New England
Seabirds
News
Seabirds
Other Sea
Animals
Where To
Find Seabirds
Pelagic
Trips
Reports
Breeding
Colonies
Conservation
Mail Box
Links
Wandering
Birder
References
| Reports | 2001 Isle of Shoals | Search |Comments | Site Map |
2001 Isle of Shoals |
 |
 |
On Boon Island a flock of 650 Purple Sandpipers were resting on the rocks. This shot shows a small portion of the group. The total Purple Sandpiper count was a record 1,650. |
| A good supply of stale bread for chum attracted gulls including Kittiwakes. We also had good numbers of Gannets. |
 |
 |
Along with the pelagic species listed below, there are species that were counted on Star Island when determined birders jumped off the boat to swarm the island with radios in hand. |
Northern Gannet- 31
Great Cormorant- 120
American Black Duck- 40
Common Eider- 620
Surf Scoter- 16
White-winged Scoter- 25
Black Scoter- 2
Common Golden-eye- 2
Red-breasted Merganser- 45
Common Merganser- 4
Long-tailed Duck- 59
Ruddy Turnstone- 8
Purple Sandpiper- 1650 **
Ssanderling- 125
Dunlin- 1
Bonaparth's Gull- 7
Ring Bill Gull- 1
Herring Gull- 1625
Great Black-backed Gull- 350
Black-legged Kittiwake- 50
Jaeger sp.- 1
Razorbill- 4
Black Guillemot- 40
Murre sp..- 2
Alcid sp..- 3
Snowy Owl- 6
European Starling- 30
Yellow-rumped Warbler- 3
Yellow-breasted Chat- 1 (banded)
Orange-crowned Warbler- 1
Song Sparrow- 4
White-throated Sparrow- 1
Snow Bunting- 30
Northern Cardinal- 2
Common Redpoll- 2
American Goldfinch- 3
In addition to the species listed above that were counted for the CBC, there was a flock of 30 geese or brant, but the species could not be positively identified. Also, there was great discussion and debate over two gulls which resulted in neither of them being confidently identified to species. Another highlight of the trip was seeing two finback whales!
Trip Route:
Counting started at Whaleback Light. We went first to Boon Island, and then to the Shoals landing on Star Island. For map of the Isle of Shoals ->Map
 |
A total of 6 Snowy Owls were counted . One dead bird was found and another so weak it was captured and take to rehabilitation. Unfortunately that bird survived only 12 hours. This bird appears healthy and was last seen perched on a building on Star Island. |
| Here is the Gulf Challenger docked at Star Island with Smuttynose in the background. Notice the sunny weather. |
 |
 |
Isle of Shoals CBC Compiler 2001 Megan McElroy sawwhet@metrocast.net |