Date: Fri, 1 Dec 2000 01:10:11 EST Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Marshall Iliff Subject: Poor Man's pelagic trip off O.C. on 29 Nov 2000 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit MDOspreyers, On 29 Nov 2000 I embarked on a vain attempt to add some alcids to my state list and consequently missed yet another White Pelican. Still, it was an enjoyable trip with birds in view most of the time. I met the O.C. Princess at 6:40 and she departed at 7:00. I was allowed on for $40.00 (fisherman paid $50.00). The target of the day was Black Sea Bass, which suited me because it took us 18 miles offshore. En route the captain asked me to watch for feeding frenzies of gulls and gannets since that would indicate Striped Bass activity. Although the Striper fishery is closed in offshore waters (3+ mi offshore) we stopped and did some catch and release for about 25 minutes, which suited me as well since gannets and gulls were everywhere. We hit the edge of the Great Eastern Reef (96 ft, 18 mi E of the inlet) at about 8:56 and fished for Sea Bass until 12:57. Fishermen were hauling in keepers constantly during that time, along with a smattering of Spiny Dogfish (sharks). I was entertained by itinerant kittiwakes and a large feeding frenzy of gannets that developed nearby and continued for most of the time out there, apparently feeding on bait fish rounded up by some Bluefin Tuna. On the return trip the bird activity was even better and the captiain couldn't resist fishing around some of the big bird flocks that I spotted. Again, suited me just fine. Below are my counts for the day for waters 3+ mi offshore: 1) Common Loon - 59 on trip out, 157 on return trip, 4 at reef 2) Red-throated Loon - 1 on return trip about 5 mi offshore w/ group of 50+ Common Loons. Hundreds were seen in inshore waters in the morning but very few in the afternoon. 3) Northern Gannet - hard to count...83 counted on trip out and 385 on return trip, an additional 200+ were feeding at the reef 4) PARASITIC JAEGER - 1 light morph adult attacked a Bonaparte's Gull and was seen well on the trip out (7:47 a.m.), on the return trip one light subadult flew by low to the water in an area of high bird activity (2:20 p.m.) 5) POMARINE JAEGER - 1 light subadult flew by from north to south (migrating?) while we were fishing the reef (9:33 a.m.) 6) Laughing Gull - 16 en route, and 4 at the reef. Only one first-winter, the rest adults. Seemed like a good count for this time of year. 7) Bonaparte's Gull - 250 on the trip out, 319 on the return trip, and about 10 at the reef 8) LITTLE GULL - 1 adult well-seen with only 8 Bonaparte's Gulls in a small pocket of bird activity (Bonies and gannets) about 8.5 mi offshore (1:40 p.m.) 9) Ring-billed Gull - 1 adult at the reef 10) Herring Gull - 9 at the reef, strangely only about 10 others en route to and from 11) Great Black-backed Gull - 15 at the reef, and one on the trip out. The reef seemed likea definite pocket of gull activity. 12) BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKE - hard to count acurately, at least 3 adults and 2 first-winters, all at the reef. Despite careful looking noe were seen inshore of there, though they were immediately obvious when we arrived at the reef. At one point 2 adults and one first-winter sat on the water together (photos). 13) Forster's Tern - one in feeding group 5 mi offshore Additionally the captain (Monty Hawkins) told me about a Right Whale he saw last Saturday, his first ever. It was about 5 mi offshore and among a group of gulls and gannets. He also mentioned a bird seen at close range last week, only about 2 mi inshore of the reef (thus 16 mi offshore), that he identified carefully with a book as a Black Guillemot. He said he tried to take a picture but couldn't find it in the viewfinder! Reminded him of a grebe... The inlet held hundreds of gulls, 1 Great Cromorant, and 4 Harlequin Ducks (3 males, 1 female). The day prior I had seen one Red Knot there, whcih hopefully will remain for the CBC. Purple Sandpipers are finally in in force, but I have yet to see an eider this year! Best, Marshall Iliff miliff@aol.com Ocean City, MD ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================