We had an "interesting" day at sea.

We started out on a calm and beautiful day.  The seas were calm, the winds
light, and the inshore birds plentiful.  Our first 3 Razorbills were probably
only about 3 miles offshore.  At 4 miles, we chased a diving bird around a bit,
and finally got good views of an immature Puffin.  This is about 20 miles closer
to shore than I personally have ever seen a Puffin in the Mid-Atlantic region.

The day continued great.  We racked up more Razorbills, including some wonderful
views of sitting birds near the boat.  A small flock of Red Phalaropes flew by. 
Kittiwakes started to trickle in.  Next we had 2 Manx Shearwaters fly in.  We
eventually came to a big feeding flock of Gannets.

And then, the fuel filters clogged, and we were dead in the water.  We were
stranded at about 17 miles due east of Indian River Inlet.  We sat waiting for
another boat to bring the needed parts and a mechanic, but all was not in vain.
 We were right in the flock, and we started our big sit.  We had more
Kittiwakes, more Manx Shearwaters, several more Razorbills (including several
that flew in and sat in our chum slick), another flock of Red Phalaropes, and a
small group of Fin Whales.

Finally, help arrived and we got underway around 1:00.  Unfortunately, it got
rough ... and rainy.  We made a push towards Maryland waters, but we barely
made it.  We did pick up more Razorbills and Kittiwakes, but we needed to run
for home.  As we approached shore, the wind finally let up.

Our final counts, not including very nearshore flocks of loons and scoters,
were:

   2 Red-throated Loon
  21 Common Loon
   6 Manx Shearawaters
 590 Northern Gannet
 300 Surf Scoter
  22 White-winged Scoter
 100 Black Scoter
  22 Red Phalarope
  10 Laughing Gull
 225 Bonaparte's Gull
 105 Herring Gull
 100 Great Black-backed Gull
   6 Black-legged Kittiwake (incl. a 1st year bird)
  25 Razorbill
   1 Atlantic Puffin
   6 large alcid sp.


Our new shcedule will be published shortly, but our next Lewes trip will be at
the end of February.  Hope to see you aboard.


-PAG

Paul A. Guris
See Life Paulagics
P.O. Box 161
Green Lane, PA  18054
www.paulagics.com
215-234-6805