Diario de tianshuo

Birding Trip on Barbara Frost, absolutely amazing bird colony at Machias Seal Island

Trip Note on Captain's Lady III of Newburyport Whale Watch with Naturalist Kristin Daley:

We travelled 49.73 miles on the water. Travelled from overcast 90°F Newburyport Harbor to Jeffreys Ledge, close to North Shore Ocean Sanctuary and The Salvages, about 74°F in the open ocean, partly sunny skies, very low waves and no winds. Saw my FOY & Lifer harbor porpoise in MA waters, I previously saw a lot of them in ME waters (like Boothbay Harbor and Downeast Maine).

We spotted 4 humpback whale individuals, including Satula, Clamp and her 2024 calf. Forgot the other individual's name we saw beside Satula.

We also observed almost all species of shearwaters that mostly common in Massachusetts waters: Cory’s shearwater, Manx shearwater, and great shearwater (We didn't see any sooty shearwater though). Additionally, we saw 20+ Wilson’s storm-petrels and 27 Great Black-backed Gulls in the open ocean. I even had a brief glimpse of a tiny warbler-like bird several miles north over The Salvages. I’m not sure what it could be—perhaps a migrating yellow warbler (no photos taken)?

Update 8/5/2024: The other humpback whale individual is identified as Pinball by another Facebook group member from Whale Watchers in the North Atlantic.

Update 8/7/2024: Per Happy Whale, we also had a glimpse of a whale named Sedge: https://happywhale.com/user/30868;enc=480552

Puffin Cruise with Isle au Haut Boat Services' Seal Island Puffin Watch tour.
See my eBird checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S181936786

08/10/2024 We were aboard the Whale Watcher for the 2:30 PM Hyannis Whale Watcher Cruises trip, traveling from Barnstable Harbor to Race Point. We spotted numerous laughing gulls, common terns, a Bonaparte's gull, and a least tern (unconfirmed), among other seabirds.

We also observed several marine mammals, including:
1 minke whale
4 humpback whales (Sprinkles, Woodwind, Azrael, Quote)
2 Atlantic white-sided dolphins
1 fin whale (we did not spot the second fin whale that naturalist Kali observed)
1 gray seals
1 harbor seals

The total travel distance was 84.96 miles (73.83 nautical miles).

Hike from Race Point Beach to Race Point Lighthouse and Back.
Also on Dolphin IX, Dolphin Fleet Whale Watch 4:00 PM trip, naturalist was Dennis Minsky.

A hot but pleasant beach day, hiked 4.3 miles on Race Point Beach loop. Then, began trip on Dolphin X (2PM) to Stellwagen Bank, Provincetown and Race Point Waters. We saw numerous short-beaked common dolphins, a minke whale, many humpback whale including Nile. Very pleased trip.