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Posted by Toe on 15:23:17 07/03/06
Five intrepid birders ventured choppy seas with me today in hopes of finding some good pelagics blown in by the steady East winds and storms we've had this week. We would not be disappointed. With me today were Paul "Life is Good" Bithorn, Alex "Goober" Harper, Larry "Cali-Boy" Wolski, Raul "Rock Jetty" Urguelles, and Alexander "Trey" Mitchell III. With this motley bunch I'm glad we got back to the dock in one piece.
We started off at Fowey Rocks Lighthouse where we only had one Brown Boobie. It was an immature, but was still a life bird for Larry so this was worth it. We headed offshore and got into good numbers of Sooty Terns just off the reef. We shortly added Audubon's and Cory's Shearwaters and Wilson's Storm Petre, along with many more Sooty's and the occasional Bridled Tern. After enjoying these species for a while, we headed a little deeper. At first things were dead, but in about 450 feet of water, as the rest of us looked forward, sharp-eyed Alex pointed to a bird heading straight towards us from behind. He mumbled something, and we all repeated the same mumbling noises when we realized what it was: WHITE-TAILES TROPICBIRD! Wow! Talk about awesome. It came in right over us before flying off to the northeast. we chased it down a bit and when we idled to get good binocular looks, it turned again and flew right over us for a second time.
After a few minutes of CPR, I came back to and took the wheel in search of more birds. We headed to about 600 feet of water and found almost nothing, so we headed back shallower and added Greater Shearwater then a little later a Band-rumped Storm Petrel. Back at the outer reef, about 150 feet of water, we found many Sooty and some Bridled Terns, and added a couple of Brown Noddy for the day. At one point we had Bridled and Sooty Terns, Brown Noddy, and Cory's Shearwater eating pilchards that we threw to them by the boat. A great way to end an awesome morning of pelagic birding. Kudos to Alex for being the first to spot the Tropicbird, and he also gets the trooper award for lasting as long as he did in the rough conditions. A great day of morning. Life is surely good when I finally get a life pelagic bird. Cheers!
Our Tally:
White-tailed Tropicbird
Band-rumped Storm Petrel
Wilson's Storm Petrel
Brown Booby
Greater Shearwater
Cory's Shearwater (9)
Audubon's Shearwater (6)
Brown Noddy (2)
Bridled Tern (40)
Sooty Tern (>100
Others:
Royal Tern
Least Tern
Magnificent Frigatebird
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