Growing up in Maryland in the mid-70s, one of my greatest joys was being able to participate in numerous pelagic trips emanating out of Ocean City, organized and lead by Richard Rowlett. I can still remember Rich's words at the sight of five Great Skuas coursing through the horizon amongst a feeding frenzy of gulls surrounding the Russian fishing fleet - "sh&%". The was the "golden age" of discover for Maryland pelagics, with many species - both skuas, Northern Fulmar, Atlantic Puffin, Sabine's Gull, Manx Shearwater, and not least, Yellow-nosed Albatross, to name a few, added to the State list. I'd encourage anyone with a historical bent to read the many excellent Maryland Birdlife articles of this era that document Rowlett's exploits. I feel privileged to have been able to share in many of these legendary trips of the past (the albatross included!!).
Subsequent efforts by Ron Naveen, Gene Scarpulla and Brian Patteson ventured out of Ocean City for Maryland pelagics, but since the mid-90s, Maryland listers have been required to ride along on poor-man's pelagics (head boats out to catch fish), or the (often incredibly good!!) trips from Lewes, Delaware. Although the Lewes trips will continue to fill an important place in the Maryland birding scene, many of us would like to get offshore more often, and keep our geographical wanderings a little more focused...
Given the large number of alcids off the mid-Atlantic this winter (and the success of the See Life Paulagics trip three weeks ago), I managed to organize a trip out of Ocean City this past Saturday, 2/26, on the Morningstar, a head boat based at the West Ocean City fishing center. Monty Hawkins, a veteran captain of prior Maryland pelagics, has his own boat now, a beautiful 65 footer. Due to space limitations, the trip was not publicly announced, but as future trips unfold, my sincere hope is to make them fully public and details posted on MDOsprey. There is a fine line between getting the number of people needed to make these trips possible, and over-saturation, as any of the former organizers can attest.
As for the trip? It was simple one of the most enjoyable pelagics I have every been on. Twenty hard-core Maryland birders, an experience captain, unbelievable seas (glassy calm in parts of the afternoon), and alcids galore made this a trip for the record books. We left at 6 am and returned a little before 4 pm, venturing out about 35 miles. The target was the razorbill-murre zone, the area 20-25 miles off were the large alcids seem to frequent most, and it did not disappoint.
The numbers (past the nearshore zone):
Surf Scoter - 7
White-winged Scoter - 5
Black Scoter - 3
Long-tailed Duck - 3
dark puffinus shearwater (sp.) -1 (see below)
Red-throated Loon - 85
Common Loon - 31
Northern Gannet - 102
Herring Gull - 47
Great Black-backed Gull - 7
Black-legged Kittiwake - 1 Photos (2) at http://www.pbase.com/wcbirding/image/132856453 .
Dovekie - 2 (both quick fly-bys)
Common Murre - 14 (state record high count; previous high 4). Simply amazing. Included a group of 5 together. Two in full breeding plumage. Photos (7) at http://www.pbase.com/wcbirding/image/132856426 .
Razorbil - 99 (state record high count; previous high 82). Multiple flocks of 8-12 in am north bound (migrants?), steady all day, but not as approachable as murres. Photos (2) at http://www.pbase.com/wcbirding/image/132856649 .
large alcid (sp) - 12
passerine (sp) - 4
Comments are due on the dark puffinus shearwater. Initially spotted by Mikey Lutmerding, and photographed at great distance by Bill Hubick, the consensus as photos are reviewed are Sooty/Short-tailed Shearwater. No records of Sooty in Maryland before mid-April, while there are only a handful of Short-tailed records in the Atlantic. Nonetheless, distance prevented identification to species. Sooty is apparently becoming a little more regular off North Caroline in the winter, and they have had four this winter already.
Many thanks to the participants, captain and crew, and co-leaders Matt Hafner and Mikey Lutmerding. I will be forwarding the series of 30-minute counts to my more ebird compatable friends for posting and sharing. We have detailed gps data from the entire trip (note the photos above have lat/long data).
As opportunity presents itself, I will attempt to arrange additional trips.
Good (sea) birding,
Mark Hoffman
############################
To unsubscribe from the MDOSPREY list:
write to: mailto:[log in to unmask]
or click the following link:
http://home.ease.lsoft.com/scripts/wa.exe?SUBED1=MDOSPREY&A=1 |