This was a large flock of unidentified birds flying out to sea past Eastern Point. I counted 400, until I lost my place and didn’t want to go back and start over again. Anyone with nothing better to do want to try counting them? And does anyone have any idea what they might be?
E.J. Lefavour
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Good Morning Gloucester 
EJ my guess is they are cormorants. Judging from their flight pattern and the number we’ve seen this fall flying over Lobster Cove in the late afternoon.
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Really! I knew we had more cormorants around, but I never would have guessed there were that many. I found a video on youtube of a flock of cormorants flying and they do look like these birds (although there are more in this photo and they are further away, so you can’t make out their heads and necks) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7BeorIjUIE
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probably Starlings . They look like someone threw a truck load of coal into the sky. they are everywhere here in the south at this time of year. Or maybe they’re something else ? look like starlings to me though. Pesty things, and NOISY
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I thought starlings too, but these birds were really far away, so too large to be starlings.
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Wow! That is amazing!!!
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Yes, it was pretty amazing to see Kathleen.
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very cool.. their patterns are amazing, great photos
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Thanks Donna. Yes, it looks like sky drawing. Nature’s public art, for those lucky enough to catch it as it is happening.
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We see this a lot where we are and call it “sky pepper”. These are great photos, not easy to shoot. Eastern Pt. provides never ending beauty, doesn’t it!
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Hi Ann,
I like that – sky pepper. Eastern Point does provide never ending beauty. We’ll definitely get a few walks in out there again when you come back next year.
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Looking forward to it. We love your fall photos out there.
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My gram always called them pepper birds here in Pennsylvania
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My guess is Commorants. They migrate south this time of year and appear in the sky a huge, unorganized flock…unlike geese that seem to be much more sharper in the “V” formation. Sad sign that the white crap in coming…
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I was thinking that very same thing this morning. They obviously weren’t heading north.
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We were boating on the Annisquam on Saturday and a whole string of them flew by just like this. Close enough to ID, pointy on both ends, double crested cormorants.
563.
30+22+34+42+34+15+16+107+69+8+58+26+17+85=563
In 1981 I had to count colonies on plates. First draw lines to segregate. then count. Simple 😉
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Paul, you are amazing, but I knew if anyone out there would count them, it would be you. Thanks. 563 is a big bunch of cormorants. I bet that would make Al Bezanson’s day to see.
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That also is a good reason why the cormorant could not be the GMG mascot – they are fair weather friends unlike homies who stay here through thick and thin, fair weather and foul.
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Fair weather — bah! They may well be heading from Labrador where they dove with polar bears to Okefenokee where they’ll be cavorting with ‘gators. A balanced diet between northern and southern food to keep them healthy and spry.
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Yes, Al, while that does make them very worldly and fascinating birds, they still leave the beautiful shores of Gloucester for places they think are somehow better. And for that, in my book anyway, they get voted out of GMG homiedom.
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On Friday morning around 9am I saw a similarly large flock. The were definitely cormorants. It was breathtaking to see the flock rising and soaring between the white capped waves and the low hanging clouds in the sky.
I’m so pleased you caught a picture of it. I was trying to describe the majesty of it and wished I had a picture that could do it justice.
Thanks for sharing.
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Wikipedia: Double-crested Cormorants weigh between 1.2–2.5 kg (2.6–5.5 pounds) so average cormorant weighs 4 pounds. You photographed a flock that weighs over one ton! I’m putting decals on my front window.
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? you lost me. What kind of decals?
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I’ve got a crazy catbird in my front yard that runs into our window once a day in the spring. I think she/he is trying to fight the reflection. So you put decals on your window. Imagine a ton of cormorants wanting to fly through your window.
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