Date: 10/20/25 3:25 pm From: 'Steve Mirick' via NHBirds <nhbirds...> Subject: [NHBirds] Morning migration (1,315 Gannets and a Parasitic Jaeger)
The strong storm today pushed out some nice southeasterly winds (ideal
direction for pelagic birds). Jane and I got out just a bit after
sunrise and had a nice morning push of Gannets, but not a whole lot of
other migrants:
Oct 20, 2025 7:15 AM - 10:45 AM
Checklist Comments: Strong front to the west brought strong (25
knot) winds out of the SE. Cloudy with some light mist. Good
visibility. Rain held off until after count. Three hours at north side
of Great Boar's Head. 1/2 hour at Little Boar's Head and Ragged Neck.
Count of birds MIGRATING SOUTH only
----------------------------------------------------
Greater Scaup 2
Common Eider 57
Surf Scoter 117
White-winged Scoter 38
Black Scoter 17
Long-tailed Duck 3
Red-breasted Merganser 17
PARASITIC JAEGER 1 Adult bird seen flying south from Little Boar's
Head. Relatively close. 2/3 of the way out to green channel marker.
Watched off-and-on for 20 seconds. White breast with dark breast band.
Not bulky. Tail not clearly seen, but appeared to have short points.
Not blunt at all.
large alcid sp. 2 Two consistent with Razorbills. Seen by Jane only.
Bonaparte's Gull 17
Laughing Gull 5 All adults. All moving south.
Ring-billed Gull X Clearly some migrating.
American Herring Gull X Modest movement of migrating AHG.
Great Black-backed Gull X Smaller numbers, but clear movement of GBBG.
Lesser Black-backed Gull 1 Pretty sure I had a juvenile migrating by.
Horned Grebe 1
Red-necked Grebe 1
Red-throated Loon 28
Common Loon 27
shearwater sp. 1 Brief views of distant bird.
NORTHERN GANNET 1,315 Counted with clicker. Tremendous flight in
first two hours. Then dying down. After 3 hours just a slow trickle.
710 in first hour; 400 in second hour; 205 in third hour. This is
typical behavior for migrating Gannets on NH coast. Compare to past
years....2,131 on 10/15/17, 1,727 on 10/20/18, 1,591 on 10/24/17, 1,400
on 10/13/22, 1,355 on 10/30/24.
Double-crested Cormorant 84
