See Life Paulagics ran its best summer trip ever out of Lewes, DE this past
Saturday. Highlights included a dark morph HERALD PETREL, 5 BLACK-CAPPED
PETRELS, a WHITE-FACED STORM-PETRELS, an unprecedented 122 BAND-RUMPED
STORM-PETRELS, an also unprecedented 58 LEACH'S STORM-PETRELS, ARCTIC TERN,
BRIDLED TERN, and the more expected species. An amazing lowlight was a
count of just 85 WILSON'S STORM-PETRELS. A few other the birds weren't as
cooperative as we'd like, with several that simply flew by plus one MANX
SHEARWATER and one LONG-TAILED JAEGER only identified through very distant
photos.
The trip left before midnight and gently cruised out to the deep waters
beyond the edge of the Continental Shelf near Maryland's southern pelagic
border. We arrived just as the sky began to pale and dropped a big slick
of nasty, smelly fish products and beef suet.
Birds began arriving in short order. Excitement ran high when some of the
first arrivals included both BAND-RUMPED and LEACH'S STORM-PETRELS. We
made every effort to get everybody aboard on the birds and to explain the
differences, assuming that we would only have a few shots at these
species. Little did we know. Long winged storm-petrels continued coming
in from downwind. For hours you could scan our slick at any given time and
find both species. The funny thing is that if you wanted to also see
WILSON'S STORM-PETREL, you had to work for it. What the hell is going on
here? This feels a bit like California, Toto ... except that Alvaro
Jaramillo just ran a trip out of that state and found Wilson's was pretty
easy to come by. Is there a West Coast plot to steal our storm-petrels?
A little after 7:00 a dark bird flying to the boat was called. Several
unsure utterings of "Sooty Shearwater?" and "jaeger?" were made until the
words "HERRRRALD PETREL!!!" cut through the air. Panic ensued as everybody
made sure they got good looks. But as relief set in for everybody, I heard
somebody say "that one has a lot of white in it". I spun my camera and
staring at me through the lens was a ... "BLACK-CAPPED PETREL!!!" Again
the adrenaline levels aboard hit the cloud cover. Incredibly this bird was
followed by a buddy in short order. As with the storm-petrels, there was
really no need to panic as the birds made multiple repeated trips past the
boat over the next hour or so. In fact we managed to find 2 other
Black-cappeds in the area. Oh, yeah. We also had CORY'S, GREAT, and
AUDUBON'S SHEARWATERS for people to check off. Around 9:30 or so we
decided to move north. A bonus on the ride was yet another Black-capped
Petrel.
The ride was a bit bumpy so most of us stayed on the dry side, but Ed Boyd
(the artist formerly known as White-faced Storm-Petrel Kryptonite) glued
himself to the pulpit. Standing in front of the spray, he held on through
the bouncing seas, scanning ever outward for a sign of the object of his
unrewarded affections. I had visions of him with Ahab's beard, glaring at
the attempt ocean in search of his nemesis. Lo and behold, the bird gods
decided it was time to stop tormenting him since a joke that goes on too
long just isn't that funny anymore. He yells "WHITE-FACED STORM-PETREL!"
and yet again the boat suffered from that delicious brand of mass hysteria
best described as the "pelagic panic". We chased the bird and got most
people on it, but not 100%. We dropped a massive chum bomb and our little
buddy came right to it, giving everybody aboard repeated looks.
A small pod of Cuvier's Beaked Whales, a pod of 40 Pantropical Spotted
Dolphins, and a couple of hammerhead sharks made the non-avian list as
well. All in all we had an amazing day.
Here are the totals for the day. Note that almost all of these birds were
in Maryland waters. Birds seen in Delaware are noted:
Herald Petrel 1
Black-capped Petrel 5
Cory's Shearwater 11
Great Shearwater 53
Manx Shearwater 1 (photo ID)
Audubon's Shearwater 10
Wilson's Storm-Petrel 85 (WHAT THE HECK???!!!)
White-faced Storm-Petrel 1
Leach's Storm-Petrel 58
Band-rumped Storm-Petrel 122
Ruddy Turnstone 1
Red-necked Phalarope 18 (all fly-by)
Bridled Tern 1 (adult in DE)
Black Tern 5
Common Tern 1
Arctic Tern 1 (juvenile in MD)
Pomarine Jaeger 1 (sub-adult)
Long-tailed Jaeger 1 (juvenile in DE, photo ID)
jaeger sp. 1
Cuvier's Beaked Whale 3
Pantropical Spotted Dolphin 40
Our next trip is another overnighter out of Cape May leaving on Saturday
night, September 8. Who knows what awaits us? Maybe we'll see you aboard.
-PAG
--
*Paul A. Guris
See Life Paulagics
PO Box 161
Green Lane, PA 18054
215-234-6805
www.paulagics.com
<paulagics.com...>
<info...>*
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