DOLPHIN FLEET BIRDWATCHING NOTES: 16 TO 31 AUGUST, 2008 John C. Conlon Labor Day weekend is behind us. Several days of northeast wind have given a cool hint that autumn is approaching. Days are bright and clear and that is good for spotting seabirds and whales. The clarity is especially good because while […]
August 23rd was bright and sunny and we found ourselves east of Stellwagen Bank, with the parabolic dunes of Provincetown gently sloping on the horizon. Many of the same humpbacks seen in association with one another during the previous week still seemed to be bottom feeding, suggested by their longer than average dive times and […]
August 16’smorning trip aboard the Dolphin VIII brought us east of Stellwagen Bank to an area known as the “Triangle”. Upon our arrival, we spent almost a half an hour with four humpback whales,: Canopy, Whisk, and their associated calves. These whales had been seen frequently over the previous few days as a part of a larger group of feeding […]
August 9 was a beautiful day to be out on the water. The sun, the light breeze, and the abundance of humpback whales made for ideal conditions, and, in fact, once we got out to the Southwest corner of Stellwagen Bank, we spent the majority of the trip surrounded by humpback whales. Isthmus, Exclaim, Ember, […]
DOLPHIN FLEET BIRDWATCHING NOTES: 1 to 16 AUGUST, 2008 John C. Conlon The mid-August days are noticeably shorter than those days of June. Time cycles onward! So do bird concentrations. I often talk of pelagic birds in our area and much of the discussion revolves around those species that we would never expect […]
On August 2nd, morning trips left Provincetown harbor only to encounter a vast fog bank soon after leaving shore. Fortunately, soon after passing Race Point, visibility began to increase and we found ourselves among a number of humpback whales. Exclaim, Isthmus, and Alpha were all blowing clouds of bubbles, kicking and lunging through schools of fish. […]
On 26 July the Dolphin VII started out the week by heading up to the Southwest Corner of Stellwagen Bank, a favorite feeding hub for many of our humpback whales. Mars, Draco, and Reflection were among the humpbacks who were blowing clouds of bubbles and then lunging through the trapped schools of fish at the […]
DOLPHIN FLEET BIRDWATCHING NOTES: 16 to 31 JULY, 2008 John C. Conlon These last two weeks of July have produced an exciting array of seabirds and their movements. As always, the pattern changes in both numbers and concentrationas as centers of food concentration shift. The relative numbers of each bird species also shift […]
On July 19th our humpbacks were still successfully foraging away. After blowing spiraling clouds of bubbles to trap and confuse fish, groups of over 6 humpback whales were observed, rising to the surface with their mouths wide open, closing in on hundreds of pounds of sand lance with every mouthful. Unlike many species of toothed […]
DOLPHIN FLEET BIRDWATCHING NOTES: 1 – 15 JULY, 2008 John C. Conlon Summer is here. So are the summer crowds. So are summer pelagic birds; and in substantial numbers. Sooty and greater shearwaters are plentiful, while manx shearwaters are few and far between so far this year. Cory’s shearwaters are unusually abundant. Wilson’s […]
