Posted by Larry Manfredi on August 26, 2002 at 18:38:34:
Highlights:
Arctic Tern
Greater Shearwater
Audubon's Shearwater
Wilson's Storm-Petrel
Cory's Shearwater
Brown Booby
With a great weather forecast, and seas 3' or less outside the reef, we cast off for another great pelagic birding adventure. On this trip we had 38 birders including me, all with a great sense of adventure to explore the seldom seen offshore waters of the Florida Keys. We left the dock on time and headed for the open ocean, we found a nice weed line just outside the reef. Located here were some Bridled Tern and many Magnificent Frigatebirds, we cruised this weed line for a couple of miles finding nothing else new. We continued on in the direction of the 409 hump looking for any other birds. We had a distant Cory's Shearwater on the way there, some Sooty Terns and more Bridled Terns. A couple of the participants spotted a bird in the water which turned out to be an AUDUBON'S SHEARWATER. We made a sharp turn in the boat to get great close looks of a sitting and then flying bird. This was a lifer for many on board and where everyone got excellent looks! On the last trip we did not see a single one, on one of my trips in July I saw almost one hundred of them. This proves that you need to go out several times to see the most species, each trip seems to be a new experience!
We arrived at the 409 hump by 11:00 am, many Sooty Terns, Brildled Terns and a few Brown Noddies greeted us. We put out a large fish oil slick to see what other birds we could attract, while searching through the flock of birds here. One of the birds that we saw in amongst the Sooty Terns and Bridled Terns looked to me to be a Black Tern, with better views we were pleasantly surprised to find that it was an ARCTIC TERN. This bird proved to be a frustrating bird to relocate and not everyone saw it well or at all, that's pelagic birding for you. We continued searching through the flock and found a nice Cory's Shearwater that sat on the water for a close approach. A little later we had another different looking shearwater flying towards the boat which landed in the water. We cruised over to it to see it sitting side by side with a Cory's Shearwater, this new bird was a GREATER SHEARWATER. What a great way to view it right next to a Cory's, we had these two birds no more than 20 feet from us! This bird was a lifer for many and a new bird for some of the Florida birders who keep Florida list. After we searched the flock of birds at the 409 hump we went out another couple of miles east to about 1000' of water. Not much here except for a distant flock of birds flying in formation. As these birds approached they turned out to be a flock of about 21 GLOSSY IBIS! Where were these coming from? We had another flock later on in the trip that had 38 of them!
We turned back to head towards the Islamorada hump which is smaller than the 409 hump. On the way there a storm-petrel was sighted by a few but not seen well enough to find out which species. A little later another one was seen sitting on the water, this one took off before we could approach it close and it flew directly away from the bow of the boat. I got on it and a few other birders did as well. This bird was a Wilson's Storm-Petrel based on flight and the white on the rump, another bird in which better views for most, would have been most welcomed. We finally made it to the Islamorada hump to find many fishing boats and not many birds. The birds seen here were mostly Bridled Terns with a couple of Magnificent Frigatebirds. It seems that the fishing boats keep the larger fish down along with smaller bait fish. This in turn keeps the birds away, the best approach here would be to visit first thing in the morning or late in the day when there are less boats present. We started a slow return to the dock by this time still searching for more birds, we weren't disappointed when two BROWN BOOBIES showed themselves. We first saw them flying and then saw them land on the water some distance ahead of the boat. We headed in the direction of the birds and were able to get very good close looks.
The rest of the trip back to the dock was uneventful with no other new birds seen. Once back at the dock there were many smiling faces of birders who saw some great birds! I can't wait until the next trip!
Here is a list of species seen with approximate numbers.
Some of the interesting birds seen from the dock:
Belted Kingfisher 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker 1
Eastern Kingbird 1
Gray Kingbird 1
Great Blue Heron, white morph 1
Snowy Egret 3
Great Egret 1
Black-crowned Night-Heron 1
Bank Swallow 1
White-crowned Pigeon at least 15 flying by.
Common Myna 6
Offshore birds:
Cory's Shearwater 2
Greater Shearwater 1
Audubon's Shearwater 1
Wilson's Storm-Petrel 1
Storm-Petrel species 1
Brown Booby 2
Magnificent Frigatebird 50 plus.
Glossy Ibis 59, now what were these doing so far out?
Osprey at least 10 many far out at sea.
Royal Tern, several
Sandwich Tern a few.
Arctic Tern 1
Least Tern 1
Bridled Tern about 40+
Sooty Tern a couple of hundred.
Brown Noddy about 24
Sailfish 2 different fish gray hounding out of the water, good views.
A pretty big school of what looked like Sardines with Blackfin Tuna skyrocketing through them.
Loggerhead Turtle 2
Larry Manfredi
Homestead, Fl.
E-mail: birderlm@bellsouth.net
http://www.southfloridabirding.com