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Posted by Rick Schofield on 08:49:43 04/21/15
Forty-two people joined us Thursday, April 16 for the Inaugural Audubon Society of the Everglades Pelagic trip out of Palm Beach County.
We gathered before dawn to board the 60' Living on Island Time drift fishing boat out of Hypoluxo/Lantana and traveled down the Intracoastal Waterway to the Boynton Inlet (official name: South Lake Worth Inlet, but that's being picky) where we made our way out into the Atlantic on our way to the Gulf Stream.
We had a decent list of birds just from the pier to the inlet. (See eBird list here:
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S22903783)
Once we were out in the open ocean, we had a couple of interesting birds including a Least Bittern flying toward shore and a Brown Booby in the distance off the stern. Pretty good bird for our first pelagic sighting. Oh, and we witnessed two waterspouts attempting to form but ultimately failing.
For those of you not familiar with a pelagic trip, let me say this. First, a definition: pelagic birds are sea birds that never (or rarely) come ashore except to breed. With the exception of breeding, they live all of their lives at sea: eating, sleeping, and drinking (salt water). Second, the reality: one never knows when, where, or if pelagic birds will be sighted. We spend several hours (six, in our case) drifting, running, searching for these birds (or them, us). Weather, sea, wind, and food source conditions all affect what we get to see -- or not.
Our trip could be described in this way: exhilaration over a sighting followed by quite a while of unfulfilled searching. This process just goes with the territory. It's not that these quiet times are full of boredom, they give the attendees a chance to talk, get to know new birders, resurrect old friendships, and prepare for the next exciting sighting.
So, that's the way that our trip went this morning. But I'll tell you that some of the sightings we did manage to get were MEGA. Like our next bird: a Red-billed Tropicbird. We, at first, thought that it was a White-tailed Tropicbird but checking several camera displays closely proved that was, indeed, a Red-billed. It floated overhead quite close to the boat for all to see before drifting off into the distance.
Tick, tock, tick, tock. Time goes by so slowly (and time can do so much. Are you still mine? But I digress). After a while someone yells out, "Shearwater". Cameras kick in. Click, click, click. Again, after examining the camera displays, everyone agrees on Audubon's Shearwater. Not too shabby.
Our route took us southeast out of the Boynton Inlet to a point about 8 miles off of Delray/Highland Beach where we reached a decent weed line to follow. From there, we drifted north in the Gulf Stream, occasionally under power, until we were off of Palm Beach -- Mar-a-Lago, specifically. The Donald sends his regards.
It was along this leg that one of our leaders, Michael Brothers, spotted a bird of interest. Captain Max gunned it and we followed the bird for a short distance before it kited and dove for a fish. It became clear that this was not a Northern Gannett but, instead, a Masked Booby. Another MEGA sighting. Cheers erupted all over the boat as the bird sat bobbing in the water for a few minutes before taking off and disappearing.
Along the way back to port, our First Mate, Matthew, tossed bait fish into the air to a very obliging Magnificent Frigatebird that snatched them out of the air and swallowed them whole.
And a fine time was had by all.
The complete eBird list is below.
Rick
Boynton Inlet to 8 miles offshore, Boca to West Palm, Palm Beach, US-FL
Apr 16, 2015 7:00 AM - 12:30 PM
Protocol: Traveling
45.0 mile(s)
Comments: Audubon Society of the Everglades Pelagic Trip. 42 birders + 2 crew. Michael Brothers and Carlos Sanchez, leaders; Rick Schofield and Susan McKemy, ASE coordinators.
This list based on Chuck Weber's with additions from Carlos Sanchez, Warren Parker, Roy Netherton. Photos courtesy of Michael Brothers and Ted Center. Thanks, all.
15 species (+2 other taxa)
Red-breasted Merganser 2
Audubon's Shearwater 1
Red-billed Tropicbird 1
Magnificent Frigatebird 5
Masked Booby 1
Brown Booby 1
Northern Gannet 1
Brown Pelican 1
Least Bittern 1
Pomarine Jaeger 1
Parasitic Jaeger 1
Pomarine/Parasitic Jaeger 2
Laughing Gull 6
Bridled Tern 1
Sooty/Bridled Tern 2
Least Tern 4
Royal Tern 5
View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S22903779
This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org)
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