9/9/2002 - Cashes Ledge

POMARINE JAEGER photo by Steve Sauter

Trip Leader Summary
Report from Steve Mirick
The Cashe's Ledge trip ended up being a wonderful success yesterday. Not for the rarities, but for the great weather, spectacular views, and the nearly constant supply of birds and marine mammals to look at. From soon after we left the harbor until arriving back to the harbor nearly 11 hours later, we had pelagic birds in site most of the time. And ending the day with a mother and calf Humpback, tail lobbing and bubble feeding in the setting sun among a large flock of Common and Roseate Terns and Greater Shearwaters, was a great finale! Many thanks to Rick Heil for his incredible eyes, picking out jaegers at the limit of visibility, and also thanks to Rick for keeping species totals for me. The following are his numbers with a couple of very minor changes.

Trip Memories
Report from Douglas Chickering
Massbirders: Although my day started with a good omen, the pelagic trip out to Cashes Ledge started out on a note of uncertainty and concern. Before we got underway Steve Mirick was conferring with Rick Heil and Denny Abbott. The reports from the Cashe's ledge area were that there were no bait fish out there, and no bait fish meant no birds. Should we try some other place? After some discussion the decision was made to go to Cashes. This was a planned cashe's Ledge trip, and to Cashe's ledge it would be. The didn't seem to be a good alternative. In the end it was the right decision, and after a day like the one we would have, no one would had cared if we had headed off to the Sargasso Sea. In the end my morning's good Omen was the true predictor. I had time to spare in the morning before the boat left and was lucky enough to find a Clapper Rail, Yellow-crowned Night-Heron and six Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrows at the boat ramp by Parking Lot 1 on the Parker River refuge. This was only the beginning of an extraordinary day. The birding could hardly had been improved upon. I suppose we didn't see any rarities; no Long-tailed Jaeger or Sabine's Gull to draw the oohs and aaahs from an appreciative crowd. But to complain on that account would be unseemly. It was a perfect day, bright in the sun, cooled by the sea air and glistening with events and encounters that shine in the memory for years after. On less prosperous trips in the future, people who were here, will talk of this day and relive a whole series of wonderful, magic moments.

It was a day that is not successfully described by a chronological sorting or by a simple recitation of numbers and species. The numbers and specie were impressive, and there will be other postings that will set them down, but it was the unexpected encounters, set in a jewel of a day, that made this trip special and I believe that can best be imparted by a series of impressions. Because this is my posting I am afraid the reader is stuck with my impressions, but I suspect they don't really conflict with anyone else's.

The day started with the usual opening drone of a pelagic trip. The boat left on time and started to plow out into the sea. The tide was low, but the large numbers of birds seen on the sandbars and muscle beds were unremarkable. People chatted and visited; shouting their conversations above the roar of the engines. Although the rising sun was spreading a glare across the mild sea, many were peering in anticipation out into open ocean for the first sightings. The slight swells and engine hum had a soporific effect, but when the first sightings came they sent shivers of electric excitement across the decks. People stumbled from port to starboard and back to get their first look at a Greater Shearwater or Wilson's Storm-petrel; sights that would soon become common and barely illicit any interest.

The first cries of "Phalarope" came unexpectedly early as we pushed into a long slick with occasional seaweed islands bordering the edge. The small shorebirds were at the edge of the weed, or nestled within the thick, wet mats. Red-necked in the first few groups, but then finally a Red Phalarope was seen; much to the delight to those who got on it, and much to the quiet frustration of those who didn't. Then another group was spotted with the Red Phalaropes, and more got good looks. Then a group of all Red Phalaropes was spotted, then another and another. And soon we were drifting by an array of small groups of Red Phalaropes, strung down the length of the slick like early arrivals at a parade. It went on for miles. More Red Phalaropes than anyone on board had ever seen in New England waters. This pattern would repeat itself later on in the trip with Leeche's Storm-petrel. First one that every one scambled to see, then another; heading away from the boat, and eventually several Leeche's Storm-petrels; many riding right beside the boat. So close and so often that people who had never seen one before could easily pick them out from the accompanying Wilson's. Another highlight was the Pomarine Jaeger that came flying right over the boat; leisurely almost as if seeking a good look at us and giving everyone ample opportunity to study every field mark, and see clearly the odd, twisted tail that marks this specie. Yet on this day that was not enough. It swept around in back of us and repeated the slow, lazy, absurdly close pass; and then did it again. This was not the end of Jaegers, for we got at least as good looks at a second Pomarine, and two more that were only slightly less intimate. Even those with extensive Pomarine experience admitted that they may have had sightings to match, they had seen none better.

There were scores of Shearwaters and Storm-petrels and hundreds of Phalaropes and Dolphins. The mammal show was easily as spectacular as the birds. From the humpback bubble feeding right beside the boat, to the pods of White-sided Dolphins we continually contacted. We had Dolphin families right close with the young swimming and leaping in unison with their mothers, and once there were feeding Dolphins literally wherever you looked. The full day ended with a remarkable sunset that turned the hazy shore scarlet and purple, a sun that was an indescribable red, and when it touched the distant tree line you could actually see sunspots on the surface.

The memories crowd in and it has been a long day. I am sure that there will be others who will further illustrate this remarkable day on subsequent posts.

Trip Details
Sponsored by Brookline Bird Club
Prince of Whales - Newburyport Whale Watch
Steve Mirick trip leader.
Departing at 8am, for Cashes Ledge or that vicinity.
$60 per person, limited to 110 people.
We would expect to return by 6pm but could be later, depending on sightings. The ten hours would allow for the steaming out and back plus two hours to chum or maneuver around birds of interest.