Thursday May 30, 2013

Winds were light from the south today so the trip offshore was very comfortable.  Just outside of the inlet we had a taste for what was to come as a Parasitic Jaeger harassed a tern ahead of the boat, close enough for all to see!  Then we had a Long-tailed Jaeger fly across the bow, close, and offshore we had nice looks at Pomarine Jaeger too - great day for them!  The waters were quite calm, so we were searching for some birds on the horizon, and found them, feeding over some Skipjack Tuna.  There were Cory's, Great, and Audubon's Shearwaters plus some close passes by Black-capped Petrels, with a couple of them even sitting down on the water and allowing close approach!  One of the highlights of the morning was a Manx Shearwater in the feeding flock that sat on the water right next to an Audubon's for excellent comparison (and maybe some photos were even taken...), before it took off.  Storm-Petrel numbers were low today, Wilson's perhaps the lowest ever seen in the spring, but at least we had looks at a handful of Band-rumped and one Leach's Storm-Petrel.  The other highlight of the morning, well, about ten minutes to noon, was a Trindade Petrel that snuck in with the shearwater flock while we headed offshore.  When we turned back and passed through again, the bird was there and made some really close passes by the boat!  Thanks to the Wichita Audubon Society for joining us today and Tuesday - I think they all got some great birds, not to mention some excellent looks at Atlantic Spotted Dolphins bow riding!  Happy Birthday, Bill!

Thank you also to our leaders: Steve Howell, Todd McGrath, Bob Fogg, & Dave Pereksta!

Trindade Petrel  1
Black-capped Petrel  7
Cory's Shearwater  100
Great Shearwater  4-5
Manx Shearwater  1
Audubon's Shearwater  31-32
Wilson's Storm-Petrel  32-33
Leach's Storm-Petrel  1
Band-rumped Storm-Petrel  4
Bridled Tern  1
Pomarine Jaeger  2-3
Parasitic Jaeger  3-4
Long-tailed Jaeger  3
jaeger sp.  1

Common Loon  5
Arctic Tern  2
Common Tern  2
Sterna sp.  8

Short-finned Pilot Whale  20
Atlantic Spotted Dolphin  8-10
Bottlenose Dolphin  6

Trindade Petrel - photo Brian Patteson

 same individual

 Black-capped Petrel on the water

 & taking off - photo Brian Patteson

 Great Shearwater

 Manx (L) & Audubon's Shearwaters - photo Brian Patteson

 taking off... - photo Bob Fogg

 Amazing how much larger the Manx is!

We could tell the jaeger species by the species they chased!  Here - Pomarine Jaeger & Audubon's Shearwater

 Second summer Parasitic Jaeger - photo Brian Patteson

 Parasitic Jaeger & a Wilson's Storm-Petrel - photo Bob Fogg

 Nice shot of Parasitic Jaeger chasing a Wilson's - you can see the storm-petrel's feet!

 Pilot Whale

 Atlantic Necromancer