Birdwatching

        One of our favorite past times while we’re cruising is birdwatching.  Dan has the eye for details and will start listing features before I even spot the bird.  “Look!  Ok, straight bill, black, maybe a little black around the eye, speckled body…”  Soon we’re digging out our numerous references.  Was the tail forked?  What color were the legs again?  Was there a white stripe along the shoulders?  When we’re sure we know what we saw we mark it in one of the books, along with the date.  I’ve learned to recognize many different birds in the past few years, but I haven’t learned how to quickly process details like Dan can.  

This morning we left the comfort of Roque Island to head to the eastern-most point of US waters to see the birds around the US-Canada jointly owned Machias Seal island.  (There are seals there too - usually grey seals, but they weren’t hanging out on the ledges like they were when we were here several years ago.)  The trip took a few hours and the conditions weren’t ideal - SW winds blowing the tops of swells while the tide ran the other way.  Willie Dawes doesn’t like a beam sea and we made sure things were stowed and tied down so they didn’t jump around as we rolled back and forth.  Tommie, who usually hides when the engine is running, came out from her spot to sit miserably on the flying bridge deck, glaring at us as she tried to keep her balance underneath one of the tied-down deck chairs.  She is not normally prone to sea-sickness, but she did have that look about her for awhile during the trip out to Machias Seal.

As we approached the little island, Dan yelled out “Whale!”  I looked up to see only the footprint.  He was hoping it was a right whale; we’ve not seen one yet.  He said it had a distinctively hooked fin.  Whatever it was, it didn’t show itself again and we didn’t see any other such mammals.  Soon we were seeing puffins.  Scores of them flying about in flocks, gathering in groups, or sitting in ones and twos watching us cruise gently by.  We identified a herring gull, a couple of greater shearwaters, common murres, and razorbills in the water as well.  The tiny island was alive with activity:  birds sitting on rocks, on the seaweed, on the roofs of the bird-watching stations, on the lighthouse, and freewheeling through the air.  This is a bird sanctuary, nesting area and observatory, stationed mostly by Canadians.  We didn’t see any people, but we assume they were present.  We circumnavigated the island and took about a hundred pictures.

Back at anchorage at Cross island, with a view of the Naval communications base, we looked at all the pictures.  Due to the rolling of the boat and the constant cruising speed (to keep the rolling to a minimum) and the birds in motion, many of the photos were understandably fuzzy.  But there were a few gems.  All in all, a great birdwatching morning.

Puffin

Greater Shearwater

More puffins...

Common Murres, Razorbills, Puffins, gulls...