[SEMCO] Seabird & Whale Tales - Fall Trip

[Carol Carson]

Hello: Tickets are still available for Seabird & Whale Tales, an all 
day offshore marine adventure scheduled for Sunday, September 10th.  
More information is provided below as well as the sighting list from 
our June trip.  All proceeds are donated to a community marine sighting 
network called NEBShark.

Best to all,

  Carol "Krill" Carson
  President, New England Coastal Wildlife Alliance
  krillcarson at mac.com
  home: 508-946-4345
  cell: 508-566-0009


  ---------------------------------
Seabird and Whale Tales 2006
  Fall Edition
Sunday, September 10, 2006
8 AM – 6 PM
Join The New England Coastal Wildlife Alliance (NECWA) for an exciting, 
offshore marine adventure!  Leave from the Town Pier in Plymouth at 8 
AM sharp and return to the dock by 6 PM that evening.  Travel aboard 
the Tails of the Sea, a luxury 110' whale-watching vessel owned and 
operated by Captain John Boats.

Wayne Petersen and David Clapp from Mass Audubon will be onboard 
providing commentary on seabirds sighted offshore.  Dr. John Jahoda 
from Bridgewater State College will provide commentary on the whales 
and pelagic fish sighted during the trip.  Good food will be available 
for purchase including Dunkin Donut breakfast items (bagels, muffins 
and donuts), gourmet coffee, homemade foods including veggie or meat 
wraps, clam chowder and desserts.  Or bring your own food onboard, but 
no alcohol or glass is allowed.

Join us as we chum for seabirds (Krill’s special concoction), conduct a 
plankton tow and observe our catch using onboard stereomicroscopes. On 
the way home, we will have a free onboard raffle with lots of wonderful 
nature guides and gifts. Tickets are $75.  Don't wait!  The number of 
passengers is limited to ensure a comfortable ride offshore.

To register, go to our website at www,nebshark.org and download the 
registration form.  Send in your form and payment to NECWA at 11 
Clarence Soule Drive, Middleboro, MA 02346.

Thank you for your support.  Best, Carol "Krill" Carson, President NECWA
Please email Krill at krillcarson at mac.com for further information or 
call her at 508-946-4345 before 9 PM at night.

Profits will be provided to NEBShark (The New England Basking Shark 
Project) to support research and conservation on basking sharks and 
ocean sunfish in the waters off New England.  NEBShark is a project 
with NECWA, (The New England Coastal Wildlife Alliance), a nonprofit 
organization working to conserve coastal marine wildlife off NE.


  -----------------------
  Sighting list and write up by Wayne Petersen from our previous June 
all day trip.

Seabird and Whale Tales Trip Summary
  June 11, 2006

  Compiled by Wayne R. Petersen

  Weather and itinerary: The June 11 Seabird and Whale Tales trip 
departed from Plymouth at approximately 8 a.m. under sunny skies and 
10-15 mph NW winds.  Temperatures were a comfortable 65-70 degrees F.  
Glare and modest chop from the wind made viewing conditions somewhat 
challenging for the first half of the trip, but once we rounded Race 
Point in Provincetown and headed for the waters off Chatham, conditions 
gradually improved.  By mid-afternoon diminishing winds and partial 
overcast made viewing conditions considerably better.  On the return, a 
magnificent chum slick dutifully prepared and doled out by Krill Carson 
produced some modest concentrations of seabirds.

  Overall seabird numbers where quite impressive for early June, most 
notable being the numbers of Northern Gannets and Sooty Shearwaters. 
Without question, the seabird highlight of the day was the sighting of 
two sub-adult Long-tailed Jaegers, a species rare in Massachusetts 
inshore waters at any season.  Also, spectacular and close range views 
of feeding Humpback and Fin whales was especially memorable, as was the 
overall total of individual cetaceans observed.

  The species list that follows includes approximations of the birds and 
mammals that were seen and identified by the trip leaders once the trip 
left Plymouth Harbor.  It does not include any species seen in the 
harbor other than four Piping Plovers seen on Plymouth Beach.

Birds:
  Common Eider – 1
  Common Loon – 4
  Greater Shearwater – 80+
  Sooty Shearwater – 750+
  Manx Shearwater – 8+
  Wilson’s Storm-Petrel – 300+
  Northern Gannet – 700+
  Piping Plover – 4
  Parasitic Jaeger – 11
  Long-tailed Jaeger – 2
  Laughing Gull – 100
  Herring Gull – X
  Lesser Black-backed Gull – 1
  Great Black-backed Gull – X
  Common Tern – 300
  Black Tern – 2

Cetaceans:
  Humpback Whale – 12 including 2 mother and calf pairs (Echo, 
Apostrophe and calf, Nuages, Dusky)
  Fin Whale - 9+ - (including one mother and calf pair)
  Minke Whale - 6
  Atlantic white sided dolphins - 75
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