MA - Outer Cape shark attack - August 25th

Cory's Shearwater -  passing over unidentified shark attacking a (probable) Gray Seal, Head of the Meadow Beach, North Truro, Barnstable Co., MA. August 25th, 2017. 

We had a fairly close encounter with a shark on our family holiday on the Outer Cape last week.  Head of the Meadow Beach, on Cape Cod National Sea Shore was our favored beach for swimming and Matan loved the surf there spending 3 - 5 hours in the water each day.  On August 25th Matan, who was taking a brief rest from the water and drying off, leaped up yelling "shark, shark - everyone get out of the water". A huge bloody commotion was taking place right in front of us, easily less than 75 meters from shore, and the 20-30 people in the surf at the time!! 

In just a few seconds it was all over and an eerie calm fell over the beach as everyone stood on the shore hoping for another sighting but it wasn't to be. On a personal level, I was surprised that no shark fins were observed before the attack and equally surprised at how quickly a huge pool of blood appeared in the water. Moreover, I was blown away at just how quickly our nine year old identified exactly what was going on in front of him and his concern to get everyone out of the water.

I'm not sure that the shark or the prey item can be identified with certainty but we think the shark was very likely a Great White Shark and the prey, a Gray Seal. We'd been visiting the beach every day during our break and shark sightings were surprisingly frequent, usually taking place in late afternoon. After each sighting, the life guards raised a red flag indicating unsafe swimming conditions which would remain in place for at least an hour. 

As for Matan, well he never went back into the water for the rest of the vacation, pretty remarkable for a kid who'd been spending 3 - 5 hours in the surf everyday up to that point. This encounter definitely spooked him!

Gray Seal - hauled up on the beach just after the attack. Very clearly badly injured but probably not

the seal involved in the encounter that we observed. 

The mandatory 'no swimming' red flag goes up after the observation. 

Scanning for sharks the following morning over a flat calm Atlantic Ocean. 

MA - Gloucester Whale Watch 07/25

Yesterday morning Brian Kane and I left Western Mass early to arrive at Cape Ann at 07:30hrs. Feeling the need to get out onto the ocean, we'd booked an outing with 7 Seven Seas Whale Watch, the first time we'd used this particular outfit. Conditions were perfect with overcast skies and a good northerly breeze keeping temperatures low and comfortable.

Humpback Whale - Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, MA. July 25th, 2015.

It was a fabulous trip with plenty to see. We ended up at the SE corner of the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary where we treated to an amazing Humpback Whale that persistently breached around the boat for minutes on end.

Pelagic highlights included modest numbers of Great and Sooty Shearwaters, and my personal favorite, Cory's Shearwater which we saw throughout the day, and we saw them very well indeed. All of the Cory's identified to sub-species appeared to be borealis. Otherwise, just a smattering of Wilson's Storm-petrels and two Manx Shearwaters, along with a few Common Terns and Northern Gannets.

Cory's Shearwaters - five different individuals  showing characteristics of  C. d. borealis, Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, MA. July 25th, 2015.

 Great Shearwaters - Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, MA. July 25th, 2015.

Sooty Shearwaters - Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, MA. July 25th, 2015.

A few heart-pounding moments as Brian spotted something large, black and white sitting on the ocean as we steamed at speed toward the northern end of Stellwagen Bank - heart-pounding because we were both aware that an albatross sp. had been seen near Stellwagen Bank on July 12th. The ride out was so bouncy that it took these photos for us to be sure that we had been looking at an immature Northern Gannet!

 Wilson's Storm-petrels - Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, MA. July 25th, 2015.

Not a great day for looking at these with very few close to the boat, but nice to have them around all the same.

White-winged Scoter - adult male, Gloucester Harbor, MA. July 25th, 2015.

Very nice to see and not on my 'radar' for the day. 

Brian Kane in action - Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, MA. July 25th, 2015.

He never stopped looking all day!

Cory's/Scopoli's Shearwaters, Nantucket Shoals, July 19th.

It was a little unfortunate that fog became a factor once we reached the Nantucket Shoals area. However, we did have reasonable views of a handful of Cory's Shearwaters just before the fog effectively closed our day. Two of these birds, I felt, showed an underwing pattern approaching that of Scopoli's Shearwater (C.d. diomedia), whilst others/most showed characteristics closer to Cory's Shearwater (C.d. borealis).

Cory's/Scopoli's Shearwater - This bird doesn't show a clean cut demarcation between the white coverts and the dark underside of the primaries. However, the primaries appear mostly dark and I'd be inclined to think this was closer to borealis than diomedia.


possible Scopoli's Shearwater - most of the underwing of this bird appears rather white, especially on the primaries. This bird has a closer appearance to those photographed within the breeding range of diomedia.

possible Scopoli's Shearwater - dorsal view of the same bird.


Some amazing shots of Scopoli's Shearwaters fron Italy can be found at Daniele Occhiato's web page.