It was a dark and stormy night. As I looked at the next day’s forecast, Saturday didn’t look much better for Penobscot Valley Audubon’s annual boat trip to find harlequin ducks and other seabirds around Isle au Haut.
As it turned out, we needn’t have worried.
Offshore forecasts indicated six-foot seas overnight, and a small craft warning seemed likely. But the worst of the weather passed through early. By our scheduled 10 a.m. departure on the Isle au Haut ferry, Stonington Harbor was surprisingly calm. Two captains, three guides and 24 participants climbed aboard without hesitation.
This excursion has become one of our chapter’s most popular offerings, mostly because harlequin ducks are among the cutest birds on the planet. We counted 239 during the three-hour voyage.
Harlequin ducks are northern breeders, mostly in Canada. They nest on whitewater rivers, where they forage in raging currents other species avoid. Their fondness for turbulence continues in winter. They are often found bobbing in the roughest surf. Some suffer broken bones from being tossed against rocks, but there is little competition for food along those wave-pounded ledges. Harlequins are tough, and specially adapted to heal faster than other sea ducks.
They may be the stars of the show, but many other waterfowl overwinter among the islands south of Stonington. I always think of it as a treasure hunt. What can we find today?
Long-tailed ducks were abundant. We tallied 94. We saw all three scoter species: surf (56), black (49) and white-winged (7). There were 32 common eiders, a rather low number, and 25 red-breasted mergansers, a rather high one.
Jericho Bay is one of the best places to see black guillemots year-round. These puffin cousins don’t migrate. Although we counted 49, we likely missed a few. The same was true for common loons. I suspect there were many more than the 26 we recorded.
Two offshore flocks of Canada geese were a surprise. Who expects to see 57 that far out on saltwater? The 34 great cormorants were less so. They nest on the farthest island, Seal Island, and move closer to shore in winter. The only surprise about the 375 American herring gulls was that we actually counted them. Who counts gulls?
A good time was had by all. As far as I could tell, nobody got seasick, and everyone left with a story to tell.
Speaking of stories to tell.
On Wednesday, April 1, Maine Audubon will host an evening of nature-based storytelling at Bangor Public Library and via Zoom. I’ll be one of four speakers sharing outdoor experiences, focused on encounters that amused, informed or transformed us. It’s a bit daunting to look at the list of speakers and realize I may be the weakest link.
Bangor Daily News readers will recognize Aislinn Sarnacki, longtime BDN writer and contributor, and now host of Maine Public’s Borealis television series.
Chuck Loring, a citizen of the Penobscot Nation, leads the Nation’s Natural Resources Department. A forester by training, he is about as connected to the natural world as it gets.
Danielle D’Auria of the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife is the state’s expert on secretive marsh birds, colonial wading birds, common loons and black terns. She now leads the department’s Bird Group.
Frankly, I am more interested in hearing their stories than telling my own.
I accepted the invitation a month ago and have been thinking about which encounters would make the best stories. It wasn’t an easy choice, but I finally settled on two.
You will meet the bird that transformed my understanding of all birds, a spruce grouse I named Bruce. After encountering him 30 years ago, I stopped thinking about how birds fit into my world, and started thinking about how I fit into theirs.
I will also share a long series of personal failures that reshaped how I see bird behavior, and my own. I have been a birdwatcher my whole life, but I watch them differently now because of encounters with some very quirky birds.
Phenomenal Spring 2026: Seasonal Stories from Your Wildlife Community will be held at Bangor Public Library and on Zoom. Registration is available on the Maine Audubon website.
