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PARTICIPANTS NEEDED f/ May 20, 21 pelagic trips, space on others



Dear Carolinabirders,

While our trips on May 26, 27, and 28 have been sold out for some time
now, we still have lots of room left on pelagic trips from Hatteras, NC
on both Saturday, May 20 and Sunday May 21. This is one week prior to
Memorial Day Weekend so there should be no trouble finding
accommodations and traffic should be light during that weekend. While
bird numbers might be a tad lower than what we'll see a week later, the
potential for maximum diversity and rarities is just as good. Previous
trips during the late May period have often produced 12 or more pelagic
bird species/ trip, and the list of rarities seen during this time
period is impressive- Herald/Trinidade Petrel, Fea's Petrel, Bermuda
Petrel, both White-tailed and Red-billed Tropicbirds, and at least a
couple of birds which were probably Brown Skuas. We expect to see
Black-capped Petrels on each trip and the following species are all a
good possibility- Cory's, Greater, Sooty, Manx, and Audubon's
Shearwaters; Wilson's, Leach's, and Band-rumped Storm-Petrels;
Red-necked Phalarope, Pomarine, Parasitic, and Long-tailed Jaegers;
South Polar Skua, and Bridled, Sooty, and Arctic Terns.

We also a few spaces left on Memorial Day (Monday) which is May 29; this
trip is also from Hatteras. The following weekend we have two more trips
from Hatteras with space- Saturday, June 3 and Sunday June 4. While
motel rates do increase with Memorial Day, the first weekend of June is
not nearly as busy or crowded. We also have space on a trip on Friday,
June 2 from Manteo on the Country Girl. All of the Hatteras trips are on
the Miss Hatteras, which is 75 feet long and offers superb viewing for
seabirding. There are two decks, a large cabin, and an improved PA
system, which is loud and clear. While the Country Girl isn't as big,
she is very fast, and this can be helpful during pretty weather when you
want to get closer to a rare bird. We enjoyed good looks at several rare
gadfly petrels from BOTH of these boats last year.

We have recently reorganized our Website- http://www.patteson.com/
It should be easy to find all that you need to know about these trips
there, including driving directions, recommendations for lodging, what
to bring along, birdlists from previous trips, and lots of other useful
information. There is also an extensive gallery of images from previous
trips that you will probably find more useful than the available
published photos of these birds in preparing for your day(s) at sea.

I hope that many of you will join us offshore this spring and summer.

Brian Patteson
Hatteras, NC
Brian@Patteson.com
(252) 986-1363