Hump. As we traveled through the Mangrove tree lined channel leaving the dock I said that this sure looked like a good place to see a Mangrove Cuckoo. Several minutes later, while I was in the cabin, many of the
participants were able to get great looks at a Mangrove Cuckoo flying across the channel! Only in Florida can you have the possibility of a great
sighting like that! The birding was quiet until we passed the reef line where some of the first of many Bridled Terns and Sooty Terns were seen.
About 10 miles out, we saw an Audubon s Shearwater and what was probably a Wilson s Storm-Petrel. Then we arrived at the Marathon Hump, which actually
is made up of several seamounts rising from the ocean floor. The Gulf Stream current was moving at 4 knots on this day. When the Gulf Stream current travels over the seamounts, nutrient rich waters are pushed up
towards the surface. These waters feed smaller fish and then larger fish feed on these and then the birds feed on some of the leftovers. We traveled
over to the southeast side of one of the more southern seamounts, stopped the boat and started a nice chum line and Menhaden oil sleek. This worked fairly well and brought in an estimate of 4 or 5 Wilson s Storm-Petrels.
After about an hour of drifting with the chum flowing, we had great looks as a Band-rumped Storm-Petrel came towards the bow of the boat. It flew within 50 feet and made a large counter clockwise circle around the 75 vessel. While we were drifting we were able to clearly see many Dolphin fish swimming just below the surface through the Menhaden oil sleek. As we
continued to drift, we had many Sooty Terns and Bridled Terns feeding side-by-side giving everyone beautiful looks. It was a great way to study
the difference between the two species as they fed close by. We had one Audubon s Shearwater flock that had 20 or so birds in it. Later on, we had
another flock pass by that had about 10 birds. We had quite a few more scattered sightings of Audubon s Shearwater at the Marathon Hump and on the ride back to the dock.
At 1:00 p.m. we had to start heading back to shore, we looked for more birds along the way. About half way in, we saw a feeding flock of terns and were
able to pick out a larger looking bird in the flock. As we got closer, we were able to get pretty good looks at a Cory s Shearwater. This was a lifer
for many on board. Also along the way we saw two very large Ocean Sunfish. These were pretty hard to see so not everyone was able to get good looks.
It was a great trip and a great way to bird the summer doldrums and to see the beautiful tropical waters of the Gulf Stream. Below is a list of birds seen with an estimate of numbers seen.
Cory s Shearwater 1
Audubon s Shearwater 40+
Wilson s Storm-Petrel 5
Band-rumped Storm-Petrel 1
Double-crested Cormorant a few.
Magnificent Frigatebird 4
Laughing Gull a few.
Least Tern 2
Bridled Tern 36
Sooty Tern 40 or 50
MANGROVE CUCKOO 1 flying across the channel on the way out.
Common Myna 1 nesting in the streetlight at the dock.
Gray Kingbird 1 at the dock.
White-crowned Pigeons flying near the dock.
I put a few photos of birds seen on this trip below.
Sooty Tern
:
Bridled Tern
:
Audubon's Shearwater
:
Wilson's Storm-Petrel
:
Larry Manfredi
Homestead, FL.
E-mail: birderlm@bellsouth.net
http://www.southfloridabirding.com