Early Spring 25 & 26 April 2026 Hatteras by Kate Sutherland

In 2026 we've added a few sets of trips that are two out of three days giving us flexibility for weather and the same group of people join us on both trips. This set, the first of the season, proved that this idea can really pay off for people looking to maximize their time searching for seabirds with us! 

Friday the winds were really blowing when we met at the dock at 05:30 and we decided to push back to Saturday and utilize the weather date on Sunday. Winds strong from the west all day Friday and still southwest on Saturday, still blowing a bit...but we headed offshore Saturday morning to see what we could find. 

Birding was a bit slow on the shelf and conditions were a bit choppy, but then our first Black-capped Petrel of the spring zipped into view on the starboard bow! A gorgeous light form individual (example from later in the day pictured below). 

This was just the beginning of what we were going to see over the course of the day...we ended up with an estimated 155 individuals before the Stormy Petrel II picked back up in the afternoon! Wilson's Storm-Petrels put on a nice showing in the slick making some close passes,

but the Black-cappeds definitely stole the show. It was really incredible to spend an entire day studying our signature species and looking at the incredible variety that exists in their plumage. The wind helped get them flying and everyone was able to get a feel for how these birds move and hopefully compare it to some other flight styles, but that would have to wait for Sunday when we actually had other flight styles! In addition to seabirds, Atlantic Spotted and offshore Bottlenose Dolphins showed well, coming in to check out the boat, and a very brave Loggerhead Turtle stayed up for us to observe it at fairly close range on the shelf in the afternoon. 

Sunday was shaping up to be a great day offshore if we could get out there (thunderstorms were forecast for the morning) and if we had enough time in the deep (a front with strong northerly winds was forecast for the afternoon). Forecasts have been less reliable over the last year or two so we were curious to see if it would indeed be 14:00 before the wind picked up, as forecast. It was already blowing light from the north early in the morning, but we met at the dock to see if we might be able to make it, even if we had to cut our time offshore of the shelf a bit short. We were super lucky and had a window...so we took it!

Day 2 of the set was much busier from the start and we saw five pelagic species on the shelf before 08:00! Black-capped Petrels were zipping around and we were lucky to have a Manx Shearwater fly by the stern, though it was a bit quick and only a few participants were able to get on it in time. A small group of Red-necked Phalaropes flew by during the 07:00 period. Terns and gannets were around in excellent numbers and we had really amazing conditions with slight seas and overcast skies. Light rain was falling, but it really didn't seem like much compared to what had been in the forecast! Offshore of the shelf break, heading to deeper water, we didn't find much Gulf Stream current and the sea surface temperature was a bit cooler than on Saturday. This meant that even with the north wind blowing the conditions were still quite nice, though the rain did begin to fall a bit harder as the morning went on! It was another amazing day for Black-capped Petrels (though they didn't come as close as they did on Saturday) and this time we had stunning views of Sargasso

and Cory's Shearwaters! Another Manx Shearwater flew by with some Sargassos and everyone was able to get on it this time to compare and contrast the two species side by side. Seeing them together is always such a treat since the Manx weigh twice as much as a Sargasso and the flight style is very different even though they are often listed as a confusion pair since visually they are both black above and white below. In the image above you can see the long tail of the Sargasso - a Manx has a much shorter tail that is white to the tip (since the undertail coverts reach almost to the end of their short tail!).

Leach's Storm-Petrels were another highlight on Sunday's trip. The first individual that came in to the slick was feeding back behind us and Brian was able to circle back perfectly for it to fly right to the bow of the boat making an incredibly close pass and giving all of us great views! 

It was awesome to get to watch this bird as it moved off and flew back into the flock of Wilson's we had in the slick. Everyone could study how differently they fly, their shape and size, and see how they compared to the smaller, more fluttery Wilson's. When we had a second one fly by it didn't come as close, but we were all prepared to pick it out of the flock 😉

Passerines were also offshore Sunday, not unusual when you consider the conditions we had on previous days, but always a bit sad to see birds that want to land on the boat but just can't bring themselves to do so. A female Painted Bunting was the first of this species to ever be recorded on one of our pelagic trips!

We also saw a Palm Warbler, a Barn Swallow, and some Greater Yellowlegs (shorebirds are actually seen quite often on our trips, they do migrate over the sea!). 

Around 11:15 the wind picked up from the north to about 20 knots. By this time we had gotten into a bit more Gulf Stream current and conditions rapidly deteriorated for us...however for the seabirds, it was just a boost! We kept a close watch on birds passing by as we picked up speed around 11:30, heading back to Hatteras Inlet, crossing the shelf break just six minutes later. Black-capped Petrels were still arcing all around us as we approached the lee of Cape Hatteras and then just before noon a bird zipped across the bow from the starboard prompting Brian to say "what's that?!" As it tacked back across the bow it showed its dark underwings and we both shouted "Desertas Petrel!!!!!!" He throttled back and yelled to participants to get out on deck while the bird came back across the bow once more and tacked back and forth right off the port side of the boat! Phew!! Everyone got to see this small gadfly before it quickly moved off with the wind. Just 13 miles south of Cape Hatteras and in about 200 feet of water - wow! Last year we didn't even see one of these dainty gadflies until August - so this was a really special moment that just reinforced our decision to head offshore in late April!

Thanks so much to everyone who trusted us and took advantage of the two out of three day set, having two days makes a huge difference in the number of species you can encounter as everyone on board now knows! Leaders for these trips were: Brian Patteson, myself, and Daniel Irons; Photos in the post are all © Kate Sutherland. See you all out there and thanks for reading! - Kate Sutherland

We just did one eBird trip report for the set: https://ebird.org/tripreport/507001

Species List for 25 / 26 April 2026

Red-necked Phalarope 0 / 9

Parasitic Jaeger 3 / 0

Common Tern 56 / 31

Common / Arctic Tern 2 / 3

Common Loon 11 / 30

Wilson's Storm-Petrel 42 / 63

Leach's Storm-Petrel 0 / 2

Desertas Petrel 0 / 1

Black-capped Petrel 146 to 168 / 138

Atlantic Cory's Shearwater 1 / 4

Manx Shearwater 0 / 2

Sargasso Shearwater 4 / 32

Northern Gannet 3 / 5

Greater Yellowlegs 0 / 4

Least Sandpiper 0 / 1

Laughing Gull 2 / 2

Least Tern 8 / 13

Sandwich Tern 0 / 3

Royal Tern 3 / 14

Barn Swallow 0 / 1

Palm Warbler 0 / 1

Painted Bunting 0 / 1

passerine sp. 0 / 2

Atlantic Spotted Dolphin 7 / 3

Offshore Bottlenose Dolphin 8 to 10 / 2

Portuguese Man of War 0 / 1

A few more Black-capped Petrel images from Saturday's trip

A gorgeous dark form individual to contrast with the light form individual in the text above.

Our token Atlantic Cory's Shearwater - this bird was in much nicer plumage than the one we saw on Saturday and gave us some nice views as it circled the boat. It was a very large bird with a hefty bill and you can see the dark under primaries here.

Another view of the Leach's pictured above showing the wing shape (broad at the base and a bit tear-drop shaped) with the contrasting gray head and long bill that is diagnostic of this species. The forked tail is also visible here and you can see how the tail looks long and tapered. In the image above in the text you can also see the "V" shaped white upper tail and how it shows that dark streak in the middle.

A couple more images of Wilson's Storm-Petrels from Saturday. Here you can see how the feet project beyond the tail when in flight and you can compare the "paddle" shape of the wings to the longer, more angled wings of the Leach's above. The differences in plumage are also pretty obvious in comparison! 

Here is one of the Common Terns we had come to the slick on Sunday's trip...this one had picked up what looks like a Planehead Filefish from the Sargassum! They are also quite content to feed on the small pieces of fish that come from our frozen chum blocks.

And finally either a Fourwing or Atlantic Flyingfish from our trip on Sunday. We also saw a number of Sailfin Flyingfish on both days!

Desertas Petrel - Vexed Taxonomy & Pterodroma Alley by Seabirding (Brian & Kate)

People who are not familiar with seabird taxonomy and the most fascinating and enigmatic group of tubenoses...the Pterodroma petrels, or gadfly petrels...usually have a challenge putting things together from older lists due to how names shift as knowledge improves. For example, Herald Petrel was what we shouted for years when we saw the different forms of what we now call Trindade Petrel - yet Herald Petrel is a species that is seen in the Pacific so if you saw one in the 1990s and looked it up online you would see they don't occur offshore from Hatteras. So people looking back at old lists wonder why we haven't seen Herald Petrels in years when we used to see them annually! When I started coming offshore here 27 years ago "Fea's" Petrel was still a mystery, though we saw them offshore from Hatteras, and ABA had not yet figured out how they would treat it. We now know we have three cryptic species just across the pond: Zino's, Desertas, and Fea's (Cape Verde) Petrel, and while previously it was presumed these were closely related to Soft-plumaged Petrel, we now know they are more closely related to the Bermuda Petrel or Cahow. Check out our note in Essential Info on our website: "What's in a Name?" here

Species in the genus Pterodroma exhibit a strong sense of philopatry, meaning they tend to return to the island from which they fledge. This trait is what facilitates building populations and strengthening numbers by utilizing translocation projects. The most well known reintroduction program here in the US is one undertaken by Steve Kress who translocated Atlantic Puffin chicks from Canada to Eastern Egg Rock, Maine. Following this translocation and fledging of chicks he also used social attraction, playing calls, to build the colony. For us here in Hatteras the story of the Bermuda Petrel or Cahow is the one closest to home. These birds were thought to be extinct for over 300 years rediscovered only in 1951 on an expedition led by Robert Cushman Murphy. They are what we call a Lazarus Species, one that has risen from the dead. The island of Nonsuch in Castle Harbor, Bermuda is a perfect location for a colony and two colonies have been established here over the past 26 years by using translocation and social attraction. A huge success for this species that had only a handful in existence when rediscovered in 1951. The Cahow has now easily surpassed the Zino's Petrel, another Lazarus Species rediscovered in 1969 on Madeira, in number leaving Zino's as one of the most critically endangered gadfly petrels on the planet with little conservationists can do to bolster the population of an estimated 160 individuals. These birds amazingly are still predated by cats in the mountains where they breed on Madeira with local groups insisting the cats be trapped and moved, not euthanized. Natural disasters like fire also have caused trouble for them over the years. It is incredible to think that the Zino's Petrel is not the most critically endangered Pterodroma, but that the Magenta Petrel or Taiko is thought to have only about 12 breeding pairs and maybe 120 individuals in existence. Again, translocation and protected areas are helping to hopefully build numbers of this species as well, yet another Lazarus Species only rediscovered in 1978! All of these pieces help to explain why the species nesting on Madeira differ from those on Bugio differ from those nesting on the Cape Verde Islands. They are very loyal to the island(s) from which they fledge.

Only recently have the criteria to separate the slimmer, more petite Zino' Petrel from the other two species been ironed out finally allowing the photographic record from 16 September 1995 offshore from North Carolina to be accepted as the first for North America! The other two "Fea's type" gadfly petrels overlap in some features making the identification at sea challenging though hopefully some more clues to separate them at sea away from their breeding islands are on the way as seabird experts like Robert Flood and Hadoram Shirihai work to sort it out! There are a few things we can look for to help sort out these cryptic species like the amount of white in the underwing coverts, the amount of barring on the flanks and in the "armpit," and the size, shape and bill of the individual observed. 

Work done on the two populations of "Fea's type" Petrels in breeding colonies indicates that the birds on Bugio (the Desertas) and Fogo (Cape Verde) are distinct enough to warrant species status. Scientific names are Pterodroma deserta and Pterodroma feae. This taxonomy has been in flux with these birds initially thought to be a subspecies of Soft-plumaged Petrel then sorted into their own with status as Fea's Petrel with three subspecies. Zino's Petrel was pulled out of the fray and placed into its own species. As long ago as 1955 the birds nesting on Bugio were thought to be distinct and the scientific name for these Desertas nesting petrels was suggested as Pterodroma deserta. This is why some people have been a bit confused...previously we just had the Fea's Petrel Pterodroma feae, which had already been split into species by some taxonomists but we had only subspecific status here in the Americas (AOS). On our trips birds we see can be assigned to the larger Desertas Petrels so in recent years we would designate them as Pterodroma feae deserta while the Fea's (Cape Verde) Petrel was listed as Pterodroma feae feae. Many of the individuals we have photographed on our trips from Hatteras show the diagnostic large head and bill of Desertas Petrel and underwing coloration that is between Zino's and Fea's (Cape Verde) Petrels. Occasionally we have individuals that might not be as straightforward to identify (the Fea's / Cape Verde Petrel falls in between Zino's and Desertas in size) but molt timing and other characteristics strongly favor them being Desertas Petrels. Any individuals we're unsure about, like our Desertas Petrel sighting in late August of this year, will be listed as "Fea's type" until we have reviewed the images and received additional opinions from seabird experts.

While both Brian and I have experience with Desertas and Zino's Petrels from offshore trips in Madeira, neither of us has yet had the opportunity to get to the Cape Verde Islands for a good examination of those gadflies. Tracking studies show that while adult Zino's and Desertas range far from their breeding locations Fea's (Cape Verde) Petrels tend to stay closer to home. When you think a bit about what species we see offshore from Hatteras and where they nest, it makes sense that birds nesting near the Desertas Petrel like Atlantic Cory's and Band-rumped Storm-Petrels are regular visitors while Cape Verde Shearwater is incredibly rare and Cape Verde Storm-Petrel has not yet been recorded offshore here. It is quite likely the larger weather patterns and systems make it easier for some species to get here and others to range elsewhere. Food availability has so much to do with it as well, and we all know seabirds roam! So it is not out of the question that a definitive Fea's (Cape Verde) Petrel will be spotted offshore here or show up in some older photographic records. We're revisiting a few of those now. 

Anyhow, the US has finally again caught up with the rest of the world and eBird decided to designate the records offshore from Hatteras as Desertas Petrels. And while this is most likely what they are, the at sea separation of Desertas and Fea's (Cape Verde) Petrel continues to be a challenge though hopefully with all of the tools we have now we will at least have some idea when a nice, definitive Fea's (Cape Verde) Petrel shows up offshore here! At this time there have not been any known records of this species offshore from the US.

With 2025 in its last couple of months we're already thinking about what we might find offshore next year! Our schedule is up on the website and the reason we're dubbed Pterodroma Alley is because this is the one place in the US you can head offshore and expect to see at least one species of gadfly petrel (Black-capped) on a day trip...but the possibility of Bermuda, Desertas, and Trindade Petrel are unparalleled elsewhere off of the Eastern Seaboard. We have quite a schedule for 2026, click here, with a few sets of 2/3 day trips in the spring and summer to maximize the list of species for participants and the legendary Spring Blitz running daily from 20 May through 6 June! You never know what you'll find until you go looking, we'll see you out there! - Brian & Kate

Some references for those of you that are interested in reading more:

Brusco et al. 2021. Gadfly petrels of the Pterodroma feae-complex in southwestern Atlantic Ocean, Brazil. Ornithology Research. 29:160-165.

Flood, Robert. 2015. Process for at sea identification of the fea-complex applied to a petrel observed off the Isles of Scilly. Seabird 28: 78-88.

González-Solís et al. 2024. Life history, population dynamics and impacts of cat predation on an endemic gadfly petrel in Cabo Verde. Endang Species Res. 55: 187-203.

Jesus et al. 2009. Phylogenetic relationships of gadfly petrels Pterodroma sp from the Northeastern Atlantic Ocean: molecular evidence for specific status of Bugio and Cape Verde petrels and implications for conservation. Cambridge University Press. Bird Conservation International 19 (3): 199-214.

Ramírez et al. 2013. Year-round distribution and habitat preference of the Bugio Petrel. Mar Ecol Prog Ser. 476: 269-284. 

Ramírez et al. 2015. Conservation implications of consistent foraging and trophic ecology in a rare petrel species. Animal Conservation. 19: 139-152.

Ramos et al. 2016. Global Spatial Ecology of Three Closely Related Gadfly Petrels. Scientific Reports. Nature.

This figure is © Robert Flood and taken from the paper listed above which you can find online here This shows the underwing patterns for the birds in this complex and you can see the overlap but also the general trends for each species. We also highly recommend his Multimedia Identification Guide to North Atlantic Seabirds - specifically Pterodroma petrels if you don't already have it!

Desertas Petrel offshore of Bugio Island 28 June 2023. This individual has a pretty clean "armpit" and a bit of white in the underwing coverts, that blocky head and thick bill are evident.

Desertas Petrel offshore of Bugio Island 30 June 2023. An individual with some barring in the "armpit" but not incredibly strong as has been noted in Fea's (Cape Verde) Petrels. And a bit darker in the underwing. Still has that nice blocky head and thick bill.

Zino's Petrel offshore from Madeira 30 June 2023. You can see how much lighter the underwing coverts are on the edges in this individual. The small head and petite bill plus the more slender body and tapered tail all support the identification. In life these birds reminded me very much of Bermuda Petrel.

If you're interested in getting more familiar with this group of gadflies we recommend heading to Madeira to go offshore with Madeira Wind Birds these trips target Zino's Petrel but are well rounded and you can really maximize your chances to see Desertas Petrel here too. 

Saturday 27 September 2025 ~ Kate Sutherland

At the dock as we all gathered in anticipation of a day offshore, we had an incredible flight with hundreds of birds vocalizing as they flew over in the dark! The most commonly heard were Green Herons and Bobolinks...you can check out Daniel's list here if interested: MorningFlight Of course this gave us a small idea that we might find some migrants offshore!

There was already some southeasterly swell from the distant set of storms (Humberto and the developing Imelda) when we began our run to the shelf break in the morning. Skies were overcast for the most part and remained that way for most of the day plus we had some light rain. As we approached the shelf break we could see more heavy rain ahead...but Brian did his best to keep us out of the downpours! Regardless, it was one of those days with intermittent rain and challenging light. As we so often say, the seabirds really don't care about the rain and some species like our Pterodroma petrels actually love the edges of rain squalls because they always have some wind! And winged-runners do love the wind! As proof our best Black-capped Petrels for the day were along a rain band... 

And while we didn't find anything unexpected on the seabird front, we did find all of the species we hoped to see out there and saw most of them well. If you can believe it Great Shearwater was our most uncooperative species - we just saw one and it flew by mid-distance. Both Atlantic Cory's and Scopoli's Shearwaters were seen well on the shelf in the morning and Scopoli's showed well offshore, some even joining us in the slick like this one!

Our little Sargasso Shearwaters were in short supply and we didn't have a really nice look at one until close to the end of the trip, but thankfully this individual sat on the water and flew a few times as it foraged and everyone saw it well. 

The last hoped for tubenose species of the day was Wilson's Storm-Petrel...in the morning when we slowed down and began the oil drip they were super challenging to see with just a couple behind the boat and distant. As the day went on, however, we gathered a few more and when we circled back a few times we had some great views! We did also have one distant large storm-petrel that gave a Leach's vibe, but it didn't come close enough for us to see well. 

Bridled Terns were seen well with one on a piece of timber in the morning...yes...it was overcast and raining... 

There were a few out there so participants got to see this one close then study them in flight at a distance and compare them to the Sooty Terns we had pass closely in the afternoon.

Now moving on to the other species we encountered out there! As you might imagine after hearing so many this morning a Bobolink found us offshore and thought about staying with us, but ultimately it flew off to continue its search for a suitable perch in the Gulf Stream. 

As early as 09:00 we had a flock of 24 warblers fly by the boat - mostly American Redstarts with a few Cape May Warblers and one Black and White! As the day went on we had more warbler flocks with at least a few Black-throated Blues plus a couple flocks of American Golden Plovers! Common Terns were out in good numbers as well with almost 50 offshore of the shelf 

Thank you so much to everyone who joined us out there today! And thanks so much to our guest leaders Ed Corey and Sarah Toner for helping everyone get on the birds!

Species List 27 September 2025

American Golden Plover - 32

Laughing Gull - 2

Lesser Black-backed Gull - 2

Sooty Tern - 4

Bridled Tern - 7

Black Tern - 1

Common Tern - 148

Royal Tern - 6

Wilson's Storm-Petrel - 74

large storm-petrel species - 1

Black-capped Petrel - 68

Atlantic Cory's Shearwater - 12

Scopoli's Shearwater - 15

Cory's / Scopoli's - 80

Great Shearwater - 1

Sargasso Shearwater - 5

Bobolink - 1

Black and White Warbler - 1

American Redstart - 22

Cape May Warbler - 12

Blackpoll Warbler - 1

Black-throated Blue Warbler - 4

New World Warbler species - 38+

Cetacean species - a possible small whale was seen by leader Sarah Toner

Atlantic Spotted Dolphins - some participants saw a pod on the way back in the afternoon

A few images from the day!

Black-capped Petrels

Dorsal view of Scopoli's Shearwater - you can see how slender the bill is!

Sargassum with rain drops and next up the shearwater we wish was named for this brown algae and not the Sargasso Sea...!

Sargasso Shearwater

Summer Blitz from Oregon Inlet, NC USA - 24, 25, 26, 27, 29 & 30 August 2025 ~Kate Sutherland

Hurricane season which begins each year 1 June and ends 30 November, is always an adventure for us on Hatteras Island! Not just because of the wind and waves associated with passing storms (or landing storms!) but because the island is just a strip of sand with one road to Hatteras Village where we dock the Stormy Petrel II...all the way at the end. This road, NC Highway 12, can be flooded even when we don't have a storm offshore...just part of life here, but some years we choose to run trips "up the beach" in the summer from Oregon Inlet instead of Hatteras Inlet. This year we chose well since NC 12 was closed to traffic until the morning of 24 August from the passage of Hurricane Erin. By the time it reopened we were at Wanchese Marina getting ready for our participants to arrive so we could head offshore! We had to cancel a few trips (19, 20, 22, 23) due to the storm and Brian, Daniel and myself (plus Mowgli the Captain's Cat, see photo below) left Hatteras on the 19th just to be certain we could make it off island!

Thankfully the owner of our rental in Wanchese let us in a day early and didn't charge for the cat! Daniel and I (see below) had time to go to Jennette's Pier in Nags Head for a seawatch as the swell came ashore from Hurricane Erin - it was so nice to see some of our scheduled participants out there and visit with old friends! Unfortunately most seabirds had moved through the day before.

24 August 2025

eBird Trip Report: 24 August 2025

Though there was still some swell on the Oregon Inlet Bar Sunday morning (24 Aug) we made it across and headed to the east! It was so nice to finally be offshore that we almost didn't mind the rain that was with us from 09:00 until about 15:00 😉 Black-capped Petrels were no where to be found out there, but we did have great views of Band-rumped Storm-Petrel!

It was also nice to have great views of Leach's Storm-Petrel! This was the only Leach's we saw for the set, but it showed well. Otherwise we had all of the usual shearwater species (Cory's, Scopoli's, Great) minus Sargasso and solid numbers of Wilson's Storm-Petrels, here is one preening on the water!

As we moved back on the shelf for the trip back to the inlet skies cleared up and we forgot all about the rain as we encountered some Red-necked Phalaropes along with shearwaters plus a cooperative pod of Atlantic Spotted Dolphins!

25 August 2025

eBird Trip Report: 25 August 2025

We didn't have a trip scheduled for the 25th, but since I was in touch with so many of our participants anyhow canceling four of our trips...it wasn't too challenging to put together a group who wanted to join us if we added this date to the schedule! We had a few who even joined because the trip was open and had space so of course we hoped to find something special...but don't we always hope for that?? The first noticeable difference from yesterday was the lack of rain and lack of wind! There was still an impressive swell out there, however, and the birds were really using that to move! It was great to see Black-capped Petrels plus we finally had close views of the small Sargasso Shearwaters. And while we didn't find that Swinhoe's or Black-bellied Storm-Petrel...or the Streaked Shearwater...it was still a solid day out there! We had great views of both Bridled (pictured below) and Sooty Terns with young and heard them calling...

we also had great views of a young Long-tailed Jaeger in the afternoon, and some nice views of Red-necked Phalaropes as well! 

The unexpected birds of the day were a Brown Booby that did a fly-by and Roseate Tern who joined our slick for a few minutes offshore! During the 09:30 period we had a sighting of some cetaceans in the distance ahead, while I didn't see them, Daniel and some others on board did and thought they were likely Goosebeaked Whales (previously known as Cuvier's Beaked Whales - Ziphius cavirostris)!! 

26 August 2025

eBird Trip Report: 26 August 2025

Part of what made this set of trips a bit challenging was that the Gulf Stream was way offshore from Oregon Inlet - it had made a turn to the east south of us and the hot water wasn't close to us at all up where we were - it was closer to Hatteras! This sea surface temperature shot from the day before this trip gives you an idea where that warm water is in relation to Oregon Inlet (yellow star on SST map):

So we had quite a run each day just to get to the Gulf Stream, it wasn't always right there at the shelf break. And on some of these days, like this one, most of the life was concentrated offshore of the shelf where we had just about 5.5 hours to spend! Black-capped Petrels were present with over 100 tallied over the course of the day and a few nice sized flocks of them on the water!! (Light form individual pictured here)

With one of these flocks was a Bermuda Petrel...a bird that Daniel saw from the top deck as it flushed ahead of us and flew directly away. The word didn't get out quickly enough for people to see it, and the birds flushed well ahead of the boat. It's always frustrating to have something like that happen. I much prefer for everyone to see everything close and well, but sometimes this is just the way it goes offshore!! Great to know it was out there, he said it looked fresh and clean so possibly a juvenile that just recently fledged from one of the burrows in Castle Harbor, Bermuda!

All of the usual suspects were out there but Wilson's were most numerous (about 150) followed by Black-capped Petrels (134, likely conservative count!), and these were followed by Black Tern with almost 120 counted! The Wilson's were super cooperative for us to make up for not finding any larger stormies! 

And the color change we had in the afternoon was absolutely gorgeous! Pictured here is a Cory's type shearwater flying on the blue side of the change.

27 August 2025

eBird Trip Report: 27 August 2025

Another day with another long run down to the south southeast, but we found a temperature break on the shelf and the current edge just offshore of there today! We were again lucky to find adult and juvenile Bridled and Sooty Terns - the former mostly near perches 

and the latter foraging with parents along some of the temperature breaks or conditions out there! 

Black-capped Petrels were the most numerous bird out there today, which is always a treat, and while they were not super close and definitely not very hungry, we had some nice resting flocks and a few made some nice passes, like this light form individual. 

We were lucky to see one Band-rumped Storm-Petrel well, and had a nice following flock of Wilson's Storm-Petrels again today. Shearwaters were around, though not in any large numbers, and as we have noticed in years past Scopoli's seem to be more numerous offshore from Hatteras Inlet than they are from Oregon Inlet. We had just over 30 Cory's type shearwaters today and even fewer Sargassos and Greats, but the encounters we had were quality! 

Red-necked Phalaropes were also super cooperative today with over 45 on our offshore portion of the trip. We often see these in the summer and Red Phalaropes are more commonly seen on our winter trips. Sometimes we can find both in the early spring!!

29 August 2025

eBird Trip Report: 29 August 2025

Days of clouds offshore kept us from being able to view a good sea surface temperature map before we left the dock...so we headed back down towards where we had been going the past couple of trips. And just a note - we had a lay day built into the schedule for the 28th, so we didn't weather out, we just didn't have a trip scheduled that day!
We hit the shelf break just after 09:00 and almost immediately had a Brown Booby fly by!

As we worked offshore we saw another flock ahead and there was a different Brown Booby in that flock that also held some Black-capped Petrels! As we focused on the booby, a small gadfly petrel was spotted up ahead! This bird finally came close to the boat and the should of "Fea's Petrel" went out!!! When I looked back at my record shots I had taken of the Brown Booby, the Fea's Petrel was visible right behind it, up high, in a few of the images!

Just a few seconds later the only birds following this large, dark sulid were Black-cappeds...seeming to escort it from the area as they sometimes do!

Technically Fea's Petrel is the species Pterodroma feae that breeds on the Cape Verde Islands, but only recently has this species been split from the similar Desertas Petrel Pterodroma deserta which also was previously called the Fea's Petrel. Their at sea identification is of course challenging, though many tracking studies show that Desertas Petrels (obviously nesting on the Desertas Islands near Madeira) range here while the Cape Verde Petrels range more close to home and off the coast of Africa. This individual's blocky head and stout bill coupled with the primaries not looking super fresh point towards a Desertas Petrel, which we have not seen yet this year!! So quite an excellent find and it made up for lost time staying with us for about two hours and following for ten miles!

Our other gadfly petrels, the Black-cappeds, were super cooperative today as well with almost 100 tallied and many coming close to the boat to feed on the chum! Here is one with a snack!

30 August 2025

eBird Trip Report: 30 August 2025

Today we went a little north of where we had been heading after looking at the above temperature image and seeing some nice looking water to the east of Oregon Inlet. We had a lot of birds, including Black-capped Petrels on the shelf this morning and just over the break. As we moved a bit offshore, we didn't see much to keep us out there so we went back inshore a bit to find the water that was holding a lot of those Wilson's Storm-Petrels in the morning!

It worked for us to do this back and forth today, going offshore of the shelf, then back on the shelf, back off, and finally back on for the inshore transit. Winds were light so conditions were great for spotting other wildlife as well and we had a huge (over a hundred!) group of Spinner Sharks that we caught up to and moved over, looking down you could see them stacked up below the surface! In addition to these sharks we also saw some hammerheads, either Scalloped or Carolina, and at least seven Mola mola, or Ocean Sunfish!

All of the shearwaters other than Scopoli's and a distant Sooty were quite cooperative and it was an epic day for Wilson's with hundreds around us on the shelf sections today. We caught a nice Wahoo in the morning that was large enough for us to can (!) and then I actually hooked a White Marlin in the afternoon! Total accident, Daniel just handed my the rod and we got the fish on...he reeled it in and we released it by the boat, but not before getting at least a few photos of it clearing the water!

What a beauty! While our list was strong for this trip, it was still nice to have the non-avian fauna and some shorebirds like Pectoral Sandpiper and Greater Yellowlegs, plus an American Redstart who came on the vessel, to spruce up the day! The weather got us for the final day and we had to cancel the trip on 31 August much to our dismay...but it was nice to get home to Hatteras for me and I was able to can that Wahoo!! Here is a silly time lapse video I took of finishing the first part of that task!

There are a number of thank you's for helping us get these trips out and we want to extend a warm welcome and huge kudos to Elias Markee-Ratner's for his first trips as a junior leader! He went above and beyond to help our participants see the birds and learn about what they were seeing out there plus took some spectacular photos. He joined us for the August 24, 25, and 26th trips. Local Andrew Thornton also helped out on a couple of trips and we were super lucky to have Amanda Guercio come down from Canada to help on the 27, 28, 29, and 30th! Captain Brian Patteson as always did a great job getting us out there and finding the perfect place to spend our time offshore. Daniel Irons is a force and was always looking from the top deck to see what was out there and communicate numbers to me in the stern. It is a challenge to run trips away from our home port, but we pulled it off and hope everyone enjoyed the time we had out there 💙 Thanks everyone! ~ Kate Sutherland (all photos in the post are mine)

If you are interested in the entire Blitz Totals, please check out our trip report for the Summer Blitz here: Oregon Inlet Summer 2025