Posted by Toe on June 05, 2016 at 22:12:02
Unbelievable. We found the 2nd record for Fea's Petrel in Florida, and the first to be seen and photographed. The 1st record was a banded bird that the transmissions showed it in Florida waters. We were drifting next to a chum slick we put out in 1,000 feet of water, and after a half hour I decided to run into shallower water. Just then we saw a Wilson's Storm-Petrel flying towards the slick. Thanks to that Storm-Petrel, we hung around a little while longer, and saw a bird about 1/2 mile offshore do a very interesting arc while flying north. I put the Xenia V at 25 knots and quickly intercepted the bird, which we quickly identified as a Fea's Petrel. We chased it for 15 minutes at 25 knots barely keeping up, but luckily it made a couple of turns to the south and we got some decent shots. Larry got some killer photos, so hopefully he'll post them later. Here's our trip list: Fea's Petrel Audubon's Shearwater Sooty Shearwater Cory's Shearwater Brown Booby Bridled Tern Sooty Tern Black Tern