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Posted by Alex Harper on 22:04:46 08/03/08
Hey all,
it has been very long since I've posted on the TAS board. It has been a while since I've been in Florida, however. I spent some time in upstate NY and Pennsylvania in June before shipping off to Wellesley, MA (just outside of Boston). I've been working at a summer enrichment program for middle school students at Wellesley College. A wonderful program, kids from all over the country and world. Recognized by the state as a school, I may return next summer to teach a course on wildlife and geography.
I've had the opportunity to break out the binoculars a few times. The campus has a few trails and a large lake, so birds are around. A visit to Cape Cod last weekend produced a few early migrants: shorebirds and swallows.
Today a few off us enjoyed a whale watch out of Boston. Along with fifteen or so Humpback Whales, I viewed a large amount of seabirds:
Manx Shearwater- 5
Greater Shearwater- ~300
Sooty Shearwater- 3
Cory's Shearwater- ~25
Wilson's Storm-Petrel- <600
Leach's Storm-Petrel- ~50
Northern Gannet- 15
Pomarine Jaeger- 1
Bonaparte's Gull- 2
Great Black-backed, Herring, and Ring-billed Gulls
Common Tern
Least Tern- 1
This was my first pelagic outside of south Florida, so it was great to see huge numbers of shearwaters and Storm-Petrels as opposed to a few of each and a couple dozen Sooty Terns in FL.
I will be driving back down to Florida next week, and I hope to get some Miami-Dade birding done before heading back up to Pensacola on August 23. I'm planning on spending most of the Christmas break in Costa Rica, but I'm aiming for one of the TAS trips in December. I hope to see some of you on those trips; it has been too long.
I apologize if anyone finds this an inappropriate place to say hey to a few TAS members along with a Massachuetts bird report.
I hope to see you all soon.... and add a south Florida posting later this month.
Alex
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