Sorry for the late post to the Maryland list, but I had problems with
my MDOsprey subscription. Norm has kindly cleared it up. Thanks, Norm!
Mike Fritz reported on the results of the August 16 trip, including a
WHITE-FACED STORM-PETREL, 3 species of shearwater, a great whale and
dolphin show, and LEATHERBACK SEA TURTLES.
From Mike...
Light winds and calm seas meant perfect conditions for the August 16
pelagic out of Lewes, DE. Flat seas are always good for spotting
cetaceans and marine life and we had steady action all day.
Bottlenose Dolphins feeding at Cape Henlopen started and ended the
trip, and the whale and dolphin show remained great all day. We had
groups of Fin Whales and Minke Whales feeding on sand eels around 40
miles out, and enjoyed multiple close up looks. About 10 miles
further out we came upon a scallop boat that had hundreds of
shearwaters sitting on the water around it. They were mostly Cory's,
but Greaters were also there by the dozen. We continued on to the
Baltimore Canyon and got over 80 miles out. Along the way we had a
Scalloped Hammerhead on the surface, several Loggerhead and 3
Leatherback Sea turtles.
In the Baltimore Canyon we came upon a large concentration of Wilson's
Storm-Petrels, so we put out 2 huge chum slicks and cruised between
them for a while. We ended up attracting over 800 storm-petrels and
finally spotted a single White-faced Storm-Petrel among the swarm.
The sheer number of birds made getting views of the White-faced
difficult and it slipped from view before many on board got to see it.
We worked the area hard to re-find the bird, but it must have left
the area. We had some nice looks at 3 Audubon's Shearwaters in the
slick while looking for the storm-petrel. We next went over to view a
large group of Short-finned Pilot Whales for a while then went back to
try for the White-faced again, but still no luck. We then worked back
toward home with brief detours for more Fin Whales and some bow riding
Common Dolphins.
The following are the counts for the day:
Species DE MD Total
------------------------ ---- ---- -----
Cory's Shearwater 2 424 426
Greater Shearwater 2 47 49
Audubon's Shearwater 0 7 7
Wilson's Storm-Petrel 52 1411 1463
White-faced Storm-Petrel* 0 1 1
Northern Gannet 1 0 1
Black-bellied Plover 0 1 1
Red-necked Phalarope 0 1 1
Laughing Gull 7 0 7
Barn Swallow 0 3 3
* Location of White-faced was 38 d, 08.878 min N, 73 d, 51.883 min W
Species Total
----------------------- -----
Loggerhead Sea Turtle 6
Leatherback Sea Turtle 3
Hammerhead Shark 1
Ocean Sunfish 4
Fin Whale 20
Minke Whale 6
Common Dolphin 25
Bottlenose Dolphin 20
Pilot Whale 180
Risso's Dolphin 6
-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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