Cashes Ledge
August 25-26, 1996

Brookline Bird Club Cashes Ledge Pelagic Birding Trip August 25-26,1996
We left Plymouth harbor at 10 PM on Sunday night with 51 birders. It was a warm beautiful night and the sleeping spaces on the open top deck were claimed quickly. Others spread their sleeping bags on the floor of the galley. While waiting on the deck we watched the Russian space ship Mir streak across the sky. The seas were somewhat rough during the night and most of the morning. Simon Perkins was the trip leader.

Birding started at dawn. Cashes Ledge was somewhat disappointing. We had Wilson’s and Leach’s Storm-petrels, Greater, Sooty and a few Manx Shearwaters, Red-necked Phalaropes, 1 Great Cormorant, Double-crested Cormorants, Herring and Black-backed Gulls, 2 Black Terns, Common Terns, immature Northern Gannet. Also seen were: Humphback, Finback and Minke Whales, Atlantic White-sided Dolphin, Blue Sharks, and Ocean Sunfish (Mola Mola).

Better birding was had as we crossed Stellwegen Bank on the way back. Six Parasitic Jaegers put on a wonderful show as they raided Common Terns for their fish. There were larger numbers of all three Shearwaters plus Roseate Terns, Laughing Gulls.

The official tally:
Greater Shearwater 50
Sooty Shearwater 200
Manx Shearwater 30
Wilson’s Storm-petrel 2500
Leach’s Storm-petrel 15
Northern Gannet 11
Double-crested Cormorant 6
Semipalmatied Plover 3
Least Sandpiper 1
Parasitic Jaeger 6
Jaeger sp? 1
Laughing Gull 20
Roseate Tern 50
Common Tern 2500
Black Tern 3
Tree Swallow 1
Finback Whale 2
Humpback Whale 15
Minke 10
Atlantic White-sided Dolphin 40
Blue Shark 10
Mola mola 7
Basking Shark 1
Harbor Seal 1
Bluefin Tuna 4 (wild and free) 3 in net
Page Author: Emmalee Tarry