Date: 9/13/26 10:58 am From: Jon Woolf <jsw...> Subject: Re: [NHBirds] Re: NH Audubon Pelagics??
On 9/12/2026 7:29 PM, Steve Mirick wrote:
> A couple of points....
>
> I would like to personally commend Holly (and the Seacoast Chapter)
> for all of the hard work they do AS VOLUNTEERS to make field trips and
> programs happen. Without them, there would be no trips!!! And there
> is a lot of work! The volunteers for NH Audubon are incredible people!!!
I'll second this. When NHA (the state organization) decided not to run
a fall trip (a decision with which I did not agree), Holly stepped up
and took on running both fall trips.
> With respect to pelagic trips, it certainly is a shame that we can't
> get more going. Maybe we can try to bump it up to 3 trips next
> fall....but this will only work if the Captain of the Granite State
> can find time in his schedule and he's been reluctant to do this. I
> asked him briefly about getting another trip this month and he rolled
> his eyes at me implying not a chance. I can email him and see what he
> thinks.
>
> It's really incredible how birding has EXPLODED over the last 25
> years. When Jane and I started dating 25 years ago, we would often
> visit the NH coast during the fall season ON WEEKENDS and never see
> any other birders! We didn't even organize any pelagic trips back then!
>
> And as a reminder, there are other ways to go offshore!!!!! Maine
> Audubon and the Brookline Bird Club out of Massachusetts offer pelagic
> trips. And you can go on a whale watch out of Rye harbor. You can
> even go offshore on an all-day fishing boat out of Seabrook.....on
> these you go as an observer only and ride on the upper deck while
> people fish below you....sadly they don't offer a discount for
> birders....but you get to productive offshore waters.
I agree entirely about wanting to get more pelagic trips out into the
central Gulf of Maine. And they wouldn't have to be out of Rye Harbor,
either. Any whale watch can be used to get offshore for pelagic birding
-- although the whale watch boats go where there are likely to be
whales, the whales and birds are looking for many of the same things.
There are whale watches out of Newburyport, Rockport, Gloucester... I
once inquired at Eastman about chartering one of their boats for an
all-day pelagic trip, but the price was prohibitive and they didn't seem
willing to offer a discount. One of my goals in originally starting the
NHA trips was to make pelagic trips available for a price that was
within reach for most people.
