Posted by Larry Manfredi on June 12, 2002 at 10:05:04:
With a marine warning of an approaching squall with wind gusts up to 40
miles an hour we went fishing and birding anyway. The warning was from
Key Largo south to Graig Key, we were able to go just south of the
approaching weather and had a great day of birding. It was still rough
though with waves up to about 7 feet. Here is a list of some of the
better birds seen.
Cory's Shearwater I counted 19!
Greater Shearwater, 1
Audubon's Shearwater 50+
Leach's Storm-Petrel 3, these I thought were unusual, I would have
expected Wilson's instead.
Magnificent Frigatbird, many.
Brown Booby 2
Black Tern 1, kind of late for one.
Sooty Tern 200 to 300 or even more.
Bridled Tern about 40
Brown Noddy about 3 dozen.
The Leach's Storm-Petrels were seen fairly close in just past the reef
line in about 150 feet of water. I saw two traveling together and
another a little farther out. We went out to the 409 hump which is 18
miles from the dock in Islamorada. On the way there we saw about 3
dozen Audubon's Shearwaters sitting in the water with one Cory's
Shearwater. Once at the 409 hump we saw many, many seabirds, mostly
Sooty Terns but with lots more Audubon's Shearwaters and some Cory's.
Most of these birds were actively feeding, some were sitting in the
water allowing close approach. The 409 hump is an ocean sea-mount that
rises up to 409 feet from the surface. It goes down to about 900 feet
around it. Because of this it creates large upwellings that bring bait
fish to the surface for the birds to feed on. This is a very productive
area and I think the potential here for rarities is high. I may be able
to go out again on Friday if the weather permits, I will post any birds
seen after that.
Be sure to mark your calendar for Saturday August 17th. for a pelagic birding trip. Contact me if interested.
Larry Manfredi
Homestead, Fl.
E-mail: birderlm@bellsouth.net
http://www.southfloridabirding.com