Category Archives: marine
Beautiful clouds seen from the Robert Seaman on an invitational sail around Tahiti and Moorea with the Sea Education Association
An Unexpected Encounter With a Water Owl: Cuvier’s Beaked Whale
Several hundred years ago there was said to be a strange and fierce sea creature that attacked ships. The Water-Owl or Ziphius had the body of a fish and a head of an owl with huge eyes and a beak-like … Continue reading
Pacific Shore Birds on Rose Atoll
I find that shore birds on distant Pacific islands can be hard to approach. They are often far out on sand spits or rocky outcrops, and fly off as soon as one approaches. On Rose Atoll, the southern-most US national monument … Continue reading
Masked Boobies: Rose Atoll Part Two
The Masked Booby is such an elegant bird however the young are endearing and almost comical – as the first two photographs show. There were a few chicks and juveniles on Rose Island and I saw several adults flying. The young were … Continue reading
Rose Atoll, Remote US National Monument. Part One Brown Boobies
Rose Atoll is a tiny speck on the map in the Southern pacific and is part of American Samoa. This remote place has one small island that you can walk around in twenty minutes but is home for over 300,000 seabirds. … Continue reading
Ofu Beach American Samoa National Park
The second island in American Samoa I visited was Ofu. It is joined by a slim suspension bridge to Olisega and together they are six kilometers long. This isolated speck of paradise has steep verdant slopes of thick forest and … Continue reading
Whales and Seabirds at Stillwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary
Last Week I went whale watching on a New England Aquarium whale watching trip run by Boston Harbor Cruises. I was with NOAA Stillwagen Bank NMS and Mass Audubon staff. We had a wonderful trip counting seabirds and saw several … Continue reading
Seabirds of Christmas Island
On a recent visit to Christmas Island, Kiribati I was lucky enough to spend a short time with the local wildlife official on a rat-free island in the lagoon reserved for seabirds. Christmas Island is an important breeding area for several … Continue reading
Parker River National Wildlife Refuge
I went to Plum Island last weekend – the Parker River National Wildlife refuge. Wonderful to see the ecosystems on this barrier island. It was a bit early for many migrants, but as I am still excited by almost any … Continue reading
Freezing Boston harbor and Red Breasted Merganser
This week I saw a beautiful male Red Breasted Merganser near the New England Aquarium. I was looking at the gulls searching for crabs and admiring the frozen water when I looked up and this beautiful Merganser swam by. It … Continue reading
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