If you have ever wondered where Seal Island got its name, come with me and I’ll show you. It’s the second-largest gray seal pupping colony in the United States, and we’re going out there to take a look. By “we,” I mean all of the hardy souls who will climb aboard the Isle au Haut Ferry on Dec. 10 and motor 21 miles out into the open ocean to visit the mama seals and newborns.
Seal Island is a 65-acre rock that is part of the Coastal Maine Islands National Wildlife Refuge. It’s about equidistant from Stonington and Rockland, but most visitors get there from Stonington, skirting Isle au Haut on the way out. Two boats make weekly visits to the puffin colony in summer. Except for a few lobstermen, nobody visits in winter. That would be just nuts.
So a boatload of nuts will make the trip in a couple of weeks. The largest gray seal pupping colony in the United States is Muskeget Island near Nantucket. Seal Island’s pupping population is smaller. We expect to see about 500 gray seals. Gray seals typically give birth to one pup per year, early in winter. They nurse for a few weeks, and then it’s every seal for himself. Harbor seals are smaller and give birth later in winter. We’ll be seeing hundreds of those as well. They haul out on Seal Island, and many of the islets and ledges that we’ll pass on the way out.
I, of course, will be looking for birds. Opportunities to get offshore in winter are rare, and there are some wicked interesting birds out there. Sea ducks that breed in the arctic spend the colder months in Maine, and I’ll be pointing out the scoters, grebes, buffleheads, mergansers and long-tailed ducks. I’ll be picking out the uncommon red-throated loons from all the common loons we expect to see. I’ll keep an eye out for guillemots, razorbills and murres, especially the rare thick-billed murre. The nearest nesting colony for those is in Witless Bay, Newfoundland.
And I’ll be looking for unusual gulls. Wait! I know gulls are boring, and you’re tempted to fling down the newspaper in disgust, hoping that next week’s birding column will be more interesting. (It will be.) I confess, it’s hard to get excited about gulls when there are so many. It’s annoying that they take years to mature, going through way too much plumage variation along the way.
Who cares about gulls? Boring.
However, among all that boringness, there are a few gems. Some arctic-breeding gulls sneak into Maine in winter. Finding them is like panning for gold. You have to sift through a lot of gravel to find the nugget. Among these, the Iceland gull is most likely. Iceland gulls nest far up in Canada, above Hudson Bay, along the Northwest Passage. Others nest in Greenland. None nest in Iceland, though some Iceland gulls do winter there.
Because Iceland gulls nest so far north, we understand little about them. We know they nest in colonies, often with other gull species. We know they lay eggs in grassy nests built on ocean-side cliffs. But researchers don’t know much about courtship, chick-rearing responsibilities or productivity rates. We could send grad students up there, I suppose. After all, they’re expendable. But it’s just too far north to feed them.
Iceland gulls are about the size of ring-billed gulls — those smaller gulls that hang around McDonald’s parking lots and the Bangor Mall. Most adult gulls in Maine have black wingtips. Iceland gulls have white wingtips, a dead giveaway.
Iceland gulls used to be easier to find in Maine, back when we had canneries. Prospect Harbor, Belfast and Bath were reliable locations. The saltmarsh next to Hannaford in South Portland is still a pretty good spot. Four years ago, I visited the lighthouse at the northern tip of Campobello in February, and every gull was an Iceland gull. Three years ago, I led an Audubon trip to Schoodic Point. We stopped in Winter Harbor and were surprised to find many swirling around the town dock. They’re findable, the same way that a needle is findable in the haystack.
Anyone inclined toward a little winter adventure can plan to meet me at the Stonington pier on Dec. 10. Details are on the Isle au Haut Ferry Facebook page, and contact info is at isleauhaut.com. You’ll be paying to see the gray seal pupping phenomenon. I’ll spot the birds for free.
Bob Duchesne serves as vice president of Maine Audubon’s Penobscot Valley Chapter. He developed the Maine Birding Trail, with information at mainebirdingtrail.com. He can be reached at duchesne@midmaine.com.