On Friday, Marianne and I headed to Rye to catch the 2 PM Granite State whale-watching cruise out of Rye Harbor to the Isles of Shoals, Jefferys Ledge, and beyond. As we pulled in, we got a call that it was down due to mechanical problems, so we got on the wait list for the 1:30 PM Atlantic Queen II. We took the AQ II out on calm seas with just a little foam on the crest and 1-foot swells. The birding was great, starting at the harbor with Little Gulls and lots of terns. All four shearwaters, both storm-petrels, gannets, and a puffin were seen on the cruise. Since we were down there over night, we signed up for the 8:30 AM Granite State cruise. Same birds (minus the puffin), just much fewer of them. The fishing boats seemed to be like magnets, attracting them from far and wide. On the way in, we got behind a small commercial boat going in with hundreds of seabirds following behind. We carefully scanned the crowd and found a skua bullying the gulls. Although we told both boats we were birders, no birds were called out on either boat over the course of the cruises, so be prepared to bird on your own. Highlights (for us): Great (100s), Sooty (100s), Cory's (10s), and Manx (6-10) Shearwaters Wilson's (100s) and Leach's (10s) Storm-Petrels Northern Gannets (6) South Polar Skua (1) Parasitic Jaeger (1) Little (4), Laughing (2), Herring (100s), and Great-Black-backed Gulls (100s) Common (10s), Roseate (2), and Royal (1) Terns Atlantic Puffin (1) Phalaropes had been reported but we didn't see any. The only shorebirds we saw were two Greater Yellowlegs. -- ###################### Marianne & Michael Walsh Weathersfield, VT **************************************************************** To post messages, send e-mail to: [log in to unmask] Set your e-mail application to PLAIN TEXT ONLY to post messages. To contact the list owner: [log in to unmask] ---------------------------------------------------------------- Web based archives and subscription management are available at: http://listserv.dartmouth.edu/Archives/uv-birders.html ****************************************************************