Hi Texbirders and Pelagic Fanatics,
Our October 10th Pelagic trip has not yet reached the minimum number of
participants needed to be fully subscribed. But I have decided to go ahead
and run this trip even at a deficit at this point in the hope that a few
more Pelagic birders will decide to sign up soon in these last 2 weeks
before the trip so I won't lose money on this adventure.
There have only been 4 previous Texas Pelagics run during the month of
October since 1994. Out of these four trips two of them had 2 TBRC review
species and one trip had 1 TBRC review species. These notable sightings
include Great Shearwater, South Polar Skua, Red-billed Tropicbird and Brown
Booby. October is also a great month for all 3 Jaeger species. This year we
discovered that by chumming near shrimp boats that have a large contingent
of lounging Laughing Gulls and Royal Terns we have frequently attracted
jaegers literally out-of-the-blue. Our plan for this October is to string
together shrimp boats both on the way out and the way back in from deep
waters.
We have run four Texas Pelagics this year and all of them have been at the
least very good and a couple have been phenomenal. It has become clear to
me that there is no typical Texas Pelagic. The coast of Texas is an eddy
graveyard for warm core eddies spun off the Loop Current that enters the
Gulf of Mexico between Yucatan and Cuba and exits the Gulf between Cuba and
Florida. The warm core eddies interact with the cooler Gulf waters creating
cold core eddies in between them. This complex of drifting eddies impinges
on the continental shelf of Texas in complex ways that is forever changing.
I believe this is why we seem to have such different trips each month
because each month a different cold or warm core eddy has positioned itself
in our path from South Padre Island. This factor also means that while one
late August trip one year is phenomenal and a late August trip another year
is just average. Bottom line is that you just never know what you're gonna
get!
This is the last trip for 2015 that has spaces available. I hope a few of
you will take this opportunity to join us for one last trip in 2015. It is a
long wait for those of us that love Pelagics until next June's first trip
for 2016.
All the information you need to know and register can be found at
<http://texaspelagics.com/register-2/> http://texaspelagics.com/register-2/
If you have any questions or wish to register contact me at
garyhodne@xxxxxxxxx .
Good seabirding,
Gary Hodne
The Woodlands, TX
<http://www.TexasPelagics.com> www.TexasPelagics.com
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