Hi Everyone,

See Life Paulagics is interested in running an overnight pelagic in Maryland waters, leaving on Sunday, 8/21 and returning on Monday, 8/22. It is a small boat that can only take about 8 people, and I believe they already have 5 reservations. The boat is small (43' long), so sleeping will be difficult and accomplished where one can find room on the deck. It's also an expensive trip at $385/person, which would break even for See Life after the charter, mate tip, fish oil, and so on. That said, this has been a truly exciting year for pelagic species, and Maryland has some tantalizing first state records waiting out there. Please contact Paul and Anita directly to reserve your spot (information below). 

Paul A. Guris
See Life Paulagics
PO Box 161
Green Lane, PA  18054
215-234-6805



By the way, you might be wondering about the confirmed WHITE-TAILED TROPICBIRD on the Maryland eBird Google Gadget. Tom Johnson found this exceptional bird on 7/13 while continuing his NOAA surveys.


The location was  37.605, -74.152, about 66 miles ESE of Assateague Island. This falls slightly south of the official Maryland/Virginia line, making it about Virginia's sixth record of the species instead of Maryland's first. So why does it show up in Maryland on eBird? eBird uses the "closest point of land" approach to mapping pelagic boundaries, as tackling the incredibly complex and often conflicting "official" boundaries of the world's oceans is a major undertaking. There are many higher priority tasks ahead of this one - rightly so - on the eBird Team's to-do list. When plotting a record like this, an observer might at first consider placing the marker farther south, so that it shows up on the Virginia list. However, imagine the nightmare years from now when hundreds of sightings are plotted arbitrarily, far from their actual location. Perhaps the maps suddenly DO match our official boundaries and now we have to remember which records to move
 BACK!  The GPS coordinates will always be correct regardless of the "official" boundaries, so the official guidance is to use them whenever possible for pelagic records. Of course it's appropriate to indicate "This is actually in VA..." or similar in the comments. (Note: It is more acceptable to move a land-based personal location by 50-100 yards to map the correct county when MINOR disparities exist.)  


White-tailed Tropicbird in VA by Tom Johnson. Congrats again, Tom!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bonxie88/5935570772/in/photostream


Good birding!

Bill

Bill Hubick
Pasadena, Maryland

http://www.billhubick.com 

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