MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • September 18, 2022
On Sept. 10, Maine Audubon ran its annual “pelagic trip” out of Bar Harbor, a boat trip that looks for various birds that can only be seen with a dedicated effort. The big draw of the trip is the opportunity to see skuas, large seabirds that can only be seen by going offshore when they are using the Gulf of Maine to feed during migration or their non-breeding season. Another interesting change was the presence of Cory’s shearwaters. The Gulf of Maine is now warming faster than 96 percent of the world’s oceans, and increases in species like Cory’s shearwaters are an obvious sign of marine life changing in response to the temperatures. There is much we don’t know about the birds and other wildlife in the Gulf of Maine, but one thing is for certain: it is clearly changing. ~ Maine Audubon Staff Naturalist Doug Hitchcox