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August 2 Pelagic Results; Upcoming Trips



Dear Carolinabirders,

I'd like to thank everyone who came out for the Hatteras pelagic trip
last Saturday.  We enjoyed a nice day in the Gulf Stream with light
winds.  Birds were not as abundant as I had hoped, but we did see 11
species of pelagic birds.  The most common bird of the day was Sooty
Tern, barely edging out Wilson's Storm-Petrel for that honor.  Tubenoses
were generally scarce, and many of those that we did see were resting on
the water.  A Sooty Shearwater caused a brief stir, but it was not the
hoped for Herald Petrel.  Our star rarity came early- it was young
Red-billed Tropicbird, which flew up our wake while we were still
running in 25 fathoms around 0800.  Despite spending a lot of time in
the deep on a day with light southerly winds, we were unable to find a
White-tailed Tropicbird to go along with our Red-billed.  It has been an
odd year that way.  I have yet to see the first White-tailed on a
fishing trip this year, but I have seen two Red-bills that way.
Altogether, I think I've seen seven down here now this year, which is my
season record so far.  My previous high was five Red-bills in 1995, but
we saw many more White-tails that year.  The list for Saturday follows
below.

Our trip this coming Saturday from Manteo on August 9 is full, but we
still have space on Sunday's trip there.  On August 16 we are offering a
trip from Va. Beach, VA, where we are hoping to find a White-faced
Storm-Petrel.  On August 23 and 24 we are back in Hatteras, and on
August 30 and 31, we are going from Manteo again.  September 6 is
another Va. Beach trip, and the following weekend we are going from
Hatteras again- Sept. 13 and 14.  Mid September was good for Herald
Petrel last year and is usually the best time of the year to look for
Sabine's Gull here.  There should be lots of Bridled and Sooty Terns
from now until late September, and this is a good time for Long-tailed
Jaeger.  Tropicbirds have been seen on many trips in August and
September in years past and we have a few records of Fea's Petrel and
Masked Booby in this time frame as well.  Of course, there is always the
chance for something really off the wall, and if not, it's always great
to get out on the water and spend time studying and appreciating birds
that you would rarely get to see otherwise.  Details about all of these
trips are on our website at http://www.seabirding.com/.

Hatteras Pelagic Trip August 2, 2003

Black-capped Petrel- 29
Cory's Shearwater- 29 (not a typo)
Sooty Shearwater- 1
Audubon's Shearwater- 24
Wilson's Storm-Petrel- 118
Leach's Strom-Petrel- 3
Band-rumped Storm-Petrel- 8
Red-billed Tropicbird- 1 im.
Red-necked Phalarope- 4+
Bridled Tern- 3
Sooty Tern- 119
Black Tern- 1
Least Tern- 1

Cuvier's Beaked Whale- 2-3

I would like to thank Kate Sutherland, Butch Pearce and Mike Overton for
spotting birds and carefully keeping track of  numbers and Spurgeon
Stowe and his crew for making our voyage on the Miss Hatteras most
pleasant.  I hope you can join us on a pelagic trip in the coming weeks.

Brian Patteson
Hatteras, NC
brian@patteson.com