Wind, Seas, and Seabirds ~ 27 May 2022 by Peter Flood

The Stormy Petrel II crew along with 20 enthusiastic participants departed Hatteras Inlet this morning under fairly benign conditions with a tolerable southerly breeze and smooth sailing once we got past the bar. However, we heard the sea from the dock prior to departure and knew there was some wind somewhere. As we steamed southeastwards just past the inlet, we were already counting northbound Sooty Shearwaters just off the beach.  The wind and seas began to build further offshore, and it was not long thereafter when we encountered lines of Great and Cory's Shearwaters tacking northwards with freshening southerly winds. We also added a Manx Shearwater and had four species of shearwaters on our list before we even made it to the shelf break. A Pomarine Jaeger briefly flirted with the boat and quickly realized we had little to offer while we were in transit. 
Once we reached the shelf break, the winds were blowing, and the seas were piling up creating optimal conditions for the omnipresent Great, Cory's and Sooty Shearwaters along with a few Black-capped Petrels popping up in seemingly every direction.  Before long we had a nice collection of shearwaters and storm-petrels in our chum slick with some great looks at Leach's and Band-rumped Storm Petrels zipping around the boat. The action was fast and furious. (Kate Sutherland)

Around mid-morning the call went out for a dark morph Trindade Petrel (which was the first of the season) that came in to inspect the chum slick and made a few nice passes much to the delight of all on aboard. (Ed Corey)

A couple of South Polar Skuas came in hot from the south and barreled their way into the action making several passes around and over the boat before moving on. (Kyle Kittelberger)

Late morning our second Fea's Petrel of the blitz turned up giving us three Pterodroma species for the day.  (Kyle Kittelberger)

It was one of those days that gave you the feeling that anything could have turned up given the wind and seas conditions which had gotten to a point where we had to head back to the inlet earlier than usual.  

Many thanks to all of our participants and leaders Peter Flood, Kyle Kittelberger and Ed Corey for helping Brian and Kate lead the trip.

Species list for 27 May 2022

South Polar Skua - 2

Pomarine Jaeger - 1

Parasitic Jaeger - 2

jaeger sp - 1

Common Tern - 1

Arctic Tern - 3

Wilson's Storm-Petrel - 180 to 220

Leach's Storm-Petrel - 6 to 7

Band-rumped Storm-Petrel - 8 to 9

Trindade Petrel - 1 dark morph

Fea's Petrel (likely Deserta's) - 1

Black-capped Petrel - 27

Scopoli's Shearwater - 7 

Cory's Shearwater 16

Cory's / Scopoli's - 51

Great Shearwater - 61 to 71

Sooty Shearwater - 59 to 61

Manx Shearwater - 1

Audubon's Shearwater - 9

Mahi mahi (Atlantic Dolphinfish) - 1

Another view of the Trindade Petrel (Ed Corey)

Another view of the Fea's Petrel (Peter Flood)

We had nice views of Scopoli's in the slick (Kate Sutherland)...

Great Shearwaters bickering over food (Peter Flood)...

and Sooty Shearwaters sliding down waves (Kate Sutherland)

Even a few Audubon's zipping by the stern (Kate Sutherland)

The South Polar Skuas were very cooperative! (Kate Sutherland)

As were the Band-rumped Storm-Petrels!  This one is grabbing some chum (Kate Sutherland)

A Day to the East ~ 26 May 2022 by Kate Sutherland

Winds were forecast to be light southeast today, but instead we had more westerly wind as we headed out this morning.  Brian decided to head a bit more to the east and it was a good choice!  We had nice diversity all day and while Black-cappeds were not as hungry as they were yesterday, a few still made some stops to pick up some chum!  Shearwaters were a big feature in the slick today, especially hungry Greats (Kate Sutherland).

They were not easy on the Pomarine Jaeger who joined us to grab some pieces of Menhaden from the frozen chum and there was a lot of vocalizing going on behind us!  I fed them some fish and it was really cool to see how quickly the shearwaters could get a piece of chum on the water (much faster than the Pom!), but when it came to trying to capture a piece in the air the Pom ruled! (Peter Flood) 

At one point a nice Scopoli's Shearwater came to visit the slick and spent some time behind us with the Greats giving everyone ample time to study this smaller relative of the Atlantic Cory's.  Sooty Shearwaters were around and we had some in the slick for most of the day then a nice flight as we approached Hatteras Inlet in the afternoon. (Kate Sutherland) 

In addition to the Pomarine Jaegers we had a smaller jaeger fly in to the boat during the 1030 period that turned out to be an immature Long-tailed Jaeger, the first for the Blitz this year.  It made a nice pass by the stern and then went to harass some storm-petrels in the slick for a bit! (Kyle Kittelberger) 

Band-rumped Storm-Petrels were cooperative towards the end of the day and we finally had some nice passes in the slick during the 1230 to 1330 period.  On our way back to the inlet we found some slicks with some phalaropes on them - they turned out to be Red-necked Phalaropes with one Red and we all enjoyed watching these small shorebirds feeding next to the boat - a nice end to a full day offshore here! (Peter Flood)

Thanks so much to everyone who joined us and to Peter Flood and Kyle Kittelberger for helping us lead the trip!  Tomorrow the winds will be different and who knows what the Gulf Stream will bring!  We'll keep you posted...

Species List for 26 May

Red-necked Phalarope - 65

Red Phalarope - 1

Pomarine Jaeger - 2 to 3

Long-tailed Jaeger - 1

Laughing Gull - 1

Common Tern - 2

Wilson's Storm-Petrel - 220 to 240

Band-rumped Storm-Petrel - 12

Black-capped Petrel - 50 to 52

Scopoli's Shearwater - 3

Atlantic Cory's Shearwater - 11

Cory's / Scopoli's - 64

Great Shearwater - 5 to 7

Sooty Shearwater - 52

Manx Shearwater - 1

Audubon's Shearwater - 25 to 26

Risso's Dolphins - 6 to 7

Loggerhead Turtle - 1

Portuguese Man of War - 1

Black-capped Petrel - this one looked like it could perhaps be a recently fledged individual (Kate Sutherland) 

Shearwaters (Peter Flood) Scopoli's, Great, and Sooty

One of the cooperative Band-rumped Storm-Petrels (Kate Sutherland)

Pomarine Jaeger (top Peter Flood, bottom Kate Sutherland)

And a shot of one of the Risso's Dolphins (Kate Sutherland), it was great to see them out there today!  First time we have seen them this spring, though we did have a few on our winter trips from Oregon Inlet this year! 

Gazing at Gadflies ~ 25 May 2022 by Kate Sutherland

Hopes were high after our trip yesterday that the diversity would continue today.  Our transit to the offshore waters this morning was in some north northwesterly winds with some easterly swell, a nice ride to the shelf break, but like yesterday not much to see along the way.  It was overcast and we had a low ceiling for most of the day.  Birds were around once we reached the shelf break and we ran offshore a bit then set out a drift.  Black-capped Petrels were streaming in and we tallied about 65 in the couple of hours we drifted!  We also had views of Cory's, Audubon's and Sooty Shearwaters plus Wilson's and Band-rumped Storm-Petrels.  Around 0940 Brian shouted from the wheelhouse "FEA'S PETREL!!!!!!  PORT SIDE!" and a gorgeous gadfly zipped into our huge slick composed of frozen chum, fish carcasses, fish oil, and some shark liver...we worked for this one!!  It was incredibly cooperative and took a few laps around the boat ensuring it was seen well by everyone! (Kate Sutherland) 

We picked up from the drift a little after 1100 and continued offshore, many of our birds came with us and we soon had a following with hundreds of Wilson's Storm-Petrels and double digit numbers of Black-caps.  Before long the Black-cappeds were closer to us than the Wilson's and they were actively feeding and fighting over chum right behind the boat! (Kate Sutherland) 

They stayed with us until we reached the shelf break in the afternoon, and even still we had a few that were committed to the boat - I gave them a little more food for the "road!"  About an hour before we reached the break I spotted a tropicbird up high behind the boat.  It came to check us out and I called it a White-tailed Tropicbird, but it turned out to be an immature Red-billed!! (Peter Flood)

This bird made some nice passes, not always the experience we have with this larger, less commonly encountered tropicbird, and it was also seen well by everyone aboard.

Thank you so much to everyone who joined us today, and to those who couldn't join us for contributing their seabird karma!  Big thank you to Peter Flood and Kyle Kittelberger for helping Brian and I lead the trip.  Tomorrow the winds are forecast to be light southeast...one we hope for here in the spring!  Wish us luck!

Species list for 25 May 2022

Red-necked Phalarope - 1

Common / Arctic Tern - 1

Red-billed Tropicbird - 1 immature

Wilson's Storm-Petrel - 450 to 500 (conservative)

Band-rumped Storm-Petrel - 3 to 4

Fea's (likely Desertas) Petrel - 1

Black-capped Petrel - 121 to 128 (conservative)

Scopoli's Shearwater - 2

Atlantic Cory's Shearwater - 11

Cory's / Scopoli's - 29 to 31

Great Shearwater - 1

Sooty Shearwater - 10 to 11

Audubon's Shearwater - 39 to 41

Ruddy Turnstone - 14

Red Knot - 13

Flycatcher species - 1

Bottlenose Dolphin (inshore) - 6 to 8

dolphin species - 2

shark species (maybe mako) - 1

Portuguese Man of War - 1

A couple more views of the Fea's Petrel (Kate Sutherland)

We had excellent views of both white-faced and black-faced Black-capped Petrels!  (Kate Sutherland)

And our following feeding flock had a number of species in it!  Here Black-cappeds with a Great and Cory's Shearwater (Kate Sutherland) and one with a Black-capped and Great (Peter Flood)

Coming in! (Kate Sutherland)

Atlantic Cory's Shearwater (Kate Sutherland)

One of our Sooty Shearwaters (Kate Sutherland)

A Band-rumped Storm-Petrel just finishing up molt! (Kate Sutherland)

Wilson's Storm-Petrel (Kate Sutherland)

Change is Good - 24 May 2022 by Kate Sutherland

Today winds were a bit different - and they had an easterly component.  We hoped this would mean we finally would find more diversity out there, and we were right!  While the trip to the shelf break was uneventful, once we got out there the first two birds we saw were a Band-rumped Storm-Petrel (Kate Sutherland)

and Black-capped Petrel!  From there, things just improved.  Winds were from the south east, then a bit of east, then mostly south by the time we were heading back to Hatteras Inlet.  Beehives are not typically a feature of our spring trips, but today we had two that we were able to cruise through and a couple others that were out of range.  These feeding flocks made the day with close views of our first Scopoli’s Shearwaters (Peter Flood) of the season and hundreds of Audubon’s!

It was one of those days when you scan the horizon and there are birds everywhere in the distance.  More than once we had double digit Black-caps in the slick and at one point we had five or six chasing a dark Pomarine Jaeger who made the unlucky decision to fly into our slick!  Wilson’s Storm-Petrels (Kate Sutherland)

were super cooperative and while we had close views of some molting Band-rumpeds, the Leach’s we saw were definitely more fleeting and difficult to see well.  Overall a really incredible experience out there in the Gulf Stream!  

Thanks so much to everyone who joined us and to Peter Flood and Kyle Kittelberger for helping us lead the trip today!  We look forward to seeing what we can turn up tomorrow!

Species list 24 May 2022

South Polar Skua - 1

Pomarine Jaeger - 7

Jaeger sp - 1

Common Tern - 1

Arctic Tern - 1 first summer individual

Common / Arctic Tern - 1

Wilson’s Storm-Petrel - 327 to 337

Leach’s Storm-Petrel - 2

Band-rumped Storm-Petrel - 9 to 12

Black-capped Petrel - 69

Scopoli’s Shearwater - 8

Atlantic Cory’s Shearwater - 7

Cory’s / Scopoli’s - 103 to 123

Great Shearwater - 4

Sooty Shearwater - 22

Manx Shearwater - 1

Audubon’s Shearwater - 280 to 272

Bottlenose Dolphin (offshore) - 2

Ocean Sunfish (Mola mola) - 1

Black-capped Petrels (Kate Sutherland)

Black-capped Petrel pursuing a Sooty Shearwater (Kate Sutherland)

Some natural feeding activity!  Atlantic Cory's and Audubon's Shearwaters feeding on unknown marine life (top Kate Sutherland, bottom Peter Flood) with a Black-capped carrying a prey item (octopus or squid) below (Peter Flood)

Audubon's (top Peter Flood, bottom Kate Sutherland)

Great Shearwater in flight (Peter Flood) and diving (Kate Sutherland)

Sooty Shearwater (Kate Sutherland)

Light and dark morph Pomarine Jaegers (Peter Flood)

And our first summer Arctic Tern (Kate Sutherland)