Total ABA Species Recorded During 2010 - 731



Saturday, May 22, 2010

Hatteras Pelagic - 3

Another day at sea with light winds. We ended up about 37 miles south of Hatteras Inlet a couple of miles from where we were yesterday. The mix of birds was approximately the same, but I did get two new birds for the year: Band-rumped Storm-Petrel with its distinctive flight and a Long-tailed Jaeger. We'll see the jaeger again on its breeding grounds in Alaska, but it was important to get the storm-petrel here and now. We had a few more jaegers today including the Pomarien Jaeger pictured here. The other bird is a Black-capped Petrel. We saw about a dozen of those birds today, but none of the wanted, rarer pterodromas. The FieldGuides tour group departed yesterday, so the Stormy Petrel 2 was filled with new birders. Steve Howell joined us today, having just arrived from Madeira where he was studying Zino's Petrels. Beyond the birds we were treated to quality sightings of Sperm Whale, Pilot Whales, Spotted Dolphins, Risso's Dolphin, Bottle-nosed Dolphin, Loggerhead Sea Turtle, and a Humpback Whale that breached six times aswe gauked.


The two new birds today brings the year's list total to 571.


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