Sunday May 19th
Today, Bob Pelkey and I,
participated in the pelagic trip sponsored by the Marine Science Center in Ponce Inlet , Florida. The event was lead by Michael Brothers, director of the Marine Science Center and is a fund raising function as well as a great
opportunity to go out into the Atlantic after pelagic bird species we rarely see near land.
Today's trip would take us across the Gulf Stream , to about
100 miles out, to the deep water canyons
in an area they called the tuna grounds.
This was a long, long day
with the boat, The Pastime Princess,
leaving the dock at three in the
morning. Bob and I left Ft Myers at eight o'clock and arrived at the dock by midnight. Extra travel time had been allotted to avoid any possibility of missing the departure. With this spare time, we attempted to grab a bit of sleep.
It looked like we had forty-nine participants. Some folks I
was familiar with, including Bob Hargrove from North Ft Myers., but most were not familiar faces. Like Bob's friend
and fellow bird photographer Robert Doiron of New Brunswick , Canada .
The first leg of our trip
really was challenging. Three hours of rain as we headed east into the Atlantic . Ended up soaked to the skin as did Bob. Robert was lucky as he ended-up in a cozy
spot in the cabin, which was already full before the rains started.. The misery
would be abated hours later after clearing the weather, having our clothes dry
off in the sun and passing a long bird-free stretch of ocean. We did have a few
land birds check out the boat early-on in the darkness and rain. A small flock
of Red-necked Phalorope - lifer approached twice as did a warbler, probably a blackpoll, and a
thrush.
In the following hours we had
some nice contacts with some good birds. They were not numerous but a nice variety. The star was a
fly-by of an adult White-tailed Tropicbird. Lifer!!
White-tailed Tropicbird photo courtesy of Michael Brothers |
Other birds seen were Arctic Terns - Lifer, Sooty Terns, Bridled
Terns, Audubon Shearwater - Lifer,
a single Cory Shearwater, Wilson 's Storm-Petrels
- Lifer, several Black-capped Petrels, a Brown Booby and
a Pomarine Jaeger. I see that other participants reported a
sooty shearwater, red phalaropes, and leach's & band-rumped storm-petrels.
We're checking Bob's photos to see if we captured these as well.
Other sightings included the
mates landing a wahoo and had earlier hooked and lost a blue marlin. A
leatherback turtle was sighted but few of us actually saw it. We missed on any
pelagic dolphins or whales, but one interesting sight was seeing a large ray
breech and leap three times. Not sure
what species it was. Maybe a manta or an eagle ray.
Arrived at the dock just
before 9
pm. Very tired and feeling
the effects of bouncing on the waves for eighteen hours in the rain and sun.
Would I do it again. Maybe next year.
Mr Brothers Birdbrain report-
49 stalwart adventurers joined us for a pelagic trip out of Ponce de Leon Inlet in Volusia County that started out at 3:00 a.m. in rain. Eventually the rain left us and we began to find a great assortment of pelagic birds. At about 90 miles out, we began to find a lot of action, with Black-capped Petrel, Band-rumped Storm-Petrel, Arctic Tern, then the show-stopper of a fabulous adult White-tailed Tropicbird!
Despite times of no bird activity, we found a good assortment of pelagic species:
Black-capped Petrel 12
Audubon's Shearwater 15
Cory's Shearwater 2
Sooty Shearwater 1
Wilson's Storm-Petrel 6
Leach's Storm-Petrel 1
Band-rumped Storm-Petrel 5
Brown Booby 1
Arctic Tern 5
Bridled Tern 8
Sooty Tern 74
Pomarine Jaeger 1
Laughing Gull 2
Red-necked Phalarope 12
Warbler sp. 1
Thrush sp. 1
Black-capped Petrel 12
Audubon's Shearwater 15
Cory's Shearwater 2
Sooty Shearwater 1
Wilson's Storm-Petrel 6
Leach's Storm-Petrel 1
Band-rumped Storm-Petrel 5
Brown Booby 1
Arctic Tern 5
Bridled Tern 8
Sooty Tern 74
Pomarine Jaeger 1
Laughing Gull 2
Red-necked Phalarope 12
Warbler sp. 1
Thrush sp. 1
Loggerhead Turtle 1
Leatherback Turtle 1
Sailfish 1
Wahoo 1
Special thanks to all of the great leaders that helped me out:
Mark Berney
Wes Biggs
Dave Goodwin
Sea McKeon
Mitchell Harris
Ed Kwater
Leatherback Turtle 1
Sailfish 1
Wahoo 1
Special thanks to all of the great leaders that helped me out:
Mark Berney
Wes Biggs
Dave Goodwin
Sea McKeon
Mitchell Harris
Ed Kwater
John Murphy
Roberto Torres
Murray Gardler
The next trip will be in July.
Michael
Michael Brothers
Marine Science Center
Ponce Inlet, FL
Roberto Torres
Murray Gardler
The next trip will be in July.
Michael
Michael Brothers
Marine Science Center
Ponce Inlet, FL