Mother Carey's Chicken visits Gloucester Harbor

I have a copy of The Dictionary of American Bird Names edited by Ernest A. Choate that I purchased back in the ‘80s when I was a power birder. In it, there is an entry for Mother Carey’s Chicken. “A sailor’s name for petrel. Yarrell, who wrote A History of British Birds in 1843, stated, “The name was given by Capt. Carteret’s sailors, from some unknown hag of that name.” It has also been suggested that she is a witch of the sea accompanied by imps in the form of little black birds. According to others she is the aunt of Davy Jones.”



I've never seen the Wilson's Storm Petrels inside Gloucester Harbor. On Father's day, there were dozens fluttering around. Alas, with 300 mms and fog, I wasn’t able to get the real cool shot. However, the only times I’ve seen these Leach's and Wilson's Storm Petrels are while steaming out at 16 knots on a whale watching trip to Stellwagon Bank. These are the shots I have, enough to document that they were inside Tenpound Island on Father’s day. Pitching in the waves and trying to get a good shot of these tiny birds is a fool’s errand.

P.S. The were here this morning before I went to work too.