Seabirding: October and Our Gulf Stream Specialties! Oct 12 & 15th

Brian began running trips in October for Dr. Fred Alsop of Eastern Tennessee State University who offered a fall course in Coastal Biology back in 1994. Each year, or sometimes every other year, this course featured a trip to the Outer Banks of North Carolina where students could immerse themselves in the field and learn about the Gulf Stream with a trip offshore from Hatteras. We have encountered at least 20 pelagic species during October on these trips. But the superstars of October are always the Black-capped Petrels,

Black-capped Petrel © Kate Sutherland

known locally where they nest (on the island of Hispaniola) as the Diablotin or "Little Devil." This local name comes from the unearthly call of the Black-capped Petrel, a species like others in the genus Pterodroma, coming and going at night during their breeding period adding an unearthly quality to the calls. Historically many islands utilized by species in this genus were thought to be haunted, which was helpful for the birds survival because once humans learned they were just birds they were exploited for food. Bright lights can be confusing for them and in many places large bonfires easily collected birds as they flew into the flames.

Black-capped Petrels breed for the most part outside of hurricane season. Their cousin the Bermuda Petrel does the same thing. They begin to return to their colonies in September and October...the Cahows (Bermuda Petrels) begin to return in late October into November. This means that by the fall these species have completed their molt from the previous breeding season and are in fresh, crisp, gorgeous plumage. This makes the months of September and October some of the best times to photograph Black-capped Petrels offshore from Hatteras!

Sharp looking dark form Black-capped Petrel
© Kate Sutherland

We have some incredible counts for this species at this time of year as well - in September of 2024 we had close to 300 individuals and this month, in October of 2024, we easily had over 100. While it may seem like Black-capped Petrels are doing just fine with the numbers we encounter, they are actually in decline, the numbers that Brian had back in the 1990s or early 2000s are simply not seen anymore. They face loss of habitat on their only known breeding island, Hispaniola, and face a number of threats at sea - as do all of our seabirds right now - definitely a global issue! (If you are interested you can see the 2021 Conservation Update and Plan by clicking on hyperlink!) Here in Hatteras we are lucky that Black-cappeds utilize the edge of the Gulf Stream and its interior 365 days of the year. This, coupled with our proximity to the deep water offshore of the shelf means they can be found offshore, usually in good numbers, at any time of year.

Another species that we typically find in the Gulf Stream is the Audubon's Shearwater (soon to be called the Sargasso Shearwater, though please note they are not found in the Sargasso Sea!). These small, black and white shearwaters nest in the Caribbean as well and can be found around Sargassum in the Gulf Stream and also in and around the Loop Current in the Gulf of Mexico.

Audubon's Shearwater foraging © Kate Sutherland

There are about 50 obligate species that live in this floating brown algae

Sargassum fluitans © Kate Sutherland

and Audubon's make a living feeding on them...though they also forage away from this habitat as well - being found in large feeding flocks over baitfish well offshore. Audubon's are ground nesters making their burrows by tunneling, as do a number of species in the order Procellariiformes (the "tubenosed" seabirds or petrels). They also finish nesting around July so on our fall trips we see these birds also in some nice plumage!

This October was another with great views of both of these species! We also saw many Cory's and Scopoli's Shearwaters. While Scopoli's seem to increase in number from late May through August, Atlantic Cory's begin to show up in larger numbers as we move into the fall.

Atlantic Cory's feeding around some Sargassum
© Kate Sutherland

There were many more of them around in October than we saw in August and September. When we start these Gulf Stream trips next May we will again have good numbers of Atlantic Cory's, especially in the nearshore, cooler waters. Scopoli's will be around, though maybe not as easy to find until higher numbers begin to show moving into the summer. Great Shearwater is another species that we usually see into the fall, and we had nice views of them out there for the two trips we ran this month.

Great Shearwater © Kate Sutherland

We won't likely see them again until late May / early June of 2025. Red and Red-necked Phalaropes were both found on our trips this month, but only the Red-neckeds were seen well, and we only turned up a single Wilson's Storm-Petrel...usually we do a bit better with those than we did this fall. This October we also only turned up a single Sooty Tern, a juvenile, though admittedly it is a bit late for these tropical terns to be still around offshore here! Overall it was a great couple of trips - we thank everyone who joined us for these!! A big thank you to Mary Alice Hayward for organizing a group to get the second trip out this month. Thank you also to our guest leaders: Sage Church and Steve Backus - Brian Patteson and I were also on both departures. - Kate Sutherland

Species List October 12 / 15 2024

Red Phalarope - 1 / 0

Red-necked Phalarope - 0 / 3

Laughing Gull - 5 / 3

Herring Gull - 1 / 0

gull species - 0 / 3

Sooty Tern - 1 / 0

Black Tern - 1 / 0

Common Tern - 12 / 9

Royal Tern - 7 / 0

Wilson's Storm-Petrel - 0 / 1

Black-capped Petrel - 47 / 110