Black-capped Petrel - Ponce Inlet Pelagic Trip

Back last Memorial Day weekend several of us had reservations for a pelagic trip out of Ponce Inlet sponsored by Michael Brothers and the Marine Science Center of New Smyrna Beach. As our caravan was crossing the state we received word that the trip had to be cancelled due to weather condition.  Tropical Storm Beryl was churning up the coast. It was a disappointment, but we managed to turn lemons into lemonade due turning south to the Florida Keys and some great birding.

This past weekend I was rescheduled to attend Michael Brothers' latest trip out into the Gulf Stream with hopes of adding a long list of expected pelagic species with the possiblity of some rarity to show up.

Saturday September 15th



A Black Tern see on Bio Lab Road

As it was a four hour plus drive, I used a day to make the drive and have time to visit Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. Upon arrival I hurried to the Bio Lab Road first with the idea of locating a possible lingering Wilson's Phalarope that was being reported there. The lagoon side of the road was not very fruitful as the water was too deep for waders and shorebirds. The shoreline though offered looks at Sanderlings, Semipalmated Plovers, Black-belled Plovers, Least Sandpipers, Western Sandpipers, Semipalmated Sandpipers, Ruddy Turnstones, Double-crested Cormorants, Short-billed Dowitchers, several Stilt Sandpipers, Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, a Black Tern a couple of Forster s Terns, many Laughing Gulls and the Wilson's Phalarope I was looking for. I actually missed the phalarope, but another fella, Lee Leatto, photographing the scene, put me onto the bird.

A look at Blackpoint Drive

Next I tried The Blackpoint Drive. Not much was here to see. Best wader was a Reddish Egret. Shorebirds were limited mostly to Sanderlings and Black-bellied Plovers. Came across a nice gathering of Laughing Gulls and terns. Had Caspian, Royal, Forster's and possible common and sandwich Terns.  lacking a scope made it difficult to discern some of the terns ID.

Sunday September 16th

Leatherback Turtle
Photo courtesy of Michael Brothers

The attendees for the pelagic trip needed to be at the dock at 3:30 am for a 4 am launch. We had fifty-three participants assembled with some folks having flown in from other states to attend the trip. Also met several folks I knew by name or reputation.  Like Wes Biggs, Scott Simons, Roberto Torres, Danny  Sauvageau,  John Mangold and Andy Kratter.  We boarded the Pastime Princess for our voyage.. Weather conditions were good, but the seas were a bit choppy for a while. Close into shore, as dawn was breaking we starting picking up a few birds. Cory's Shearwaters were the most commonly seen bird of the day. By the time we reached the weed line some 50 or so miles out we had Pomerine Jaegers, a single Greater Shearwater, Sooty Terns, Common Terns, Magnificent Frigetbirds and a number of land birds in migration including dozens of warblers, an Eastern Kingbird and several Great Blue Herons. At the tuna grounds the crew chummed the waters to try to lure in any storm-petrels. We surprisingly dipped on storm-petrels but did see as many as a dozen  Black-capped Petrels. On the trip heading back to port we could add Bridled Terns too.  Some folks got red-necked phalarope and Audubon shearwater, but I missed them. It was a good trip in that we did find some good birds, but expectations were high that we would manage a much longer list. Maybe next time. Other encounters included great views of a large pod of Atlantic Spotted Dolphins swimming with the boat and a gathering of 6 to 8 huge Leatherback Turtles. Sure wish my camera would have been working. It was a very long and sun-soaked trip. We arrived about 7:40 pm at the dock, were many weary and sun-burned birders departed  for home.

To see photos and stories from fellow birders on this trip, checked the hyperlinked sites above.

Atlantic Spotted Dolphin
Photo courtesy of Michael Brothers

 

Monday, September 17th

After a very good night's sleep it was time to head for home. But I had a couple of stops in mind on the way. First was to stop at Joe Overstreet Road near Kissimmee State Park with idea of locating the Whooping Cranes that have taken up residence there.  They are a part of the Florida non-migrating flock that we hope will one day be self sufficient.

 

I arrived about 10:30 am and never did find the whoopers.  Lots of Sandhill Cranes and several flocks of shorebirds on the sod farms including Pectrol Sandpipers, Black-belled Plovers and some Yellowlegs. I did also come across several Wild Turkeys ( should be Osceola subspecies), a couple of early Palm Warblers and found a pair of Kestrels. I'm not sure if they are migrants or resident Southern American Kestrels. The most interesting event here was the cattle round-up. Several ranchers on horse back with thier cow-dogs rounded up a herd of cattle in one pasture and moved them down the road to another pasture. The dogs were very instrumental in getting the cattle to cooperate.

 

Later, at the Taylor Creek Water Management area I had a trio of Tree Swallows, a  Bank Swallow and several Barn Swallows. I made a point of heading into the Everglades Ag Area south of Belle Glade with the idea of checking the sod farms and fields around Brown's Farm Road for any shorebirds or swallows. Best I got were a lot of Mourning Doves, Starlings, a few Barn Swallows and a couple of Eastern Kingbirds. That pretty much ended my birding weekend.

Trip List - (86)

Mottled Duck, Wild Turkey, Pied-billed Grebe, Black-capped Petrel, Cory's Shearwater, Great Shearwater, Magnificent Frigatebird, Double-crested Cormorant, Anhinga, Brown Pelican, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Little Blue Heron, Tricolored Heron,  Reddish Egret, Cattle Egret, Green Heron, White Ibis, Glossy Ibis, Roseate Spoonbill, Wood Stork,  Common Gallinule,  Black Vulture, Turkey Vulture, Osprey, Cooper's Hawk, Bald Eagle, Red-shouldered Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, Common Gallinule, Sandhill Crane, Black-bellied Plover, Semipalmated Plover, Killdeer, Black-necked Stilt, Spotted Sandpiper, Greater Yellowlegs, Willet, Lesser Yellowlegs, Ruddy Turnstone, Sanderling, Semipalmated Sandpiper, Western Sandpiper, Least Sandpiper, Pectoral Sandpiper, Stilt Sandpiper, Short-billed Dowitcher, Wilson's Phalarope, Laughing Gull, Sooty Tern, Bridled Tern, Caspian Tern, Black Tern, Common Tern, Forster's Tern, Royal Tern, Sandwich Tern, Black Skimmer, Pomarine Jaeger, Rock Pigeon, Eurasian Collared-Dove, Mourning Dove, Common Ground-Dove, Belted Kingfisher, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Pileated Woodpecker, Crested Caracara, American Kestrel, Eastern Kingbird, Loggerhead Shrike, White-eyed Vireo, Blue Jay, American Crow, Fish Crow, Tree Swallow, Bank Swallow, Barn Swallow, Gray-blue Gnatcatcher, Northern Mockingbird, Starling,  Palm Warbler, Northern Cardinal, Red-winged Blackbird, Common Grackle and Boat-tailed Grackle

Cory's Shearwater - Ponce Inlet Pelagic Trip

Sunday November 13th



The Pastime Princess in New Smyrna Beach

Had to be at the dock by 5:30am  so we could all embark on the http://www.pastimeprincess.com/ for a pelagic trip to the gulf stream.  I had not ever taken one of these trips and certainly as a lister needed to find new birds to enjoy. There were plenty of experienced and noted birders aboard as well as several neophytes such as myself. Michael Brothers, Director of the Marine Science Center in Ponce Inlet, Florida sponsored this trip as a fund raiser for the science center. I sat on the top observation deck and if I were to have a return visit, I think next time I'd get onto the bow. Seems that they were finding much more than I was seeing at my position. As a neophyte to pelagic birds and birding I did relie a great bit to the more experienced birders aboard.

Ponce Lighthouse at sunrise

One disappointment was that I only added four lifers - Brown Booby, Cory's Shearwater, Great Shearwater and Pomarine Jaeger.  Had hoped for a larger variety of seabirds.  Maybe next time.  I was also able to add Parasitic Jaeger, Common Tern, Northern Gannets and Lesser Black-backed Gull.  As we were passing the rock jetties on our way out into the Atlantic we were able to scan the rocks for for any purple sandpipers, but only got Snowy Egrets and Ruddy Turnstones.



Cory's Shearwaters



Sometimes you really had to hold on. Makes it hard to get your bins on a bird

Mr Brothers had brought aboard a dozen or so sea turtle hatchlings for release. When we reached the appropriate location the baby turtles, all but one a loggerhead, the other a green, were released onto floating beds of sargassum weeds. At another spot, were we were encountering a lot of birds, the crew were reeling in a lot of dolphin (mahi) that were also being attracted to the chum line.

The following is a excellent report Mr Brothers posted on Brdbrains

    Sunday morning, 11/13, 48 brave souls boarded the Pastime Princess and ventured on another offshore adventure out of Ponce de Leon Inlet, Volusia County. We headed just offshore to search the gulls following the nearby shrimp boats. We set out a chum slick and soon had hundreds of gulls following our boat.  Just a couple of miles offshore we found a Parasitic Jaeger chasing some Laughing Gulls. We headed out offshore and had an occasional Cory's Shearwater and Great Shearwater, but little else. Eventually a Great Shearwater came up right behind the boat and settled on the water giving everyone an exceptional up-close opportunity to see this beautiful bird.


We had a long period with few birds until at about 48 miles offshore, inside the west edge of the Gulf Stream we started to find shearwaters on the move. A constant stream of Cory's and Great Shearwaters approached us from behind and also a Brown Booby.  Soon we found our first large group of about 60 birds - Cory's and Great Shearwaters feeding frantically in patches of Sargassum weed. In the middle of the group of shearwaters was an immature Brown Booby. Nearby, a Pomarine Jaeger flew off the water. We met group after group for the next 12 miles. We found another Pomarine Jaeger and 2 more Brown Booby. We found about 400 shearwaters in total over the next 12 miles.


Species List
Cory's Shearwater  350
Great Shearwater   50
Probable Audubon's Shearwater  1
Brown Booby 4
Pomarine Jaeger  4
Parasitic Jaeger 2
Common Tern   30
Sandwich Tern
Royal Tern
Herring Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Laughing Gull
Lesser Black-backed Gull
American Coot  5

Several small flocks of unidentified ducks

Several excellent photos can be seen attached to Mr Michael's report on Brdbrains



The Ponce Lighthouse as we returned to the dock at sundown



The trip took twelve hours with the bulk of the time heading out and heading in.  We got back to dock at about 6 pm.  Very tired.  The weather had been good and the seas were too bad. But it was now time for my four hour drive home.  A long day.