<< forwarded by Larry Lynch birder6@xxxxxxxx>>
From: Brian <patteson1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Fri, 22 Feb 2002 12:37:23 -0500
Subject: Winter Pelagic Results; Upcoming Trip
Dear Seabirders,
Thank you to everyone who supported our trips this winter. So far,
winter has been an excellent one for our trips offshore, as we were able
to run four pelagic trips in as many weekends, and three of them were on
those calm trips that you hope for just once a winter. While alcids made
a poor showing off Hatteras, we had good luck with Razorbill and puffin
on both of our Virginia trips. Only one Dovekie was seen; it was the
fourth consecutive year that they have been absent after having been
pretty regular through most of the 90's. We encountered Great Skuas on
all of the trips, with multiple birds on the Hatteras trips. Fulmars
made a big showing, with a record count of 503 off Virginia Beach on
Feb. 3. Over half of these fulmars were associated with a pod of Orcas
50 miles east of Cape Henry. This was the first time in many hundreds of
days at sea off the East Coast that I have seen Killer Whales, so that
was the highlight of the season for myself and many others. My video
footage even got played on Channel 3 in Norfolk the next night! Rounding
out the pelagic seabirds, both Manx Shearwater and Red Phalarope were
seen in numbers on each trip, with thousands of the latter off Hatteras
on January 26. Gulls were in generally low numbers compared to most
winters, and we did not come across a single trawler in either trip off
Virginia Beach, so I felt really lucky to see skuas up there.
Neverthless, we did see Little Gulls on two of the trips, and on Feb. 16
off Hatteras we were treated to close looks at an adult Iceland Gull and
an adult Glaucous Gull the same afternoon!
I wish that I were going offshore this weekend, but I've been doing this
so long now that we can only find seem enough people to run so many of
these trips each winter. As it is our last trip this winter is on March
9(10) from Hatteras, and we are in desperate NEED OF PARTICIPANTS for
that one. On that trip we have a chance at most of the species that we
have seen on the other two Hatteras trips this winter, and there is
always the possibility of a surprise like an albatross. If you are
interested in joining this trip, please contact me ASAP as I need to
decide soon whether or not to run it. My phone number here in Hatteras
is (252) 986-1363, and voice mail picks up after four or five rings if
I'm not here. We are in the process of updating our website-
http://www.patteson.com/ with new images from our winter trips,
including a short video clip of the Orcas. Also be aware the some of our
trips this May have already filled. The list of pelagic species and
cetaceans from our winter trips follows below. The first and last trip
were from Hatteras and the other two trips were from Virginia Beach.
Species Jan. 26 / Feb. 3 / Feb. 9 / Feb. 16
Northern Fulmar 43 / 503 / 144 / 136
Black-capped Petrel 0 / 0 / 0 / 1
Manx Shearwater 7 / 7 / 4 / 4
shearwater sp. (black and white) 0 / 0 / 0 / 1
Red Phalarope 3765+ / 52 / 40 / 444
Great Skua 2-3 / 1 / 1 / 3
Black-legged Kittiwake 18 / 61 / 178 / 18
Dovekie 0 / 1 / 0 / 0
Razorbill 10 / 54 / 42 / 3
Atlantic Puffin 0 / 34 / 13 / 0
alcid sp. 0 / 0 / 8 / 0
Humpback Whale 3 / 0 / 0 / 3
Sperm Whale 0 / 0 / 0 / 1
Pilot Whale 0 / 0 / 0 / 3
Orca (Killer Whale) 0 / 5 / 0 / 0
Common Dolphin 0 / 49 / 32 / 170
Bottlenose Dolphin + 54 / 0 / 0 / 73
whale sp. 0 / 0 / 1 / 0
The full list, including non-pelagic seabirds and other critter should
be on our website soon. Thanks, and we hope to see you offshore.
Brian Patteson
Hatteras, NC
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