Saturday July 31, 2021 - White-faced Stormie!! Kate Sutherland

 Our first trips of the summer were scheduled for July 30 and 31 and while the weather was perfect leading up to the weekend, the wind breezed up on Friday causing us to cancel the departure on the 30th.  We had a group from Buffalo, NY organized by our friend Alec Humann and we wanted to get them offshore for at least two days...so we planned to go on the 31st and the 1st.  Again, the weather was just not cooperative for two days offshore!  So we made it on one, Saturday, and it poured rain just as we were meeting for the safety briefing.  Boarding was delayed, but finally we were underway by 0610.  

A few Royal Terns accompanied us to the shelf break, hunting for flying fishes put up by the boat, but other than those, birds were scarce on our way offshore.  Once we reached the shelf break we slowed and began to chum and the day really took off!  We had Scopoli's, Great, and Audubon's Shearwaters right off the bat and some Wilson's began to gather in the slick.  It seemed like they were hungry, so we began the day with a short drift to see what might come in.  Black-capped Petrels were obliging and since many of our participants had never been offshore with us, there was some excitement when the first individual came in to the slick (Kate Sutherland).

These sleek gadfly petrels were showing off their dynamic flight style and coming close enough for us to see how different they were from the shearwaters, with their narrower wings and short, thick bills, arcing high as they followed the scent from the chum closer.  It took some time, but we finally turned up a handful of Band-rumped Storm-Petrels, though getting a good look at one was not any simple task!  Wilson's were around in good numbers, so after a time the study of these small storm-petrels paid off when one of the longer winged Band-rumpeds flew by the stern (Kate Sutherland). 

In the afternoon a couple of Leach's Storm-Petrels zipped across the bow and gave us a quick, but identifiable view of this second large storm-petrel species!  A little after 2, we reached the shelf break and picked up speed to head back in toward the inlet.  We were underway when Brian Patteson spotted something off the port bow - a White-faced Storm-Petrel was hopping along right beside us!!!  Wow!  He piloted the boat to keep up with the bird and we were able to keep it in view so that everyone saw it well and we had time to photograph it.  These small birds are not the easiest to capture images of, but we had ample time to get it in our viewfinders and get some in focus shots like these below by leader Ed Corey! 

Since we were only able to get offshore for one day, we were super lucky it was as seabird packed as it was!  Thank you to Alec for garnering so much support for these first summer trips of 2021 and to Ed Corey and Andrew Rapp for helping us to lead the trip!

Species List for July 31, 2021

Black-capped Petrel - 23 to 25

Cory's Shearwater - 5

Scopoli's Shearwater - 37

Cory's / Scopoli's Shearwater - 37

Great Shearwater - 17

Audubon's Shearwater - 18 to 19

Wilson's Storm-Petrel - 220 to 250

Leach's Storm-Petrel - 2 to 3

Band-rumped Storm-Petrel - 5 

White-faced Storm-Petrel - 1

Red-necked Phalarope - 5

Sooty Tern - 1

Sooty / Bridled Tern - 3

Royal Tern - 1

Whimbrel - 1

Semipalmated Sandpiper - 1

Semipalmated Plover - 1

shorebird sp - 3

peep sp - 1

Bottlenose Dolphin (offshore type) - about 40

Atlantic Spotted Dolphin - 6

green darner - 1

wandering glider - 1

Another angle on the White-faced Stormie (Kate Sutherland)

Another Black-capped Petrel image by Ed Corey showing the diagnostic white uppertail that makes them easy to identify at a distance.

We only saw a handful of true Cory's out there, most of the individuals we encountered were either Scopoli's or we didn't see well enough to tell.  Here is one of the Cory's we saw! (Kate Sutherland)

We had some very nicely marked Scopoli's Shearwaters and everyone aboard got to practice identifying these smaller, Mediterranean nesters!  Here is a nice image of one with a lot of white in p10, the diagnostic characteristic of the species.  (Kate Sutherland) A head on view below by Ed Corey showing the small head.

While we didn't see very many Great Shearwaters, the ones we did see came in well to the slick.  (Kate Sutherland)

Audubon's Shearwaters were also very obliging!  These small black and white shearwaters can sometimes be difficult to see well offshore.  (Kate Sutherland)

Wilson's Storm-Petrel showing off its long legs! (Kate Sutherland)

Band-rumped Storm-Petrel sitting on the water (Kate Sutherland)

A couple views of the cooperative Bottlenose Dolphins we found out there!  They are always smiling :) (Kate Sutherland)

We found a little school of Mahi mahi and harvested a few for dinner.  While Andrew was helping everyone with that, I dipped some sargassum for us to sort through for critters.  We found a Sargassum Crab (Portunus sayi) and a number of shrimp, the species pictured below is the brown grass shrimp (Leander tenuicornis).  A huge thank you to participant Alex Huryn for contributing these photos!

June 15 & 16, 2021 - Ed Corey

No two days offshore are ever the same, and this was abundantly clear on our trips this week! Tuesday’s weather consisted of a stiff wind out of the southwest, keeping our tubenoses in the air most of the day. Once over the shelf break, we found a good feeding flock of shearwaters in amongst the fishing boats. Lots of Greats and Audubon’s were foraging in and around the patches of Sargassum, with a smattering of Cory’s in the mix as well.  A Royal Tern checking out the action brought in a feisty Parasitic Jaeger, leading to a hot pursuit and the tern losing its dinner to the aerial pugilist! (Kate Sutherland)

After establishing our chum slick and heading towards deeper water, we were able to eke out a nice following of Wilson’s Storm-Petrels. These small seabirds breed around the Antarctic coast, and are one of the most abundant bird species in the world, with an estimated 50 MILLION pairs. In contrast, the Band-rumped Storm-Petrels we observed later in the slick were larger, with longer wings and a more powerful flight. We were able to see both the Grant’s (larger birds, with obvious primary molt in late Spring) and Madeiran (slightly larger than Wilson’s, mostly fresh in June) types, which each breed in the Northern Hemisphere. Once considered a single species, there may be as many as 8 types of Band-rumpeds in the Atlantic alone.  (While this individual looks fresh, it actually has an old outer primary and is just finishing primary molt!  There is still a lot to learn about Band-rumpeds offshore from NC.  Kate Sutherland)

One of our leaders spotted a small flock of birds towards the horizon, with a few tubenoses underneath, and some terns working overhead. After a bit of a chase to catch up to them, the terns revealed themselves to be Bridled Terns. These smaller tropical terns often patrol around the grass-lines, resting on any floating structures they can find. The trio decided to make a few close passes by the boat, giving all on board great looks! (Kate Sutherland)

Shortly thereafter, Kate spotted an outline at the surface, which turned out to be one of two White Marlin! These medium-sized billfish were working slowly along near our slick, with only the dorsal and tail fins visible. The dorsal fin of a White Marlin has a rounded aspect, versus the pointed dorsal of the much larger Blue! (Ed Corey)

In contrast, Wednesday’s conditions were mostly calm, with some swell, but not much chop to be found. The low, rolling seas made for excellent cetacean watching, beginning with a few bow-riding Atlantic Spotted Dolphins on the ride out. We were able to again find a familiar gathering of shearwaters near the grass-line, as well as several small pods of Offshore Bottlenose Dolphins. 
A little before 930, one of the passengers mentioned they had a large dolphin off the port bow. As the animal surfaced again, the distinctive coloration and head shape made us realize that this was a Cuvier’s Beaked Whale! This species currently holds the record for the deepest dive of any mammal, at over 9,000 feet! They also have the record for the longest dive, at well over 3 hours! (Ed Corey)

As we powered offshore, we picked up more Wilson’s Storm-Petrels and a few Black-capped Petrels, the latter giving decent passes, but not really settling into the slick as they often do. We were able to get a few glimpses at some Grant’s-type Band-rumpeds, but these, too, were not interested in sticking around for long. 
A little after 11, another passenger spotted a low, “bushy” blow off of the stern. As more eyes got on it, we could see that the blow was only coming out of the left side of the head: a Sperm Whale! This individual stayed at the surface for several minutes before disappearing below the surface. (Ed Corey)

Thanks so much to everyone who joined us out there for these additional spring trips, especially WINGS for helping to make the additions possible with their group!  Thank you also to Ed Corey for helping out on both trips, writing the blog post, and contributing photos.  So glad we could find him something new out there for his birthday on Tuesday!  Thank you also to Andrew Rapp for helping on Wednesday's trip.  (Kate :)

Species List June 15 / 16

Black-capped Petrel - 11 / 16

Cory's Shearwater - 15 / 5

Scopoli's Shearwater - 5 / 5

Cory's / Scopoli's - 30 / 13

Great Shearwater - 126 / 178

Sooty Shearwater - 0 / 1

Audubon's Shearwater - 89 / 39

Wilson's Storm-Petrel - 45 / 39

Band-rumped Storm-Petrel - 8 to 10 / 2

Bridled Tern - 3 / 0

Common Tern - 0 / 3

Arctic Tern - 1 / 0

Royal Tern - 2 / 6

Pomarine Jaeger - 1 / 0

Parasitic Jaeger - 1 / 0

Long-tailed Jaeger - 1 / 0

Barn Swallow - 0 / 1

Sperm Whale - 0 / 1

Cuvier's Beaked Whale 0 / 1 male

Bottlenose Dolphin (offshore) - 25 / 28

Atlantic Spotted Dolphin - 12 / 11

White Marlin - 2 / 0

Ocean Sunfish (Mola mola) - 1 / 0

Scoploi's Shearwaters were quite obliging on these trips! (Kate Sutherland)

Not to mention the Great Shearwaters!  Once they found the chum they definitely stuck with us for awhile!  (top Kate Sutherland, bottom two Ed Corey)

We saw a lot of Audubon's Shearwaters this weekend and they were happy to forage for chum in the slick with the Greats, Cory's, and Scopoli's. (Kate Sutherland)

Band-rumpeds were super cooperative in the slick on Tuesday and anyone who wanted to study them certainly had the chance!  (top Ed Corey, bottom two Kate Sutherland)

Another image of the Parasitic Jaeger from Tuesday (Kate Sutherland)

And one more of the Cuvier's Beaked Whale seen on Wednesday (Ed Corey)

June 11 & 12, 2021 - Shearwater Studies - Kate Sutherland

Weather has figured prominently in our trips this spring and these were no exception.  Both mornings we took a little extra time to check the weather offshore and make sure we'd have some company out there (never a good idea to be the only boat offshore when conditions are challenging!), and both mornings we headed offshore.  The weather turned out to be manageable for both trips and we were rewarded with some great shearwater shows in the slick plus incredible views of our signature species, the Black-capped Petrel!  Friday participant Jamie Adams spotted a whale surfacing near the boat and it turned out to be not just one, but three Gervais' beaked whales!  They spent a few minutes surfacing and swimming fairly close to the boat before heading down for another deep dive.  These whales spend most of their time below the surface, feeding on the bottom in very deep water and their genus, Mesoplodon, contains some of the least known species of cetacean due to this behavior.  

Black-capped Petrels came quite close on both trips and responded well to some homemade chum blocks we deployed for a drift each day.  Band-rumped Storm-Petrels also responded well to these blocks making some passes by the Wilson's Storm-Petrels we had gathered in our slick and on Friday one even stopped to feed on the block.  

A Leach's Storm-Petrel made a brief appearance as well on Friday, but it didn't stick around and was not very cooperative in the slick.  Shearwaters are HERE!  It was so nice to have shearwaters following us in addition to the Wilson's Storm-Petrels, they were especially cooperative on Saturday.  All of the feeding activity attracted a Pomarine Jaeger who came to check out our flock and harass some of the shearwaters, a Sooty Tern that flew right up the slick to see what we had to offer, and a Laughing Gull that fed with the shearwaters as we approached the shelf break in the afternoon.  It was a super productive day for power chumming!  With the shearwaters comes the chance to study Cory's vs. Scopoli's and to compare them with the smaller Great Shearwater.  

There was also the chance to study Black-capped Petrels with Great Shearwaters and everyone could see how differently they fly in addition to studying the body shape, wing shape, and the bill differences (if you're curious about this check out the photo gallery at the end of the blog!).  We saw just a handful of the pale morph Black-capped Petrels but they were there, along with our dark morph birds and a number of intermediate types.  Both molting and non-molting Band-rumped Storm-Petrels were seen over the two day set and we had really nice views of at least one "little" Band-rumped which we presume to be the Madeiran species.  Audubon's Shearwaters were here with the Sargassum and the south swell so we had nice views of them sitting on the water, feeding, and zipping by the boat as they do when we have nice winds.  

On Saturday I was keeping a close eye out for Manx Shearwater in our flock of 60 or so shearwaters and 40 or 50 stormies, but one snuck by in the form of a small black and white in the slick.  I was photographing Black-cappeds, Cory's types, and small black and white shearwaters, which were mostly Audubon's, but found at least one Manx that flew through on Saturday.  

Their larger size is obvious in this photo where it was flying with a Scopoli's Shearwater.  A few notes on this identification versus Audubon's are also in the photo gallery below!

Thank you to everyone who joined us for this set of trips, it turned out to be a great couple of days with a nice list of species.  Thanks also to Andrew Rapp who helped Brian and I lead the trip!  Our next trips with space are in August but we'll be out there a couple more days in June...and we'll keep you posted!

*all photos today are by Kate Sutherland

Species List for June 11 / 12

Black-capped Petrel - 37 to 39 / 36 to 43

Cory's Shearwater - 35 / 26

Scopoli's Shearwater - 4 / 12

Cory's / Scopoli's - 44 / 55 to 57

Great Shearwater - 24 to 25 / 65 to 67

Manx Shearwater - 0 / 1

Audubon's Shearwater - 20 / 25 to 26

small black & white shearwater - 1 / 2

Wilson's Storm-Petrel - 50 to 55 / 95 to 105

Leach's Storm-Petrel - 1 / 0

Band-rumped Storm-Petrel - 2 / 4 to 5

Sooty Tern - 0 / 1

Bridled Tern - 2 / 0

Pomarine Jaeger - 0 / 1

Osprey - 0 / 1

Royal Tern - 0 / 1

Laughing Gull - 0 / 1

Barn Swallow - 0 / 2

Gervais Beaked Whale - 3 / 0

Hammerhead Shark (likely Scalloped) - 1 / 0

Black-capped Petrels were pretty cooperative on both trips!  On top is a nice fresh pale morph that looked to be a young individual, below is darker individual, you can see the dark wash on the nape and the fairly thick chest spur.

Most birds, though, were molting like these individuals:

Many guide books list Black-cappeds (L) and Great Shearwaters (R) as a confusion pair - we had many opportunities to study these birds together on Saturday's trip.  You can see the difference in body shape and size, also the wing shape - Black-cappeds have narrower wings and Greats broader wings that they hold differently.  The bills are short and thick (BCPE) vs long and thin (GRSH).  Though when coming toward the boat head on in the slick, it might take a minute to figure out which species you have!

Here we have Cory's Shearwater (top) versus Scopoli's Shearwater (bottom).  You can see the dark underprimaries in Cory's versus the white extending into the visible outer primaries in Scopoli's giving the white a rounded versus pointed shape in the underwing at a distance.  These birds overlap in size and can be difficult to distinguish if you don't have a large Cory's or a small Scopoli's.  It is best to get photos to reinforce your identification if possible.  Saturday we had a number of smaller, likely female, Scopoli's feeding with Great Shearwaters in the slick - when this happens you can observe that the Scopoli's are even smaller than the Greats!!  Or you can see how much larger the Cory's are than the Greats!

Great Shearwaters were really excellent on both trips and made some close passes in addition to feeding right off the stern on Saturday.  Here you can see the dark belly patch these birds have and also the mottled dark in their underwings.

Audubon's Shearwaters were flying around a lot on both days, which was good because the seas made it difficult to see them on the water!  Though we had a chance to observe some sitting on Saturday!

Audubon's are small and have a long tail with dark under tail coverts versus Manx which are a bit larger, they actually weigh twice as much as Audubon's, and have a white under tail.  Typically Audubon's also have a whiter face and Manx show more dark.

Wilson's Storm-Petrels were also quite cooperative and not only could we hear them at times when we stopped to drift, but we could also see the yellow webbing on their feet!

Here are two Band-rumpeds, one molting (top) and one of the non-molting birds (bottom).

And finally, a few more images of the Gervais' Beaked Whales we saw on Friday's trip!!