Well, the seas were much calmer than yesterday and we headed offshore without much spray. The day began slowly with a few Wilson's Storm-Petrels gathering in the slick, then, around 0900, a Trindade Petrel popped up behind us (likely riding in a swell...) that gave distant and fleeting views. While we were watching for the gadfly petrel, a Masked Booby was spotted coming in from the same direction! It flew right in to the boat, made a lap, dove, and then was off. A European Storm-Petrel came towards the boat in the slick before 1000 and we were able to chum it in so that everyone aboard was able to see it feeding & hanging out with the slightly larger Wilson's Storm-Petrels. About 1100, Brian yelled, "what is this coming in?!" and sure enough, a Fea's Petrel flew right into the slick hanging around for a few minutes and making incredibly close passes before moving on! Overall a day with not many individuals, but we had great looks at each of the eleven species we saw!
Trindade Petrel (dark morph) 1
Fea's Petrel 1
Black-capped Petrel 6
Cory's Shearwater 9-10
Great Shearwater 1
Audubon's Shearwater 10-11
Wilson's Storm-Petrel 210
European Storm-Petrel 1
Band-rumped Storm-Petrel 5-7
Masked Booby 1
Pomarine Jaeger 2
Fea's Petrel ~ Steve Howell
Dave Shoch:
Black-capped Petrel
The EURO...
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(Nate Dias)
Band-rumped Storm-Petrel
Masked Booby (Dave Shoch)
(Nate Dias)
Flyingfish...
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I was fortunate enough to be one of the people on the 5/30 and 5/31 trips and had great looks at the above mentioned birds. I had great hopes for the trip, but the European Storm-petrel exceeded my greatest expectations. Thanks to the whole crew for making this a wonderful experience. John Haas
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