Hi Paul,
It was a GREAT, no - UNBELIEVABLE trip, but I can't take sole credit for
the White-faced. Talking to Mike and Betsy with me at the time was the
Amazing Mikey Lutmerding and we both got on the bird at the same time but I
think the words came out of his mouth first. I couldn't get my mouth to
work because I think I was too stunned to believe I had finally gotten my
much coveted nemesis bird and I looked at it several times to be sure of
what I was seeing.
It was the most amazing day of Maryland seabirding that I've ever
experienced. Thanks to all that made it such a great success.
Ed Boyd
On Tue, Aug 28, 2012 at 1:53 PM, Paul Guris <paulagics.com...> wrote:
>
> 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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