Out on the Boat Again

We left Wildwood Crest at 6 AM on Saturday aboard the Atlantic Star headed offshore with hopes of seeing birds and whales. The seas were just rough enough to make everyone have to pay attention and hold on but not as rough as other trips. By 7:00, the sun was beginning to rise.

Sunrise on the Atlantic Star

The birds were weird. Normally on a winter pelagic trip, we chum and get lots of gulls and Gannets to follow the boat diving to pick up a piece of suet or fish guts from our wake. But on this trip, those birds were not interested. We only saw a few dozen gulls all day. We did see a few dozen Black-legged Kittiwakes. These are kind of in the gull family and mostly found up north. The ID is distinctive on juvenile birds. They have an "M" pattern on their wings in flight.

Black-legged Kittiwake

Here is a young bird that figured out that suet is yummy.

Kittiwake with treat

We did find the alcids that we were after - Common Murres, Razorbills, Puffins and Dovekies.  Again, the birds were weird. Typically, they all fly away from the boat and we only get to see them flying or sitting on the water at distance. On this trip, these 2 Razorbills didn't get the memo and hung around the boat giving us all fantastic views. You can see the "razor"bill on both birds. You can also ID Razorbills at a distance by the way they sit with their bills pointed up.

Razorbills

They finally had the shits of us and took off. It is always funny to watch alcids try to take off. They need a running start.

Razorbills

The bird that is often difficult to see on these trips is Atlantic Puffin. They are mostly black and blend in well with the water. In addition, they typically dive underwater when they see the boat rather than fly away. Not this guy. He hung around for a long time.

Atlantic Puffin

In summer, Puffins have a ridiculously colorful bill and bright white cheeks. You can see how dull they are in winter.

Puffin

The other highlight of the trip was 3 Fin Whales that were pretty close to the boat. You can see the "fin" in this photo.

Fin Whale

Other than these highlights, the trip was pretty long with long periods of nothing to look at. Good thing the boat was full of nice people to chat with!

Kenai Fjords - Alaska

We ended our trip to Alaska on the Kenai Peninsula which is south of Anchorage. Kenai Fjords National Park is famous for fishing, glaciers and other wildlife. There are 2 destinations and of course, they are on opposite ends of the peninsula so we decided to stay in the middle. Our first destination was the port of Seward. We booked a 9 hour boat tour of the Fjords. We arrived at the dock early. Way early, as in the day before. We wanted to check out the town do a little shopping and have a nice dinner to celebrate my birthday. The recommended spot was Ray's. We had a great time and to top it off - my mother paid the bill! Can't beat that.

Birthday Dinner

The boat ride was, in one word, AWESOME. The weather was perfect, the crew was knowledgeable (and mostly female including the captain), the food was good, the views were unforgettable and the wildlife cooperated.

Kenai Fjords Tour Crew

We took the long tour so that we could get out to the Northwest Glacier which is pretty spectacular and so that we had a longer trip to see wildlife. We passed multiple rock islands on the way out which are the favorite nesting places for many sea birds such as Common Murres.

Common Murre

And the stars of the show - Puffins. Alaska has 2 types. This is Horned Puffin which look similar to our Atlantic Puffins. We saw hundreds of these flying footballs on the trip.

Horned Puffin

But these Tufted Puffins are really different with their yellow tufts blowing in the wind.

Tufted Puffin

Another puffin like bird is Rhinoceros Auklet. We saw a few of them. The name comes from the funny "horn" on the beak which is really just a feather.

Rhinoceros Auklet

Black-legged Kittiwakes nest on the cliffs of the rock islands by the hundreds too. They always look like they are smiling.

Black-legged Kittiwake nest

The strangest bird that we saw on the trip was a Bald Eagle. Doesn't sound strange right? Plenty of Bald Eagles in Alaska but this one was swimming. Yes, swimming. Here he is in the middle of the fjord doing the butterfly stroke.

Bald Eagle swimming

Here is is getting close to shore.

Bald Eagle swimming

And here he is hauling his catch out of the water. It was pretty incredible.

Bald Eagle

We arrived at the glaciers and it was pretty dramatic.

Northwest Glacier

We watched global warming in action.

The crew scooped up some ice so that we could have million year old ice cubes in our drinks.

Glacier Ice

We didn't need the ice since we were drinking Alaskan beer.

Cocktail Hour

Todd and I were really looking for a special bird that can only be found in the glacial ice but we didn't find one. Our disappointment was alleviated by the sight of Orca Whales. A pod swam past our boat. Here is a Mom and baby.

Orca Baby

Dad was a big dude! This is his dorsal fin which stood out of the water by 8 feet.

Bull Orca

I captured the whole scene with this shot. Breathtaking.

Kenai Fjord Orcas

Just when we thought there couldn't be more, we pulled back into the docks and saw even more. While we were nature watching, other boats were out fishing. Almost everyone came off the boats with fish. Mainly Halibut and Salmon. Check out the size of this gal - 200 pounds.

200 pound Halibut

The fishermen (and women) weren't the only ones feasting on the fish. The Sea Otters know that when the boats come back to the dock, they will get the fish scraps. They hang out below the filet table and just wait for manna from heaven.

Sea Otter

Sea Otter with fish scraps

This guy didn't need the handouts. He found his own crab and boy was he happy!

Sea Otter with crab

What a great day on the water.

OK, OK, The Maine Event

Yes, we saw birds in Maine but not as many as we had hoped. We took field trips to the main(e)land to see birds that pass through Philly during migration but nest in Maine. We saw one of this and two of that. For the most part, we heard warblers more than saw warblers since they were mostly buried in the tall, dense forest.  Here are a few photos.

The first photo is Alder Flycatcher which you usually can't identify by sight since it looks so much like a Willow Flycatcher (in fact, they both used to be called Traill's Flycatcher until recently).  This photo shows a full eye ring which is pretty diagnostic of Alder - the Willow doesn't have it.  I also thought this was a funny photo due to the grass making a loop around the bird's head.  She was obviously making her nest nearby.

Alder Flycatcher

 This next bird is Chestnut-sided Warbler which is just a fantastic looking bird.  It is named for the chestnut blotches on it's side, but could just as easily be called the yellow-crowned warbler or masked warbler or any number of other names.  This is the best photo that I have of the bird.

Chestnut-sided Warbler

 Here is Common Yellowthroat.  Again, this bird could be called Masked Warbler or something else but this photo shows that yellow throat pretty well. This guy just hauled off with songs right in front of us for about 5 minutes.

Common Yellowthroat

 Here is a female Red-winged Blackbird. She looks alot different from the male. Here she is with nesting material.

Red-winged Blackbird

 One of the few birds that we saw on the trip that was rare for us was this Vesper Sparrow. I need one of these for the Big Year Stupid Contest.  Unfortunately, this one doesn't count since I saw it in Maine. He liked to sit on top of this rock in the blueberry field. I think his nest was nearby since he disappeared under the rock with this bug soon after the photo was taken.

Vesper Sparrow

 A very common bird for us is Yellow Warbler.  Their song is "sweet, sweet, sweet, little bit sweet" which you can hear any time you walk near any kind of water.  Here is a male that posed for us along one of our walks.

Yellow Warbler

We took boat trips out to the rock islands in the Gulf of Maine to see seabirds that only come ashore to nest.  We hiked on small islands to see birds too.  The star of the show had to be the Puffins.  We saw about 2 dozen Puffins around Egg Rock Island which is where they nest.  Most were bobbing around in the water or sitting on the rocks.  Here are a few pretty good photos.  The weather was pretty yucky - overcast and drizzling most of the trip so the photos aren't the best.

Atlantic Puffin

Here are 2 shots of Puffins with grass in their beaks to make their nests.  They nest in burrows under the rocks on the island so I guess the grass makes it cushier.

Atlantic Puffin

 This is the best photo that I think I'll ever get of a Puffin.  I couldn't believe it turned out this well.  Check out the big orange feet.

Atlantic Puffin

 Here is a shot of the island.  The structure is a bird blind which is used by interns as they monitor the nesting.  The interns keep tabs on the chicks etc.  You can see that the 5 Puffins don't mind it at all.  It looks like they are lined up for to go into a photo booth or something.

Puffins on Egg Island

I have other bird photos that I'll post later.