Each morning we headed offshore from Oregon Inlet into a gorgeous sunrise with partly cloudy skies
and the clouds hung on a bit longer than they have the last two weekends, giving us some nicer light for photography! The weather on Friday was similar to what we've been having...winds from the southwest with some swift Gulf Stream current. Saturday's forecast was for a shift in the wind around to the north and we were pretty excited about it. In reality it blew mostly from the west (we had a lot of moths offshore) and northwest with a nice southerly swell and still some swift current...but toward the end of our time offshore we did get a little pulse from the north and wow, the edge of the Gulf Stream looked really nice!
Activity on the shelf was rewarding with shearwaters and Red-necked Phalaropes each day plus a very cooperative Bridled Tern perched on a piece of wood Friday morning - the first we've had like that this summer!
No Bridled Terns out there Saturday but we did have great views of Sooty Terns on both trips on and off the shelf. Atlantic Spotted Dolphins came to check us out and ride our bow wave each morning as well, which is always fun to watch!
Black-capped Petrels were a bit scarce on the last set with just a little over thirty individuals tallied over two days. On each of these trips we were able to top that and had some really nice flocks of Black-cappeds sitting on the water, some mixed in with shearwaters.
Our best view of Band-rumped Storm-Petrel actually came on Friday when we had two sitting on the water with a few Black-cappeds. They showed well as they flushed seeming to dart by the slower, fluttery Wilson's Storm-Petrels. Overall Band-rumpeds were in short supply though with just five tallied in two days. And while we didn't have the huge numbers of shearwaters we've been seeing we had great views of our usual species - Scopoli's, Great, and Sargasso Shearwaters - with just a handful of true Atlantic Cory's and one flyby Manx Shearwater. Wilson's Storm-Petrels were attentive to our chum slick on both trips though it seemed the light was a little better for photographing them on Saturday.
During the 1230 period Daniel had a lure in the water he was reeling up ahead of a hungry Great Shearwater who couldn't believe its luck! As we watched the shearwater running up the slick behind us suddenly a Brown Booby flew into view! This booby came right up behind the shearwater, probably thinking it was going to outmaneuver that shearwater to eat the flyingfish...but once the bait was gone the booby just continued on its way - gone just a quickly as it had come! And while it wasn't a super rare sighting, it was the first for the summer trips and coupled with the Manx Shearwater gave us a pretty solid list for the two days.
Less than fifteen minutes later as I was putting out a fresh block of chum the call came from Daniel on the top deck "White-faced Storm-Petrel ahead of the boat at 2:00!" WOW! This is the third week in a row we've seen one of these little Kangaroo Petrels out here!! We thought our luck had run out but nope - there it was hopping along just ahead of the boat. Conditions were not quite as nice as we had for a chase the past two weekend, but Brian kept it in sight for close to five minutes regardless!
Long enough for everyone to have a nice view and be super excited all the way back to the dock.
In addition to our seabird sightings we were lucky to see more beaked whales over these two days with at least five Gervais' Beaked Whales on Friday, two on Saturday, and four to six Goose-beaked (aka Cuvier's) Beaked Whales on Saturday. Short-finned Pilot Whales were also out there in nice numbers Saturday and we had Bottlenose Dolphins each day. Overall a seriously satisfying two trips if participants chose to join us for both!
Thanks for joining us, everyone! And thanks to our crew out there, Brian Patteson, Daniel Irons, and Liam Waters, for making sure everyone saw what they were looking for and got their questions answered. Next trips are 21 and 22 August later this week. Wish us luck or see you there ~ Kate Sutherland
Species List for 14 / 15 August 2026
Black-bellied Plover 1 / 0
Semipalmated Plover 1 / 0
Red-necked Phalarope 26 / 109
Least Sandpiper 1 / 0
Laughing Gull 0 / 3
Sooty Tern 8 / 27
Bridled Tern 1 / 0
Least Tern 1 / 0
Black Tern 6 / 3
Common Tern 10 / 2
Royal Tern 3 / 0
Wilson's Storm-Petrel 101 / 92
White-faced Storm-Petrel 0 / 1
Band-rumped Storm-Petrel 4 / 1
Black-capped Petrel 50 / 74 (at least one juvenile on Friday)
Atlantic Cory's Shearwater 3 / 1
Scopoli's Shearwater 51 / 50
Cory's / Scopoli's 60 / 57
Great Shearwater 16 / 11
Manx Shearwater 0 / 1
Sargasso Shearwater 6 / 6
Brown Booby 0 / 1
Great Blue Heron 0 / 1
shorebird sp. 0 / 1
Offshore Bottlenose Dolphin 33 / 21 to 26
dolphin species 3 to 4 / 0
Short-finned Pilot Whale 0 / 42 to 45
Goose-beaked Whale 0 / 4 to 5
Gervais' Beaked Whale 5 / 2
Ocean Sunfish (Mola mola) 1 / 0
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