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Subject: August 11-12 Pelagic Trip Full Report (FEA'S PETREL etc.) including photos & checklists
Date: Wed Aug 13 2014 22:22 pm
From: fresha2411 AT gmail.com
The long awaited See Life Paualgics overnight pelagic trip on from that left the dock Monday (August 11) and came back Tuesday evening was able to dodge some really nasty weather and get off shore under reasonably good seabirding conditions. As previously posted to the list, there were some excellent highlights, which will be listed below, along with eBird lists and photos. The sky on the ride out in the dark was fairly clear, with a full or near full moon that lit up the ocean really nicely. We ran ~20 knots into a light but strengthening SE wind, and were over the middle of the mouth of the Hudson Canyon around 3:30 AM or so. We had Storm-Petrels, including a few that were identifiable as *Oceanodroma*s, coming into the boat and the growing oil slick well before first light. The highlight of the birding for the first couple of hours of light (which began well before sunrise, probably sometime around 5:25-5:30 AM or so) was undoubtedly the assault by BAND-RUMPED STORM-PETRELS upon the chum slick which we were able to witness. As soon as it was light enough to see, it was apparent that a fairly high percentage (>10% at one point, I'd say) of the Storm-Petrels coming from downwind towards the slick were Band-rumpeds, and we got repeated chances for excellent views in comparison with Wilson's, a few Leach's, and even other Band-rumpeds (There was one group of 4 Band-rumpeds that arrived together, as well as a few others which arrived in pairs or threes). The rate of new Band-rumpeds tailed off sharply after an hour or so, though Leach's started to pick up a bit. We were able to be completely devoted to sorting through and enjoying Storm-Petrels, as a single Audubon's Shearwater buzzing by in the distance was the only non-Storm-Petrel bird to be seen for the first 2.5 hours of birding. Then, at 7:52 AM a bird appeared on the horizon which ended up being the aforementioned FEA'S PETREL. This bird did approach the boat once, giving most people on board very nice binocular views, but by 7:54 AM it was gone, having disappeared back down our chum slick. The bird definitely seemed to be following the slick, but it couldn't be enticed to stick around for very long, unfortunately, and repositioning the boat in hopes of its return was fruitless. The time spent around the chum slick netted us an amazing (or is it? the coverage out here is so sparse that it's hard to know how far away from normal this is) 52 (!!) Band-rumped Storm-Petrels before we even started heading north along the canyon. At about 8:45 we turned back and started chugging slowly (~8 knots) back to the northwest. At 10:19 AM, right around the middle of the Hudson Canyon, we encountered one of the main targets of the trip, a WHITE-FACED STORM-PETREL. This bird stayed in view for a minute or two, but was fairly close and put on a ridiculous display of its bizarre feeding habits for a short time. As we steamed back in with a fairly comfortable following sea and the wind at our back, we picked up a few more Leach's and Band-rumped Storm-Petrels, and were able to get some more (and MUCH better) looks at Audubon's Shearwaters (all of the ones that were close appeared to be very freshly plumaged juveniles), as well as some scattered Cory's (all that were definitively identified to subspecies were the more expected *borealis*) and Great Shearwaters. A bit of a surprise was that when we were more than 10 miles out of the canyon on the way home, we passed a second year (hatched in 2013) BRIDLED TERN, which seemed to be a little nearer to shore than one would expect. Details of a few things, like water temperature in a couple of places, precise coordinates, and more detailed descriptions and photos are included in the eBird checklists below, and there are links to two photo galleries from the trip. *Numbers (for pelagic waters only, with one exception) were as follows*: FEA'S PETREL- 1 Cory's Shearwater- 6 Great Shearwater- 5 Audubon's Shearwater- 6 shearwater sp.- 4 Wilson's Storm-Petrel- ~1000-1100 WHITE-FACED STORM-PETREL- 1 Leach's Storm-Petrel- 43 BAND-RUMPED STORM-PETREL- 56 *Oceanodroma* sp. (large Storm-Petrel sp.)- 14 *Calidris sp. *(small shorebird sp.)- 2 Herring Gull- 3 (plus high numbers in the Jones Inlet vicinity on the way in) Great Black-backed Gull- 10 (plus high numbers in the Jones Inlet vicinity on the way in) BRIDLED TERN- 1 Black Tern- 1 (Jones Inlet as we returned to port, in a large Common Tern flock off the starboard side) Common Tern- 1 (migrating very far off shore, also many around Jones Inlet at the end of the trip) *Some non-avian highlights were*: Loggerhead Sea Turtle (photos on one of the last checklists below) breaching Minke Whales (photos on a checklist below) probable Fin Whale Common Dolphin Offshore Bottlenose Dolphin 2 Hammerhead Sharks right under the boat Only a few scattered Flying Fish, none of which could be identified A gorgeous Mahi Mahi on board Most eBird checklists have been completed and shared (with over 40 people, nice!), so if you were on the trip and haven't had it shared with you yet, feel free to ask for them. CHECKLISTS: Hudson Canyon Mouth chum slick: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S19459656 Shelf waters adjacent to Hudson Canyon: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S19459696 Mid-canyon (including WFSP): http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S19459764 Rest of the trip in order (Bridled Tern is on the second one down): http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S19459820 http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S19459920 http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S19459960 http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S19460033 PHOTOS: Doug Gochfeld: https://www.flickr.com/photos/... Sean Sime: https://www.flickr.com/photos/... Thanks, as always, to Paul and Anita Guris for tirelessly working through, over, and around the variety of obstacles and difficulties involved in putting these trips together! This one sure was a dandy. Hope to see you on the next one! Good Birding, -Doug Gochfeld. Brooklyn, NY.- See more at: http://birding.aba.org/message.php?mesid=749476&MLID=NY01&MLNM=New%20York#sthash.Nd3i1weo.dpuf
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