Pelagic trip wrap-up, 2004

June 25, 2004  - Clear and calm weather went to sea with us at just after 5:30AM aboard SCAT II.  By the time we hit the R7 tower we we still looking for a bird, any bird.  As we motored away to the WW Reef in 135 feet of water, Bill Lotz scored the first of the day, Cory's Shearwater.  While Malcolm Hodges was looking for that bird he happened on two Audubon's Shearwater which Bill had also seen.   As the day progressed we would see several more Cory's and large shearwaters at a distance.  At least two were close enough to the boat for everyone to get good looks at this species.      

Tower R8 produced nothing, but on our way further out to the Gulf Stream Bill Blakeslee picked up a single Sooty Tern.  The operative word for the day was distant, as in 'most birds were...'   At the Gulf Stream we picked up an outstanding line of sargassum which we followed to no avail.  Bewildered, we left the weeds and headed to the 200 meter shelf break.  Although it was as quiet as our other stops we did have a very cooperative Bridled Tern circle the boat close-in several times.   By noon we we on our way back to the weed line and our best bird of the day.  Bill Blakeslee found Black-capped Petrel, a bird rarely seen in our shelf waters.  Fortunately many of the birders were able to get good looks at this great species to confirm it.  Naturally, I was not among them.  The trip back was uneventful except for two more Cory's and then finally over the Snapper Banks we picked up a storm-petrel.  Based on experience it was likely Wilson's Storm-Petrel, our sixth pelagic bird of the day.

Six pelagic species are not shabby for a Georgia trip, but we can only speculate why there were fewer birds than expected.  Perhaps the most plausible reason had to do with the westerly winds which had blown a good part of the previous three days, pushing them further out to sea.  Captain Amick also noted a lack of baitfish activity over the live bottoms, a possible contributing factor. 

A note on Black-capped Petrel: This species is associated with Gulf Stream eddies and thermal fronts resulting in upwelling. The eddies, known as cold core rings, occur east of the Gulf Stream on the Blake Plateau.  Water depth appears to have no particular impact on its' distribution.  It is the only pterodroma petrel currently known to breed in the West Indies. (Haney, 1987).  The Jamaica Petrel has thought to have been extirpated.

August 19, 2004 - Not much good can be said about Hurricane Charley by most people, but in Georgia we were left unscathed. The hurricane blew by us out on the Gulf Stream, sparing us wind and rain, and providentially leaving birds in its wake.   

This rescheduled pelagic trip was a departure from our normal route.  One thing we have learned in the hours at sea is that, just as on land, birds follow a pattern of foraging early morning and resting mid-day.  With that in mind we created a loop during which we would hit artificial reefs and hard bottom early, three Navy towers mid-day, and the Gulf Stream in between.

 Thirteen birders left the dock just before 6:00 and headed southeast to the L Reef buoy, the Savannah (Snapper) Banks, the M2R6 tower, and on to the Gulf Stream.  By 7:20 we were 20 miles offshore on the L buoy and into our first Cory’s Shearwaters and Black Terns of the day.  Fifteen minutes later be picked up 3 more Cory’s and those sightings of individual birds or small flocks continued on through the Snapper Banks.  Just before that productive hard bottom we picked up an adult Bridled Tern on flotsam at 7:46 followed quickly by two more of the same.  Our position at this point was 31º 35.79, 80º 25.98, about 42 miles offshore. 

 As we approached the R6 tower at 8:47 we found our first Sooty Terns of the day and 6 more Cory’s Shearwater.  The tower if self produced only a lone Indigo Bunting, a Sandwich Tern and about 12 Royal Terns.  After a short turn around R6 we headed directly for the Stream, picking up more Cory’s and another Bridled Tern.  Along the way we recorded our only Audubon’s Shearwater at 9:55.  By now we had four pelagic species and a count of about 35 Cory’s, 5 Bridled Terns, 3 Sooty Terns and 1 Audubon’s Shearwater.  This count alone has sufficed for some trips, but it was not yet 11:00 and the best was yet to come.

 We entered the Stream at 10:58 and were instantly greeted by a juvenile Magnificent Frigatebird, high over head of a commercial fishing vessel.  It drifted over SCAT while we watched, giving good views to all aboard as well as distant camera shots.  About a half hour late we tallied 3 small flocks of Red-necked Phalarope, for pelagic species number 6, again close enough for the cameras.  A nearby Bridled Tern on flotsam posed long enough on its perch to once again afford all the cameras on board no excuses for missing.  This leg of the trip also yielded the only confirmed Wilson’s Storm-Petrel of the year to date, just before noon.  An unexpected advantage to this new route was that the boat could head north with the current, making for more rapid progress in the Stream, but still at a leisure pace.

 We left the stream after about an hour with nothing more to show and headed for the R8 tower.  At this second tower we again picked up several Cory’s Shearwaters and another 12 Royal Terns.  The only highlight at this stop was a good look at a barnacle encrusted Loggerhead Sea Turtle which stayed afloat just long enough for photographs.  It was on to WW Reef and then R7. 

 So far our strategy of finding resting storm-blown vagrants on the towers was providing meager results.  Over this off-shore artificial reef we picked up only 1 more Bridled Tern and 3 more Cory’s Shearwater.  About a mile east of R7, we found plenty of bait on the surface, something we had seen regularly during the trip. A flock of 22 Cory’s Shearwaters was foraging over these boils, as well as numerous Black Terns.  At about 3:00 we approached R7.  There we found birds roosting on almost every available perch of the tower.

 In addition to Common, Sandwich, Forster’s and Royal Terns on the tower, there were Sooty and Black around it as well as Cory’s Shearwater.  But most of that did not hold our attention as we quickly found three juvenile Brown Boobies.   While we were wrapped up in a new high count of this rare tropical species for Georgia, Johnny the mate, with his amazing eyesight picked up a single, soaring, white bird very high overhead.  Several of us could make at the fanned tail of tropicbird, but no one could positively ID it.  We followed it as long as possible hoping in vain that it would turn and come down.  Our best guess is White-tailed, but no mistaking the genus.  

 By now it was 3:30 with two hours to run in front of us.  We left the tower and were about 3 miles west when one of us had an all brown tern-like bird streak by us toward the tower.  We had this quick look at a possible Brown Noddy a couple of times that day, shrugging it off to wishful thinking.  However, Steve graciously turned SCAT back east and we returned to the tower in spite of the time, with one last hope of finding yet another tropical rarity on this trip.  It wasn’t to be, but there was no disappointment aboard SCAT on the homeward journey.  Three lucky individuals on this trip were scheduled to return again on Saturday, August 21 with a great opportunity to add even more to our growing knowledge of off-shore Georgia. 

August 21, 2004 -  The weather handicapped Saturday's trip in the early going, but 16 birders still managed a very productive day.  SCAT headed right for the R7 and R8 towers and then on to the edge of the Gulf Stream.   R7 was equally as productive this day as it had been two days early.  Birders were greeted by good looks at Brown Booby and an estimated 30-50 Cory's Shearwater over baitfish, visible from every direction around the boat, a remarkable sight for even the most veteran seabirders.  The next stop before heading for the Gulf Stream was the tower R8.  Along the way both pelagic terns, Sooty and Bridled were picked up, more Cory's and a lone Audubon's Shearwater. 

The R8 tower turned up nothing new, so the group made for the Gulf Stream.  A probable Red-necked Phalarope was seen at a distance, and more Sooty and Bridled Terns.  Choppy seas continued to slow progress and the ultimate distance SCAT could make it into the Stream. 

Success at R7 required a return visit, and it was well worth it as all three Brown Boobies were found the second time around as well as excellent looks at Bridled Tern, characteristically floating on a piece of flotsam.  The story line was the same for this trip, a lot of baitfish activity on the surface resulted in a lot of bird activity, and in particular excellent numbers of Cory's Shearwater.

Thanks to Dot Freeman with the help of Chris Skelton and others in compiling the list. Thanks also to Steve Calver and Gene Keferl for their willingness to test their raingear on the way in.