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Hatteras & Va. Beach Winter Pelagics



Dear Carolinaabirders,

Happy New Year!

It?s time to think about  upcoming pelagic trips.   Though I am about to
leave for a trip to the Southern Ocean,  we will again be offering
pelagic trips this winter, and Kate Sutherland will be taking
reservations for these and all of our other trips in 2003 during my
absence.  When I return next month, we we will begin our season with a
trip from Hatteras, NC on Feb. 15(16)- President?s Day Weekend.
Hatteras has always been a great port for us for Great Skuas, which are
frequently found much closer to shore here than anywhere else in the
western North Atlantic.  It also looks like it?s shaping up to be a good
alcid year, with Razorbills here since early December and a showing of
Dovekies already off New Jersey.  On Feb. 22(23) and Mar. 1(2) we are
offering trips from Virginia Beach, VA, where we have run trips now for
fifteen years.  Though it is a longer run to the shelf edge here than in
Hatteras, Va. Beach is a more convenient departure point and might offer
a better chance for seeing Dovekies because it is farther north.
Puffins are also regular visitors here about 60 miles offshore.  Other
seabirds that we frequently encounter on our winter trips here(from both
ports) include Northern Fulmar, Manx Shearwater, Red Phalarope, and
Black-legged Kittiwake.  Gannets should be common and close by the boat,
and. twice in years past we have even seen albatrosses- Black-browed and
Yellow-nosed- among the clouds of gulls and gannets on these winter
trips.

For more details and a complete schedule of pelagic trips that we are
offering in 2003, please visit our website- http://www.seabirding.com/.
While you are there, be sure to browse through our Image Gallery and
check out our Skua Page, which raises some questions about the specific
identity of skuas seen in the North Atlantic.

I hope to see you at sea in 2003!

Brian Patteson
Seabirding
Hatteras, NC
brian@patteson.com