Saturday May 26, 2018 - by Peter Flood

Twenty five intrepid seabirders and Captain and crew of the Stormy Petrel II steamed out of Hatteras Harbor under delightful conditions.  Exiting Hatteras Inlet we were greeted with a light breeze from the southwest, 2-3 foot seas and a gentle southeasterly swell.  Our ride out to the shelf edge was dry and comfortable with an occasional Cory's Shearwater lazily arcing across the sea surface.  

Upon reaching the shelf edge we set our chum slick in motion and began to gather a few Wilson's Storm Petrels off the stern.  A Black-capped Petrel popped up now and then but seemed to keep their distance.  Around 8:20 the call went out for Tropicbird! Two Tropicbirds! A White-tailed Tropicbird and an immature Red-billed Tropicbird flew in high above the bow of the boat and passed over the Stormy Petrel II continuing on towards the west/southwest.  Curiously, we received a report later in the afternoon of two tropicbirds seen closer to shore from another vessel.  (Photos below by Chris Sloan - White-tailed top, Red-billed bottom)

As the storm-petrel flock began to swell behind us an occasional Band-rump Storm-Petrel and Leach's Storm-Petrel weaved through the flock flying circles around the Wilson's.  We continued slowly edging our way to the east where we turned up a Bridled Tern perched on some flotsam and a few Audubon's Shearwaters in attendance around some Sargassum weed lines where they were skittering across the sea surface and one actually diving below the weed lines seeking some unsuspecting prey.  (Photos below by Peter Flood)

A dark Pomarine Jaeger (AKA Pterodroma repellent) joined us mid morning and hung with us for the remainder of the day.  (Photos below by Peter Flood)

Continuing on further east we crossed a couple more weed lines and got ourselves into some rather unproductive green water well offshore.  It would be a couple of more miles before we were able to break through this water mass and get back into some warmer blue water.  While our storm-petrel flock remained with us, a few Sooty Shearwaters passed through proving nice looks and a couple spent some time in the chum slick. (Photo by Peter Flood)

We began our westerly tack and turned up a few more seabirds as we approached the shelf edge including an immature Long-tailed Jaeger that showed quite well and briefly flirted with our Pomarine Jaeger before flying off to the northeast.  

All in all a beautiful day at sea with a nice diversity of seabirds.

Thanks to our leaders and spotters today including Chris Sloan, Sea McKeon, Jeff Lemons,  and Peter Flood.  And huge thanks to Peter for writing up the blog and sharing some of his pictures.  

Species List May 26, 2018
Black-capped Petrel  11
Cory's Shearwater  16-18  Scopoli's - 1
Sooty Shearwater  4
Audubon's Shearwater  15
Wilson's Storm-Petrel  50-75
Leach's Storm-Petrel  4
Band-rumped Storm-Petrel  3
White-tailed Tropicbird  1
Red-billed Tropicbird  1
Bridled Tern  1
Common Tern  1
Pomarine Jaeger  1
Long-tailed Jaeger  1

Blue Marlin - 1 was seen out in the deep

Black-capped Petrel checking out our Pomarine Jaeger, this jaeger was with us for about four hours!

This Bridled Tern allowed everyone time to check it out before taking flight!

A couple images of the Long-tailed Jaeger that topped off the day for us!

Friday May 25, 2018 - by Kate Sutherland

This morning there was little to no wind at the boat when I arrived, and it was light southeast at the Diamond Shoals Buoy with a little swell from the east southeast.  While this was not enough to bring many Sooty Shearwaters closer inshore, it was enough for the Leach's Storm-Petrels!  But I am getting ahead of myself...we reached the shelf break by 0730 since the seas were calm and running was smooth.  Not many birds were flying on our way there, but it was like a switch when we slowed - Black-capped Petrels and Audubon's Shearwaters were flying and we even saw a couple of Leach's.  A Pomarine Jaeger flew in to check us out, and then another large bird approached the boat on the horizon - South Polar Skua!!!  Before 8am! (photo Kate Sutherland)

Not a bad start to the day.  The Leach's show continued and we had amazing views of these large erratic flyers for most of the day! (photos Peter Flood - top Leach's, below Band-rumped)

Band-rumped Storm-Petrels also have shown up and we had a few that flew very close by the stern for hours giving everyone a chance to study them and compare them to the Leach's, not something we can typically boast about on our trips, so it was a treat!  Just after 12:30 a dark bird zipped down the starboard side, coming in from the sun glare - Trindade Petrel!!  It flew directly away from us at the same high rate of speed disappearing as quickly as it appeared, right down our slick.  And it was gone.  While those who were in a good place were able to catch a glimpse of this bird, naked eye, and some captured photos, we all were hoping for more time to study it.  Lucky for us another appeared off of the port stern just before 2pm. (photo Brian Patteson)

This bird also did not linger, but it flew right up the port side of the boat, and we all had the time we lacked with the earlier sighting!  Incredible. 

Moving right along we have some different wind tomorrow, not to mention some different water will be here with the Gulf Stream, so we'll see what we can find to start the holiday weekend off with a bang!

Thanks to everyone who joined us today and thank you to our leaders: Seabird McKeon, Jeff Lemons, Peter Flood, and Andrew Dreelin.  Peter, Andrew, and Brian also helped out with photos for the blog.

Species List for May 25, 2018
Trindade Petrel  2 (photos showed two different individuals)
Black-capped Petrel  70
Cory's Shearwater  17 - Scopoli's 2
Sooty Shearwater  2
Audubon's Shearwater  8
Wilson's Storm-Petrel  205-225
Leach's Storm Petrel  33
Band-rumped Storm-Petrel  11-12
Arctic Tern  2
South Polar Skua  1
Pomarine Jaeger  6
jaeger sp.  1

A couple more images of the Trindade Petrels from Peter Flood - first individual on the top...

A nice white faced Black-capped Petrel, also by Peter Flood

Black-cappeds generally do not like jaegers and skuas, here is one interacting with a Pom Jaeger from today (Peter Flood)

We had some typical Pomarine Jaegers today (photo by Andrew Dreelin) and then one nice dark morph that stayed with us for a bit this morning in nice light!  (photos by Kate Sutherland)

This dark bird only had one foot!  As you can see in this image by Andrew Dreelin

& finally a Sargassum Midget - nice find today by Andrew Dreelin

Thursday May 24, 2018 - by Sea McKeon

Everyday in the Gulf Stream is different, and the chop and southwest winds of yesterday had given way to relatively smooth sailing and northeasterly breezes today.  Dropping from speed near the shelf break we started to encounter Audubon’s Shearwaters transiting the area at a good clip.  These small, fast, ‘black-and-white’, shearwaters were a challenge for some birders aboard to get on and would remain enigmatic for much of the day.  Our attention was diverted by the rapid appearance of several Black-capped Petrels, the Gulf Stream signature species, which wheeled and dove as if on an impossibly smooth and graceful rollercoaster. These birds, most in varying degrees of wing molt, made progressively closer passes to the stern of the Stormy Petrel II until all aboard were comfortable with the striking appearance of this threatened species (photo by Kate Sutherland).

As we were making friends with the Black-capped Petrels, a small squadron of Wilson’s Storm Petrels gathered to feed on oil and chum at the back of the boat.  They too worked in closer and closer (photo by Peter Flood).

Just as several Cory’s shearwaters were making their own close passes, mayhem broke loose as the first large storm petrels appeared in the mix at the same time a pod of Bottle-nosed Dolphins arrived to play at the bow.  Birds would be abundant for some time with trip participants racing to find their next target species.  Most of the larger storm petrels turned out to be Leach’s Storm Petrels, with a few individuals making close passes and providing “crippling” looks, to quote one of the trip participants (photo by Andrew Dreelin).

 As the day wore into a golden afternoon, the change in light provided photographers onboard with brilliant opportunities to study an obliging Pomarine Jaeger, and an individual Arctic tern that appeared to investigate a kite flown just above the boat.  The same angles of light provided the best looks at Audubon’s shearwaters we would have for the day, and allowed us to see a single, late, Red-Necked Phalarope that came into the slick (photo by Andrew Dreelin).

Several onboard were eager to inspect the sargassum we had been seeing all day, so Kate dipped some with a long-handled net.  Sargassum Swimming Crabs, two types of shrimp, and a diversity of other invertebrates inhabited a clump that contained not only the two species of pelagic sargassum, but also rhizomes of two seagrass species normally found much farther to the south.  As we increased speed to head home, a dark jaeger could be seen in the distance menacing a flock of mixed Arctic and Common terns.  The jaeger slowly pushed all of the terns up into the sky, and we left another successful day in the Gulf Stream.

Thank you to everyone who joined us offshore today and thank you to our leaders: Sea McKeon, Peter Flood, and Andrew Dreelin!  Thanks also to Sea for the post and to Peter and Andrew for contributing photos for the post!  -Kate

Species list for May 24
Black-capped Petrel  83-93
Cory's Shearwater  13 (at least one Scopoli's)
Sooty Shearwater  1
Audubon's Shearwater  34
Wilson's Storm Petrel  153-173
Leach's Storm Petrel  6-10
Band-rumped Storm-Petrel  3
Red-necked Phalarope  1
Arctic Tern  4
Pomarine Jaeger  1
Pom/Parasitic Jaeger  1

Solitary Sandpiper  1

Offshore Bottlenose Dolphin  20

The Black-capped Petrels were very active today and many passed close by the boat, like this dark faced individual (Andrew Dreelin)

Audubon's Shearwaters can be tough to spot when they are flying by if they do not turn to flash their white underparts!  Their dark backs blend in with the sea, today many were flying high enough to pick them up as they arced - this one fed in the slick for a bit! (Kate Sutherland)

One of the Band-rumped Storm-Petrels we saw today was not molting (pictured below), while the others were more typical showing molt in the primaries.  (Peter Flood)

This curious Arctic Tern came in behind the boat just after Sea had been flying a kite!  It stayed with us and fed on the chum for a bit, giving everyone ample time to observe it!  (Andrew Dreelin)

A nice shot of the Pomarine Jaeger that fed behind the boat for awhile!  (Peter Flood)

And a couple shots of the Bottlenose Dolphins that came in to the boat this afternoon!  (Peter Flood)

Wednesday May 23, 2018 - The Beginning!

Clear, dark skies and a good southwest breeze greeted us when we got to the boat this morning to prepare for the first of eighteen consecutive days seabirding from Hatteras (weather permitting)!  We had close to a full boat to begin this Blitz and everyone was eager to see what we might turn up offshore...  The trip to the shelf break was uneventful with just a handful of shearwaters, then once we slowed, it took some time to get the Wilson's Storm-Petrels to gather in the slick, but by 0930 when we stopped to drift we had almost 50 Wilson's with us and had quick views of both Leach's and Band-rumped Storm-Petrels.  The Black-capped Petrels were not shy and we had some individuals fly in to check out the chum that were super close giving us spectacular views of our signature species here in the Gulf Stream!

During this hour long drift we moved about four miles over the bottom with the current.  In addition to the Black-caps we had some nice looks at Cory's, Sooty, and Audubon's Shearwaters, though the Cory's were seen a bit better in the afternoon.  While we had a bit of a lull as usual approaching noontime, a large dark bird was spotted up ahead of the boat flying toward us right around that time - South Polar Skua!

Not a bird we really expected to see today since we have not had any onshore wind to speak of lately, but a nice one.  This skua was soon joined by a Pomarine Jaeger and the two of them stayed with us, feeding for over an hour and a half despite the Black-capped Petrels’ obvious displeasure at their presence.  Needless to say, they were well photographed!  Right before we picked up to head back inshore we dipped some Sargassum to show to our participants and we were lucky to turn up a Sargassum Fish (Histrio histrio)

in addition to the usual suspects.  A nice way to end a day in the Gulf Stream...  Tomorrow the winds should be from the north east, then Friday should be light south east - so we are looking forward to seeing what else we can find!  We still have a number of species we can add to the Blitz list in the coming days...and weeks!

Thanks to everyone who joined us out there today and a big thank you to our leaders Seabird McKeon, Peter Flood, and Andrew Dreelin.  Peter Flood supplied the photos for todays post, except for the Sargassum Fish that was taken by Andrew Dreelin.  We still have space on many of the trips in the coming days, so just let us know if you want to join us!

Species List May 23, 2018
Black-capped Petrel  41-42
Cory's Shearwater  18
Sooty Shearwater  7
Audubon's Shearwater  42
Wilson's Storm-Petrel  88-93
Leach's Storm-Petrel  1-2
Band-rumped Storm-Petrel  1
Common Tern  3
Sterna sp.  4
South Polar Skua  1
Pomarine Jaeger 2
Red Knot  1
shorebird sp.  4
Loggerhead Turtle  1

A couple more images of Black-capped Petrels:
One dark faced looking bird that has not really begun molt yet

 And a typical white faced individual that is showing active molt of its flight feathers

Wilson's Storm-Petrel

A quick photo of the Leach's Storm-Petrel!  This bird flew a few laps around the boat, so most everyone aboard had a nice look...

  A couple more images of the South Polar Skua

Saturday May 19 - by Kate Sutherland

Strong southerly winds led up to our first trip of the spring and it was still blowing this morning when we left the dock!  While these winds made the ride a bit more exciting and gave us some spray, we were rewarded for our efforts - it was an awesome beginning to the spring season!  There were a few Sooty Shearwaters and a couple of Cory's that passed by on our way to the shelf break, but not much else.  Once we slowed down, we began to gather some Wilson's Storm-Petrels in our slick and a short drift around 10:00 brought incredible views of Black-capped Petrels and even a couple of Leach's Storm-Petrels! (photos by Brian Patteson & Kate Sutherland)

Not a bad start to the day...  As we picked up from the drift, Brian shouted "get on this bird - starboard side!" - a Trindade Petrel zipped by and flew away behind us as two Sooty Shearwaters joined the slick!  Needless to say, it was quite distant in a matter of seconds and did not come in to the chum.  As we were scanning for the Trindade Petrel, a pod of Cuvier's Beaked Whales popped up right beside us!  While these cetaceans used to be fairly common on our trips, we do not see them like we used to down here, so it was quite a treat to see them surfacing so close! (photo Kate Sutherland)

They must have just come up from a dive as they were surfacing often, this species holds the record for the deepest recorded dive of any mammal at about 10,000 feet, so they get down there, though where we saw them it was not nearly that deep!  Just after 1130 Brian noticed one of the participants taking photos of something over the boat...and it was a White-tailed Tropicbird!! (photo Kate Sutherland) 

This curious individual flew over and around the boat for at least 10 minutes giving us all ample opportunity to observe and photograph a species that is not typical on our early spring trips - we are more likely to find a Red-billed Tropicbird this time of year!  Southerly winds brought us the earliest record we have for the Stormy Petrel II and Brian remarked that it may have been the 90's when he last observed one this early (it was May 16, 1992)!  Not long after the tropicbird, we had a couple of Band-rumped Storm-Petrels briefly in the slick and a couple of Pomarine Jaegers joined us for an easy meal of chum!  We had another Trindade Petrel come in a little before 1230 and this one was more cooperative, giving most everyone aboard a nice pass before moving on! (photo by Kate Sutherland)

Excellent start to the spring, and the Blitz begins on Wednesday May 23, we will be out there daily until June 9th and still have some trips with space, so just let us know if you would like to join us!

Thank you to everyone who came offshore with us today, we certainly were lucky!  And thank you to Jeff Lemons for helping Brian and I to lead the trip today!

May 19, 2018
Trindade Petrel  2-3
Black-capped Petrel  35-40
Cory's Shearwater  5
Sooty Shearwater  14
Audubon's Shearwater  19
Wilson's Storm-Petrel  60-70
Leach's Storm-Petrel  4
Band-rumped Storm-Petrel  2
White-tailed Tropicbird  1
Pomarine Jaeger  4
Least Tern  2
shorebird sp.  1
Cuvier's Beaked Whale  5-6
Pilot Whale (prob. Short-finned)  20
Bottlenose Dolphin  8

Trindade Petrel flying towards the boat courtesy of participant Brad Sale

Black-capped Petrel feeding on some fish from the chum block (Kate Sutherland), it is always cool to see those pink legs and bicolored feet!

A white faced Black-capped Petrel, we had a few of these today, you can see how little black is in the underwing!  (Kate Sutherland)

One more White-tailed Tropicbird image (Kate Sutherland), this bird was banded but I was unable to get any photos that showed the band well enough to read!  The closest nesting location is Bermuda.

One of the Pomarine Jaegers that followed us for a bit...(Kate Sutherland)

A few more images of the Cuvier's Beaked Whales!  The males have teeth at the tip of their beak that they use to fight with one another, leaving the scars you can see on the backs of these two individuals.  The older they are the more scarred they get, so you can see that one of these was very scarred, while another was just slightly so.  Nice sighting!  (Kate Sutherland)