Brookline Bird Club’s 7 Seas Whale Watch Trip Report, 2024
Photo: Black Guillemot, Johnny Owens
On a beautiful Saturday morning July 27, 46 club members and friends boarded the 7 Seas sailing vessel Privateer IV out of Gloucester Harbor on a whale watching and sea birding adventure! We traveled along the coastline up into Ipswich Bay to Halfway Hump. To our delight there were great looks at many birds, including 4 species of Shearwaters, and even a few species of mammals. Photos were shared to the Brookline Bird Club Facebook page. Here is a listing of what we saw:
What we saw – birds, whales and more!:
- American Black Duck – 32
- Common Eider – 13
- Black Scoter – 1
- Black Guillemont – 1
- Laughing Gull – 1
- Herring Gull – 300 (underestimate)
- Great Black Backed Gull – 42
- Common Tern – 18
- Wilson’s Storm Petral – 6
- Cory’s Shearwater – 14
- Great Shearwater – 26
- Sooty Shearwater – 1
- Manx Shearwater – 3
- Northern Gannet – 1
- DC Cormorant – 500 (underestimate)
- Little Blue Heron – 1
- Great Egret – 21
- Tree Swallow – 3
- Great Blue Heron – 1
- Humpback Whales – 2
- Minke Whale – 1
- Harbor Seal – 1
- Atlantic White Dolphin – 30 (estimate)
- Mola Mola – 2 (awesome looks right next to boat)
- Harbor Porpoises – several small pods