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66 Manx Shearwaters off Hatteras; Upcoming Trips



Dear Carolinabirders,

Sorry for the late post, but I think some might be interested in the
large number of Manx Shearwaters seen on Saturday's pelagic trip (March
9). We saw 66 Manx, and this included several small flocks. Most were
seen within sight of the Diamond Shoals Light Tower, and nearly all were
heading in a northeasterly or easterly direction. Winds were from the
southeast at 10 to 20 knots. This is the time of year when large numbers
of Manx (like up to 180/hour) are seen from Bermuda as they return to
nesting grounds in the North Atlantic.   I imagine the wind direction
was a big factor in the bringing them so close to shore here, but we
have seen numbers of Manx Shearwater on all of our trips this winter,
which is also noteworthy. The only other pelagic species seen were one
Black-capped Petrel, one fulmar, and 193 Red Phalaropes, the latter in
many small scattered flocks as there was no hard temperature break to
concentrate them. I would have expected more Black-caps on the
Southeaster, but it was too rough to spend a lot of time in the deep
water and it is their nesting season now. We couldn't find any Great
Skuas, which we've often seen in March, but there were very few gulls or
gannets around for most of the day.

We still have space on most of our trips this spring and summer. For the
schedule and more information, please visit our site at
http://www.patteson.com/, or call me at (252) 986-1363.

Thanks,

Brian Patteson
Hatteras, NC
Brian@Patteson.com