Date: Mon, 11 Sep 2000 14:29:44 EDT Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Marshall Iliff Subject: Corrections to 3 September pelagic trip Comments: cc: ednieap@wittnet.com MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hello all, The summary of the 3 September Pelagic trip to MD waters had a few minor points which deserve correction, and below I add a few observations and tallies of my own. Original post is copied below. * First and foremost, we have analyzed photos and all agree that the repo rted South Polar Skua from Maryland is in fact an exceptionally dark, apparent second-year, Pomarine Jaeger. The white wing flashes were fairly large, but the bird was still equal in size to other Pomarines in the area, had too little white in the wing, and had pinkish legs (diagnostic of jaegers vs. skuas). Subtract one South Polar Skua from the MD tally and add one Poma rine (total of 6). * The Bridled Tern count should have been 18 for the trip, with 5 in MD a nd 13 in DE. Almost all were adults, but some may have been subadults (not seen well). See below however, for a discussion of the state lines. I was ab le to confirm from Shawneen Finnegan that Bridled Terns seen off Brielle, NJ , the previous day were also subadults/adults, NOT juveniles. * I would also note that both Long-tailed Jaegers (in MD and DE) were juveniles, not "immatures". Photos of the Maryland Long-tailed Jaeger wi ll not be useful for identification, but I obtained several excellent shots of the DE Long-tailed which hopefully will be up on the FONT website soon. If the description is accepted, the Maryland Long-tailed Jaeger will be the third accepted state record. IF ANYONE ON THE BOAT TOOK NOTES, the MD RECORDS COMMITTEE WOULD LIKE TO RECEIVE THEM. * All Pomarine Jaegers were subadults (probably mostly second-year or third-year birds), but I believe one was a dark morph juvenile. * Bug people may be interested in one Cloudless Sulphur seen 20-30 mi off DE and a dragonfly sp., probably a Spot-winged or Wandering Glider, about 40 mi off DE * Sea Turtle count should be upped to three, one Loggerhead in MD (LORAN coordinates: N38*20.13', W74*07.65'; 77.3* F; 166 ft), one Loggerhead in DE, and one sea turtle sp. (probably Loggerhead) in DE * Note also that the Common Dolphins were seen in MD (LORAN coordinates N 38*22 .45' N, W73*57.44'; 79.5 F; 197 ft), the mola-molas (Ocean Sunfish) were one in each state, and the Bottlenosed Dolphins were in DE. A large whale sp. (possibly Fin Whale) was ommitted from the DE tally. Note for the dolphi n coordinates, that one Bridled Tern, one Greater Sherwater, 15 Wilson's Storm-Petrels, one Mola Mola, and one Pomarine Jaeger were also in the sa me area and share the same coordinates. * I kept water temperatures and water depth for some of the WIlson's Storm-Petrels beyond the 30-fathom line: 12 WISP, 2 Yellowfin tuna caught (77.1 F, 202 ft, lv 11:30) - these birds were in the area of fish oil slicks laid out by fishing boats working the 30-fathom line 2 WISP (203 ft) 2 WISP 1 WISP (79.1 F, 204 ft) 1 WISP (79.4 F) - we had been in a patch of heavy fog, which lifted at th is time. Our next birds after this were at the trawler working the area wit h 30 Common Dolphins, 1 Briedled Tern ,1 Greater Shearwater etc... In between we passed through a sharp thermocline (water temp dropped 2 degrees F) with a well-defined line of Sargassum (but only a few large mats of it). We fou nd no birds at all in this area, surprisingly. * COORDINATES: An initial comment. Please note that the coordinates in the initial post do not give readings in seconds, but rather in hundredths of a minute. Thus "Long-tailed Jaeger (MD) N38*25'31" W73*55'82"" should read N38*25.31', W73*55.82'. There was some discussion of the vagaries of different position readi ngs. The official readings for the trip were made on a LORAN unit, but one individual had a GPS unit for which he gave coordinates for some sighting s. He confirmed his GPS readings with those of "The Skipjack" and the two readings were nearly identical. GPS coordinates are accurate to within several yards (or feet!) these days, while LORANS have always carried a fairly wide margin of error. Very minor points, especially considering t hat these birds have wings and fly more distance than these errors reflect. I note that the GPS coordinates changed the state by state tallies of Bridl ed Terns, with DE having 14 and MD having 4 [one of which flew across the st ate line, giving DE 15 and MD 4, for a total of 18 (not 19).] and also that 4 Red-necked Phalaropes flew across the state line I offer the following corrections of the "official" coordinates, from the GPS: 38 24.919'N, 73 55.654'W (GPS coordinates of MD Long-tailed Jaeger) 38 24.582'N, 73 56.075'W (GPS coordinates of MD"skua", here reidentified as Pomarine Jaeger) 38 28.09'N, 74 16.55'W (GPS coordinates of Belted Kingfisher) 38 43.48'N, 74 23.91'W (GPS coordinates of DE South Polar Skua) Thanks to FONT for running this trip to MD & DE waters, and thanks to the leaders Andie Ednie and Paul O'Brien. The captain Jack Rogers (and mate Mark) were phenomenal as always. These two really enjoy the bird trips a nd go above and beyond the call of duty for us. Jack got in more than an ho ur late for us - during that extra hour we saw 2 Long-tailed Jaegers, 5 Poma rine Jaegers, 14 Greater Shearwaters, 8 Cory's Shearwaters, 75+ Wilson's Storm-Petrels, and 9 Bridled Terns (in other words, the vast majority of birds on the entire trip). Thanks again to all. Best, Marshall Iliff miliff@aol.com Annapolis, MD ************************************************************************* ***** ******************* Lewes, Delaware Pelagic 3 September 2000 The FONT tour from Lewes on board the "Skipjack" left port at 5:30 AM. Ou r goal was to make Baltimore Canyon via the 19 Fathom Seamount and the Teacup. The birding would be in both Delaware and Maryland waters. Once again, our boat was skippered by Capt. Jack Rogers with mate, Mark. There has never been two people more intent on finding birds. These two guys ar e the best crew ever! Although overcast, the seas were calm with only 1-2 foot swells. The viewing conditions were excellent except when we hit a f og bank at the 30 fathom line. I knew we were in for a special day when the first shearwater to show up was about 2 hours after we left the dock, an hour after sunrise. A big, o ld Cory's Shearwater came gliding across the bow, then turned to go down our port side. It was immediately joined by a Pomarine Jaeger! Seeing pelagic s this early on a trip from Delaware is always a good sign. The water temperature was incredibly warm. In June, the temperature was 5 9 degrees. This trip, the temperature ranged from 75 to 80 degrees. Sargass o was everywhere, a sign that this was tropical waters. Several observers s aw flying fish. Highlights included a large number of Bridled Terns, and gre at display of several Skuas and Jaegers, and the first record of Long-tailed Jaeger for Delaware. Birds seen: DE: MD: Cory's Shearwater 14 9 Greater Shearwater 15 Wilson's Storm-Petrel 74 46 Red-necked Phalarope 11 4 Shorebird sp 8 Pomarine Jaeger 1 5 Long-tailed Jaeger 1 1 South Polar Skua 1 1 Herring Gull 3 Great Black-backed Gull 6 Bridled Tern 11 4 Black Tern 4 Belted Kingfisher 1 Other sightings: Malo Malo 2 Loggerhead Sea turtle 2 Bottlenose Dolphin 6 Common Dolphin 30 Highlights by location: South Polar Skua (DE) N 38*33'10" W74*23'07" (Immature with worn plumage) South Polar Skua (MD) N38*25'31" W73*55'82" (Blue base of the bill) Long-tailed Jaeger (MD) N38*25'31" W73*55'82" (immature) Long-tailed Jaeger (DE) N 38*32'86" W74*19'15" (immature) Bridled Tern N 38*30'55" W74*18'03" (water temp-75.7) Bridled Tern N 38*26'62" W74*13'84" Bridled Tern N 38*21'56" W74*09'88" (water temp-76.4) Bridled Tern N 38*21'00" W74*08'85" (water temp-77.0) Bridled Tern N 38*31'44" W74*14'14" (water temp-78.3)(8 birds together) Trip leaders were Andy Ednie and Paul O'Brien. Special thanks to Marshall Iliff and Jim Stasz for their contributions. The Delaware-Maryland State Line is considered to be: N 38*27'04" Andrew P. Ednie ednieap@wittnet.com Wilmington, DE ======================================================================== To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================== ==========================================================================