See Life Paulagics ran it's annual February pelagic on Saturday, Feb.
7. The weather started out pretty nice, and birding was very good.
Highlights included 207 DOVEKIES (a decent, but not exceptional
count), 6 PUFFINS, 2 RAZORBILLS, and 3 NORTHERN FULMARS. There were
good numbers of WHITE-WINGED SCOTERS on the way out.
We had a very good gull show, including 3 GLAUCOUS, 5 ICELAND
(including a very dainty 2nd winter bird with an slim all dark bill
that generated discussion about what to look for in a nominate race
bird), 6 LESSER BLACK-BACKED, and an adult KITTIWAKE. Another adult
ICELAND type gull with darker than normal wingtips generated
discussion as to whether it was at the dark end of Kumlien's, a
hybrid, or even the light end of Herring. Most of the good gulls
stayed with us for long periods of time, eating up large chunks of
memory cards.
The wind kicked up on our return trip and made for a wet ride if you
were on the wrong side of the boat, but we continued to attract
interesting gulls and increase our Dovekie count us for hours.
These are the final totals for the day:
DE MD Total
----------------------- ---- ---- -----
Surf Scoter 15 0 15
White-winged Scoter 400 0 400
Black Scoter 1600 0 1600
Red-throated Loon 4 0 4
Common Loon 8 0 8
Northern Fulmar 0 3 3
Northern Gannet 23 25 48
Bonaparte's Gull 2 0 2
Herring Gull 553 802 1355
Iceland Gull 2 3 5
Lesser Black-backed Gull 2 4 6
Glaucous Gull 1 2 3
Great Black-backed Gull 40 80 120
Black-legged Kittiwake 0 1 1
Dovekie 65 142 207
Razorbill 0 2 2
large alcid (sp) 6 3 9
Atlantic Puffin 0 6 6
Common Dolphin 0 2 2
Our next trips our in August, but See Life leaders will be aboard the
Country Girl in Manteo, NC this spring. These trips are being offered
for a great price, and you'll have experienced leaders aboard a
top-notch boat. For more information, contact Mary Gustafson at
or go to:
http://www.countrygirlcharters.com/outer_banks_bird_trips.htm
-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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