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Posted by Toe on 21:44:06 05/23/08
As Rock mentioned, we had another Red-billed Tropicbird in the Gulfstream off Miami. I must correct what I told Rock; it's a subadult bird, not quite a full adult.
Joining me today on our adventure were Trey, Angel & Mariel, Wil, and Kathy. We started as usual checking out Fowey Rocks light where we found 3 juvenile Brown Booby. I was disappointed that there was no weedline or any birds at the edge just past the reef, but this was most likely due to the west winds this past week. We headed deeper and spotted a couple of Sooty then some Bridled Terns, two distant Audubon's Shearwaters, and two Band-rumped Storm-Petrels next to the boat. Out in 900 ft. we found a decent weedline and put our a chum slick. Within minutes we had Wilson's Storm-Petrels and Bridled Terns feeding in the slick, then we had a fly-by Audubon's Shearwater. After getting sail-away looks at the bird in our slick, we headed back in to shallower water. In about 700 ft. we spotted the Tropicbird flying south. We ran next to it for several miles, and it landed on the water twice, allowing us to get within 100 feet the second time. A very nice ending to a great morning.
Here's our mornings list:
Brown Booby (3)
RED-BILLED TROPICBIRD
Audubon's Shearwater (3)
Band-rumped Storm-Petrel (2)
Wilson's Storm-Petrel (8)
Bridled Tern (20)
Sooty Tern (5)
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