See Life Paulagics ran its annual summer trip out of Lewes, DE this  
past Saturday, August 26.  Conditions were a bit breezy and choppy in  
the morning, but the return trip was much smoother with the wind at  
our backs.  We explored the Baltimore Canyon and some area to the north.

Our first birding highlight of the trip was a highly cooperative juv.  
LONG-TAILED JAEGER near the tip of the Baltimore Canyon.  This was a  
brown bird that kept sitting on the water and allowing us to approach  
it.  Everybody was able to get identifying looks, and excellent photos  
were obtained and are up on our web site.  If accepted, it will only  
be the Maryland's 5th accepted record.

We managed to find two nice groups of shearwaters.  We ended the day  
with multiple AUDUBON'S, GREATER, and CORY'S SHEARWATERS.

Of interest to those unfamiliar with tuna "on the hoof" (fin?) was the  
YELLOWFIN TUNA that we landed.  On our summer trips, we troll a few  
lines to create a splash in the wake.  It worked well on one GREATER  
SHEARWATER who put on a show trying to see if it was something to eat.  
  Catching the fish was incidental to our trip, but tasty nonetheless.

On the ride back in, another great bird flew right across the back of  
the boat.  This one was a SOUTH POLAR SKUA and, much to Frank  
Rohrbacher's delight, was in Delaware waters.  If accepted, it will  
only be the Delaware's 4th accepted record.  Depending upon the  
pelagic boundary decision by the New Jersey committee, this bird may  
also be countable in New Jersey.

Here are the final counts for the day:

SPECIES                  DE     MD     TOTAL
---------------          -----  -----  -----
Cory's Shearwater            1     20     21
Greater Shearwater           0     10     10
Audubon's Shearwater         7     10     17
Wilson's Storm-Petrel        6    113    119
Semipalmated Plover          3      0      3
Lesser Yellowlegs            1      0      1
Red-necked Phalarope         2      1      3
Laughing Gull                1      0      1
Black Tern                  13      0     13
Common Tern                  0      1      1
SOUTH POLAR SKUA             1      0      1
LONG-TAILED JAEGER           0      1      1
Barn Swallow                 1      1      2

Common Dolphin               0      8      8
Loggerhead Sea Turtle        0      3      3

Many thanks to the participants who joined us, the captain, and the  
mates, all key in making our trip 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