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Re: Offshore birding on headboat 4-21



Jack Peachy wrote:
-----------------------------
... out to about 35 miles.
Shearwater or Gadfly Petrel-two different sightings
that may have involved one or two birds.  Both 
sightings involved birds flying low over the water 
short glides punctuated by deep flapping. Both times 
the birds were uniform dark gray or black dorsally 
and had a conspicuous white oval rump patch much 
more conspicous than most Greater Shearwater 
but there was no white collar or noticeable black 
cap.  Could not get a look at the ventral pattern 
or get a handle on the size of the bill.
Any ideas?  Neither sighting lasted all that long 
maybe 10 seconds or so.
-----------------------------

Here's my two cents' worth:

The flight pattern you describe suggests a Shearwater
- "...flying low over the water short glides
punctuated by deep flapping."  That certainly doesn't
sound like a Pterodroma, which has a roller-coaster
flight path involving lots of high soaring (not low
glides with periodic deep flapping).  The bird you
describe doesn't sound like the strong dashing flier
that all Peterodromas are.

Also, it would be pretty shocking to find a non
storm-blown Peterodroma in water as shallow (and
dirty) as is found 35 mi. off Murrell's Inlet.  If
memory serves, that's around 140 feet of water
(certainly well under 200 feet).  I've been on
hundreds of offshore trips off SC (In H.S. and College
I used to crew on a Tuna/Marlin sportfishing charter
boat) and I've never seen a gadfly petrel that close
in.   

Nathan Dias - Charleston, SC / San Francisco, CA

--- Jack <ppaw@sccoast.net> wrote:
> Hi C'birders,
> Since the headboat was weathered out last Friday I
> took the trip today.
> The boat was the New Inlet Princess out of Murrells
> Inlet, (Capt. Dick's
> Marina), Georgetown County, SC.  It was a super day
> with calm seas
> during the morning and slightly bigger swells in the
> afternoon.  It
> began auspiciously  even before the boat left the
> dock as a Greater
> White-fronted Goose paddled by. Besides the goose
> here are the other
> birds found once we passed the one mile marker.
> Common Loon-perhaps about 20 seen from just offshore
> out to about 35
> miles.
> Shearwater or Gadfly Petrel-two different sightings
> that may have
> involved one or two birds.  Both sightings involved
> birds flying low
> over the water short glides punctuated by deep
> flapping. Both times the
> birds were uniform dark gray or black dorsally and
> had a conspicuous
> white oval rump patch much more conspicous than most
> Greater Shearwater
> but there was no white collar or noticeable black
> cap.  Could not get a
> look at the ventral pattern or get a handle on the
> size of the bill.
> Any ideas?  Neither sighting lasted all that long
> maybe 10 seconds or
> so.
> Wilson's Storm Petrel-8  These birds appeared small
> with rather short
> pointed wings, oval rump patch, end of tail rather
> even not notched or
> forked.  That said I hoped to confirm Wilson's with
> toes sticking out
> beyond the tail and lots of pattering over the
> water.  These birds
> didn't do that they wandered erratically side to
> side briefly touching
> the water without dangling the legs and I never saw
> any toes sticking
> out beyond the tail,  No more than three were seen
> at one time and they
> would get up to about 30 feet from the stern of the
> boat and then drift
> back.  One bird did show a strong diagonal gold
> brown bar across the
> dorsal surface of the mid wings.
> N. Gannet-some from the entrance to the Inlet to 50+
> miles out.  Most
> were adults
> Double-crested Cormorant-1 crossed the path of the
> boat about 25 miles
> out.
> Phalarope sp-2 birds in basic plumage sleeping on
> the water.
> Pomarine Jaeger-This species put on quite a show for
> me
> a total of 9 different birds most stayed with the
> boat from 10AM till we
> left the fishing grounds at 3PM.
> Here are their descriptions
> Birds 1 & 2 were light phase breeding plumaged
> adults with long tails
> with wider rounded ends and a conspicous breast
> band.
> #3 was as above except the breast band was
> incomplete
> #4 was as above except there was no breast band
> #5 was a dark phase adult in breeding plumage
> #6 & 7 was as 1 and 2 but had slightly shorter tails
> #8 & 9 had very short blunt tail projections and
> brown streaked
> vermiculations on the flanks. subadult?
> All birds were seen up close and I had 7 birds in
> view at one time with
> six in the water and one flying in circles all
> around the boat.
> Gulls-were also with the boat during the whole time
> fishing.  At least
> four different Herring Gulls an adult and three
> different plumaged
> immatures and two immature ring-billed Gulls.  I
> only saw a jaeger go
> after a gull once to steal some bait it had
> captured.  Otherwise they
> would sit on the water facing the boat and both
> gulls and jaegers would
> be relatively close together and tolerant of each
> other.
> When the boat moved the gulls and jaegers would lag
> behind but soon
> catch up when the boat set anchor at another spot.
> A real fun day. Incidentally the maximum Pomarine
> Jaegers seen in one
> day in SC waters as listed in Post and Gauthraux was
> six off Charleston
> on April 21, 1985. How about that?
> Common Tern-longer reddish bill, dark wedge to under
> wing primaries.
> Arctic Tern-1 short orangy/dusky bill, uniform sandy
> gray color to
> dorsal surface all the way to the wingtip. Very
> narrow black edging to
> upper surface primary tips
> 
> Jack Peachey
> Conway, SC
> .
> 
> 
> 


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