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Posted by Toe on 22:45:36 10/30/09
Trey, Paul B., and I headed out early this morning hoping to catch the migration of Jaegers as they head to waters down south. We began trying to catch bait before dawn hoping to add a few fish for dinner in the process. Shortly after clearing Government Cut and passing the first range markers, we saw the first group of Northern Gannets as they two headed south. A few drifts over the reef line produced only 1 mackerel and two Pomarine Jaegers, so we headed offshore in hopes of finding more birds. A run out to 1,100 ft. and back produced nothing, so we went back to the 100 ft. area where we had started. We soon started seeing more Jaegers, and had one flock of 13 Pomarines pass right next to the boat. This flock had individuals of various ages and one dark morph as well. Nice.
While drifting in 80 feet we spotted a flock of gulls inside of us acting startled, then we saw two Jaegers mixed in with them. The jaegers made a couple of swoops then they hit the deck and headed south real fast. We intercepted them and ran alongside them for about 2 miles, and had great looks at the two: a Parasitic and a Long-tailed. Sweet! That was an awesome experience. We were treated to a bonus in being able to see the differences between the two side-by-side.
We saw various groups of Gannets throughout the day, and also a few Brown Booby, mostly juveniles, but one real nice adult. Our final sighting was a group of 9 more Pomarines to finish off an awesome outing. Fishing was slow, with only 2 Mackerel and 2 Mahi to show for it.
Our tally:
Long-tailed Jaeger
Parasitic Jaeger
Pomarine Jaeger (34)
Jaeger sp (2, with one a possible Parasitic)
Brown Booby (7)
Northern Gannet (40-50)
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