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Re: Offshore birding on headboat 4-21



Jack and Carolinabirders,

If the headboat had gone last Friday you would have seen a lot more Pomarine
Jaegers.  Here in Hatteras that day, with the wind coming straight out of
the east at 20 knots, most of the boats went fishing.  I only got as far as
50 fathoms (300 feet) which is just shy of the shelf break, but the jaeger
flight (all Poms) was spectacular.  Beacause I was fairly busy at times, it
was hard to figure out exactly how many went by, but I would say 30 to 50
individuals.  Most were adults with full tail streamers and there were 3 or
4 dark morphs.  Capt. Spurgeon Stowe, on the Miss Hatteras reported as many
as nine at once around the Miss Hatteras, and he was only in 20 to 30
fathoms.  There were also a couple of Black-capped Petrels (this is the best
time of year to see them on the shelf), a fulmar or two and a modest number
of Wilson's Storm-Petrels.  Other pelagic birds here in recent days include
Manx and Sooty Shearwaters, Red Phalarope (moulting into alternate plumage),
and Bridled Tern.  It makes me want to run a birding trip here next April
because we don't even know what lurks out in the deep right now, as all of
our fishing has been confined to relatively shallow water.

I'm in the process of mailing out some color brochures with our schedule of
2003 pelagic trips to everyone on our mailing list, so if you haven't sailed
with us before and would like to receive a copy, please e-mail me directly.
At this point the only trips with space before July are on June 1, 7, and 8,
all from Hatteras.

Good birding,

Brian Patteson
Hatteras, NC
brian@patteson.com