The past month was a near-total failure for me, birding-wise.
There are three items on my must-do list in late summer: shorebirding on South Lubec Sand Flats, hawk-watching on the summit of Cadillac Mountain in Acadia and hopping on a boat to witness the seabird spectacle in Head Harbor Passage, between Eastport and Campobello.
I failed to accomplish either the shorebird or hawk visit. Inexcusable.
I did, however, manage to get onboard Eastport Charter with Captain Kinny Corthell last Tuesday. You may someday see the result for yourself. Maine Public sent along a film crew to document the experience for a future episode of its Borealis television program.
Head Harbor Passage is unique. Farther up the Bay of Fundy, the highest tides in the world exceed 50 feet. But even around Eastport, the tidal surge tops 20 feet.
The current is so strong in the channel that it boils up the Old Sow — the largest whirlpool in the Western Hemisphere. All that rushing tide pushes up food for the whales, porpoises, seals and birds. Mackerel are so abundant that anglers catch three-at-a-time off the Eastport pier.
I am aware of at least nine whale-watch boats operating in this channel, some coming over from St. Andrews, New Brunswick. Over the years, I’ve taken many trips on Eastport Windjammers. Their skipper and owner, Butch Harris, operates two boats, and I can’t decide which one I like better. You can see plenty of birds on any of his regularly scheduled whale tours.
Tuesday’s trip took full advantage of Delkin, Eastport Charter’s 28-foot vessel, powered by twin 300-hp outboards. It’s capable of chasing down flying birds, respectfully of course. It’s also small enough to pull close to some of the ledges where birds and seals hang out.
It is amusing to idle near 800-pound gray seals. They are used to looking at boats. They are less accustomed to boats looking at them. Most are content to sit and stare back. Some pop into the water and swim up for a closer look. I’m not surprised if the seals feel a little edgy these days — Great white sharks have figured out how abundant seals are in the channel, and they visit more often.
Large flocks of gulls and terns hang out where seals haul out. Throughout most of the year, herring and great black-backed gulls are the most numerous species. Then in late summer, Bonaparte’s gulls arrive by the thousands.
Bonaparte’s gulls are tern-sized, tree-nesting gulls that breed near freshwater wetlands across Canada. Most migrate to the Atlantic in winter, waiting for their breeding range to thaw in the spring. With so much food in Head Harbor Passage, the number of Bonaparte’s gulls regularly exceeds 10,000.
Bonaparte’s gulls have black heads during the breeding season. So do five other species in North America. Four of them can be found here in late summer. Laughing gulls nest in Maine, but most migrate south in September. Meanwhile, three rare species sneak in about that same time.
Little gull is a Eurasian species. It has established tiny colonies in northern portions of this continent. I saw my first on Hudson Bay in Churchill, Manitoba, 17 years ago. They closely resemble Bonaparte’s gulls, but the underwing of an adult little gull is black. Watching for that black wing, in a flock of a thousand gulls, is usually how I can pick one out.
An even rarer gull’s underwing is also dark. Black-headed gulls are European birds, abundant on that continent. They have established a small colony in Newfoundland, and perhaps those are the birds that find their way here. It’s been several years since I’ve picked one out for certain.
Sabine’s gull nests so far north and west in North America that it is rarely seen in Maine waters. Yet a few turn up annually in Head Harbor Passage.
Complicating matters, all these gulls lose their distinctive black heads in autumn. It takes effort to tell them apart from the black-legged kittiwakes that also surge into the channel in late summer. These medium-sized gulls nest along the Canadian coast and often hang out within the huge flocks of Bonaparte’s gulls that gather at this time of year.
It’s not too late to schedule your own trip into Head Harbor Passage, before touring companies close for the season. Alternatively, this is a good column to clip out of the paper and tack to the refrigerator, as your reminder for next year. Feel free to borrow my must-do list.
