Our June 4 trip out of Lewes, DE gave us some interesting birds. Highlights
were Northern Fulmars, 4 very close breeding plumaged Red & Red-necked
Phalaropes sitting together, Sooty & Greater Shearwaters, and an amazing
pelagic sighting of Yellow-bellied Flycatcher!
The weather was decent. Waves were running 3'-5' to start, but the swells were
long and gentle. Weather was often overcast, but not cold, and the winds were
light. Water temps were pretty chilly, and remained in the upper 50s for most
of the day.
Here are the totals for the day. Note that we had several birds right at the
DE/MD line, so the DE count plus the MD count does not necessarily equal the
total number of individuals. For example, we had 4 Fulmars but 3 of them were
literally flying back and forth right over the state boundary.
SPECIES DE MD TOTAL
==================== ==== ==== =====
Common Loon 16 19 35
Northern Gannet 41 2 43
Northern Fulmar 3 4 4
Sooty Shearwater - 23 23
Greater Shearwater - 2 2
Wilson's Storm-Petrel 52 118 170
Laughing Gull 1 1 2
Herring Gull 1 3 4
Great Black-backed Gull 2 2 4
Royal Tern 4 - 4
Common Tern 3 - 3
Least Tern 1 - 1
Red-necked Phalarope - 2 2
Red Phalarope - 2 2
Dunlin 2 - 2
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher 1 - 1
American Redstart - 1 1
Eastern Kingbird - 1 1
* also seen were inshore Bottlenosed Dolphin and a number of Mola Molas (a.k.a.
Ocean Sunfish)
Per Mark Hoffman (our official counter and keeper of a killer MD records
database), we had some very unusual late dates for Maryland. The Common Loon
count is a record high for June, there is just one prior June record of Fulmar,
the Red Phalarope is the first June record, and the Red-necked Phalarope is the
2nd latest spring record for MD (and 3rd June record). The previous late date
for Red Phalarope was May 20, and was set in 1950!
You can see Mark's photos from the day at:
http://www.pbase.com/wcbirding/04_june_pelagics
It's not too early to start thinking about our August 27 Lewes trip. If you are
interested, be warned that all of the August trips we've scheduled from Lewes or
NJ have sold out in the past.
We are hoping for a repeat of last year's White-faced Storm-Petrel. Other
reasonable possibilities at this time of year are Cory's Shearwater, Audubon's
Shearwater, Bridled Tern, and Long-tailed Jaeger. The trip runs from 5:00 AM
to about 7:00 PM and the cost is $135. Contact us for more information or to
make a reservation.
-PAG
Paul A. Guris
See Life Paulagics
P.O. Box 161
Green Lane, PA 18054
www.paulagics.com
215-234-6805
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