Hello VA birders,
The pelagic trip organized this past Saturday (2/9/02) by Brian Patteson was
a success. We were aboard the Nancy Anne out of VA beach and though we did
not relocate the 5 Orcas from the week before, the following birds were seen,
many of them at absurdly close range for a good while:
6 Red-throated Loons
~80 Common Loons
144 Northern Fulmars
4 Manx Shearwaters
416 Northern Gannets
40 Red Phalaropes
1 GREAT SKUA
24 Bonaparte's Gulls
178 Black-legged Kittiwakes
42 Razorbills
12 Atlantic Puffins
interesting non-bird critters included:
6 Mola mola or Ocean Sunfish
32 Common Dolphin
1 Whale sp. (probably either a Sperm or a Humpback Whale)
The highlight of the day had to be the Great Skua which appeared around 2pm
and put on a real show. Our chum-master Butch Pearce fed him well and what
the Skua couldn't coax out of Butch he pilfered mercilessly from the
Kittiwakes and Fulmars. Truly a beast of a bird. Also nice was seeing all
the Northern Fulmars, many of which are in really fine feather at this
season. Kittiwakes were ubiquitous, and we had nice studies of both young
birds and adults throughout the day. On our way back in, we happened upon a
pair of Manx Shearwaters. They put down in front of us and then allowed us
to ease right up on next to them, providing most of us with our best views
ever of this species. Also upon our return we had fabulous studies of
Atlantic Puffins in the afternoon light.
Our Captain Kevin Selden did an excellent job of putting us in a great
position to find and observe these birds and the mate Brian proved invaluable
looking after us and cutting up the chum. We had a great crowd out there,
and they really took care of the mate at the end of a day in which he was
frequently called upon to help us all out. All in all, a great trip.
Best to all,
George L. Armistead
georgearmistead@xxxxxxx
Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia
Ornithology Department
You are subscribed to VA-BIRD. To post to this mailing list, simply send email
to va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx. To unsubscribe, send email to
va-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field.
