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2001 Isle of Shoals
Christmas Bird Count



Photo Album		 Snowy Owl on Star Island, NH photo by Emmalee Tarry
Well, the weather didn't hold us back this year from venturing out to conduct the Isles of Shoals CBC today. Thirty very excited birders and a great boat and crew made the day a success!

Purple Sandpipers on Boon Island, ME by Emmalee Tarry 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 attracked 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.
Common Loon- 25
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
Snowy Owl on Star Island, NH by Emmalee Tarry 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
Page author: Megan McElroy