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July 26 Pelagic Results; Upcoming Trips



Dear Carolinabirders,

Our trip Saturday from Manteo found calm conditions and good birding.
Because the Gulf Stream had been a bit farther offshore normal for most
of the summer, we ran more to the south than we usually would in July
and started birding east of the Diamond Shoals Light Tower in over 100
fathoms.  Beyond 1000 fathoms, we found 84 degree water and fair numbers
of Black-capped Petrels, Band-rumped Storm-Petrels, and a couple of
Leach's Storm-Petrels.  The greasy calm conditions also made it good for
cetacean spotting, and we found a pod of at least 10 Cuvier's Beaked
Whales, which unfortunately sounded before we got very close.  It wasn't
long before a White-tailed Tropicbird out in an appearance; it was a
lifer for many in the group.  Ironically, most of our tropicbirds this
year have been Red-bills!  The next group of Cuvier's was far more
cooperative.  Not wanting to spook them, we shut down the engines and
they actually came zipping under the boat and surfaced a few yards
astern.  Birding was relatively steady and it continued to be a good day
for spotting cetaceans, with more Cuvier's, some Sperm Whales, Risso's
Dolphins, and offshore Bottlenose Dolphins.  We took a little time to
dip up some Sargasso Weed and inspect its inhabitants, which included a
peculiar crab and some fishes, adapted to blend right in with this
floating brown algae for protection from the seabirds and pelagic fish
which forage in this drifting marine ecosystem.  Working our way north,
we found the Gulf Stream current edge and worked it westward toward the
shelf break.  Doug Gill spotted something big and white floating along
the change, and I figured it would be a big piece of trash, but much to
everyone's delight it was a Masked Booby, our first for the year!  We
continued seeing birds until it was time to head for home, a succesful
trip.  A list of birds and cetaceans seen follows below.

We still have room on trips from Hatteras this weekend.  Saturday August
2 has enough passengers to run, but we still need a few more to run a
trip on Sunday.  Please let me know ASAP if you are interested, as I
have until Wednesday to decide the fate of Sunday's trip.  Two days
doubles your chances for the rare seabirds, particularly since
Saturday's trip gives us an idea of where to concentrate our efforts; as
the birds exploit different areas from week to week, the first day helps
us to get our bearings.

Other upcoming trips-

August 9, 10- Manteo
August 16, 17- Va. Beach, VA- could be good for White-faced Storm-Petrel
August 23, 24- Hatteras
August 30, 31- Manteo
September 6, 7- Va. Beach- think White-faced!
September 13, 14- Hatteras
October 11- Hatteras

For information about all of our trips please visit our website at
http://www.seabirding.com/.

Pelagic Seabirds Seen July 26, 2003 SE of Oregon Inlet

Black-capped Petrel- 62
Cory's Shearwater- 41+
Greater Shearwater- 2-3
Audubon's Shearwater- 28+
Wilson's Storm-Petrel- 423
Band-rumped Storm-Petrel- 20-25
Leach's Storm-Petrel- 3-5
White-tailed Tropicbird- 1
Masked Booby- 1
Bridled Tern- 11
Sooty Tern- 14
Least Tern- 2

Cetaceans and other Marine Life

Sperm Whale- 2-4
Whale sp- 2
Cuvier's Beaked Whale- 21- 25
Beaked Whale sp- 2
Atlantic Bottlenose Dophin- 54+
Risso's Dolphin- 35-45

Loggerhead Turtle- 2
Scalloped Hammerhead- 1

I would like to thank all who came out with us on July 26, the Country
Girl crew- John and Randy, and the Seabirding crew- Butch and Kate.

I hope that some of you can join us yet this summer.

Brian Patteson
Hatteras, NC
brian@patteson.com
http://www.seabirding.com/