Three more winter trips in 9 days by Brian Patteson

 We didn't have a midweek trip scheduled following our trip on February 8th, so our next opportunity to get out was on the 15th. Fortunately that day coincided with a lull in the weather and we had reasonable sea conditions and fairly warm air. It was a bit choppy during the morning and it made for a wet ride, but there was an awesome flight of Razorbills during the morning and we saw nearly 1000 in an hour or so. The Razorbills were headed north but we were headed to the southeast for a couple of reasons. I hoped to find a better temperature break down that way, and the wind was supposed to come on from the south a bit later, so it would set us up for a better inshore tack. SST images courtesy of Rutgers.

A few miles off the beach we found the only two Common Murres of the season (!!!) and one of these gave us nice views on the water and in flight.

Common Murre by Brian Patteson

About ten miles out we came across a dead White-fronted Goose, a casualty of a notable flight earlier in the week, during which a few even reached Bermuda. About 25 miles from the inlet we got into a band of warmer water which was in the low 50s. It was loaded with puffins.

Atlantic Puffin by Daniel Irons

We kept going out to the edge of the continental shelf where the water gradually warmed to over 70 degrees. There wasn't much to recommend it bird-wise, so I headed to the north a bit, and we found some life where the SST varied between high 50s and low 60s. It was a good area for Dovekies and puffins, and we found our only Red Phalaropes there.

Red Phalarope by Daniel Irons

Heading back inshore, we tallied quite a few more puffins, pushing it up well over 100, which happens more often down here than some folks realize. There was also a good number of Dovekies slightly to the west. Our chumming attracted a few gulls and gannets, with increasing numbers closer to the beach. The highlight was a first winter Thayer's Gull just outside the inlet. Remarkably, after seeing so many Razorbills during the morning, we only saw 20 for the afternoon!

Northern Gannet by Daniel Irons

We were supposed to go out again on Sunday or Monday but the weather was unfit for either. Fortunately I was able to cobble a group together for Tuesday, February 18th. This turned out to be our prettiest day so far, but gale force winds on the previous two days had really churned things up. As a result, we found dirty water and virtually no life close to shore. Razorbills were not present, and there weren't any Common Loons either. There was a modest flight of Red-throated Loons heading north but not much else. We did come across our one and only Parasitic Jaeger of the season a few miles out. Dovekies and puffins were not around like they had been on the 15th. The water was warmer, especially to the south, so I set a course to the east.

Compare this image to the previous one!

It's amazing to see how quickly the marine environment changes here after the wind blows from the southwest and the Gulf Stream pushes shoreward over the shelf. We finally came across a few Dovekies and puffins offshore, with the best of it being close to the shelf break about 28 miles out. We also had a quick flyby Little Gull, and later we found a huge pod of Common Dolphins out in the deep.

Dovekie by Daniel Irons

There wasn't much going on back inshore with the subpar water clarity, but we did chum up a few gulls and gannets. Among the gulls we found a hybrid American Herring X Lesser Black-backed Gull.

Am. Herring X Lesser Black-backed Gull by BP

Our last trip was scheduled for February 22nd or 23rd, weather dependent. Even though the 22nd would have been doable, I elected to push it back a day to let the seas calm down after several days of wind. I knew we might have to cover a lot of miles and I wanted the best possible day for it. That's what we got, and it was a much better environmental condition than what we had on the 18th. There were several small flocks of Razorbills a few miles off, and Common Loons had finally returned to Platt Shoals. The water was cooler and we had great conditions for spotting small birds on the sea.

Five days makes a difference!

Again, I elected to head out to the east. The numbers of alcids we saw on the 18th were fractional compared to the 15th and I wanted to check out the reverse temp break there. Fortunately, we didn't have to go too far  to get on some Dovekies and puffins. They were both more numerous than on the previous trip.

Atlantic Puffin by Ed Corey

I was hoping that with the calm conditions we might find some whales out near the shelf break and I was not disappointed. We checked an area where we had seen the Humpbacks a couple of weeks before and we found them in good numbers, racking up double digits in just a few minutes!

Humpback Whales by Daniel Irons

The whale show was awesome, but there weren't really any birds associated with them like we had found previously, so I decided to pick up some speed and try to find some warmer water and hopefully a temperature break to the south. Along the way, we found even more Humpbacks, a Minke, and at least one Fin Whale!

Fin Whale by Daniel Irons

We eventually arrived at a very productive area where there was a slight but distinct temperature break and a gathering of Bonaparte's Gulls and Red Phalaropes. Both of these can be extremely abundant offshore here where the water is flush with the plankton they feed on. We found only modest numbers this day, but compared to the previous five trips, it was epic. There were dozens of phalaropes and Boneys close to the boat and many more on the horizon. We found an adult Little Gull with the close flock, and there were Dovekies, puffins, and whales scattered all around.

Little Gull (at left) by Daniel Irons

First mate and number one bird man, Danny soon noted some commotion out on the horizon, and instantly knew it was probably Common Dolphins, so I made a quick lap offshore and we were soon surrounded by a big pod of them. They don't come out of the water very far in slight seas, but Ed Corey managed to snap a killer image of one close on port side.

Short-beaked Common Dolphin by Ed Corey

It was definitely a great day to be offshore. I wish we had been able to put on another trip or two, but the weather took a turn for the worse in the days to follow, so I decided against it, and we'll have to wait until next year to go looking for winter seabirds again. The Outer Banks is definitely a great place to do it. Some days the birds are incredibly close to shore, and it's only 30 or 40 miles to the deep water off Oregon Inlet, where we see some really cool marine life in addition to the birds. I was fortunate to have some excellent help on the boat again this winter. My first mate Daniel Irons, was aboard for all of the trips, which means I don't have to scan so much and nothing gets by unseen. Our guest leaders were top notch, and they included Andrew Thornton, Chris Sloan, Todd McGrath, and Ed Corey. Of course, we couldn't do it at all without our clients, and we are fortunate to have people who truly appreciate what goes into making this all happen.

More superb images by the crew follow the list of birds and wildlife for these trips. Participants got a lot of nice shots too, and you find see those on eBird. We have a hotspot for the winter boat trips, so you can find some older stuff there too including peak counts, some of which are pretty impressive. 

https://ebird.org/hotspot/L10719823

Species seen Feb. 15/ 18/ 23

Black Scoter    0/ 15/ 0

Red Phalarope 4/ 0/ 176

Parasitic Jaeger  0/ 1/ 0

Atlantic Puffin 139/ 11/ 43

Razorbill   987/ 0/ 43

Dovekie    189/ 40/ 43

Common Murre 2/ 0/ 0

Little Gull     0/ 1/ 1

Bonaparte's Gull 55/ 321/ 206

Ring-billed Gull 4/ 7/ 5

Am. Herring Gull 91/ 83/ 209

Gr. Black-backed Gull 5/ 6/ 6

Lesser Black-b, Gull 5/ 8/ 4

Thayer's Gull    1/ 0/ 0

Forster's Tern    0/ 3/ 0

Red-throated Loon 215/ 270/ 430

Common Loon 0/ 3/ 44

Manx Shearwater 1/ 2/ 2

Northern Gannet 130/ 241/ 199

Brown Pelican. 0/ 1/ 0

Am. Herring X Lesser Black-b. Gull 0/ 1/ 0

Other Marine Life

Common Thresher Shark 0/ 1/ 0

Ocean Sunfish   13/ 4/ 8

Loggerhead Turtle 0/ 0/ 1

Offshore Bottlenose Dolphin 0/ 23/ 10

Coastal Bottlenose Dolphin 0/ 0/ 15

Atlantic Spotted Dolphin 0/ 10/ 0

Common Dolphin 0/ 250/ 230

Short-finned Pilot Whale 0/ 0/ 6

Humpback Whale 0/ 1/ 30

Northern Minke Whale  0/ 0/ 1

Fin Whale  0/ 0/ 1

Whale sp. 0/ 0/ 1

Atlantic Puffin by Ed Corey

Dovekie by Ed Corey

Little Gull (at right) by Daniel Irons

Little Gull by Brian Patteson

American Herring Gull by Ed Corey

Northern Gannet by Ed Corey

Loggerhead Turtle by Ed Corey

Short-finned Pilot Whale by Daniel Irons

Humpback Whales by Daniel Irons

Early February 2025: Three trips in a week!

 This is our 20th year of running pelagic trips aboard our own vessel, and we are fortunate to have some flexibility when it comes to running the winter trips aboard the Stormy Petrel II. We actually have a choice of ports for running the trips, but we tend to favor going out via Oregon Inlet, because we have more consistent water temperatures to the north of Diamond Shoals. 

Approaching the Basnight Bridge

We don't see too many alcids in 65 to 70 degree water and that's all there was for many miles to the north of Hatteras early this month. 

So we ran the first three trips from Wanchese, and we were able to find water in the mid to high 40s just off the beach up here. The downside of being "up the beach" as we say, is that we didn't have any break from the swell, as we had brisk northeasterly winds for all three trips. Fortunately, the inlet is in much better shape now than it used to be, so the bar wasn't much of an issue. The ocean was anywhere from testy to rank on all three days, but the boat handled it well and our intrepid passengers did their part, and hung on tight. 

All we had to do was get outside the inlet to find a good number of alcids. We saw Razorbills and Dovekies within minutes of crossing the bar each day. 

Razorbill by Daniel Irons

Dovekie by Daniel Irons

We even saw a few puffins fairly close, within a couple of miles of the beach. Try doing that off Virginia or Maryland or New Jersey! 

Atlantic Puffin by Daniel Irons

The sea conditions made it hard to get anywhere quickly, so we were only able to get out past the shelf break on one day, when we had a bit of a mid morning lull in the wind. We found puffins to be most numerous 20 to 30 miles out, and we also had a very good showing of Dovekies out there on February 5th. That was the day we had the best action, just before it breezed up hard from the northeast. We found a good spot in about 40 fathoms with several Humpback Whales feeding along with lots of alcids and Bonaparte's Gulls. 

Humpback Whale by Daniel Irons

After we left there, we were joined by a big pod of Atlantic Spotted Dolphins for several minutes. The few Red Phalaropes that we saw were out there in the warmer water, but there wasn't really a sharp color change in range on any of the days we were offshore, so no big numbers of phalaropes. 

Red Phalaropes by Daniel Irons

We did score a Little Gull out near the whales, and we had singles near the beach on a couple of days. We rarely see kittiwakes down here in February, but we do see Little Gulls frequently. 

Little Gull by Daniel Irons

Big gulls were in low numbers, and the only standout was a first winter Glaucous x Herring hybrid, the subspecies formerly known as Nelson's Gull. We didn't see many tubenoses either, just a few of the expected Manx and one out of season Great Shearwater. 

Great Shearwater by Daniel Irons

There were good numbers of gannets close to the inlet the first couple of days but not so many on the 8th. The much hoped for Great Skua was MIA again, and has been on most of the trips since 2022, when the avian flu hit them hard. We haven't seen any Common Murres yet, but it seems like the Razorbills are just getting here, so hopefully we see a few before the end of the month.

Kate is down in Southern Ocean again this year, so the crew consisted of me and Danny, and a few of our guest leaders. We had Sage Church on February 2nd and 5th, Steve Backus on Feb. 5th and 8th, and Ed Corey on Feb. 8th. These guys always do a great job. It was definitely a challenging start to the season, but hopefully we'll get a break at some point before the winter is over. The bird lists and some more photos follow. 

Bird List for February 2/ 5/ 8

Surf Scoter 0/ 2/ 0

Black Scoter 5/ 8/ 3

Red Phalarope 5/ 16/ 0

Atlantic Puffin 31/ 71/ 95

Razorbill 40/ 227/ 251

Dovekie 54/ 267/ 157

Little Gull 0/ 2/ 1

Bonaparte's Gull 186/ 610/ 219

Am. Herring Gull 115/ 257/ 126

Gr. Black-b. Gull 9/ 12/ 17

L. Black- b. Gull 6/ 15/ 4

Forster's Tern 0/ 1/ 0

Red- thr. Loon 16/ 83/ 10

Common Loon 28/ 20/ 5

Great Shearwater 0/ 1/ 0

Manx Shearwater 0/. 2/ 1

Brown Pelican 0/ 4/ 0

Glaucous x Am. Herring Gull one on Feb. 5th

Non Avian Wildlife

Bottlenose Dolphin 10/ 22/ 9 (all coastal form)

Atlantic Sp. Dolphin 0/ 55/ 1

Unid. Dolphin 0/ 0/ 2

Humpback Whale 0/ 10/ 0

Minke Whale 0/ 1/ 0

Loggerhead Turtle 1/ 1/ 1

Ocean Sunfish 0/ 8/ 0

Hammerhead Shark 0/ 5/ 0

Cooperative Dovekie by Brian Patteson

Dovekie by Brian Patteson

Atlantic Puffin by Daniel Irons

American Herring Gull by Daniel Irons

Great Black-backed Gull by Ed Corey

Lesser Black-backed Gull by Ed Corey

Northern Gannet by Ed Corey

October and Our Gulf Stream Specialties! Oct 12 & 15th - by Kate Sutherland

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

Atlantic Cory's Shearwater - 74 / 32

Scopoli's Shearwater - 29 / 21

Cory's / Scopoli's Shearwater - 321 / 258

Great Shearwater - 24 / 4

Audubon's Shearwater - 69 / 178

Mourning Dove - 1 / 0

Brown Pelican - 1 / 0

Merlin - 1 / 0

Peregrine Falcon - 1 / 0

Osprey 0 / 1

Barn Swallow - 0 / 1

passerine sp - 2 / 1

Atlantic Spotted Dolphin - 0 / 15 to 17

Offshore Bottlenose Dolphin - 4 / 0

Coastal Bottlenose Dolphin - 0 / 12

Monarch Butterfly - 0 / 1

Cloudless Sulphur - 1 / 0

Light form Black-capped Petrel © Kate Sutherland

Black-capped Petrel © Kate Sutherland

Black-capped Petrel © Kate Sutherland

Scopoli's Shearwater © Kate Sutherland

Scopoli's Shearwater © Kate Sutherland

Atlantic Cory's Shearwater © Kate Sutherland

Great Shearwater © Kate Sutherland

Audubon's Shearwater taking off 
© Kate Sutherland

Audubon's Shearwater © Kate Sutherland

Red-necked Phalaropes © Kate Sutherland

Atlantic Spotted Dolphins bow riding!
© Kate Sutherland