Sunday May 31, 2020 by Kate Sutherland

"Looking for a Birding Adventure?" Our three fold brochure says this on the front and today we had a birding adventure!  Winds were northerly when we left the inlet this morning and picked up over the course of the day.  I myself prefer large seas and windy conditions, it seems that most seabirds agree with me - and they were out there flying today!  Less than an hour and a half after we reached the shelf break a dark Trindade Petrel flew right in to the slick!  Wow!  I mean close, and made enough passes for everyone to get excellent views if not excellent photos!  (Kate Sutherland) 

Black-capped Petrels were in their element and feeding behind the boat with even more Wilson's than we had yesterday!  It was awesome out there, and while we had no rain today we still got a little wet, but I also will take a bath in the ocean any day if it means I can experience the habitat of our seabirds - that would be wind and waves!  We're out there again tomorrow, so stay tuned and perhaps we will turn up another species for the Blitz!

Thank you to our participants!  We couldn't do it without you!  And thank you Kyle Kittelberger and Ed Corey - your photos today are much appreciated and your hard work helped make the day successful!

Species List for May 31, 2020

Trindade Petrel - 1 dark morph

Black-capped Petrel - 37

Cory's Shearwater - 28 

Cory's type - 2

Great Shearwater - 3

Sooty Shearwater - 14

Manx Shearwater - 1

Audubon's Shearwater - 21

Wilson's Storm-Petrel - 215

Band-rumped Storm-Petrel - 3

Leach's/Band-rumped - 3

Common Tern - 2

Laughing Gull - 1

Portuguese Man of War - 1

The seas were adventurous for gadfly petrels - Trindade top, Black-capped below (Kate Sutherland)

Trindade Petrel dorsal (Ed Corey) & ventral (Kyle Kittelberger)

Black-capped Petrel (Ed Corey) intermediate, tending towards dark faced bird.

We had a couple of Cory's types that had some white in the underprimaries but none, or very little, in p10.  I would lean toward Scopoli's, but for now we will just leave as is!  (Kate Sutherland)

We just had a few Great Shearwaters (Ed Corey)

And more Sooty Shearwaters, they were moving in the afternoon inshore of the shelf break (Kyle Kittelberger)

We had two Common Terns visit us out there today - the first looked slight and delicate enough for us to mistake it for an Arctic Tern at first glance. (Kyle Kittelberger)

Ed Corey captured this image of our Man of War!

Saturday May 30, 2020 by Kate Sutherland

Our entrance to the ocean was a bit smoother this morning, though the skies were still overcast and rain was again in the forecast.  We had rain on our way to the shelf break and rain when we arrived and set out with the chum, but showers today were quick moving and conditions were totally different from 24 hours ago.  At the shelf break there was sargassum, and Audubon's Shearwaters - lots of Audubon's!  After only encountering one on our trip yesterday we were super excited to see small rafts of them scattered around as we worked our way offshore. (Kate Sutherland) 

Down current in the Gulf Stream made conditions different than if we had the wind with the current, and it was an interesting habitat to find - a little meander of Gulf Stream water.  Birds were more attentive to the chum and Black-capped Petrels came in to the slick especially well.  Storm-petrels were another plus, we easily doubled our count of Wilson's from previous trips this spring.  Two summer Band-rumpeds, what Brian and I call "little band-rumps" were a treat to see, the second was right on the shelf break where we sometimes find them. (Ed Corey) 

At least one Scopoli's Shearwater came to the slick late morning, the first of the spring for us!

Two Gervais' beaked whales popped up beside us around 1100 and conditions were calm enough to observe them surfacing before sounding.  (Kate Sutherland) 

The conditions continued to improve and by the time we were back on the shelf break the sun was shining!  Not much was flying on our way back to Hatteras Inlet, but we didn't mind trading that for a nice ride in!

Thanks to everyone who joined us today!  Thanks also to Kyle Kittelberger and Ed Corey for helping us lead the trip!  We'll see what the next two days bring, and will have a chance to write more when this little stretch of trips has ended!

Species List for May 30, 2020

Black-capped Petrel - 34

Cory's Shearwater - 49

Scopoli's Shearwater - 1

Cory's type - 2

Great Shearwater - 1

Sooty Shearwater - 1

Audubon's Shearwater - 307

Wilson's Storm-Petrel - 200

Leach's Storm-Petrel - 3

Band-rumped Storm-Petrel - 9

"little" Band-rumped - 2

Common Tern - 1

Cattle Egret - 1

Barn Swallow - 1

Gervais' beaked whale - 2

Offshore bottlenose dolphin - 38

Portuguese man-o-war - 3

An intermediate looking Black-capped Petrel (Kate Sutherland)

Most of the Cory's we saw today were Atlantic Cory's (borealis) (Kate Sutherland top), but we did have at least one Scopoli's Shearwater! (Ed Corey)

Audubon's Shearwaters were a highlight today! (Kate Sutherland)

Wilson's Storm-Petel (Kate Sutherland)

Most of the Band-rumps today were molting, presumed Grant's type (Kate Sutherland)

The Common Tern we had with us looked like a second summer and was content to feed with the storm-petrels in the slick! (Kate Sutherland)

An image showing the dorsal fin of one of the Gervas' beaked whales (aka Mesoplodon europaeus) (Kate Sutherland)

And Ed Corey captured this awesome shot of the offshore bottlenose dolphins!

Friday May 29, 2020 - by Kate Sutherland

Thursday's trip was weathered out, but there was a silver lining...or maybe just a white lining!  Some of our participants went up to Cape Point in the morning and found a gorgeous White-winged Tern!  The second record for North Carolina, but the first to be photographically documented - so being stuck on land for a day didn't totally suck!

This morning we still had some testy seas offshore, but it seemed to be a bit more organized and the line of storms that was visible on the radar in the morning looked like it could be inshore of where we wanted to end up - so off we went!  And it rained a bit on the way out, and it rained a bit when we reached the shelf break and put out our chum - well, okay, it rained a lot!  But one of these rain storms caused a shift in the wind, it began blowing against the Gulf Stream current, making the waves stand up a little more...but also attracting more birds to our slick!  We had Black-capped Petrels and Cory's Shearwaters buzzing around with Wilson's Storm-Petrels pattering along behind us.  A little before 1000 I stepped out of the cabin and glanced up to see a bird hovering above - a White-tailed Tropicbird!!!!  Everyone got on the bird and we had almost twenty minutes to observe and photograph it!  (Kate Sutherland)

A short time later we had another visit from a tropicbird - another White-tailed - but a different individual!!  This same bird came back for a second visit, giving us three encounters with another species that has "white" in its common name.  So what might we see tomorrow?  White-chinned Petrel?  White-bellied Storm-Petrel?  Perhaps a White-faced Black-capped Petrel is more likely!

Thanks to everyone who joined us today and to Ed Corey & Kyle Kittelberger for helping Brian and I lead the trip - and for contributing photos!  We'll see what we turn up tomorrow!

Species List May 29, 2020

Black-capped Petrel - 25

Cory's Shearwater - 56

Sooty Shearwater - 4

Audubon's Shearwater - 1

Wilson's Storm-Petrel - 100

Leach's Storm-Petrel - 5

Band-rumped Storm-Petrel - 3

White-tailed Tropicbird - 2

tropical tern species - 4 likely Sooty Terns, but not seen well enough to confirm

Parasitic Jaeger - 1 dark individual

jaeger sp - 1 dark individual POJA/PAJA

Common Loon - 3

Atlantic Spotted Dolphin - 30

Black-capped Petrels were really flying today with the wind!  I didn't see any white-faced birds, but we did find both intermediate (top - K. Sutherland) and dark faced birds (Ed Corey).

Sooty Shearwaters also gave us a few nice views in the slick! (Ed Corey)

The larger stormies didn't come as close today as they did on Wednesday, but I was able to capture at least one Leach's! (Kate Sutherland)

A few more images of the first tropicbird!  Top Ed Corey, middle by Kyle Kittelberger, bottom (view of the tail) by Kate Sutherland

Atlantic Spotted Dolphin - always a treat to see!  (Kate Sutherland)

Wednesday May 27, 2020 - Kate Sutherland

And finally!!!  We begin the Spring Blitz...with some adjustments...but regardless, it was so nice to get offshore today!  Our schedule has been quite reduced by the current pandemic but we're full (a lighter full than before...) for the rest of this spring - thank you to everyone who is able to join us!

Departure was before dawn this morning and we went out via Ocracoke Inlet to the south.  Sunrise came just as we approached Ocracoke and the channel to the ocean!  (Kate Sutherland)

We worked our way offshore to the shelf break about where we would normally start from Hatteras, and though our time in the deeper water was limited, once we dropped the chum in the water we had birds!  Our first encounter with a Trindade Petrel was just before 1000 and was a dark morph (record shot by Kyle Kittelberger). 

And just as a rain squall took over our boat after 1100 a second individual flew in and arced up high a couple of times checking out our slick (Kate Sutherland)!  You can see the rain in the dorsal view.  This bird looked more like an intermediate type of Trindade Petrel.  

A third individual, a light morph, was observed by Kyle Kittelberger and Jeremy Dominguez but no one captured an image.  In addition to these incredible encounters, we had a number of awesome sightings over the course of the day!  Of note were a number of Leach's Storm-Petrels and two South Polar Skuas.  Since morning will be coming very early for me, I am going to leave you with the species list and some more photos until tomorrow (hopefully the weather is cooperative!!!)!

Thank you to everyone who joined us out there today!  And thank you also to Kyle Kittelberger and Ed Corey for helping Brian and I lead the trips!  -Kate Sutherland

May 27, 2020 Species List

Trindade Petrel - 3

Black-capped Petrel - 14

Cory's Shearwater - 68

Great Shearwater - 5

Sooty Shearwater - 10

Audubon's Shearwater - 15

Wilson's Storm-Petrel - 90 to 100

Leach's Storm-Petrel - 25

Band-rumped Storm-Petrel - 9

Common Tern - 2

Common/Arctic Tern (not seen well) - 1

South Polar Skua - 2

Pomarine Jaeger - 2

jaeger species - 1 dark individual

Atlantic Spotted Dolphin - 3

Portuguese man-of-war - 1

Black-capped Petrels were also out there in the deeper water today and all were either white-faced birds like the one below, or intermediate birds (Kate Sutherland).

All of the Cory's Shearwaters we saw were from the Atlantic population, no "Cory's Types" today and no Scopoli's (Kate Sutherland)

It was nice to see some Sooty Shearwaters still moving by out there! (Kyle Kittleberger)

The Leach's were incredibly cooperative over the course of the day! (Kate Sutherland) here you can see the messy, large rump patch and forked tail.  The buffy carpal bars and large bill are also obvious.

Band-rumped Storm-Petrels also were in the slick for most of the day.  While most were molting individuals, presumably Grant's type (top), I was able to capture images of one non-molting individual that was feeding in the chum.  (Kate Sutherland)

The first South Polar Skua we saw first thing in the morning just outside of Ocracoke Inlet and it flew directly away!  The second, however, was sitting on the water and when it flew it was much more cooperative!  (Kyle Kittelberger)

Sunday February 23, 2020 - by Kate Sutherland

We decided to keep the boat in Wanchese as another winter storm moved through on Thursday and Friday, knowing the weather still might be a bit unsettled to get offshore on Saturday, we again pushed back to our weather date of Sunday the 23rd.  Gale force winds from the north and northwest pushed cold water right down around Cape Hatteras and set us a nice temperature break offshore.  (image courtesy of marine.rutgers.edu)

This break seemed a bit far for us to reach from Oregon Inlet, but not out of the question.  So we headed towards Wimble Shoals to the southeast first thing hoping to turn up a Common Murre.  There was an incredible flight of Red-throated Loons in the morning and flotillas of Common Loons seemed to be popping up everywhere as we headed down Hatteras Island.  Razorbills were flying, but not in the numbers we found last weekend (Kate Sutherland),

and while it took some time, we finally recruited a nice feeding flock of gulls and gannets behind the boat!  Around 9:37 am a Common Murre was spotted on the water just ahead of the boat!  The next thirty minutes were excellent as we found at least two more individuals on the water and Brian and I saw one more flying ahead of the boat!  (Kate Sutherland)

Water temperature increased a bit as we moved offshore getting into the mid to high 40s.  Bonaparte's Gulls were scattered along a tide line that also held a couple of Red Phalaropes and our first Dovekie!  Right at 11:30 we saw our first Atlantic Puffin and everyone was able to get a good look at it.  As a number of people were talking about our chances of Great Skua just before noon, one flew right in to the boat from the sun glare (as they often do!) and down the starboard side before it flew off to harass our gull flock!  Excellent views and super exciting encounter (photo by Ed Corey). 

As we continued to make our way offshore, hoping to find a temperature break, we saw a few more puffins and a couple of loggerhead turtles.

Finally, around 12:30, we hit a temperature break that was a 15 degree change!  It was likely the little finger of water visible in the satellite image above just to the east of Avon.  This change was full of life, a Manx Shearwater zipped by when we arrived, we found almost 50 Red Phalaropes sitting with Bonaparte's Gulls, Dovekies and puffins were out there, and the edge was teeming with hammerhead sharks! (photo by Ed Corey) 

It was awesome!  We had a little under an hour in this productive area, then headed back inshore where the auk show continued until around 3 in the afternoon, after which we just found Razorbills.

A pod of short-beaked common dolphins, or saddlebacks, made an energetic rush to the bow in the afternoon as well, checking us out and then moving on, riding our wake for a few minutes before they headed back offshore (Kate Sutherland). 

As we approached the inlet we found the Red-throated Loons still moving by to the north and east, and a humpback whale blew once and surfaced ahead of us before giving us the slip.  It was another great trip from Oregon Inlet, and our last for the season.  Thank you to everyone who made it possible to run our winter trips this year and to Ed Corey for helping us to lead this last trip and for contributing photos for the post!

Species List for February 23, 2020

Red Phalarope - 56

Great Skua - 1

Dovekie - 13

Common Murre - 4 to 5

Razorbill - 408

Atlantic Puffin - 13

Bonaparte's Gull - 520

Red-throated Loon - 404

Common Loon - 115

Manx Shearwater - 7

Humpback Whale - 1

Bottlenose Dolphin - about 85

Short-beaked Common Dolphin - 25-35

Loggerhead Turtle - 5

Hammerhead Shark - at least 30! (likely scalloped hammerheads)

*we also saw Herring, Lesser Black-backed, and Great Black-backed Gulls, plus Northern Gannets

The Red Phalaropes seemed to be everywhere when we got to the temperature break / color change! (Kate Sutherland)

Dovekies were not quite as cooperative as they have been on other trips this winter, but at least we had a few that showed well, just not very close. (Kate Sutherland)

Ed captured this cool image of Razorbills with the new Marc Basnight Bridge and old Bonner Bridge both in the background! 

It was neat to see adult (L) and young (R) Razorbills together! (Kate Sutherland)

Atlantic Puffins were also not as cooperative as they were last weekend, but Ed captured this nice image of one!

This looked like a second winter Lesser Black-backed Gull (Kate Sutherland)

And a first winter Great Black-backed Gull (Kate Sutherland)

But as usual, the Northern Gannets were the stars behind the boat!  This weekend they came in well for some nice photo ops! (Kate Sutherland)

This is the underside of an adult gannet as it enters the water - pretty interesting perspective!

But the best photos were of the darker, young gannets!

One of the large Loggerhead Turtles we saw, we also saw at least one smaller one (Kate Sutherland)

And one more artistic take on one of our hammerhead sharks! (Kate Sutherland)

We were lucky to pass right though a small feeding group of Little Tunny (Ed Corey)