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June 26, 2010 Veatch's Canyon to Hydrographer's Canyon From Hyannis The first of this year's deep-water pelagic trips by the Brookline Bird Club BBC) was a great success. Although we did not find any unusual birds, we did have spectacular marine mammals (including a mega-rarity), as well as a very rare sea turtle and an overall great pelagic experience. There were lots of birds around all day.
We departed Hyannis aboard the Helen H at 4:00 am and within a half-hour it started getting light and we saw our first seabird, a Cory's Shearwater, well within Nantucket Sound. We passed just east of Nantucket on a direct route to Veatch Canyon, at which point we slowed down and cruised into deeper water while laying a chum slick. After a big loop offshore, we turned and crossed the Continental Shelf just west of Hydrographer Canyon and headed back towards Hyannis. Here is Steve Mirick's map of the route.
Highlights of the trip were many. There was a light SW or WSW wind in the morning, but for much of the day the winds were negligible offshore. Seas were very light, making it very easy to spot birds on the water. On the way out we had a nice group of birds over a small pod of Common Dolphins, including all four species of shearwaters. Before reaching the continental shelf, we turned around for a sea turtle and we all had great studies as the small animal swam alongside the boat and provided great looks. The scute pattern and scalation of the head revealed it to be a GREEN SEA TURTLE, a rare species this far north (Loggerhead, Leatherback, and Ridley are the three more likely species in Massachusetts, and this was a first for these trips). Some lucky people got to see it tangle with a shark briefly, and after the tussle, the turtle swam right towards us revealing an obvious bite mark in its shell. We also noticed a bright banded pilotfish under the turtle. Both the fish and the bite mark are visible in photos such as this one: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jrtrimble/4742996574/in/set-72157624377613380/ From just beyond Nantucket Shoals until the continental Shelf we were seeing lots of Leach's Storm-Petrels, so had great opportunities to study their field marks at sea. Our total of 138 was the highest ever for these trips. The species was most common over the deep water beyond the Shelf, where we had up to 40 in some half-hour segments. Best of all, they responded to our chum and came right in to the back of the boat;
Luke Seitz and others got great images of this usually hard-to-photograph species: http://www.flickr.com/photos/51533299AT N05/4741240556/in/photostream/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/51533299AT N05/4741241856/in/photostream/ Overall chumming worked great in the offshore waters, although we were unable to chum in any mega-rarities, it was certainly a joy to see so many storm-petrels and shearwaters around the boat during the entirety of our time in the waters far offshore. The highlight of all were the whales. After a couple distant spouts, we spotted a baleen whale that was moving really fast and we sped up to keep pace. Its identification was elusive to us at first, and it was not until photos came back that we realized it was a small BLUE WHALE. See photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jrtrimble/4743004238/in/set-72157624377613380/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/ryser915/4739377022/in/set-72157624244791609/ This species is seen only very rarely off New England, and this was unquestionably our rarest find of the trip. Amazingly, we got photos of a second animal about an hour later. (See new page on this site for the Blue Whale ) http://www.flickr.com/photos/ryser915/4739373462/in/set-72157624244791609/ A bit later we had more excitement with a Fin Whale and then a close SPERM WHALE that provided great close looks for all on board. Photos by Ryan Schain: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ryser915/4739364730/in/set-72157624244791609/ On the way back in we had nice looks at Risso's Dolphins and Pilot Whales, and the finale was a group of 450 Common Dolphins that completely surrounded us with their attendant shearwaters.
TOTALS: Greater Shearwater - 459 Cory's Shearwater - 82 (all seen well consistent with C. d.
borealis,
although a couple interesting individuals were photographed with
thinner bills and slightly more white in primaries)
Manx Shearwater - 24 (a high count for this trip; one bird was far offshore beyond the Continental Shelf--an area we don't often see this species. See this photo by Luke Seitz:
Sooty Shearwater - 27
MAMMALS etc. Short-beaked Common Dolphin - 450 (great groups of several hundred) Pilot Whale - 17 (one area with several small groups) FISH etc. Half-beak - x (1 school) Yellowfin Tuna - 4 (2 seen, 2 caught; everyone went home with fresh tuna steaks!) Bluefin Tuna - 1 (caught)
Blue Shark - ~8 shark sp. - ~6 Mola mola - 2 Portuguese Man-o-war - 1 Thanks as always to the BBC (and Ida in particular) for making sure this trip went, to Capt. Joe, Matt the mate, and the rest of the Helen H for these consistently professional and accommodating trips. Every data point we get from these far offshore waters is fascinating. It seems that Audubon's Shearwater may not show up here until later (the earliest records in Veit and Petersen are mid-July), and perhaps the same is true of Band-rumped Storm-Petrel. The fact remains that these are the most undiscovered waters of Massachusetts, so we are all looking forward to the August overnight pelagic which will afford more opportunity to ply these waters. If you haven't yet signed up for this trip I encourage you to do so soon. Space is more limited (due to bunk space) and this is the ideal time of year for White-faced Storm-Petrel. Last year's trip had 8 Band-rumped and a whopping SIX White-faced, making it the most successful White-faced Storm-Petrel trip ever. It seems that these trips are succeeding in proving that these waters are the most consistent area for White-faced Storm-Petrel off Massachusetts, so hopefully this year will see a repeat performance! Sign up now! Best, Marshall Iliff PS - I will be sharing eBird checklists with all participants. The checklists will be broken down as a summary list as well as half-hourly totals, which show the differences in where the birds are distributed on the trip. Marshall J. Iliff miliff AT aol.com West Roxbury, MA eBird/AKN Project Leader www.ebird.org www.avianknowledge.net Cornell Lab of Ornithology Ithaca, NY As usual, I've put together a few maps of the course we took on
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