BBC Extreme Pelagic Birding June 2010

This past Saturday, I joined the Brookline Bird club once again for one of their "Extreme Pelagic Birding" trips.  The BBC runs at least 3 pelagic birding trips each year, leaving from Hyannis MA, and steaming out to the edge of the continental shelf, and each lasting a (very) full day or are overnight trips.  I've written before about some of these trips.  I am not sure I have the intestinal fortitude to handle an overnight trip, but I really enjoy the full day trips.  And when I say "full day," I mean it!

We leave port at 4am (meaning that we need to be in Hyannis by no later than 3:30am) and usually don't get back in until after 10pm. And like any pelagic trip (or almost any birding trip for that matter) you never know quite what you are going to see.  Some trips are amazing with either unbelievable numbers of birds, or species that you didn't expect (one trips had 6 White-faced Storrm-petrels, another picked up a first US record Macronesian Shearwater), others might be low on the bird front, but have great whale sightings, and then every now and again, you get one that just seems to be a bust.  Luckily, I have never had a "bust" trip.  I should note also, that a bad trip for one birder might be a great trip for another - I think it all has to do with expectations, and sometimes where you are situated on the boat (and if you happen to get seasick.)

Greater Shearwater                                                                   Cory's Shearwater

On this particular trip, we didn't see anything especially rare on on the bird front - we saw the four 'expected' shearwater species for New England waters: Greater, Cory's, Manx and Sooty.  Also we saw the two more common storm-petrels: the worldwide abundant Wilson's and the less common Leach's which we got really great looks at.  I think that the avian highlight of the trip for many were actually the several close-up looks we had at the Leach's Storm-petrels, as we usually only get a few on a trip, and often times they are flying away from the boat.  We had at least 6-7 on this trip, and a few actually flew pretty close to the boat, giving everybody really good comparative looks so that it was quite easy to differentiate them from the numerous Wilson's Storm-petrels.

Wilson's Storm-petrels dancing on the water

 Leach's Storm-petrel

The other highlight of the trip were the other ocean-going critters that we encountered.  We stumbled across a few pods of Common Dolphins which are always a treat to see, especially as they come in close to the boat to 'play' in the wake.

And we encountered not one, but two Blue Whales - certainly not common for our New England waters, as well a single Sperm Whale, a few Pilot Whales, and Risso's Dolphins.

Another highlight, and another first for these trips, was a Green Sea Turtle.

One disadvantage of staying on the lower deck of these trips (which is great for bird photography) is that it's pretty difficult to see (or photograph) the cool things that are just below the surface.  The folks on the second deck not only got great looks at the turtle, but also of a shark that apparently approached the turtle and took a bite out of it's carapace!!  For some really excellent photos, check out these by one of the trip's guides.

Inasmuch as the birds went, even though there was not a lot of variety, I enjoyed my first pelagic trip using the new camera, and playing with the settings, trying to follow flying birds, etc.  I think I did a lot better with it than I had with my mega-zoom in the past, and although maybe not as adept with it as many of the other fine photographers on board (thanks to those who had suggestions and tips for me) I'm pretty happy with the results.

*** ADDENDUM: For those that are interested, Steve Mirick (one of the great spotters/leaders of this trip) has posted some additional interesting info from the trip.
A map showing the route of the trip is here
A chart showing all the species that have been seen on these BBC pelagic trips can be found here

Bird Photography Weekly #96

Greater Shearwater - Puffinus gravis

Photos were taken during a Brookline Bird Club "Extreme Pelagic" birding trip this past weekend. Easily, the Greater Shearwater was one of the most commonly seen birds of the trip. More photos of this species as well as others will follow later with week.


PS - as always click on the photos to see larger versions!



To see some great bird photos from around the world, check out:

The inside of a legend

Well, a legend among birders anyway. The Ivory-billed Woodpecker and its status among the extant bids of the world still is debated, although without any definitive proof (ie a good, clear, un-doctored, acceptable, photograph of a live bird) in the several years of searching since Cornell Lab of O. initially announced that the bird had been re-found, the debate has quieted down a bit.  For many of us, the closest we will ever come to seeing this bird is in museum specimens (I'm lucky to live so close to Boston where there are specimens on display in the Museum of Science as well as close to Harvard's Museum of Comparative Zoology) or seeing older pics on-line.

There is a page I stumbled across years ago, and revisit every now and again, but I don't believe I ever shared it with my readers.  The Digimorph page contains a "library is a dynamic archive of information on digital morphology and high-resolution X-ray computed tomography of biological specimens."
(Anyone remember that line from the classic 80's song "Turning Japanese" by the Vapors - "I want the doctor to take your picture, so I can look at you from inside as well - well these folks are doing it for us on specimens from nature)

Of course, one of the first things I did was search on woodpeckers, and they have not one, not two, but three CT scans of an Ivory-billed Woodpecker specimen.
Head shot with skin and feathering 
Full body with skin and feathering 
Head shot of skeleton only

(They also have one of a Golden-fronted Woodpecker as well)

There are a few things I'd like to point out about this - they are not just photos but movies of the CT scans that can be shown from several different views and can be "scrubbed" so you can stop and examine the views.  My personal favorites are the "3d Volume Rendered movies" and if you don't look at anything else, check out the ones of the skeletal head shot which show the "hyoid apparatus" and the horns wrapping around the back of the head and into the eye socket.
(For those of you that wish to learn a bit more about these terms which refer to the tongue, here is a fantastic article about the Anatomy and Evolution of the Woodpecker's Tongue.)

Wordless Wednesday 6/23/10

Baby Snapping Turtle

Get Wordless over at Wordless Wednesday

Bird Photography Weekly #95

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker - Sphyrapicus varius

PS - as always click on the photos to see larger versions!



To see some great bird photos from around the world, check out: