See Life Paulagics's annual summer trip out of Lewes, DE was a success. The
big highlights were 3 BAND-RUMPED STORM-PETRELS and 4 LEACH'S STORM-PETRELS,
all in Maryland waters. An interesting point is that these birds were in a
crossover zone that is also claimed by New Jersey as part of its pelagic
waters. The birds were seen well, photographs were obtained of both, and
write-ups will be submitted to the appropriate records committees.
Another highlight was a poorly seen but fortunately photographed SOUTH POLAR
SKUA seen on the way back in. This bird was also in Maryland waters. (I
still need to check to see if we were still in the New Jersey crossover
zone.)
The expected CORY'S, GREATER (now GREAT per the AOU), and AUDUBON'S
SHEARWATERS and were all seen well and, at one point, we had all 3 species
sitting together. WILSON'S STORM-PETRELS showed well, as usual. To round
out the trip, we had FIN WHALE, PILOT WHALE (an excellent show), the
offshore form of BOTTLENOSE DOLPHIN, a briefly viewed LEATHERBACK SEA
TURTLE, and two brightly colored PORTUGUESE MAN O' WAR jellyfish. A bonus
was catching a few MAHI MAHI and a SKIPJACK TUNA.
Final totals were:
SPECIES DE MD TOTAL
---------------- ----- ----- -----
Cory's Shearwater 6 3 9
Great Shearwater 15 13 28
Audubon's Shearwater 6 9 15
Wilson's Storm-Petrel 215 96 311
Leachs's Storm-Petrel - 4 4
Band-rumped Storm-Petrel - 3 3
South Polar Skua - 1 1
Laughing Gull 2 - 2
Black Tern 1 - 1
Fin Whale 3 - 3
Atl. Bottlenose Dolphin - 14 14
Pilot Whale - 142 142
Leatherback Sea Turtle 1 - 1
Portuguese Man O' War 1 1 2
Our next trip (which is sold out) is a special 22-hour small group trip to
Delaware waters leaving this Thursday night. Wish us luck!
-PAG
--
Paul A. Guris
See Life Paulagics
PO Box 161
Green Lane, PA 18054
215-234-6805
|