 3 A few quick flybys in the shelf waters
Pectoral Sandpiper 2 Flyover pair; photographed.
peep sp. 1 maybe Sanderling
Red-necked Phalarope 2
Parasitic Jaeger 1
Long-tailed Jaeger 4 Over Nantucket Shoals; regular here. At least two definitely first-summers. Photos:
jaeger sp. 1
Lesser Black-backed Gull 1 juv on Nantucket Shoals
Great Black-backed Gull 3
Black Tern 3 with tern masses on Nantucket Shoals
Roseate Tern 12 with tern masses on Nantucket Shoals
Common Tern 725
Forster’s Tern 1 with tern masses on Nantucket Shoals
View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/
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