Sunday's trip was a success, with the weather holding back long enough for
us to get in a great trip.As we cleared Jones Inlet, winds were blowing
about 10 knots. The usual winter waterfowl and gulls were flying around,
and our designated Chum Monkey (not a derogatory term, as this was the
person responsible for the killer looks we got at some of our birds) started
right away.
Our path took us 18 miles due south offshore, crossing rocky undersea
habitat which is good for holding baitfish, and hence attracting seabirds.
We then moved east, and returned to Jones Inlet at an angle so that as the
afternoon winds picked up, they were on our rear quarter. This gave us a
pretty comfortable ride back in, despite the strengthening winds.
Within about 5 miles of leaving the inlet, we started to find flocks of
RAZORBILL flying west. One single flock had 25 individuals. This is
probably part of the same movement that brought so many Razorbills to
Montauk earlier. Razorbills continued to show up throughout the day, giving
us an excellent total of over 200 birds.
Further offshore, we found our first sitting alcid. As we approached, we
were able to clearly ID a winter plumaged COMMON MURRE. After enjoying that
bird, we moved a short distance and found two more Common Murres, on in
winter plumage and one molting into it's summer finery. We continued to find
Common Murres outside of 10 miles, and ended up with an excellent count of
33 birds. This was short of our record of 49 birds in 2008, but it was
still good enough to be New York's second highest count, surpassing our 20
bird total from 2006. We have now found this species in numbers in 4 out of
4 trips, with our worst year being 9 birds in 2007. During the trip, I was
gently lobbying the NYSARC members aboard to remove this species from the
review list.
A nice surprise was a sitting ATLANTIC PUFFIN. Often we have to go further
offshore to find this species. It was a very dark faced and dark billed
individual, indicating that it was a young of the year. A second Puffin,
also a young bird, was seen flying by the boat later in the day.
By keeping a steady stream of chum going, we always had a flock of gulls
behind the boat. This brought in some of the more desirable gull species,
and even caused several RAZORBILLS to make close passes by the stern or land
near the boat. Early in the trip we had a first winter plumaged ICELAND
GULL come in to the chum and put on a stellar show. Later we also had a
full adult bird come in close to the boat and show off. The real star of
the chum slick show, though, had to be the BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKES. While
many came in, checked us out, and flew off (as these birds often do), we had
a number of them that stuck with us. They put on quite a show as they flew
amongst the other gulls and quickly snatched up pieces of chum.
Before we finally returned to the dock, we checked out the jetties just
outside the inlet and found a male HARLEQUIN DUCK, a number of COMMON EIDER,
and several HARBOR SEALS. We returned to the dock, shuttled those people
taking the train over to the station, and called it a very successful day.
Final counts for all species were:
Brant - 40
Black Duck - 40
Greater Scaup - 5
Surf Scoter - 20
Black Scoter - 30
White-winged Scoter - 40
dark-winged scoter sp. - 56
Harlequin Duck - 1 (male)
Long-tailed Duck - 500+
Common Eider - 273
Red-breasted Merganser - 35
Red-throated Loon - 50+
Common Loon - 36
Horned Grebe - 1
Northern Gannet - 40
Great Cormorant - 1
Double-crested Cormorant - 4
Bonaparte's Gull - 75
Ring-billed Gull - 16
Herring Gull - 300+
Iceland Gull - 2 (1st basic and ad.)
Great Black-backed Gull - 60+
Black-legged Kittiwake - 73 (only 8 1st basic)
Common Murre - 33
Razorbill - 202
large alcid sp. - 78
Atlantic Puffin - 2 (both 1st basic)
Harbor Seal - 3
Although we have no other trips scheduled out of Freeport this year, two
trips out of Belmar, NJ will be going to New York pelagic waters.
Thanks to my leaders, an excellent captain and crew, and all who
participated.
-PAG
--
Paul A. Guris
See Life Paulagics
PO Box 161
Green Lane, PA 18054
215-234-6805
[email protected]
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