See Life Paulagics again ran an 8-person fishing / birding charter on
the Lewestown Lady out of Lewes, DE. This is a fairly expensive
22-hour trip that a handful of hard-core Delaware birders (who double
as anglers) like to try to pull off each summer. Our general
itinerary is to ride out through the night into the Wilmington Canyon
past the 1000 fathom line, which is the edge of the Continental Shelf.
We set up and start fishing in the dark, fish and bird the entire
morning, and work our way back in the afternoon. Conditions were flat
calm in the evening and early morning, but become breezy and choppy by
mid-day. We gave it up about an hour early and had a bit of a rough
ride back in.
We spent most of our time in Delaware (and New Jersey) waters but our
drift in the dark started us out in Maryland waters where we managed
to find a WHITE-FACED STORM-PETREL. If accepted (highly likely as we
have photos and video), it will be the state's 4th accepted record.
Motoring back in Delaware waters with a slightly disappointed Frank
Rohrbacher (he needed the White-faced for his Delaware list), we soon
made good with a second WHITE-FACED STORM-PETREL! If accepted (highly
likely as we have photos and video), it will only be the state's 2nd
accepted record. Photos are up on our web site.
As we continued our trolling and birding, a tern made an appearance
and flew right across our stern. It was a nice adult ARCTIC TERN,
another very good bird for Delaware. Two POMARINE JAEGERS also flew
by the boat. This is a bird that seems to be getting scarcer lately
in the Mid-Atlantic.
Finally we picked up an ran for home, but the excitement wasn't nearly
over. Mary Gustafson and Ed Sigda were watching something and I heard
her say, "I think this might be a SABINE'S GULL." I scanned with my
glasses and picked up a Common Tern, wondering what the heck she was
talking about. As she screamed a positive ID on SABINE'S GULL, I
realize that I was looking at a bird 90 degrees away from hers! The
gorgeous adult SABINE'S GULL in breeding plumage flew with us for a
bit, and Ed managed to squeeze off some stellar pics. If accepted
(and it had better be!), it will only be the state's 2nd accepted
record.
A final goodbye present on our run home was two small groups of
BRIDLED TERNS (numbering 3 and 2) that a few people were able to get on.
In addition to great birds, we had excellent cetaceans and good
fishing. Final cetacean counts include 6 SPERM WHALES (including a
calf), my first for this region, about 150 PILOT WHALES, 4 RISSO'S
DOLPHIN, and 2 CUVIER'S BEAKED WHALES, only my second sighting for
this region. Mike Fritz got wonderful video of the SPERM WHALES, and
stills are up on our web site. Fish caught included a SCALLOPED
HAMMERHEAD SHARK of about 150 pounds, a YELLOWFIN TUNA nearing 90
pounds, and several MAHI MAHI / DOLPHIN.
Here are the final counts for the day:
SPECIES TOTAL
--------------- -----
Cory's Shearwater 14
Audubon's Shearwater 8
shearwater sp. 6
Wilson's Storm-Petrel 140
WHITE-FACED STORM-PETREL 2
Northern Gannet 1
Laughing Gull 3
Great Black-backed Gull 1
SABINE'S GULL 1
BRIDLED TERN 5
Common Tern 3
ARCTIC TERN 1
stern tern sp. 4
POMARINE JAEGER 2
Barn Swallow 1
SPERM WHALE 6
CUVIER'S BEAKED WHALE 2
Pilot Whale 150
Risso's Dolphin 4
Many thanks to the intrepid group of sharp-eyed and diligent
birds/anglers, the captains (including guest captain), and the mate
who made this trip so successful.
Our next scheduled pelagic from Lewes is October 21. This is a very
underexplored time of year for our pelagic waters. We're hoping to
find Manx Shearwater, Greater Shearwater, Parasitic Jaeger, Red
Phalarope, and who knows what else. Contact us if you are interested
or want more information.
-Paul
Paul A. Guris
See Life Paulagics
P.O. Box 161
Green Lane, PA 18054
www.paulagics.com
215-234-6805
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