Date: Sat, 14 Feb 2004 18:17:25 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Mark Hoffman Subject: Feb Pelagic Possibilities MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit With the February 28th pelagic trip only two weeks away, now is a good time to review the anticipated (and prayed for!) species list. I know many MDOsprey members will be on board. A query of the Worcester County data base (now some 148,114 records strong) reveals 302 records in the "pelagic zone" during the period January to March, the time period I will use to assess prior records. There have been at least 27 organized pelagic trips during this time frame, plus a number of records from birders riding along on fishing boats or research vessels. Given that for some trips, I do not have all the data for every species, it is not possible to calculate a percentage occurrence (e.g., kittiwake seen on XX% of all trips) without more analysis then I have time for at the moment. However, the raw number of records from the organized group trips listed below (= "records"), does give a very reasonable sense of relative occurrence in most cases. I have excluded the fishing boat/research vessel numbers from these totals, as often only the rarities are reported from such trips. If these latter records add substantial information, I detail them. I also list high counts, specific data for some records, trends, etc. Several species groups (e.g., loons, scoters) tend to occur near shore, but not over the deeper water. For the sake of completeness, I will cover these, but the data are variable in completeness, as there is no strict definition of were the pelagic zone begins. Annotated Species List - Maryland Pelagic Records - January to March Red-throated Loon: 6 records, high 31. Fairly common nearshore within 20 km of land, not found far at sea. Common Loon: 6 records, high 45. Fairly common nearshore within 20 km of land, more likely to be seen over deep water than Red-throated Loon. Horned Grebe: no records from organized trips, 2 records from fishing boats, high 49 15-25 km ENE of OC on 02/12/1977 unique, second record of a single on 03/25/1973. Red-necked Grebe: no records from organized trips, 1 record from a fishing boat, 03/25/1973, 9 km E of OC. Yellow-nosed Albatross: 1 record, 02/01/1975. A very famous bird, being one of the best documented albatross records on the East Coast at the time. Let's hope for its sister species, Black-browed Albatross (i.e., I saw the yellow-nosed and Jim and Paul did not). Northern Fulmar: 11 records, high 105, set on last year's 03/15/2003 See Life Paulagics trip. First Maryland record 02/03/1973. Almost always over water at least 40 fathoms deep. Manx Shearwater: 2 records of singles, 01/12/1975 and 02/08/1986, plus a third single from a fishing boat on 03/29/1987. Northern Gannet: 24 records, high an amazing 6,276 on 02/08/1976. Average numbers for a winter pelagic 150-300. Canada Goose: 1 record, 12 on 01/02/1982. Scaup (sp.): 1 record, 1 on 01/02/1982. Common Eider: 1 record, 2 on 02/03/1973, could have been at the Inlet, although there is one record of an eider(sp.) 20 m. NE of OC, on 01/19/1973, from a fishing boat. Surf Scoter: 2 records, high 12, nearshore. White-winged Scoter: 3 records, high 6, nearshore. Black Scoter: 1 record, 2 individuals, nearshore. Long-tailed Duck: 2 records, high 2, nearshore. Red Phalarope: 6 records, high 113 on 01/12/1975, next highest 15 on 03/15/2003 on See Life Paulagics trip. Great Skua: 13 records, high 9 on 02/01/1975. For simplicity, all birds reported as Great Skua and skua(sp.) are combined here. Records by decade: 1970s: 9; 1980s: 2, 1990s: 2. Although the 1970s was the peak of winter trips, the species does seem less common now than during that period. Pomarine Jaeger: 3 records, high 2, all in early February in the 1970s. One fishing boat record for late-March and 4 jaeger(sp.) records scattered throughout the period. Laughing Gull: 1 record, 03/16/1975, nearshore, spring arrival. Franklin's Gull: 1 record, 02/08/1986, unique winter record. Little Gull: 1 record, 03/01/1992 a single, plus one fishing boat record from January. Black-headed Gull: 1 record, 02/03/1973, plus 3 additional fishing boat records. Bonaparte's Gull: 6 records, high 65, usually nearshore. Ring-billed Gull: 2 records, high 11, rare at sea. Herring Gull: 13 records, high 3,700 on 02/05/1977. Six counts of 1000+. Clearly data lacking for any trips. Thayer's Gull: 2 records, 02/05/1977 (first documented state record) and 01/30/1977. Iceland Gull: 6 records, high 3 on 02/05/1977. White-winged gulls generally more frequent offshore than on, especially Iceland. Lesser Black-backed Gull: 5 records, high 3 on 03/01/1992. First recorded 1977, regular since then. Glaucous Gull: 4 records, high 3 on 03/05/1977 and 03/16/1977. Not recorded in pelagic zone since 1982. Great Black-backed Gull: 11 records, high 1,114 (!!) on 02/08/1986, normal counts 20-100. Black-legged Kittiwake: 21 records, highs 2,278 on 02/08/1986 and 1,940 on 01/30/1983, next highest 533. Extremely variable in abundance, 9 counts of 100+, and 12 of <100. Numbers drop off greatly after mid-February. Dovekie: 14 records, high 319 on 01/30/1983. Three over counts of 100+. Generally found past 40 fathom line. Common Murre: 4 records, all singles, 02/18/1996, 02/25/1995, 03/12/1994, and 03/15/2003. One fishing boat record of 2, on 01/16/1977. Thick-billed Murre: 2 records, 3 on 02/18/1996 and 2 on 02/26/1995, plus one fishing boat record of a single, 03/03/1973. Also three murre(sp.) records in February. Razorbill: 20 records, high 76 on 02/08/1986. Ten counts of 10+. Most likely alcid. Many (13) records of large alcid (sp.) as well. Atlantic Puffin: 12 records, high 19 on 02/26/1995, two other counts of 10+. Red-winged Blackbird: 1 record, a single on 02/26/1995, 40 m. E of OC. Only other passerine record is 5 Common Grackles, on 02/20/1991, several miles off OC. Smooth sailing, Mark L. Hoffman Sykesville, MD wcbirding@adelphia.net (note new email address) ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================