Cape birders: Yeah, top this Gloucester

adamg — Wed, 17 Aug 2005 23:04:32 +0000

So last week, the Globe's Bird Sightings column informed us that a whale-watch tour out of Gloucester reported spotting 3,000 Wilson's Storm-Petrels. Today, Bird Sightings reports:

A whale-watching trip out of Provincetown recorded 6,000 Wilson's Storm-Petrels, 4 Northern Gannets and a Black Tern.

Where will the madness end?

Birdies

adamg — Fri, 12 Aug 2005 00:51:56 +0000

Seabirds observed on Stellwagen Bank from a whale-watching trip out of Gloucester included 3,000 Wilson's Storm-Petrels, 11 Greater Shearwaters, and 4 Sooty Shearwaters ...
- Bird Sightings, Boston Globe Sidekick, 8/10/05.

11 Greater Shearwaters I can see, but 3,000 Wilson's Storm-Petrels? Was that one birder who tallied up 3,000 of these seabirds (after all, Wilson's is the "Storm-petrel to watch")? Or did everybody on the whale watch collaborate to count that many?

If the former, what, 2,000 wasn't enough for you? Sheesh, some people are just never satisfied! If the latter, how did they ensure that they weren't all counting the same exact birds? Put 30 birders on a whale-watch trip out of Gloucester and each sees the same exact 100 Wilson's Storm-Petrels and pretty soon you've got "3,000" of them. In either case, why go on a whale watch if all you're going to do is notch endless numbers of Wilson's Storm-Petrels in a notebook?

Sheesh, the Globe really needs to do a better job at the explanatory journalism.

Wilson's Storm-Petrels

Cape birders: Yeah, top *this* Gloucester

Birdies

Cape birders: Yeah, top this Gloucester