Birds and Birdwatching
The same productive waters that attract Humpback and other Whales to Stellwagen Bank and Jeffrey's Ledge throughout the year also attract a great diversity of "pelagic" or seabirds. Large flocks of birds often gather the presence of feeding whales, and good whale spotters have learned to watch for these gatherings as they may indicate where whales can be found.
Many people (you could argue that at times I'm one of these people) go whale watching not for the whales, but just for the birds! Many of the birds which Summer off the Gloucester coast have a life history equally as fascinating as that of the great whales. For example, some of the Shearwaters and Petrels we see have traveled all the way from the southern hemisphere, some 12,000 miles away, to feed on the abundance of schooling fish that feed giant Humpback and Fin Whales. For us "birders" the opportunity to see species of pelagic birds that are rarely seen from land is one of the most enjoyable aspects of being on the water.
This page will introduce you to a few (but by no means all) of the more common species that you may encounter in addition to the wide variety whales that are obviously the focus of our whale watching trips. I hope that learning a bit about some of the species that share the same habitat as the whales will give you a deeper insight into the working of this ocean environment. Enjoy!
