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Spring 2001 Pelagic Highlights; Space On Summer trips



------- Forwarded message follows -------
Date sent:      	Sat, 23 Jun 2001 00:35:42 -0400
From:           	Brian <patteson1@mindspring.com>
Organization:   	Brian Patteson, Inc.
Subject:        	Spring 2001 Pelagic Highlights; Space On Summer trips

Dear Seabirders,

 Thanks to all who came out for our spring trips.  Between May 19 and
June 3, 2001 we ran a total of 12 pelagic birding trips from Oregon and
Hatteras Inlets, NC with simultaneous trips from both ports on May 26,
27, and 28.  While we did not see as many rare gadfly petrels this
spring as we have in some past seasons, we did manage to find all four
species of Pterodroma over the Memorial Day Weekend and 21 species of
pelagic birds over the period.  A predominantly strong southwesterly
flow may have contributed to the paucity of deep water specialties and a
fairly low numbers of many species on most of the trips.  A full list of
species can be found on our website but here are some of the highlights
of our trips!

 We did get to enjoy great studies of some of the rarities.  One of the
Fea’s Petrels that we saw on May 25 (a day with a light easterly wind)
came to the boat on two occasions twenty minutes apart and fed in our
chum slick.  The dark morph Trinidade (Herald) Petrel that day was also
well seen.  An adult White-tailed Tropicbird on the following Friday off
Oregon Inlet was very accommodating, and the next day we had a young
Red-billed Tropicbird come in to investigate the Miss Hatteras and our
chum line.  As is usually the case, some birds got by the boats quickly
leaving some participants disappointed.  These included a Bermuda Petrel
and a Red-billed Tropicbird on May 26 off Oregon Inlet, and a handful of
Trinidade Petrels - May 19, 26 , June 1, and 2 .  While Leach’s
Storm-Petrels were scarce or lacking on most of the trips, Band-rumped
Storm-Petrels were more numerous and gave good performances in the chum
behind the boat on most of the trips.

 Cetaceans were generally in short supply this spring, but we did see
Sperm Whales on two of the trips, and one that we saw on June 2 made a
spectacular breach behind the boat.  We also had good fishing for
dolphin (mahi-mahi) while we searched for birds in the deep, and
participants on most of the Miss Hatteras trips were able to enjoy fresh
caught dolphin sandwiches for lunch.

 Of course our trips would not have been possible without all of the
participants who signed up.  Most of our spring trips were full to
capacity, and we are grateful for such a strong turnout.  I would also
like to thank our leaders on these trips - Butch Pearce, Todd McGrath,
Jamie Cameron, Ned Brinkley, George Armistead, and Mike Tove all helped
to spot and show many of the birds to trip participants, and Diane Andre
and Kate Sutherland kept careful tallies of the birds and other marine
life encountered on these voyages.  The crews of the Country Girl -
Capt. "Big Al" and Randy - and the Miss Hatteras - Capt. Spurgeon Stowe,
Richie, Natalie, Blake, and "Diamond" Dave - all made certain that our
trips offshore were as safe, comfortable, and productive as possible.

 I’ve gotten the impression that many folks think spring is the best
time to see pelagic birds off Cape Hatteras, especially the rarities.
While it is true that we have had some great trips during May and June
in recent years, the list of birds that we have seen in the summer
months is equally impressive.  We’ve seen Fea’s Petrel nearly every July
for the last five years and we’ve seen Bermuda Petrels during August in
1999 and 2000.  We have seen many Trinidade Petrels during the summer,
and we had three and four in a day on trips this past August.  Summer is
usually the best time for the tropicbirds, and we have already seen two
Red-bills this spring, so maybe it will be a banner year for them.  Both
Swinhoe’s Storm-Petrels and Bulwer’s Petrel were seen on August 8, 1998,
and White-faced Storm-Petrel is always a possibility especially on trips
from Oregon Inlet.  Of course the "regular" or common Gulf Stream
specialties are also typically seen in much larger numbers on trips
during the summer than in spring.  I hope that many of you will take
advantage of the opportunity to get offshore with us this summer.  We
have room on all of our trips.  The dates are July 7, 8, 28, and 29 and
August 4, 5, 11, and 12 from Hatteras and August 18, 19, 25, 26,
September 1, and 2 from Manteo (Oregon Inlet).  Details about these
trips can be found on our website, http://www.patteson.com/, or you can
call me at (252)-986-1363 for more information.  I hope that you found
this update helpful. [If you are not interested in receiving this
information, please let me know and I will remove you from the list.]

Brian Patteson
Hatteras, NC
Brian@Patteson.com


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-- 
Charles W. "Will" Cook                  w 919-660-7423
http://www.duke.edu/~cwcook            cwcook@duke.edu
Box 90340, Biology Dept., Duke Univ., Durham, NC 27708