SeaBirding, Marine Surveys and Changing Ocean EcoSystems

2015 May 20-22 Hatteras Pelagic Trips

NOTE: THESE TRIPS WITH BRIAN PATTESON ARE HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!

Aiming for a better understanding of how these waters off Cape Hatteras compare with the waters off NJ/NY and those off New England & Nova Scotia, including seabirds and the whole marine ecosystem (other biology, and oceanography, etc) .... and how all of these are changing over time.

F.Mantlik and T.Robben planned three 12-hour pelagic trips with B.Patteson from Hatteras, North Carolina on May 20-22, Brian's first trips of the Spring season ( www.patteson.com Seabirding | Gulf stream pelagic trips ). Best seabirds seen on those three days included Trindade Petrel, Fea's Petrel, Black-capped Petrel, Bridled Tern, South Polar Skua, Audubon's Shearwater, Arctic Tern, Leach's Storm-petrel and Band-rumped Storm-petrel.

The following day-by-day numbers include May 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31 (we were NOT on the May 23-to-31 trips but those sightings are also worth including in the numbers immediately below, in parentheses). The species numbers for those multiple dates are shown in the parentheses, starting with May 20th being the first in the list of numbers:

Species (May 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31) (June will be added) << pattern of observations below.

Trindade Petrel (0, 1, 2, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0) #1 target species and we got it! We thought this would be an early arrival and planned our trip around these early dates. And crossed our fingers! It worked!
Fea's Petrel (0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0)
Fea's/Zino's Petrel (0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0). Not seen by us, but only on May 25th.
Bermuda Petrel (0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0). Not seen by us, but only on May 25th.
Black-capped Petrel (66-67, 79-84, 85, 70, 28, 25-30, 10, 20, 26, 21, 5, 9)
Cory's Shearwater (7, 29, 12, 23, 23, 50+, 17, 33, 47, 256-261, 130, 78)
Great Shearwater (0, 0, 0, 5, 8, 8-9, 9, 15, 33, 161-164, 36-37, 12)
Sooty Shearwater (16, 11, 10, 7, 14-17, 25, 13-15, 35, 6, 9-10, 2, 2)
Manx Shearwater (0, 5-6, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 3, 4, 2)
Audubon's Shearwater (20, 10-12, 7, 9, 7, 30, 22, 11, 21, 40, 19, 18)
Wilson's Storm-petrel (152, 215-255, 102-127, 200-250, 170-200, 150, 170-200, 120-140, 90-95, 90-95, 80, 84-94)
Leach's Storm-petrel (0, 13-14, 1, 4, 3, 8, 7-8, 5-7, 12, 5, 3, 10)
Band-rumped Storm-petrel (0, 4-5, 0, 4, 6-8, 5-6, 4, 2, 1, 2, 0, 1)
White-tailed Tropicbird (0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0). Not seen by us, but only on May 26th and 28th.
Red-necked Phalarope (11, 0, 43, 1, 2, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0)
Arctic Tern (0, 7, 2, 3, 0, 1, 3, 2, 2, 15+, 6, 6)
Bridled Tern (1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 2, 1, 0)
Parasitic Jaeger (0, 2, 0, 1, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1)
Pomarine Jaeger (6-8, 3, 1, 4, 3, 0, 3, 2, 0, 5, 3, 1)
Long-tailed Jaeger (0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 5, 1, 8, 6, 9, 11, 9)
South Polar Skua (0, 2, 0, 0, 2, 0, 1, 0, 1, 4, 1, 2)
Common Tern (3, 1, 0, 0, 4, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1)
Cattle Egret, (1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0)
etc

Full reports on recent trips (and details on the above numbers) are available at the B.Patteson blog...
Seabirding: May 2015 << worth taking a look, including great photos!

Brian Patteson's operation is excellent, exciting and very highly recommended. Use his main web site for planning your own trips there...
www.patteson.com

And here is the multi-year history of birds seen on Brian Patteson's trips...
Cape Hatteras pelagic trips and sightings

Brian Patteson's 61-foot long "Stormy Petrel 2"... photo taken from camera on a kite...

Note that during these days May 20-22 the SST sea surface temperatures (of the water) were 72-73F just off shore, increasing gradually to 77-78F at the maximum distance from shore, over the shelf break, and into the Gulf Stream or its eddies, as indicated by our infrared temperature sensor.

The warm Gulf Stream is one of the reasons why waters off Cape Hatteras are so exciting....

The Gulf Stream that runs through the BermudaTriangle is swift and turbulant. It flows at 4 to 5 knots along the shelf break until it deflects out over the open ocean off Cape Hatteras. A constant succession of massive eddies and upwellings peel off the Gulf Stream’s western wall, carrying life from the tropics to the temperate waters of North Carolina.

Click on any of the following images below to enlarge, and then press ESC key to return.

Cape Hatteras has an interesting history...
Cape Hatteras - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cape Hatteras is part of North Carolina's Outer Banks...
NC Coastal Guide Map
The waters off Cape Hatteras are often called the Graveyard of the Atlantic...
Kathryn Louise Wood Author Blog: January 2014
The Outer Banks is separated from mainland NC by Pamlico Sound, which is 15-30miles wide. Click on map to expand it, and press ESC key to return...

Brian's trips usually assemble at the Hatteras marina at 5:15am, and depart the dock around 5:30am, returning around 5pm.

Brian and Kate chum three items: Menhaden oil dripped in the back of the ship to attract the birds (with a pinhole in the bottom of a plastic jug of the oil), a chunk of frozen chum consisting of ground up Menhaden dragged behind in a metal cage to hold the birds near the ship, and occasional sliced up shark liver pieces (each about 1/4 inch square) to hold the most special birds.

I always create a GPX track file for pelagic trips....

Route on 2015 May 20th. Note that this full round trip covered 115miles in 11.5 hours at sea....

Route on 2015 May 21st when first Trindade Petrel of the season was seen on this trip....

Here is the same map, but zoomed out. Notice the steep continental shelf slope at the SE end of our May 21 route (the light blue line)...

Nautical chart (depth shown in fathoms, where 1 fathom = 6 feet) for waters off Cape Hatteras (click to enlarge, ESC to return)...

Trindade Petrel (Michael Lanzone) on May 21, 2015....

Trindade Petrel (Bob Fogg) on May 24, 2015....

South Polar Skua (Michael Lanzone) on May 21, 2015....

Fea's Petrel (Bob Fogg) on May 23, 2015.

Fea's Petrel (David Shoch) on May 23, 2015...

Black-capped Petrel (Michael Lanzone) on May 21, 2015...

Audubon's Shearwater (Michael Lanzone) on May 21, 2015...

Bridled Tern (Michael Lanzone) on May 21, 2015...

Arctic Tern (Michael Lanzone) on May 21, 2015. Compared with Common Tern, note the shorter bill, the shorter neck, the longer tail...

F.Mantlik with T.Robben at 5:15am on Brian Patteson's "Stormy Petrel 2", about to depart (T.Robben)....

The Stormy Petrel 2 on a calm morning, May 20, about 30 miles off of Hatteras (T.Robben from the pulpit)....

Although we were successful pelagically, we missed several "land birds" we also tried for, including Black Rail in NJ (we missed by one day), Wilson's Plover nesting at South Point (on 15-mile long Ocracoke Island, via a free one-hour ferry ride south from Hatteras), and Red-cockaded Woodpecker (we arrived too late in the day, as the sun was setting and the birds were probably inside the nest hole already).

DRAFT UNDER CONSTRUCTION:
Our round trip was 1,618 miles by car, May 18-23, 2015, including the following locations visited during the transit to and from Hatteras:

Brigantine NJ,
Heislerville NJ. About 20,000 shorebirds. Caspian Tern (1).
Stipsons Island Road, NJ, where we missed Black Rail. It did not call the evening we were there.
Eastern Shore of Virginia National Wildlife Refuge, VA. Summer Tanager (1 male), Blue Grosbeak (1male).
Pea Island NWR.
Ocracoke, South Point, NC. Reportedly breeding pair of Wilson's Plovers could not be found.
Palmetto-Peartree Preserve, NC. Red-cockaded Woodpecker. Breeding tree and hole found, but too late in evening for birds.

PRACTICAL MATTERS:
We used the very good Cape Pines Motel at 47497 Highway 12, Buxton, NC 27920 which is about 15-20 minutes drive away from the marina where the ship docks. They may provide a slight discount if you say you are taking a seabirding trip with Brian Patteson...
Cape Pines Motel, Hatteras Island, Outer Banks - Rates

Parts of these marine trips can be bumpy and some people should consider taking Bonine prior to their trip (late the night before the trip). Of course appropriate sleep and food are also important before these trips, etc.

POST MORTEM:
The trip was a deeply appreciated success. We went after three life-birds, the three irregular pteradromas at Hatteras (Trindade, Fea's and Bermuda petrels) and the first two of the three were seen and photographed. Trindade Petrel was #1 target and we got it! We also saw a good variety of the expected NC "southern pelagics". We were both very happy about the trip, although I recommend not doing what I did (exhausted myself with only 18hours sleep in four nights). Get plenty of sleep to enjoy these exciting trips fully.

TR and FM doing yoga on the beach at Cape Hatteras, NC (-:

After a long cold snowy winter, the Spring wind was blowing and the temperature was perfect.

OCEANOGRAPHY & MARINE BIOLOGY of this area:

Off Cape Hatteras the continental shelf is narrow, the slope is very steep, and the Gulf Stream comes right into that area. These factors make seabirding in this area very interesting.

Depth contours (isobars) are in meters. Notice the very steep slope off Cape Hatteras.....

The continental shelf is very narrow off Cape Hatteras...

A good description of the oceanography off Cape Hatteras...

omglnx11.meas.ncsu.edu/yanlin/paper/A REVIEW OF THE PHYSICAL OCEANOGRAPHY OF THE CAPE HATTERAS, NORTH CAROLINA REGION. VOLUME I, LITERATURE SYNTHESIS.pdf

What is going on in the waters off Hatteras?

The water temperatures are changing, and this is impacting several aspects of the ocean.

This article/deck explores how 2012 ocean warming may be impacting Cape Hatteras waters....

rargom.org/sites/rargom.gmri.org/files/documents/themes/2013_science/13_Gawarkiewicz_G.ppt.pdf

This will probably be reflected in seabird distributions and movements.

We need to figure out how these oceanographic changes may change seabird distributions, etc.

Currently thinking about that.

Where BBL is Benthic Boundary Layer: Benthic boundary layer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia ,

Elements of Physical Oceanography: A derivative of the Encyclopedia of Ocean ... - Google Books,

More to come....

Sabine's Gull Seen on our Sept 7th pelagic trip

BINGO!!.....
WE GOT IT!
We finally got the target bird, Sabine's Gull, today Sept 7, 2014, our #1 target for the last 4 years of this trip!!!
After four years of trying this crazy strategy... repeating this trip in the most likely location and most likely time for Sabine's Gull on the East Coast, over and over again, with a large multi-state team of top-notch birders...
It could be a new movie, "Birders' Ground Hog Day".
This was not even a life bird for many on board today, but it was an exciting target to go after, AND we got it, even in this unusually slow year for east coast Sabine's Gulls.

From Sibley's excellent Western guide. Left click on image to expand it.

Thanks to many people, maybe we can name some of them tomorrow.... people in CT, in MA, in ME, in Canada, etc., all of whom helped this adventure one way or another over the last few years, but we have to single out Blair Nikula who first spotted this bird briefly flying around the beach, at great distance as we were sailing east northeast off the Race Point beaches. I think Peter Flood then found it again. Then Wayne Petersen and Krill Carson (we now run our trip jointly with Krill's NECWA organization) convinced the excellent captain to bring the ship very close to shore for several minutes as we searched repeatedly for this elusive gull, and finally got a few photos of it, but still at distance. It was a thrilling few minutes, as we got closer and the bird kept disappearing, and then being re-found by multiple people.

Suggestions, corrections will be welcomed....

Patrick Comins constructed the neat map below, showing the location where we saw several birds:
#262 being Cory's Shearwater, #263 Sabine's Gull, #264 Cory's Shearwater, #265 Parasitic Jaeger and #266 Sooty Shearwater....

Here is the basic info, in the first post, which was posted a few minutes after the vast majority of observers on the ship saw the Sabine's Gull...
Birding News | #birdingnews via @aba

Here are multiple (15) photos of our 9/7 Sabine's Gull, starting with the most distant ones, and then finally the closest images below....

Here are six HIGHLY cropped photos (about 1/200 of original area) which I took (at extreme distance -- we were offshore, photographing the gull which was around the shore line, sometimes setting down on the beach) with a Panasonic Lumix FZ200 in the 300-600mm range (35mm equivalent)...

This gull was landing on Race Point Beach and then flying around that area, never more than 100 yards off shore...

Here are five additional and better photos of the SAGU courtesy of Patrick Comins (Canon SX50 megazoom)... again, taken at extreme distance and highly cropped. Note the yellow bill tip and the beautiful full breeding plumage of this bird...

The following photo shows how close to land we had to bring this "pelagic trip" to find and photograph this beautiful gull. Thanks to the ship's captain for enabling these photos....

Here are two Christine Howe's photographs of our SAGU (Canon 400mm f/5.6)...

Here are two Peter Flood photos of our SAGU (Canon DSLR)...

Note that this last picture shows the forked tail well, and the yellow tip on the bill, and the black ring around the base of the gray hood. What a beautiful bird.

Few-and-far-between on the East Coast, but worth searching for.

Bird trip list:

Common Loon, 6
Cory's Shearwater, 225
Great Shearwater, 100
Sooty Shearwater, 10
Manx Shearwater, 2
Northern Gannet, 10
Red-necked Phalarope, 32
Double-crested Cormorant
Wilson's Storm-petrel, 2
Black-bellied Plover, 2
SABINE'S GULL, 1 adult with hood.
Laughing Gulls, 50-100.
Ring-billed Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Herring Gull, 50
Parasitic Jaeger, 7.
Jaeger, spp, 1
Common Tern,
Roseate Tern, 15
Foster's Terns, 2
Piping Plover, 1
Hummingbird, 1
Warbler spp, 1

Mammals:
Humpback Whale, 19
Finback Whale, 2
Minki Whale, 6
Gray Seal, 20-30

Yes, we did see some other birds, including these nice jaegers, which the captain pursued, which Patrick Comins photographed...

Pelagic trips around Cape Horn

Here is one of the amazing pelagic trips I have been drooling over for several years, around the southern tip of South America. The February one this year 2015 was spectacular, as you can see....

====================
Posting for Paul Lehman:

"From 14-26 February 2015, a group of birders took a cruise from Valparaiso, Chile, to Buenos Aires, Argentina, via Cape Horn and the Falkland Islands, aboard a Princess Cruises cruise ship. Most birders aboard were associated with a WINGS tour lead by Fabrice Schmitt, which gave them the opportunity to also do organized birding excursions at each port-of-call along the way. Any individual, independent birder can take any such cruise for the seabirds and then decide how to most efficiently and/or affordably do some birding onshore during the various shore visits. This particular two-week trip includes about half the days at sea and half onshore, and is offered all season long, annually, between late Nov/early Dec and mid-Mar. Either from Valparaiso to Buenos Aires or vice versa--back and forth. Other cruise lines offering similar trips include Holland America, Costa, and Celebrity Cruises; and at least Holland America and Celebrity still offer several days to the Antarctic Peninsula on several of these sailings during December and January only. Princess does not offer the Antarctic Peninsula 'extension' but it generally has the (slightly) best ships for viewing plus its schedule perhaps (debatable?) gives one the best (most extensive) true pelagic viewing time off Chile and Argentina, though obviously it lacks the true Antarctic experience. All of these huge cruise-ships are so stable that one can easily use a spotting scope at all times. One typically is situated on the Promenade Deck, about 40 feet above the sea surface. And the cruise prices are very reasonable--currently about US$1700 for the two weeks, which includes room (share) and all food and most ship-board activities. Other birders have been taking these same s. South American cruises for quite a few years now. Also, at the very beginning (Nov) and very end (Mar/Apr) of the season, these ships are then repositioned to/from North America, and especially those trips along the Pacific Coast from Chile to/from California (with several stops along the way) provide excellent seabirding as well, with a suite of different species.

Below are the results of our February 2015 cruise, divided in to two sections: first, the Pacific Ocean days southbound between Valparaiso and Cape Horn; and second, the Atlantic Ocean days northbound between Cape Horn and Buenos Aires. The many birds seen during shore-stops are not included here, but those stops included Purto Montt, Amalia Glacier, and Punta Arenas in Chile; Cape Horn scenic cruising; the Falkland Islands; Puerto Madryn, Argentina; Montevideo, Uruguay; and Buenos Aires.

One of the trip's highlights was the finding of a substantial number of "grounded" seabirds on board the ship on several mornings--all of which had undoubtedly been attracted to the ship by the lights the night previous. All such birds, except two, were found alive and returned overboard after in-hand photos were taken, and they included 2 "Pincoya" Storm-Petrels, several Gray-backed and Wilson's Storm-Petrels, several Magellanic Diving-Petrels (including one swimming in one of the outdoor pools!), and over 50 Thin-billed Prions.

Three numbers are included for each species. The first is the number of days in that "section" (Pacific or Atlantic side) in which the species was seen. The second is the highest single daily count in that section. And the third is the grand total for that section.

PACIFIC SIDE:

Humboldt Penguin: 2, 3, 5
Magellanic Penguin: 1, 6, 6
Northern Royal Albatross: 3, 30, 55
Southern Royal Albatross: 2, 10, 15
Antipodean (Wandering) Albatross: 1, 4, 4
Snowy (Wandering) Albatross: 2, 50, 55
Black-browed Albatross: 5, 300, 580
Gray-headed Albatross: 2, 3, 4
Buller's Albatross: 1, 2, 2
Salvin's Albatross: 4, 110, 150
Chatham Albatross: 1, 1, 1
Southern Giant Petrel: 2, 35, 45
Northern Giant Petrel: 2, 15, 20
Masatierra Petrel: 1, 1, 1
Stejneger's Petrel: 3, 170, 250
Juan Fernandez Petrel: 2, 250, 255
Slender-billed Prion: 1, 40, 40
White-chinned Petrel: 4, 150, 180
Westland Petrel: 1, 1, 1
Sooty Shearwater: 5, 2500, 5300
Pink-footed Shearwater: 3, 200, 240
Wilson's Storm-Petrel: 4, 300, 600+
Pincoya Storm-Petrel: 1, 12, 12
Gray-backed Storm-Petrel: 2, 2, 3
Peruvian Diving-Petrel: 1, 5, 5
Common Diving-Petrel: 1, 2, 2
Magellanic Diving-Petrel: 2, 105, 106
Peruvian Booby: 1, 200, 200
Red-legged Cormorant: 2, 7, 8
Guanay Cormorant: 1, 35, 35
Imperial Cormorant: 3, 800, 835
Peruvian (Brown) Pelican: 2, 75, 82
Red Phalarope: 4, 600, 900
Chilean Skua: 5, 25, 47
Parasitic Jaeger: 3, 10, 13
Brown-hooded Gull: 2, 800, 805
Gray Gull: 1, 3, 3
Franklin's Gull: 2, 250, 290
Kelp Gull: 3, 150, 270
Inca Tern: 1, 5, 5
South American Tern: 3, 45, 70
Elegant Tern: 2, 8, 10

ATLANTIC SIDE:

Magellanic Penguin: 5, 800, 860
Southern Royal Albatross: 2, 50, 58
Snowy (Wandering) Albatross: 2, 20, 21
Yellow-nosed Albatross: 2, 49, 50
Black-browed Albatross: 5, 1800, 2025
Gray-headed Albatross: 1, 3, 3
Southern Giant Petrel: 4, 180, 300
Cape Petrel: 1, 5, 5
Soft-plumaged Petrel: 2, 4, 7
Atlantic Petrel: 1, 6, 6
Slender-billed Prion: 3, 450, 490
White-chinned Petrel: 4, 400, 625
Sooty Shearwater: 4, 4000, 11,000
Great Shearwater: 4, 14,000, 14,200
Manx Shearwater: 2, 450, 535
Black-bellied Storm-Petrel: 2, 2, 3
Wilson's Storm-Petrel: 3, 250, 255
Gray-backed Storm-Petrel: 1, 3, 3
Common Diving-Petrel: 2, 10, 11
Magellanic Diving-Petrel: 1, 2, 2
Imperial Cormorant: 2, 2500, 3500"
====================

Note that the route stays carefully just north of Cape Horn, to minimize storm risks...
Cape Horn - Wikipedia

The WINGS trip the next two weeks was shown at this site...
WINGS Birding Tours to A Cruise: Buenos Aires to Valparaiso, Birding Sea and Land – Itinerary

The Week After our 2014 Sept 7th Trip

The day after our 9/7 trip I got on a plane and travelled to California. I joined three Debi Shearwater pelagic trips (Monterey Seabirding with SHEARWATER JOURNEYS Pelagic Birding for 39 Years!) around Monterey Bay that week (Sept 10-12). I had done pelagic seabirding off California in the 1970s and 1980s and I was hoping this time, decades later, would be as good. It was very similar to the way I remember it -- spectacular! Seabirds all over the place!

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!
If you are a seabirder, and have not been here (Monterey Bay, etc, CA), you MUST go!
If you have not been here in decades, like me, you MUST go back, soon!
This area is reminiscent in many ways of the spectacular Cape Town offshore areas around the Benguela Current, and that is remarkable.

Here is my first draft summary of these three 2014 trips on September 10, 11, and 12 (I hi-lighted species which I was most interested in, but my larger bird count numbers are often very rough "guesstimates")....

Pacific Loon, 1/0/0
Common Loon, 5/0/0
Western Grebe, 0/1/0
Black-footed Albatross, 10/10/10
Northern (Pacific) Fulmar, 0/1/0. Dark.
Pink-footed Shearwater, 500/500/500
Flesh-footed Shearwater, 0/0/0. Missed one by a few days. Formerly "Pale-footed Shearwater".
Buller's Shearwater, 0/2/1. Formerly "New Zealand or Grey-backed Shearwater". Unusually few this summer.
Sooty Shearwater, 1000/1000/1000.
Short-tailed Shearwater, 0/0/0. Formerly "Slender-billed Shearwater".
Manx Shearwater, 0/1/0.
Black-vented Shearwater, 1000/1000/2000 which usually stay in southern Calif waters. Formerly included with Manx Shearwater for many years.
Black Storm Petrel, 0/0/10.
Brown Pelican, 50/50/50.
Brandt's Cormorant, 300/300/300.
Double-crested Cormorant, a few.
Pelagic Cormorant, 10/10/20. Inshore only... not "pelagic" at all.
Surf Scoter, 0/1/0.
Black Oystercatcher, 5/5/0 along harbor seawall.
Black Turnstone, 2/0/2 along harbor seawall.
Surfbird, 5/5/5 along harbor seawall.
Red-necked Phalarope, 100/100/100.
South Polar Skua, 0/0/1. Formerly part of simply "Skua (Megalestris skua)".
Pomarine Jaeger, 10/10/10. Including one gorgeous dark morph with long central tail feathers.
Parasitic Jaeger, 10/10/10.
Long-tailed Jaeger, 2/2/0.
Heerman's Gull, 200/200/200.
California Gull, 50/50/50.
Western Gull, 200/200/200.
Sabine's Gull, 5/8/20 all well offshore (none anywhere near the coast, as we had at Cape Cod on Sept 7th). Mostly flying around, 20-50 feet up. Some swimming in water for ten minutes at a time. Some SAGU were following the boat and the cloud of gulls which followed it.
Elegant Tern, 20/20/20 mostly not too far offshore.
Common Tern, 0/5/0.
Arctic Tern, 5/5/5.
Common Murre, 300/400/500.
Pigeon Guillemot, 0/0/1 nearshore area north side of Monterey Bay.
Cassin's Auklet, 5/5/5.
Rhinoceros Auklet, 5/5/5.

Sea Otter
California Sea Lion
Northern Fur Seal
Humpback Whale
Killer Whale, 10/0/0.
Common Dolphin
Risso's Dolphin
Ocean Sunfish
Blue Shark

NAMES OF SEABIRDS (some history):

I included some "former names" of the species above to remind older birders of the names used during the 1950s-1970s. The most extreme case of AOU "name-changing" which I can think of is today's Band-rumped Storm-petrel which used to be called (working backwards)..... Harcourt's Petrel, Madeira Petrel, Hawaiian Petrel, part of Guadalupe Petrel before that, and part of Ashy Petrel before that!! And currently the DNA, vocalization & breeding studies suggest that today's Band-rumped Storm-petrel may need to be split into four different species!

Here is the Procellariiformes (tubenoses) page from the 53-year OLD 2nd edition 1961 Peterson (West), which most West Coast birders used during the 1960s and into the 1970s. Note all the changes against today's names:

Left-click to enlarge image. Press ESC key to return.

Sooty Shearwater name is unchanged. Slender-billed Shearwater is now called Short-tailed Shearwater. Pale-footed Shearwater is now called Flesh-footed Shearwater. Fulmar is now Northern Fulmar. New Zealand (aka Grey-backed by BOU & RNBWS) Shearwater is now called Buller's Shearwater. The "Manx Shearwater" which was commonly seen off southern California was undoubtedly today's Black-vented Shearwater, and not today's Manx Shearwater, although a small number of those are also seen on the West Coast in recent years. Pink-footed Shearwater name is unchanged. The five "Petrels" are unchanged, except they are all now called "Storm-petrels".

And the 1969 "revised and enlarged" 2nd edition of the "Western Peterson" had exactly the same plate and facing page for western "shearwaters, fulmar and storm petrels". None of those old names had changed yet, as of this 1969 Peterson.

Twenty years passed and by the 1990 Third Edition of Peterson West, however, note the several interesting changes....

Each day of our three pelagic trips was different and unique, even though they were three days in a row, September 10, 11 and 12. Some highlights included killer whales on day 1, a feeding frenzy of whales, dolphins and sea lions on day 2, south polar skua, black storm-petrels and pigeon guillemot on day 3, plus lots more.

PHOTO EQUIPMENT:
Every photo shown at this post was taken with my Panasonic Lumix FZ200 super zoom camera, with its 25-600mm equivalent focal length optical zoom range, with constant f/2.8 max aperture (across all focal lengths), with autofocus, and setting its burst rate at 5.5frames/sec with CAF (continuous auto focus). It has a small sensor so you will not get image quality quite as high as with full-frame, APS-C, 1-inch or other larger sensors. I am nevertheless very satisfied with this camera, although it does not do CAF at super long focal lengths quite as rapidly and confidently as a Canon 7D or 70D (although all 3 of those cameras sometimes struggle to acquire and hold CAF focus on a distant BIF [bird-in-flight] at 400mm and longer), so I have to work around occasional delays in locking onto a target BIF (squeeze the shutter release button and use the two-eyes-superimposed method to keep the unfocused bird in the frame until the CAF eventually locks on and then the camera automatically releases the shutter by itself!). When the Lumix does lock focus on to a very distant flying bird, even at 600mm and beyond (such as the third Sabine's Gull photo below, of a very distant bird), however, it does not let go of that focus, which is good, perhaps slightly better than the Canons in this one respect.

Of course the picture quality of a big 500mm f/4 Canon lens will be superior, as you can see from pictures Kerry Taylor (a very experienced bird photographer) took on 3 of the same trips with me that week...
PhotosByKerryTaylor << click on this link to see Kerry's beautiful bird photos.

THE GOOD SHIP "CHECK MATE"
with its outstanding captain/owner (and keen bird observer) "Tinker"...

One of the best part of these outstanding trips is the first ten minutes when Debi Shearwater belts out a unique, informative and sometimes humorous performance (but get to know her and you will love her) that is unforgettable! (-: Her confidence and seabird identification skills are unsurpassed after doing these pelagic trips non-stop for more than 39 years....

Left click on images to enlarge. Press ESC key to return.

Debi tells it the way it is!

ROUTES (click on each map image to enlarge):
Mostly around two very deep intersecting canyons and ridges: Monterey Canyon and Carmel Canyon...

September 10, 2014: with ten birders on board...

September 11, 2014: with twenty birders on board...

September 12, 2014: with forty birders on board, including a dozen from UK...

Left-click to enlarge image. Press ESC key to return.

Monterey Canyon - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

MONTEREY BAY SEA LIFE!!
The activity and intensity of the sea life in and around Monterey Bay is amazing. The following are two typical scenes (you can click on the images to enlarge them)...

Note the high-energy mix (above & below) of whales, shearwaters, gulls, terns, cormorants, murres, etc.

SABINE'S GULLS:
Here are five photos I took on three different days...

I wish this individual came in closer and I did not have to crop this shot so severely (the poor quality of this image is because of extreme distance, and extreme cropping, not because of poor focus)....

Sabine's Gull is intensely "pelagic" and like all seabirds it often sits on the ocean for hours...

BULLER'S SHEARWATER:
One of my favorite old seabirds from back-in-the-day (because of its striking pattern and unambiguous easy ID!), which we used to know as New Zealand or Grey-backed Shearwater, before its name change.
Buller's shearwater - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This highly patterned shearwater breeds only on a series of islands off New Zealand, and has never (except a very few times) been seen in the Atlantic Ocean.

Buller's and other "western" shearwaters (of course Manx is a mostly Atlantic shearwater) from the excellent 2008 National Geographic "Field Guide to the Birds of Western North America" (one of the several excellent modern field guides to western US birds)...

Left-click to expand image. Press ESC key to return.

Here are seven photos I took of two Buller's Shearwaters, taken under cloudy conditions, so the brightness of the bird's brilliant white underparts does not appear as striking as usual....

The Buller's is the lighter shearwater on the left. The much larger Pink-footed Shearwaters are in back, showing a light (yellowish) bill (unlike the similar but smaller and dark-billed Black-vented Shearwater, which is not in this photograph) and dark shades smudged around the cheek and neck (unlike the Buller's clean white in those areas)...

Buller's taking off, shown with Black-footed Albtross and Pink-footed Shearwater at the top...

BLACK STORM-PETREL: this is the closest this species got to us, unfortunately (it was so distant that it was barely visible as just a black dot with the naked eye)...

ENJOYING THE TRIP:
Trip leader Tim, my daughter Vicki (I was so happy that she was able to get away from work and join me for one of these exciting trips), and Debi Shearwater chatting during one of the few quiet times..

Leaders Tim Miller and Tom Johnson...

During the three trips Debi's leaders included herself, captain Tinker, Tom Johnson, Tim Miller, Jennifer Green, Garrison, and Dena Spatz.

Here is Yours Truly, in seabird heaven for three days (each trip at least eight hours of action)....

BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS:

BLACK-VENTED SHEARWATER:
Note all dark bill and blackish vent area (under tail coverts)...

Sooty and Black-vented Shearwaters...
Note Sooty's narrow wings, with whitish wing linings...

PINK-FOOTED SHEARWATER:
Wing beats much slower than the smaller Black-vented Shearwater (the two common West Coast shearwaters with mostly white underparts).
Note mostly pale bill, and pale feet...
and that both these shearwater species have a "smudgie" dark look around their head and throat, unlike the clean black/white look around the head and throat of Buller's and Manx Shearwaters....

AUKS:
photos coming soon

ELEGANT TERN:
Look at that bill!

POMARINE JAEGER:
one was a gorgeous dark morph with long central (and partially twisted) tail feathers. Notice that the white lines on the upper wing surfaces are all separate along the primary feathers. Those white lines do not come together to form large white areas, as often happens with skuas....

Look at those long SLENDER wings... nobody is going to mistake that for a S.P.Skua or Gr.Skua...

For comparison purposes, here is a South Polar Skua (off Hatteras 2015-may-21). Compare the white wing flashes with the Pomarine Jaeger, which lacks the skua's coalescing of the multiple white lines into a large solid "white flash"...

KILLER WHALE:
This giant individual and a nearby pod of eight other Orca terrorized a group of 2,000 dolphins as we watched...

MONTEREY AQUARIUM:
Lest I forget, while you are in the Monterey area, you should find half a day to visit the amazing aquarium ($40@), including live feeding frenzies and spectacular giant exhibits such as this one...

Left click to enlarge the image. Press ESC to return.

More trip info and photos coming next week.

2018: Storm-petrel bad dreams:
ID: Leach's Storm-Petrel Split: Ainley's, Leach's, and Townsend's - Greg in San Diego

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)

Marine Trips: five for 2019

LIS = Long Island Sound, CT and NY waters.

GOM = Gulf of Maine, US and Canadian waters.

AC = Atlantic Canyons, mostly US waters.

March 9th, in LIS, from Norwalk CT. Completed and successfully got target gulls and plankton.

LIS Gulls and Plankton Trip << click to view.

June 16, from Harwich Port, on CapeCod.

Spring 2019- Ocean Exploration Cruise (OEC) for Chatham waters

This is a joint trip with Krill Carson (NECWA).

Leaves dock at 8am, returns around 4pm.

In ocean waters off Chatham MA.

Dock and meeting point is here:

Yankee II Deep Sea Fishing, Harwich Port.

715 Rt. 28 Saquatucket Harbor

Harwich Port, MA 02646.

Be here by 7:30am on Sunday 6/16.

Marine forecast, east of Cape Cod:

National Weather Service Marine Forecast

August 31, from RI. TBD. 4am to overnight (two-day trip). This is a new trip under development, requiring coast guard permits, because it will go out so far, to the canyons and beyond. POSTPONED TILL 2021.

September 29, Sunday, from Gloucester, MA. From 7am to 1pm. In Stellwagen Bank and nearby waters. With Krill Carson and NECWA. Click on the following link for details: Fall 2019- Ocean Exploration Cruise (OEC) and the required liability waiver for this trip can be found at: ***Liability waiver for 2019 pelagic trips

THE FOLLOWING TRIP HAS TO BE CANCELLED, because the ferry service is still not running for 2019, and will NOT be running on Oct.5-6!

October 5-6, across GOM, departing 3pm from BarHarbor ME to Yarmouth NS and returning next day. Hotel overnight and bird on the return trip. CHECK THIS SITE TO SEE IF THE FERRY IS ABLE TO RUN ON THESE DATES: Yarmouth Ferry Schedule | Maine to Nova Scotia | The CAT . IT SEEMS THE FERRY HAS BEEN CANCELLED. Passport required. Search for Skuas. This is the first year a ferry has crossed the GOM on this BarHarbor-to-Yarmouth 110-mile route in many years. We will only go ahead with this October trip if the Sept.14 Maine Audubon pelagic trip (Sept.14 pelagic trip) finds some good seabirds or other marine activity along this route during these few weeks. So do not buy a hotel or ferry ticket until after Sept.25th, when the Oct.5-6 decision will be announced here (along with travel suggestions, e.g., for the Canadian hotel see: September 17-18, 2016 Double-Crossing the GOM). Thanks for understanding.

2020:

POSTPONED TO 2021:

March 2020 gulls and science trip in the CT waters of LIS Long Island Sound, being planned now. Following up on this 2019 March 9th trip: LISgullsPlanktonTrip

History of Seabirding

We are assembling a history of seabirding and pelagic birding trips (initially at trips33.blogspot.com). This is meant to cover professional and amateur efforts, globally, but initially emphasizing the East Coast of the US and Canada. It is meant cover all of the 1900's, but is initially focusing on 1920-1980. The emphasis is primarily on seabirds-at-sea ("pelagic trips"), with a lesser focus on seawatches and seabirds on their breeding grounds. This is a collaborative effort. Please contribute by email to Tom Robben at robben99@gmail.com including personal anecdotes, publications, references, pelagic trip schedules, bird checklists, etc. If you'd prefer to do this by phone call, just let me know that, and whether we can cite you as the source of information which you contribute. Thank you!

History of Seabirding << this is just the rough beginning

Skua's 5-year Report Card

Also see this post: SKUAs in the GOM

On our regularly scheduled HAS GOM Gulf Of Maine field trips (between Portland ME and Yarmouth NS Canada) we have seen skuas on every trip which sailed. The ferry was the 500ft Nova Star in 2014 and 2015, and the 300ft new CAT in 2016-2018.

2018: two Great Skuas.

2018 October 7-8 two-day GOM Skua trip

2017: two Great Skuas, one South Polar Skua, two Skua sp.

Sept. 29-30 GOM Pelagic Trip RESULTS

2016: two Great Skuas.

2016 September 17-18 Great Skua YES

2016 September 12-13 Reconn trip for 9/17-18

2015: trip cancelled by extreme weather.

2015 Nova Star & HAS trip on GOM Cancelled!!

2014: one Great Skua, 3 Skua sp.

2014 Oct 11-12 GOM Marine & Seabird Survey

Our multiple other GOM crossings over the last five years have recorded skuas the majority of times. Here are some...

2015 October 8 GOM crossing with Bigelow Lab

2015 Sept 23 GOM pelagic trip

2015 August 5th Gulf of Maine on the Nova Star

2015 June 27-28 Nova Star trip - Google Docs

2015 June 27-28 ECO : Everyone Cares about the Ocean

I also took several GOM crossing in 1960-1970's but skuas were more difficult to find (not as regular).

Marine Trips 2018

2018 marine trips (4 or 5 planned for 2018) :

THESE TRIPS ARE OPEN FOR ANYONE TO JOIN. The Hartford Audubon Society ( http://www.hartfordaudubon.org/terms.htm ) sponsors/supports/partners with all of these 2018 pelagic trips listed below. And you are welcome to join Hartford Audubon Society at any time, of course. Tom Robben leads or co-leads these several series of pelagic trips and can be contacted at:

robben99@gmail.com.

UPDATE on Oct.5th : because of the weather forecast our Oct.6-7 trip has now been postponed one day to Oct.7-8, Sunday-Monday. The ship owner decided not to run on Oct.6th.

YOU ARE INVITED TO JOIN THE FOLLOWING TRIPS, which search for skuas:

◆ Sept. 22-23 AND also Oct. 7-8. Two different Skua Search Trips (both are Saturday-Sunday), each spans two days (with a hotel overnight in Yarmouth, Canada), crossing the Gulf of Maine spanning 210 miles to Canada, departing from Portland, ME. These are TWO similar trips, two weeks apart, during this exciting time in these waters. Please register with me for one or both of these trips. Your passport is required.

Note that this is one of the few birding trips in the USA which searches for Great skuas ( Stercorarius skua ), and regularly finds them.

These dates were dependent upon the ferry schedule... which appears not to be running Sept.28-29 ...

Portland-Yarmouth Ferry Schedule

====================

Here are the steps to take:

1) FIRST, SIGN-UP: Email to me to register, at robben99@gmail.com

2) HOTEL: You need to call the Rodd Grand Yarmouth Hotel directly, at THIS phone number: 1-902-742-2446, say you are with the group called "Marine Survey #18", and ask to reserve your room at the group discounted rate of $114CAD PT (114 Canadian dollars, plus tax, for a room with two beds), for the one night of October 6th. You must mention our group name, "Marine Survey #18", to get this special group rate.

3) FERRY: You need to call the CAT ferry company (Bay Ferries Ltd) at 1-902-742-6800 (their Yarmouth terminal) to buy your own ticket/s, and request our 25% group discount for the "Marine Survey #18" group -- have your passport and credit card handy during this call. The list price is usually about $141 US dollars, round-trip, so reduce that by 25%. They said they will apply this discount "manually" so your emailed receipt may show $141 but your credit card will get the discount.

4) MEET AT DOCK: Join us on October 6th in Portland ME. Park your car in Portland. No car is needed during this 24-hour trip. Parking suggestions can be found at this post, here: Parking suggestions from 2017. The best place is an open lot right across from our meeting spot, which usually has open spaces. You must remember to bring your PASSSPORT, please.

MEETING TIME: 1:15pm Saturday October 6, 2018.

MEETING LOCATION: Portland, Maine at 12 Ocean Gateway Pier. At small CAT building, a few hundred feet NE of intersection of Thames and Hancock Streets.

5) REMINDERS:

-- Bring your Passport, which has not expired or close to expiration.

-- Set your cameras clock to the exact minute, Eastern time.

-- Updated waiver document is now available for you to print out and sign and return to me:

**Liability waiver for 20180922-23 GOM trip v1 - Google Docs

-- You are paying for your own parking, ferry ($106USD), hotel ($114CAD) and food. There is no other charge for this trip.

-- Bring warm clothes. September can feel like winter in mid-GOM if the wind is blowing, and we will be up to 70 miles offshore from the nearest land.

====================

Check this website during the two weeks leading up to this trip, in case any details change, e.g., perhaps due to extreme weather. You are financing your own trip, and if this trip does get cancelled, by the ferry company, due to weather or other extreme event, it is up to you to get whatever refunds you can.

Skua GOM trips 2018

Sept.22-23 and also Oct.7-8 NEW DATE.

MORE DETAILS ON THIS TRIP, below:

(see trip summary above)

We will definitely do the Sept.22-23 trip, but we will do the Oct.6-7 trip only if we do not get good skua looks on the first trip, for any reason.

This trip focuses on finding skuas, principally Great Skuas, which generally migrate into these waters in the second half of September, from Iceland and NW Europe.

The birds in the GOM are very similar on these two dates, only two weeks apart. Here are the birds we saw last year in late September:

2017 Sept. 29-30 GOM Pelagic Trip RESULTS

You can park your car in Portland ME, and will stay overnight at the top hotel in Yarmouth, the Rodd Grand, at a discounted rate of $114CAD Canadian Dollars plus tax, for your own room. Here are the logistics/plans for the trip last year, and this year they will be very similar...

2017 Sept. 29-30 GOM Pelagic Trip PLANS

You do NOT need to rent a car in Canada. We take the afternoon ferry from Portland and arrive in Yarmouth early evening. We walk or taxi 1/4 mile to the nearby hotel, eat dinner, sleep, and take the early ferry Sunday morning back to Portland (this is the leg where we are most likely to see skuas, the first three hours out of Yarmouth, and sometimes in USA waters too). You are only on Canadian soil for 12 hours, mostly to sleep.

The discounted rate for the ferry round trip is 25% discount.

You need to make your own reservations. Mention "Marine Survey #18" to get both these discounted rates.

You will make your own reservations and payments for the ship and the hotel. Neither is full at this time of year. There is a small risk that extreme weather might stop the ferry round trip, but this rarely happens. And the ship is very stable, even in heavy weather.

Your PASSPORT is required, as this is an "overseas trip". We will all need to also sign a waiver of liabilities, to cross-protect everyone involved with this trip.

You will pay for your own car parking in Portland, your ferry round trip, and your hotel in Yarmouth, plus food or other incidentals. Details for you to do this will all be provided. There are no other charges for this trip, which is sponsored annually by the Hartford Audubon Society.

One thing I usually forget to ask: if you bring any kind of camera(s), before the trip please set your camera's clock correctly, to Eastern time, to the exact minute, so we can cross-reference our photos if needed after the trip. I record every bird seen, minute by minute on these long transects, for possible future comparisons, and to cross-ref with photos, for ID purposes. Thanks.

Just get mentally prepared to scan a LOT of marine waters -- this is a 420 mile long pelagic trip, where seabirds can show up anywhere.

By the way, I always say getting a skua on this trip is 50/50 -- but it often works out well!

Tom

August 30, 2018

OUR TRIP LAST YEAR:

2017 Sept. 29-30 GOM Pelagic Trip RESULTS

2017 Sept. 29-30 GOM Pelagic Trip PLANS

Marine Trips 2018 completed

THESE TRIPS WERE COMPLETED:

◆ June 3rd (Sunday) Stellwagen, from Gloucester, MA. Our May 19 trip was postponed to June 3rd... TRIP WAS COMPLETED on June 3rd.

2018 June 3rd pelagic trip from Gloucester MA .

Spring 2018- Ocean Exploration Cruise (OEC)

with your single signing of this one 2018 liability document covering OEC all trips this year...

***Liability waiver for 2018 pelagic trips

◆ September 30 (Sunday) Stellwagen, from Gloucester, MA. No rain date for this trip. Note that this trip had been aimed for Saturday September 29th but that had to be changed to Sunday 9/30. This 9/30 date is now finalized.

Fall 2018- Ocean Exploration Cruise (OEC) << register & pay here, and get trip details. This trip is a partnership with Krill Carson and NECWA and features multiple guest Naturalists.

◆ October 7-8 (Sunday-Monday) GOM Gulf Of Maine , details coming soon...

Other Marine Trip Websites

Other organizations run marine/pelagic trips during the year. Here are some of their websites, covering the US east coast, the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, north to south:

2017 Bar Harbor Pelagic Trip Summary

Maine Audubon

New Hampshire also runs one Autumn trip. Info coming.

NECWA and Krill Carson who we partner with for 2-3 trips annually, including the 2018 June3 and September30 trips listed above.

Whale & Seabird Trips

Mass Audubon occasional pelagic trips.

Pelagic Trips – Brookline Bird Club

Including several trips to the Atlantic canyons.

Chatham "Mini Pelagic" trips, run by Blair Nikula who can be reached by email at odenews@odenews.org

Paulagics.com | TRIPS

Focusing on NY and NJ waters.

Seabirding | Gulf stream pelagic trips

Brian Patteson's great trips from Hatteras, NC.

North Caroli na and the Gulf Stream

Angus Wilson site.

Marine Trips 2017

The next trips in this series will be in 2018.

THIS 2017 TRIP WAS COMPLETED!

STELLWAGEN PELAGIC:

Ocean Exploration Cruise with Krill Carson.

October 22 from Gloucester MA. 8-hour trip.

Seabirds, whales, & marine science, including Prof. A.Jordaan.

Liability waiver will be required. Please print, sign, date and return this document...

*Liability waiver for 20171022 pelagic trip v1

#1 Target Species: Sabine's Gull. 20% likely. We had 1 last year.

MEETING TIME: 7:15am Sunday October 22.

MEETING LOCATION: Gloucester, Mass. at 63 Rogers Street (7 Seas Whale Watch pier).

TRIP COSTS: Your costs will be about $90 for adults. You must register & pay at this webpage:

October 2017- Ocean Exploration Cruise (OEC)

OUR AUTUMN TRIP LAST YEAR:

October 22, 2016 OEC: Sabine's Gull YES

THIS 2017 TRIP WAS COMPLETED!

G.O.M. CROSSING:

"Marine Survey #17" is our group name.

September 29-30 Friday-Saturday, departing from Portland ME friday mid-day, to Yarmouth NS, and back the next morning. 24-hour trip.

Cross the Gulf of Maine, 210 miles each way (each crossing is 6.5 hours on the water -- both crossings in daylight).

PASSPORT REQUIRED.

REGISTRATION REQUIRED with Tom Robben ASAP (robben99@gmail.com). This trip is less than one week from now.

Liability waiver will be required.

#1 Target Species: Great Skua. 50% likely. We had 2 last year.

This trip replaces the one scheduled for Oct.7-8 because ferry company cut its schedule recently.

MEETING TIME: 1:15pm Friday September 29.

MEETING LOCATION: Portland, Maine at 12 Ocean Gateway Pier. At small CAT building, a few hundred feet NE of intersection of Thames and Hancock Streets.

TRIP COSTS:

1. Portland parking can run $10-40 for 24 hours.

2. Rodd Grand Yarmouth Hotel, group discount rate about $109PT (109 Canadian dollars, plus tax). You do your own hotel reservation please (1-800-565-7633). You must mention our group name, "Marine Survey #17", to get this rate.

3. Ferry round-trip group discounted price is 25% off the posted list prices (list price is about $141 round-trip) (please call 1-902-742-6800 to buy your own ticket/s, and request discount for the "Marine Survey #17" group -- have your passport and credit card handy during this call). List prices are shown at the following website...

Yarmouth Ferry Schedule | Maine to Nova Scotia | The CAT

OUR TRIP LAST YEAR:

September 17-18, 2016 Great Skua YES

September 17-18, 2016 Planning the trip

June 10, 2018 from Gloucester MA. This is the probable date for next year's June 2018 trip.

NOTE: our 3-year "Great Skua Report Card" will appear here by end of October.

2017 June 11 pelagic trip

This June 11th trip occurred, with beautiful calm weather, although few whales and seabirds were found. The trip report will be published on the left, over the next week or two.

June 11th trip is now ON. Departing Gloucester MA, 8am-2pm.

1) Click here to register and pay...

June 11 2017- Ocean Exploration Cruise

2) Please mention Hartford Audubon Society.

3) Please complete our waiver and mail it to my email or USPS street address...

*Liability waiver for 20170611 pelagic trip v2 - Google Docs

Tom (robben99@gmail.com)

Sabine's Gull 7year report card

IS THIS THE BEST TRIP FOR EAST COAST SABINE'S GULLS? PROBABLY!!

One goal for these annual autumn trips around Stellwagen Bank, MA and nearby ocean waters was to find Sabine's Gulls, which are rare on the US East Coast (and anywhere along the Western Atlantic). How well did we do? Two years we succeeded and saw SAGU (Sabine's Gulls), and four years we had near-misses. Not too bad for a bird which is hard to target and find anywhere on the US East Coast...

2018: No Sabine's Gulls on our two 2018 trips.

2017: oct.22 No SAGU on this trip.

2016: oct.22 we got 1 juvenile SAGU.

2015: sept 13 missed 1 SAGU by a few miles.*

2014: sept.7 we got 1 breeding plumage SAGU.

2013: sept. 8 missed 9! SAGU just NW of Maine*

2012: sept.29 we missed 1 SAGU by 300 miles.*

2011: oct.15-16 we missed 2 SAGU seen Oct.12

* = on same day as our trip.

Click on blue trip dates to jump to that trip report.

2016 Marine Trips

Updated October 23rd: Both trips done, and successful.

These paragraphs need to be updated again...

There are TWO different 2016 ocean trips here:

1) October 22 from Gloucester MA. See posts on left. Was rescheduled from 10/1.

2) September 17-18 from Portland ME. See posts on left.

Both these HAS pelagic trips are different from last year, using different ships, with different owners, different captains, and details have been adjusted and fine-tuned week by week. Please send an email to me (to robben99@gmail.com) indicating your possible interest, even if you are undecided so far.

NOTE: the October 1 trip had to be rescheduled to Oct.22 because of weather. It is NOT SOLD OUT, and you can still send an email to register.

1) STELLWAGEN TRIP (October 22): OPEN.

Had to be re-scheduled for saturday October 22, 2016 from 8:00am to 4:00pm, departing from Gloucester, MA. This is a NECWA trip, supported by HAS. A new trip, combining bird watching, whale watching, and lots of marine science. Several top scientists/naturalists. This trip is OPEN again! email to robben99@gmail.com for more info.

SEE POSTS ON THE LEFT FOR DETAILS.

And come back to this site periodically to learn more about this exciting trip.

2) GULF OF MAINE TRIP (September 17-18):

Make sure your passport is up-to-date... it is needed. Please register by email to roben99@gmail.com

Nova Scotia to Maine Ferry << our ship.

Ship departs Portland ME on saturday at 2:30pm (check-in by 1:30pm), goes to Yarmouth NS, and returns to Portland around 1pm the next day, sunday. Think of this trip as beginning Saturday at 1pm in Portland ME, and ending back there exactly 24hours later, at 1pm Sunday... and in between these TWO 5-hour daylight cruises you will sleep in the hotel Rodd Grand Yarmouth, Nova Scotia (approx $99 for your room) in central Yarmouth, NS, Canada (at 417 Main Street, within 1/2 mile walking distance of the dock).

We have not been on this new ship yet, and are relying on reports from others... New cross-GOM ferry

Note that this trip consists of TWO 5-hour daylight cruises across the wide 210 mile GOM, for a total of 420 miles, far off shore, to look for seabirds and other marine life (more miles than almost any other "pelagic birding trip")! Remember also, that we have had very good luck with Great Skua on this exact GOM route over the last few years.

You need to register with robben99@gmail.com and do NOT purchase your tickets until you register, to get the discount.

We have possibilities/probabilities of seeing the following species of seabirds:

50% Great Skua. YES, WE GOT TWO+.

5% South Polar Skua. NO.

20% Black-legged Kittiwake. YES.

40% Northern Fulmar. YES ON 9/12.

95% several of our 4 basic shearwater species. YES.

80% Wilson's Storm-petrel. YES.

20% Leach's Storm-petrel. YES.

90% Northern Gannet. YES.

30% some phalarope species. YES.

60% some jaeger species. YES, ALL 3.

20% Razorbill. NO.

10% Atlantic Puffin. YES.

2% some wildcard species. NO

etc.

BACKGROUND re the Gulf of Maine trip:

10 things to know about the new Maine-Nova Scotia ferry

Will good bird watching be possible from this new ship? Is it too enclosed? Too bumpy? TBD.

Will we be able to do good marine surveys of seabirds, whales and other marine life on this transect?

OTHER TRIPS (TBD):

More info in September.

WINTER Sabine's Gulls

A WINTER Sabine's Gull off Newfoundland!!

The Bruce Mactavish Newfoundland Birding Blog: A mid-winter SABINE'S GULL in Newfoundland - A very true story.

Stranger at St. Vincent’s - Living - The Telegram

Sabine’s in the Snow!

What is going on here?

Bruce and Eric Mills confirmed that this is the first and ONLY Sabine's Gull ever reported IN WINTER in Newfoundland!

Still percolating through the US Great Lakes as of 2015 mid November! Sabine's gull at Erieau this evening 2015Nov12 just across Lake Erie from Cleveland, Ohio.

2015 Oct 10-11 HAS pelagic trip across the Gulf of Maine

This trip is ON, as of today 10/09.

2015 October 10-11 Gulf Of Maine pelagic trip

All tickets are purchased, and we are all ready to go!

See you by 6pm Saturday oct.10th in the Nova Star Cruises Portland Terminal, Portland ME (a red brick building which says "Ocean Gateway" under its white clock), just east of the intersection (the red stick pin on the map) of Thames St and Hancock St in Portland ME. Note that Thames St is the NE extension of the well-known Commercial St which runs right along the wharves.

You can try to park in the street lot on the north side of that intersection (sometimes it is full) or in the municipal parking building (aka Ocean Gateway Parking) at 167 Fore Street, just one block NW of that intersection.

PASSPORT REQUIRED!! You must bring it with you, to get back into USA.

PLANNED: Our second H.A.S. October GOM Gulf Of Maine round-trip crossing (we had several skuas on this trip last year, plus several Great Skuas just last week Sept.23,2015) is ON for Oct 10-11, 2015 (24hours, from saturday 5:30pm parking in Portland ME until sunday 7pm return to Portland). Registration required: please email it to robben99@gmail.com

2019 extended pelagic trips

Scope of this website

We have several blogs and websites which focus on oceans, from various points of view. This particular web log emphasizes seabirds: targeting, finding, observing and mapping seabirds, at increasingly greater distances from New England, especially Sabine's Gull, Skuas, Buller's Shearwater, pterodroma petrels, Bonin Petrel, Barau's Petrel, Prions and other striking/interesting seabirds (plus learning more about the food items they prey upon, and the marine ecosystem they live in). One hope is to learn more about how all these pieces-of-the-puzzle fit together (e.g., including how we/humans benefit from all this, and why some seabirds and fish are changing their ranges & numbers?).

Blog Goals

One goal of this blog (and of these trips) is to increase the interest in seabirding and oceans and planetary ecosystems, which is why this site contains so much material. Scroll down and skip whatever you want. Many of you already know most of what's here. For others, there may be some new information. We tried to cover all bases. A second and related goal of these trips is to enjoy the wildness of Nature while not having to travel too far from home in New England. A third goal is to get more younger people interested in Birds and Nature, hopefully leading to a lifelong hobby and respect for the planet's health. A fourth goal is to raise-the-voltage around one beautiful arctic gull (Sabine's Gull), to raise the interest in its life cycle and connections to its marine ecosystem. And please forgive some of the rough-edges here, due to this blog being a continuing work-in-progress.

2014 Sept 10-12 Trip Results

During September 10-12 (just a few days after our Sabine's Gull success at Cape Cod) I was in CALIFORNIA and did three pelagic trips with Debi Shearwater. I had not done any pelagic birding trips there in decades and the waters around Monterey Bay seemed just as amazing as previously, including good looks and photos of one of the nicest seabirds, New Zealand (or Grey-backed) Shearwater (although now known by its new name as Buller's Shearwater). Click on this link to jump down to my trip report...

The Week After our 2014 Sept 7th Trip

Should we plan a HAS trip to Monterey Bay next year?

2014 October 25-26 marine survey trip must be rescheduled to October 11-12

I just learned that NovaStar Cruises is shortening their schedule, and the last crossing of the year will be on October 13, so we need to rethink if this is a good time to run this trip, on October 11-12, exactly two weeks earlier than planned. PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF YOU MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN THIS REVISED DATE. Tom, on Sept 20, 2014.

We had been planning a second HAS "pelagic trip" this Autumn (HAS Field Trips), in the framework of a rigorous MARINE SURVEY (focusing on the sea surface, and including mapping of seabirds, whales, etc), going 200miles across the GOM (Gulf of Maine) from Maine to NOVA SCOTIA and back, on October 25-26. BUT the ferry company decided to terminate their schedule three weeks earlier than they planned!! Please let me know if you would be interested in joining this trip October 11-12. Great Skua is a possibility, but a long-shot.

Get your un-expired PASSPORT ready ASAP, since it will be required to board the ship for this 24hour round-trip, even if you do not disembark on the Canada side of this trip.

CLICK HERE to see more details about this trip....

SeaBirding the Northeast Continental Shelf and Beyond: 2014 October 11-12 Pelagic Ferry to Nova Scotia

Note that the second quarter of 2014 has seen some remarkable seabirds in the Northeast USA: Yellow-nosed Albatross (in MA waters), Fea's Petrel (MA state record), Tufted Puffin, Ancient Murrelet, and a Trinidade Petrel that washed up on a beach in Maine (another first state record)! So by these recent standards anything is possible on this long trip across the GOM.

2014 Sept 7th trip is ON

2014 September 7th Pelagic Trip << click to jump here

The ship has reached its maximum quota, and no additional registrations are available for this trip this month.

This annual September HAS "pelagic trip" is ON again this year, for Sunday September 7th, 2014 (HAS Field Trips), taking the same general 8-hour route, going offshore from Plymouth MA, heading about 20-30 miles east of Cape Cod, collaborating again with Krill Carson & NECWA. This is a relatively "near-shore pelagic trip" (approx within 20miles of shore), unlike the "extreme pelagic trips" which go out 100miles to the edge of the NE Continental Shelf in search of seabirds favoring warmer Gulf Stream waters etc.

Details on the HAS view of this trip will be announced HERE at this site as we approach 9/7. Meanwhile, reserve this date on your 2014 calendar and email me if you may be interested (in that way I can send you the HAS trip waiver and email updates as we get closer to September 7th). As of today (9/2) we have 20 HAS people joining this trip... hopefully we will get good seabirds.

TomR (robben99@gmail.com)

September 4, 2014

Sabine's sightings 2014

East Coast USA Sabine's Gull sightings in 2014 second half: Very few so far this season... 2014 HAS NOT BEEN A GOOD YEAR FOR SABINE'S GULLS ON THE EAST COAST... SO FAR.

2) 2014, Aug 26. One SAGU seen at Head Harbor Passage, Charlotte County, New Brunswick, CA.

1) 2014, August 24 at 7am. One seen at Race Point Beach, Provincetown, MA. Adult bird cruising west up shore, briefly pausing to forage with large tern/gull/shearwater congregation. [WAS THIS THE SAME BIRD WE SAW ON SEPTEMBER 7TH, IN THE SAME LOCATION?]

Sabine's sightings 2013

Here are the first reports this year of south-bound Sabine's Gulls passing through the greater New England area (and other Eastern locations).....

26. 2013 Nov 10th. One juvenile Sabine's Gull at Allegan Co, MI. Note the clearly forked tail: Sabine's Gull

25. 2013 Nov 9th. One juvenile Sabine's Gull off Coast Guard Beach in Eastham, MA with lots of Gannets and Bonaparte's Gulls, as seen by Becky Suomala.

24. 2013 Nov 3rd. One juvenile Sabine's Gull, five miles off Rhode Island. Photographed by Keith Mueller.

23. 2013 Oct 30th. One juvenile Sabine's Gull east of Chatham. Seen and photographed by Blair Nikula: eBird Checklist – East of Chatham, MA – Wed Oct 30, 2013

22. 2013 Oct 23rd. One juvenile Sabine's Gull, off Robert Moses State Park, LI, NY. Reported by Isaac Grant.

21. 2013 Oct 3rd. One adult alternate plumage Sabine's Gull near the Isle of Shoals, NH. Seen by Jay Frontierro.

20. 2013 Sept 30th. One adult winter plumaged Sabine's Gull, at Mill Pond, Merrick Road, Wantagh, LI, NY. Seen by Robert Proniewych.

19. 2013 Sept 18th. One Sabine's Gull on Tern Island flats viewable from Cow Yard Ln, Chatham MA. Likely the North Beach Bird. Only 1500 Laughing Gulls to sort through... (as per Mark Faherty).

18. 2013 Sept 16th. One adult Sabine's Gull reported from Nauset Outer Beach, Orleans, Cape Cod. Sitting in flats with other gulls behind the beach, 3miles south of general parking lot (as per Peter Trull).

17. 2013 Sept 15th. Two Sabine's Gulls in Georgia, at Lake Hartwell, Long Point Recreation Area. 2 imm.

16. 2013 Sept 14th. Sabine's Gull at North Beach, Cape Cod, MA (Carl Goodrich) or was that Nauset Beach, as others have said.

15. 2013 Sept 12-13th. One first-year Sabine's Gull was in Oklahoma at Lake Yahola. Where is he/she headed, into the Gulf of Mexico?

14. 2013 Sept 12th. One juv Sabine's Gull in Indiana! At Miller Beach, Lake County, along the shore of Lake Michigan. Along with 1 Little Gull and 3 Parasitic Jaegers! Give me a break! We spend ten hours on the seas trying to find one SAGU, and this one shows up in somebody's backyard 1,000 miles from any ocean. I'd love to know if this one will turn to its right to the distant Pacific, or turn left toward the nearer Atlantic, and give us a shot to see it in the coming weeks.

13. 2013 Sept 8th. At least NINE juvenile Sabine's Gulls between Tadoussac and Bergeronnes, Quebec 60miles NNW of Maine. Where do these birds go next??

12. 2013 Sept 8th. FOUR Sabine's Gulls in Hamilton, Ontario at Wagner Beach. Where do these birds go next?

11. 2013 Sept 6th one Sabine's Gull juvenile reported (among 3,500 Bonapartes Gulls) in Tadoussac, Quebec, just 60miles NNW of Maine's northernmost tip... Birding News | #birdingnews via @aba

10. 2013 Sept 5th: up to a DOZEN scattered Sabine's Gulls went through Hamilton, Ontario (near Buffalo, NY) after the cold front went through on 9/5. Hopefully these SAGU will pass through our area this weekend..

Birding News | #birdingnews via @aba

9. 2013 Sept 5th: still NO reports of Sabine's Gulls anywhere along the eastern seaboard since Aug 26th, on eBird or any bird forums. Hopefully these gulls are saving themselves for us on Sunday Sept 8th.

8. 2013 Aug 26th 10:15am ten miles ENE off P'town, CapeCod..... Three Sabine's Gulls.... via the Dolphin Fleet Whale Watch out of Provincetown, MA... "Two single adults (likely the same bird) and later a pair right next to the boat in the same area as the Humpbacks. All birds in breeding plumage with complete sooty hoods. Fantastic views." Seen by John Mittermeier... eBird Checklist – Stellwagen Bank--SE waters, Massachusetts – Mon Aug 26, 2013 – 11 species

7. 2013 Aug 27 one juvenile Sabine's Gull on Lake Michigan... These Great Lakes birds may proceed to the East Coast on their way out to the South Atlantic...

Anything Larus: Early Sabine's Gull on Lake Michigan

6. 2013 Aug 25th near Pelee Island, one Sabine's Gull on the US side of Lake Erie, Ohio. One of those individuals which migrate cross-continent, and may be visiting our area next, on their way out to the Atlantic and southwest African waters.

5. Several Sabine's Gulls passing through Quebec in the second half of August. One more reported 8/31 at Tadoussac, Quebec.

4. 2013 Aug 14th Coast Guard Beach, Eastham, MA... Josh Gahagan... photo of adult SAGU at Eastham MA Aug14 by Josh Gahagan

3. 2013 Aug 1st South Beach, Chatham, MA.... Drew Weber was visiting from Syracuse NY, got this nice SAGU (the commonly used code for Sabine's Gull), and took the following video...

Sabine's Gull - YouTube

and I posted his photo above (rotated). His very interesting website is this one... Nemesis Bird | fast paced birding

Also reported on eBird... eBird Checklist – South Beach, Chatham, Massachusetts – Thu Aug 01, 2013

2. 2013 July 14th at Martha's Vineyard:

Gull Week | The Vineyard Gazette - Martha's Vineyard News

1. 2013 July 13th at Eastern Egg Rock, Maine. 1 SAGU reported as a juvenile.

Sabine's Gull

Our "icing on the cake" target bird. Very do-able off the West Coast, but a low-probability phantom on the East Coast. We missed this bird by a few days in 2011 and by a few (300) miles in 2012. Discovered in Greenland in 1818 by Anglo-Irish scientist Edward Sabine, whose family name is pronounced SAB-ine (according to the OED), like "stab-pine", not say-bin, or sa-been with a French or Italian accent.... although everybody still debates how this gull should be pronounced. Any pronunciation is ok with me, assuming that by the end of our trip we can say the bird has been-seen!

Sabine's Gull on live eBird map

Click here to see map of all Sabine's Gulls reported to eBay over recent years... eBird Range Map--Sabine's Gull (Xema sabini)

Here is one such report from 2012, from Stellwagen Bank, with photo... eBird Checklist – NOAA trip, Massachusetts – Thu Aug 23, 2012

Sabine's Gull is gorgeous but not an easy bird to find on the US East Coast, which is exactly why we have chosen it as our #1 target species, to make our "hunt" more difficult, more interesting.

Sabine's gull photo - Xema sabini - G142907 | ARKive

Sabine's Gull Q&A

Questions and Answers will be added here...

Q. What species is genetically closest to Sabine's Gull?

A. Ivory Gull, according to recent DNA studies!

Q. Which gulls migrate across the equator?

A. Only two: Sabine's Gull and Franklin's Gull.

Q. Which are the most pelagic gulls?

A. Sabine's Gulls and Kittiwakes

Q. Where do most Atlantic Sabine's Gulls winter?

A. In the rich Benguela Current upwellings off the southwest coast of Africa.

Q. What do Sabine's Gulls eat?

A. Arthropods (terrestrial & acquatic), crustaceans, fishes, and rarely small/young birds, eggs, vegetation.

Is This Crazy?

Yes! Hunting for EAST Coast Sabine's Gulls is crazy. We wanted to focus on one beautiful hard-to-misidentify seabird, but nobody on the East Coast sets out to search for a new undiscovered Sabine's Gull, because it is on-the-edge-of-impossible in our area, and the probability of finding a new one on any particular day is very low. Although they are much more numerous off the U.S. West Coast, they are too rare on the U.S. East Coast, too irregular, too unpredictable, too transient. But hunting for this species focuses the mind (and it motivates us to get out and search through other seabirds and learn more about the ocean ecosystem), and that is what this trip is about (and sooner or later this HAS trip will catch up with this elusive phantom [AS IT EVENTUALLY DID ON SEPT 7, 2014! and AGAIN on Oct.22, 2016!!]).

2013 Sept 8th

We have all decided to run this trip again in 2013, on Sunday September 8th, and aiming for a longer boat ride in the Stellwagen Bank waters off Provincetown MA ( the 110 foot ship will depart at 10:00am from Plymouth MA and return to Plymouth harbor at 6pm; cost will be $90-100 per person, depending upon how early you register ). The trip will focus on seabirds, whales, dolphins, etc. A net will be used to catch plankton and view them through a microscope. Some unused bycatch may be put out. We will be on the water for about 8 hours, searching for seabirds and other oceanic wildlife. We will not do any sea-watches from land this year (unless bad weather prevents our ship from sailing).

Note that our 2013 departure point will be Plymouth MA, which is NOT on Cape Cod, in case you are planning a hotel that weekend.

Not sure our 2013 trip can top our 2012 trip, but we are going to try, especially by doubling our time on the water. So hold that weekend on your 2013 calendar. By the way, this is probably the best week for Sabine's Gull on the US East Coast, so cross your fingers. This gull is our "icing-on-the-cake" species, which is do-able on the West Coast, but a challenge on the US East Coast (largely because most of them tend to migrate far off shore, while some may fly over the continent at very high altitude).

Note that we share the boat for these HAS trips with others, including whale watchers, biologists and other birders. This is the only way we can afford the otherwise very high cost of a large luxurious ship.

2014 and Beyond (as of 2013)

In 2014 we are planning to take the soon-to-be revived ferry from Maine (Bar Harbor or Portland TBD) to NovaScotia (Yarmouth), assuming there is an open bow and we can get access to the bow. This was a wonderful old seabirding trip during the 1960s through 1980s, but that ferry (the conventional open-deck MV Bluenose) was changed and then terminated. The plan is to revive it soon, probably in 2014. This used to be (and will again be) a GREAT seabirding trip and we will take it as soon as it is available, immediately after it reopens, any month of the year (assuming the new ferry runs in daylight, has an open deck, and is not a sealed-in high-speed catamaran).

If that ferry to NovaScotia is not available for a few years, then the proposed schedule will be: in 2014 we will probably return to Cape Cod as our departure point (via the Dolphin Fleet from Provincetown). In 2015 it might be nice to depart from Gloucester or New Hampshire to Jeffreys Ledge offshore areas. In 2016 we will consider a seabirding trip in the waters off East Port, Maine near the Canadian border. The goal is to keep experimenting with the best possible September/October seabirding trips for HAS, emphasizing short to medium pelagic trips, and hunting for the elusive Sabine's Gull and other exciting seabirds.

2012 Trip to Outer Cape Cod

PRELIMINARY INFORMATION:

We will again be using this site in 2012, to plan our 2012 trip to the Outer Cape, searching primarily for Sabine's Gull (and some good seabirds) on September 29, 2012, doing several sea-watches from land on Saturday, plus a 4-hour boat trip to parts of Stellwagen Bank, focusing on both whales and birds.

More info shortly....

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2012

Outer Cape Cod, Massachusetts

Join us for a one-day series of one-hour sea-watches with your scope & tripod (starting in Provincetown, CapeCod), AND a 4-hour whale&seabird public boat trip with the Dolphin Fleet (www.WhaleWatch.com).

This trip is focused on searching for the elusive Sabine's Gull (plus some good seabirds and pelagic species) at several of the best seabirding spots along the “Outer Cape”, and offshore.

Bring lunch and meet us at 8:30am at the MacMillan Pier departure point for the Dolphin Fleet boats (see their website, and buy your own tickets). And you have the option to also join us for earlier birding if you want, starting at 6:15am at Herring Cove Beach parking lot, also in Provincetown, MA. After the boat trip we will do several more sea-watches as we work southward, ending around 5pm or 6pm. The Cove Motel in Orleans is recommended, although hotels are up to you. Bring warm wind-resistant spray-resistant clothing and a hat. Wind can be good for these birds, and if the boat sails, we will be on it.

Its essential to email to robben99@gmail.com to register for this trip (and get the boat booking #). Please also follow news, Q&A, instructions and late changes at the website for this trip (http://trips33.blogspot.com), as we adjust the itinerary to last-minute weather and rarities. We expect a good team, including some experienced seabirders.

Thanks from the whole 9/29 team:

Bill Asteriades, Keith Mueller, Tom Robben, Guy Tudor.

Trip Goals for 2011 trip

Last year's 2011 trip was designed from scratch, with numerous ambitious goals, including finding a Sabine's Gull (but we locked ourselves into a date that was too late for that, although there is sometimes a second minor peak for that species in October), the Sunday boat trip, good (close) views of seabirds, experiencing beautiful natural places on Cape Cod, the dual start times, etc. I apologize that some of these goals were not fully met, that some of our seabirds stayed at long distances offshore, and that I spent so much time scoping the ocean and beaches for a Sabine's Gull, but we "took our best shot", tried to get everybody to see most of those seabirds, and hope you had a good time. We invested a huge percentage of time and effort targeting and then searching intensely on 10/15 for Sabine's Gull, but none were reported after October 12th -- maybe we should run this trip about a month earlier next year. Our list of seabirds seen was pretty good, considering that we had to stay on-land (our Sunday pelagic boat never left the dock, because of high winds & waves)! Thank you for joining the trip and for your time. It was great to meet all of you. If you have any suggestions for next year, please email them. Thank you!

Tom Robben

robben99@gmail.com

Two Trips: Sept.22-23 and Oct.22

2015 May 20-22 Hatteras Pelagic Trips

Sabine's Gull Seen on our Sept 7th pelagic trip

Pelagic trips around Cape Horn

The Week After our 2014 Sept 7th Trip