Seabirding: Saturday June 2, 2012

Despite strong winds and torrential rain overnight (and into the morning!) we headed out and enjoyed another wonderful day offshore. The winds shifted (finally) from southwest to northwest, and the seas were generally easy going. Good numbers of Wilson's Storm-Petrels stayed with us most of the day, and among them we found a few “Band-rumpeds”, including a fresh-plumaged bird we suspect was a Madeiran Storm-Petrel. Cory's and several Scopoli's Shearwaters showed particularly well, and sundry Black-capped Petrels and a few 1st-summer Pomarine Jaegers visited us. The afternoon produced a very co-operative light-morph Trinidade [Herald] Petrel, thanks to quick chumming work by Kate, followed by bow-riding Bottlenose Dolphins and then an obliging Bridled Tern as we stopped to examine the Sargassum weed lines. A Red-necked Phalarope on the way back inshore rounded the day.

Trinidade Petrel (light-morph) 1
Black-capped Petrel 15
Cory's Shearwater 32
Audubon's Shearwater 10
Wilson's Storm-Petrel 185-195
Band-rumped Storm-Petrel 3
Red-necked Phalarope 1
Bridled Tern 1
Pomarine Jaeger 3

Trinidade Petrel