Seabirding

Wednesday, August 19, 2026

The Streak Continues! 14 & 15 August 2026 by Kate Sutherland

We headed offshore from Oregon Inlet into a gorgeous sunrise with partly cloudy skies on each morning of this set of trips...

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 (all photos in this post are © Kate Sutherland)

eBird Trip Reports can be found here: 14 August & 15 August

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

You know I love an artistic water shot - but one with a White-faced Storm-Petrel is even better!!

Black-capped Petrels were looking sharp in fresh plumage! Top is a dark form individual, followed by a light form, then another dark individual dorsal and ventral.

Scopoli's Shearwaters were out there in good numbers as we typically see in the summer months.

Great Shearwaters were not as hungry as we would have liked - but that's good! There was a lot of food out there for them!

Fresh little Sargasso Shearwater

Wilson's Storm-Petrel with some fish and flying over a sitting Scopoli's Shearwater and Black-capped Petrel

Adult Sooty Tern

This young Black Tern stayed with us in the slick for over an hour and a half feeding on Friday!

One of our flyby shorebirds - the Semipalmated Plover - giving us the side eye!

Sunday, August 16, 2026

Another White-faced Stormie! 7 & 8 August 2026 Set by Kate Sutherland

Winds were southwesterly for this set and we had mostly sunny skies each day. The Gulf Stream current was moving swiftly to the northeast at about five knots so we covered quite a bit of ground each day! The weather has been the same since our last set of trips when the wind shifted to the southwest on Saturday...so that means there wasn't much to get things moving leading up to this set of trips but we still found a lot of the same species and had excellent looks at all of them. Black-capped Petrels were seen well each day but their numbers were quite low with less than 20 seen on each trip...though I did photograph at least one dark and one light form individual (that one is below).

Scopoli's Shearwaters were the most common tubenose each day which is in keeping with what we've noted offshore from Hatteras and Oregon Inlet for years -

these birds are associated with the warmer water of the Gulf Stream while the larger Atlantic Cory's seem to be in higher numbers when we have cooler inshore waters in the spring. Regardless we saw both species well so everyone had time to study the similarities and differences in these cryptic species and get accustomed to their flight styles and sizes. Great and Sargasso Shearwaters gave us excellent views but were around but in lower numbers and it was awesome to have a flyby Sooty Shearwater on Friday! While these birds are not uncommon here they are typically well north of us by August. Wilson's Storm-Petrels were very attentive in the slick both trips and made some really nice passes by the stern and we had solid numbers of Band-rumped Storm-Petrels with some great views!

These are likely Grant's type Band-rumpeds, the winter breeders, and most were just finishing up primary molt. Sooty Terns seem to be showing up with higher numbers out there this set than last plus we had our first recently fledged individual on Saturday's trip with a few showing well over the course of the day as they begged from their parents.

As we followed a small flock of Sooty Terns and shearwaters along a Sargassum line Saturday morning leader Daniel Irons glimpsed a White-faced Storm-Petrel hopping along in the glare...

Brian turned the boat and after just a couple of minutes it was spotted again and we enjoyed almost twenty minutes watching this little bird bounding along near the Stormy Petrel II!! What an amazing set!

We also were lucky to have some amazing megafauna encounters with almost 30 Goose-beaked or Cuvier's Beaked Whales on Friday

then five Sperm Whales on Saturday! It's been awhile since we've seen Sperm Whale on our trips so this was a really lovely surprise. It looked like a group of younger individuals with at least one adult female perhaps? They tend to be the individuals that are offshore here as larger males tend toward higher latitudes.

Short-finned Pilot Whales and Bottlenose Dolphins were out there both days and on Friday we actually hooked a Yellowfin Tuna around some pilot whales that was partially eaten by a hammerhead as it was reeled in closer to the boat! What a crazy thing to see!

Overall we had an excellent set of trips - thanks to everyone who joined us out there and a bit thanks to Brian Patteson and Daniel Irons for helping lead both trips. Baxter Beamer joined us on Saturday as a spotter as well - what luck for him to join on the day we found the Kangaroo Petrel! Photos today are by me and thanks for reading! ~ Kate Sutherland

The eBird Trip Report for the set can be found here: https://ebird.org/tripreport/558458

Species List for 7 / 8 August 2026

Red-necked Phalarope 1 / 4

Lesser Yellowlegs 1 / 0

Sooty Tern 25 / 40

Bridled Tern 1 / 2

Least Tern 2 / 0

Black Tern 5 / 12

Common Tern 1 / 2

Sandwich Tern 0 / 3

Royal Tern 0 / 2

Wilson's Storm-Petrel 137 to 142 / 75

White-faced Storm-Petrel 0 / 1

Band-rumped Storm-Petrel 8 to 12 / 8

Black-capped Petrel 16 / 17 to 18

Atlantic Cory's Shearwater 12 / 7

Scopoli's Shearwater 223 / 158

Cory's / Scopoli's 127 / 98

Great Shearwater 42 / 33

Sooty Shearwater 1 / 0

Sargasso Shearwater 24 / 27

Barn Swallow 0 / 1

shorebird species 2 / 4

Offshore Bottlenose Dolphin 55 / about 40

dolphin species 10 / 0

Short-finned Pilot Whale about 40 / 13 to 17

Goose-beaked Whale 23 to 27 / 0

Sperm Whale 0 / 5

Loggerhead Turtle 1 / 0

Green Turtle 1 / 0

Yellowfin Tuna 1 / 0

Scalloped or Carolina Hammerhead 1 / 0

Portuguese Man of War 2 / 1

A few more of our Kangaroo Petrel!

Sargasso Shearwater

Band-rumped Storm-Petrel

Black Tern

Wilson's Storm-Petrel

Sooty Tern

Great Shearwater

Tuesday, August 4, 2026

Summer Begins from Oregon Inlet! 31 July & 1 Aug 2026 Set by Kate Sutherland

Running the two out of three day sets means we have the same group for both trips, which as I've mentioned before is really wonderful for us and for our participants! It means that we've gone over the usual suspects on the first day and can spend the second looking for anything different that we might not have seen on our first day. For this set we had some breezy and choppy conditions on Friday then almost slick calm conditions on Saturday - the wind was against the Gulf Stream current for the first trip then with it for the second. Day one we saw all of our expected species really well plus we had an incredible encounter with a White-faced Storm-Petrel!!

This individual was super cooperative and Brian was able to maneuver the Stormy Petrel II to keep it in view for eight minutes - perhaps the longest we've had one so close to the vessel! It's amazing to watch them kick off the water and move so quickly without flapping their wings - their very cool behavior is what earned them nicknames like "Kangaroo Bird" or "Pogo-stick Bird!" Band-rumped Storm-Petrels were also very cooperative on Friday and we had some close passes by the stern with the Wilson's that were in the slick.

Sooty Terns were around in low numbers, and we just had one Bridled Tern, an adult, that came to the slick but kept its distance before finally making a nice pass near the bow!

On Saturday we decided to cross the shelf break a bit to the north of where we crossed on Friday - the shearwaters were out in force and we stayed a bit longer on the shelf to check them out! There was more life on the shelf that morning than we encountered on Friday with a couple pods of Atlantic Spotted Dolphins and a huge Ocean Sunfish who had some Cobia swimming along with it.

Just after crossing the shelf break a White-tailed Tropicbird was spotted ahead of the boat in flight - a bit distant and flying away - but we pursued it regardless in hopes it would sit down or turn back toward us. No such luck...while it did go down to the water once it was still quite distant by the time it took off again and continued flying away. Not the most satisfying view, but the details were there if you could get it in your bins in time - the black on the outer primaries and slender body. Less than an hour after we crossed the break we were surrounded by close to a thousand shearwaters...most of which were Scopoli's! What a treat to spend time cruising around in this flock looking for anything unexpected and studying the usual suspects. There were also some Sooty Terns here plus Black-capped Petrels! It was awesome to hear the shearwaters bickering and to see them feeding naturally, not in our slick...

Just after 10:00 we had our first encounter with beaked whales - they were Gervais' / Gulf Stream Beaked Whales (Mesoplodon europaeus)!!

Usually we see these smaller toothed whales southeast of Hatteras Inlet but as we were to learn over the course of the day - there were a few of them up here to the north! Thirty minutes later we had another small pod with different individuals and in the interim there was a Kogia species (Pygmy or Dwarf Sperm Whale) in the distance ahead. Days when the seas are calm are really great for seeing cetaceans and we had a lot more in store! A few individual Goosebeaked / Cuvier's Beaked Whales (Ziphius cavirostris) were seen near the boat

and a number of larger pods surfaced around us for the next couple of hours. The males of this species tend to be pale bodied and have whitish heads that really stand out even at a distance. Everyone on the boat who was interested had a chance to see both species well today! Certainly not a common occurance!!

Shearwaters and Black-capped Petrels were sitting around in groups almost everywhere we looked! Many Sargasso Shearwaters were sleek and fresh plumaged, likely recently fledged,

while a few looked a bit more bedraggled like you would expect from an adult who has just finished provisioning a chick for a couple of months! As the day went on the conditions just improved and the photography opportunities were amazing. In addition to the beakers there were also a number of Pilot Whales (likely Short-finned) and we even saw a small Green Turtle in the Sargassum!

We took our time heading back to the shelf break and there were still a lot of birds even after we crossed - a lot of Red-necked Phalaropes and Wilson's Storm-Petrels scattered around on the shelf. As we headed toward the inlet there was what I called a "horizontal rainbow" but what is actually called a circumhorizontal arc!

A rare phenomenon that is not a rainbow at all but instead is a type of ice halo formed by ice crystals in cirrus or cirrostratus clouds that only occurs in the summer when the sun is 58 degrees above the horizon!

As we headed toward Oregon Inlet Daniel spotted a small boat to our starboard shooting off flares - definitely a sign of distress. So we headed to see what they needed and ended up calling the US Coast Guard for them and towing them inshore a bit to get them out of the current - their engines were overheated and they definitely didn't need to be stuck out there slowly drifting farther from help!

As we picked up to head inshore with our new follower two Leatherback Turtles surfaced - one on either side of the boat! What a perfect end to a spectacular day...in spite of our late return ;)

Thank you so much to everyone who joined us, filling the boat for this first set of summer trips from our new location at Oregon Inlet Fishing Center! Our leaders for these trips were: Brian Patteson, Daniel Irons, Sage Church and Ocean Church; all photos today were taken by me - Kate Sutherland. Thanks for reading!

The eBird Trip Report for the set can be found here: https://ebird.org/tripreport/555696

Species List for 31 July / 1 August 2026

Red-necked Phalarope 15 / 65

Solitary Sandpiper 0 / 1

Laughing Gull 1 / 0

Sooty Tern 7 / 26

Bridled Tern 1 / 0

Black Tern 28 / 10

Common Tern 10 / 0

Royal Tern 7 / 7

White-tailed Tropicbird 0 / 1

Wilson's Storm-Petrel 78 / 308