(by Steve Mirick and Slater Roosa)

New Hampshire Audubon’s Massabesic Center recently sponsored an all-day pelagic bird trip aboard the “Granite State” out of Rye Harbor, NH. The weather was excellent with clear skies and moderate winds, which died down by about noon. We traveled east to the Isles of Shoals where we wandered around the islands looking for odds & ends and enjoying the beauty. We then continued off-shore forming a counter-clockwise loop following the State line east over the “Scantums” area and dipping briefly into MA waters before turning north over Jeffrey’s Ledge, then looping back over the inside edge of Jeffrey’s Ledge before heading back home.

The trip was highlighted by one of the most intense and exciting single hours of pelagic birding ever experienced on this boat. We started out by chasing a beautiful dark morph Pomarine Jaeger inside of Jeffrey’s Ledge in NH waters, a very rare sighting for NH. While chasing this bird, we were giving up when we noticed a juvenile Long-tailed Jaeger that was feeding by dipping down to the surface repeatedly and allowing us to get some close views. After several approaches to this bird, a second jaeger appeared and we chased after this new bird. It landed on the water and we approached for nice views. Another Pomarine Jaeger flew into view soon after! After seeing these birds, the entire boat was exhausted and cheering. Just five minutes later we came across a South Polar Skua – only the second ever for the State of NH! About a half hour later we found another South Polar Skua. All this was combined with nice views of Great and Cory’s Shearwaters which worked the area with the jaegers and skuas.

Thank you to Jon Woolf and Slater Roosa for organizing this trip through the Massabesic Audubon Center and to Steve Mirick, Jane Mirick, Becky Suomala, and Captain Pete Reynolds and crew for helping to spot whales and birds!

Bird sighting list:

• Common Eider: 314 – Most at Smuttynose Island
• Surf Scoter: 3
• Black Scoter: 3
• Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon): 7 – Rye harbor
• Ruby-throated Hummingbird: 1 – Offshore
• American Oystercatcher: 5 – One on Seavey Island and four on Lunging Island
• Killdeer: 1 – Rye harbor
• Semipalmated Plover: 11 – Two offshore and nine in Rye harbor
• Red-necked Phalarope: 1
• Red/Red-necked Phalarope: 4
• Spotted Sandpiper: 2 – One in Rye harbor and one on Isles of Shoals
• Greater Yellowlegs: 1 – Rye harbor
• Ruddy Turnstone: 5 – Isles of Shoals
• Red Knot: 1 – Juvenile photographed on Square Rock
• Sanderling: 2 – One in Rye harbor and one on Isles of Shoals
• Pectoral Sandpiper: 1 – Photographed offshore
• Semipalmated Sandpiper: 1 – Rye harbor
• peep sp.: 4 – Rye harbor
• shorebird sp.: 3 – Isles of Shoals
• Long-tailed Jaeger: 1 – Fresh juvenile in NH waters inside of Jeffrey’s Ledge.  Remarkable feeding behavior as it hovered over the ocean and dipped to surface over and over again; apparently grabbing small fish or unknown organisms at the surface. First NH record since 2011.
• Pomarine Jaeger: 3 – Two adults including ONE SPECTACULAR ADULTDARK MORPH WITH SPOONS! (adults with full central tail feathers are very rarely seen in NH) Also a 3rd Pomarine initially identified as a Parasitic, but photographs show it to be a 3rd Pomarine. We had hoped for the Jaeger/Skua “Grand Slam”, but no luck.
• South Polar Skua: 2 – Incredibly TWO different South Polar Skuas on Jeffrey’s Ledge. Both well seen and photographed from close range. One inside of the ledge in NH waters and the second one a bit further out on the ledge in MA waters. Birds showed distinctly different wing molt. The New Hampshire bird is a 2nd State record for NH with the first one being on this same NH Audubon trip on 9/3/18.
• jaeger sp.: 5
• Black Guillemot: 14 – All around Isles of Shoals. Some juveniles noted with adults.
• Bonaparte’s Gull: 1 – Inside of Isles of Shoals
• Laughing Gull: 3 – All inside of Isles of Shoals
• Ring-billed Gull: 6 – Rye harbor
• Herring Gull: 57 – Only about 27 offshore
• Great Black-backed Gull: 52 –  Count of birds offshore. Surprisingly, no definite Lesser Black-backed Gulls seen for the day.
• Common Tern: 3 – All offshore
• Common Loon: 2 – Inside of Isles of Shoals
• Wilson’s Storm-Petrel: 22 – Rather low number for this trip
• Cory’s Shearwater: 18 – Nice views and photos
• Great Shearwater: 28 – Nice views and photos
• Manx Shearwater: 6 – Nice views and photos
• shearwater sp.: 4
• Northern Gannet: 5 – All but one inside of Isles of Shoals
• Great Cormorant: 8 – All on Isles of Shoals.
• Double-crested Cormorant: 89
• Great Blue Heron: 3 – Rye harbor
• Osprey: 2 – Rye harbor
• Bald Eagle: 1 – Adult in Rye harbor
• Merlin: 1 – One on Seavey Island
• Tree Swallow: 30 – Rye harbor
• Barn Swallow: 2 – Just outside of Rye harbor
• European Starling:15 – Rye harbor
• Cedar Waxwing: 5 – Migrant birds offshore
• Northern Waterthrush: 1 – Photographed migrant offshore
• passerine sp: 3 – Offshore migrants

Cover image: Manx Shearwater photographed on the trip by Steve Mirick.