Greetings,
Another Brian Patteson pelagic trip departed Virginia Beach on Saturday 5
March. We had a good day at sea, with decent avian diversity, but not
staggering numbers of anything. Some twenty folks enjoyed calm seas and
pleasant
winter weather for the first several hours before we got into steady rain and
somewhat rougher seas. As with nearly all of these winter Virginia Beach
trips, we had to get out over sixty miles to get into a good concentration of
birds. I don't have any numbers from the trip, but can give an unofficial
report
of sightings.
We enjoyed more Razorbills than the trip one week prior, including a close
and prolonged study of a brace of them. A few others were similarly
cooperative, and many on board were delighted by the great looks. Northern
Fulmar put
on a good show once we finally got into them, constantly buzzing around the
boat, often in the periphery of the gulls, but plenty coming in quite close.
We dragged them west as far as our chum lasted on the return trip. We had
several puffins, and I think everyone got good looks at them. Dovekies were
seen, some well, others only blurs. We had at least four Black-legged
Kittiwakes, all tarrock, though I don't recall any of them being particularly
close
to the boat. Two adult Little Gulls were in the mass of Bonaparte's Gulls we
found. Other gulls were the expected Herring and Great Black-backeds, and a
couple of Lesser Black-backeds. Gannets were constantly around the boat,
diving just a couple meters off the sides and stern to the butterfish and fat
that Butch Pearce was flipping into the water.
The mammal activity was quite enjoyable as well. We found about a dozen
Atlantic White-sided Dolphins, which I believe were Brian's first for this
latitude (normally a cold water species and found to our north). We had
probably
a hundred of the more-expected Common Dolphins, many riding the bow surge.
Good numbers of Fin Whales added a fair amount of excitement as well.
If I see a full accounting of species from Brian, I'll forward that note
here.
On Sunday I birded with Ned Brinkley and Sue Heath. Ned mentioned findings
from the Eastern Shore, so I can only add a few things from the CBBT and
Tidewater. Sue and I had no luck finding the Northern Shrike, despite several
passes. We had a Red-necked Grebe off of Island 3. A pair of Harlequin Ducks
were also on three. Scoter numbers were probably under a thousand for all
the islands, but no real effort was made to count them. Predominantly Surfs,
but good numbers of "Halloween" (Black) scoters, and at least a dozen or so
White-wingeds. Lots of Great Cormorants, and some were absolutely spectacular
looking with their frosty heads. We had Harbor Seals on Island 3.
Long-tailed Ducks were seen from most islands. Very few gulls noted. A good
push of
Gannets into the bay, nearly all adult; we also saw scores of them plunging
into the ocean off of Lynnhaven Inlet.
Sue and I spent over an hour and two loaves of Wonder bread trying to find a
Black-headed Gull at Lynnhaven, to no avail. There were enough gulls that
stayed roosting on the sandy flat there, heads tucked and bellies on sand,
that I'm not confident it wasn't present. Still, it was a pretty day, and I
figure it was out fishing.
I slipped around the beltway down to Chesapeake to poach the Painted Bunting
that is coming there, and it was quite cooperative, appearing in under five
minutes. I never had an unobstructed view, but didn't stay any longer than
twenty minutes.
Stay groovy,
Todd
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Todd Michael Day
Jeffersonton, Virginia, USA
BlkVulture@xxxxxxx
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