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The Brookline Bird Club sponsored a trip to the canyons of the continental shelf south of Cape Cod and the islands for the first time in several years. Wayne Peterson was the trip leader and provided an exhaustive commentary on the life and field marks of the birds, whales, and fish seen on the trip.

We boarded the Captain John party fishing boat at the dock in Falmouth at 9 PM on Friday night. We scrambled for sleeping spots on the upper deck and in the galley. Some late arrivals had to sleep on plywood bunks in the hold. The boat left about 10 PM and most of us crawled into our sleeping bags immediately. It was a warm clear night and in the sky above the milky way stretched from horizon to horizon. Unlike previous years, it was not very cold sleeping on deck and in the morning only a very light dew covered my sleeping bag.

At sunrise the next morning there was already a line for the bathroom as sleepy birders prepared for the day. One pump was broken so there was no water in the bathroom for washing but at least the toilets flushed. I brushed my teeth on deck and swallowed the toothpaste with a drink of water from my canteen. For breakfast I had a banana, a muffin brought from home and a cup of hot coffee purchased for $1.00. Others purchased a full (greasy) breakfast in the galley. I quickly stowed my sleeping gear ( sleeping bag, foam pad, large plastic bag, towel) in my duffel bag and stashed it under the seat out of the way. With my binoculars on I was ready for the day.

The rest of the world spent this day watching the funeral of Princess Diana on television. Our world was the ocean and we shared it only with the animals. As the day progressed I snacked on more fruit and some cheese and crackers from my lunch box. Good thing I had all this food because I later learned the boat was completely out of food. Remember also there is no drinking water.

The first birds seen were 2 Greater Shearwaters. About the same time, our first Sperm Whale was spotted. In all, we would see 15 Sperm Whales including at least one mother and calf pair during the day. This was the first chance I had to study Moby Dick. The sperm whale, a toothed whales, is more gray than black. and has a funny hump on its back instead of a dorsal fin. The head is very large and twice the whale stuck his head up out of the water, a behavior called spy hopping. Like the Humpback Whale, the Sperm Whale floats on the surface and shows its flukes when it dives. The sperm whale was popular with whalers and hunted almost to extinction during the years of intensive human harvest. On one BBC overnight pelagic we found a Blue Whale so we were happy to have the Captain John's naturalist aboard to share her knowledge about whales.

We sailed over the edge of Hydrographer's Canyon and the water went from 60 to 140 feet. The water temperature was a warm 74 degrees. We noticed that this water was bluer and had greater visibility that the waters north of the cape over Stellwagen Bank and in the Gulf of Maine. Bluer water is prettier but in general contains little food. Sargassum weed clumps floated on the surface. There were 3-4 sonic booms from U.S. ( I hope) fighter jets.

The day continued to produce more Greater Shearwaters, Wilson's Storm-petrels, an occasional Leech's Storm-petrel,Common Terns. We had great looks at Pomarine Jaegers. We stopped to lay a slick of chum. The slick attracted large numbers of Greater Shearwaters and give us an opportunity to watch their feeding behavior. Some birds would pick up floating food on the fly, but most of the chum sank immediately. The Shearwaters sit on the surface, ducking their heads to search for the food, diving down with flying wings to retrieve a choice morsel. Once they surfaced they tried to fly off immediately often harassed by a Pomarine Jaeger.

A smaller, sleeker, shearwater Audubon's Shearwater was a life bird for me. A Sabine's Gull in full breeding plumage followed the ship reappearing from time to time over the course of several hours. We were able to view this beautiful gull in the air and on the water. For the first time I was able to see the dark edge to the gray head and the yellow tip to the bill.

Highlight of this trip were the Cory's Shearwaters. Just before the day ended we had a flock of 14 Cory's on the water with a single Greater Shearwater.

During the chumming, the captain caught a Yellow-fin Tuna which was cooked for him and the crew. Remember the boat is completely out of food at this point. He choose the spot to start his fishing when we observed a large number of small fish jumping on the surface.

For a time, a pod of 9 Bottlenose Dolphin played in the wake of the boat. The larger dolphins turned on their side as they jumped from the water as if they were trying to see what we were doing. There was a mother and a calf. Two races of the Bottlenose Dolphin have been identified, the near shore dolphin and the offshore. They may eventually be described as two species. We enjoyed watching the off shore Flipper and his family.

On Nantucket Shoals we had Audubon's Shearwater again, a Great Cormorant and the previously mentioned flock of 14 Cory's Shearwaters. At 7 PM we watched a beautiful sunset on the Atlantic Ocean, an uncommon sight. There was no green flash. We arrived back at the dock about 10 PM and immediately began the long overland haul back to New Hampshire.

Trip Organizer: Glenn d'Entremont

Participants included: Ida Girunias, Emmalee Tarry, Judy and Chris Hepburn, Jonathan Center, Linda Pivacek, Tom Prince, Linda Feraresso, Bill Drummond, Sherm Dennison, Dave Deifick,Jane Davis, Linda Feraresso, Mike Gooley

Trip List:
Greater Shearwater 300
Cory's Shearwater 65
Audubon's Shearwater 6
Pomarine Jaeger 15
Common Tern 7
Sabine's Gull 2 (counted, but may have been only 1 )
Greater Black-backed Gull 30
Herring Gull 10
Wilson's Storm-petrel 75
Leach's Storm-petrel 4
Phalarope Sp. 1
Semipalmated Sandpiper 1
Great Cormorant 1
Laughing Gull 1
Tree Swallow 1
Sperm Whale 15
Maco Shark 1
Hammer-head Shark 1
Bottlenosed Dolphin 15
Mola mola (Ocean Sunfish) 1
Yellow-fin Tuna 1 (taken)

Page Author: Emmalee Tarry