Pelagic Trip Report
August 6, 2005
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Pelagic Trip Report August 6, 2005 |
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08/08/05 |
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Click on any image below to enlarge the picture. Trip Route:
Species encountered: Audubon's Shearwater - 13 Cory's Shearwater - 9 Wilson's Storm-Petrel - 2 Bridled Tern - 2 Royal Tern - 58 Black Tern - 2 Shorebird sp. - 9 Shearwater sp. - 4
Pelagic Species: Audubon Shearwater
Cory's Shearwater
Bridled Tern
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Pelagic Trip (Tybee I., GA,
Departure)
Just sit right back and you'll read a tale, a tale of a fateful trip, 15 passengers set sail on 6 August 2005, on a pelagic trip departing from Tybee Island, GA at approximately 6:02AM. The weather started getting rough at about 7:00AM. The tiny ship was tossed... What was expected to be a nice quiet ride out to the gulf stream turned out to a rough, wet ride! The trip was organized by Russ Wigh, and 15 birders accompanied Captain Steve Amick and first mate Johnny for a bumpy ride out to sea. The seas were between three and five feet on the ride out and the weather was cloudy with thunder storms in the distance. The winds were from the east at between 10 and 15 knots. At approximately 7:00AM, a flock of high flying Double-crested Cormorants were seen in the sky and a single Black Tern joined eight Royal Terns. The first pelagic species was seen at about 7:30AM, an AUDUBON'S SHEARWATER was seen flying past the boat and shortly after another large shearwater was seen which could not be identified. Our plan for the day was to head out to the gulf stream to look for deep water pelagic species and along the way check out several navy towers. The weather was a potential problem, as the distant thunder storms and high winds were resulting in higher waves than anticipated. The captain would have to wait to see how far off-shore we could safely venture. At 8:15AM, we encountered a small "bait boil" of bait fish with 32 Royal Terns feeding on the schools of bait fish. We also recorded two more Audubon's Shearwaters and a Black Tern. The next new pelagic species flew by the boat at 8:45AM, a CORY'S SHEARWATER. We continued to work our way out to the first Navy tower, M2R6, and arrived there at 9:15AM. Unfortunately, there were no boobies on the tower and very few birds in the area. As we motored around we located six additional Audubon's Shearwaters and the first BRIDLED TERN of the day. We took off for the gulf stream and headed for the furthest Navy Tower, R8. Along the way we recorded several more Audubon's Shearwaters and another Bridled Tern. We arrived in the gulf stream at about 12:08PM and attempted to build up a fish oil slick to attract pelagics. We could never pull any species close in to the ship, but we did have two Cory's Shearwaters, several unidentified larger shearwaters and two WILSON'S STORM-PETRELS, the only two of the day. We continued our way towards R8 and along the way added three more Cory's Shearwaters at 12:40PM, and another three Cory's Shearwaters between 1PM and 1:30PM. When we arrived at R8 there were no birds at all on the tower, nor any indication that any birds have been using the tower recently. We headed towards Navy tower R7 and arrived there at 2:15PM. Here we encountered about 18 Royal Terns and another Audubon's Shearwater. We turned west and began our long trip back to the coast, picking up several more Audubon's Shearwaters along the way. On the way in we were able to add a few inland species to the list for the day including Brown Pelican, Sandwich Tern and Least Tern. We arrived back at the Tybee Island dock at 6:02PM, almost exactly 12 hours after having left that morning. Along with the pelagic species, we also encountered three Loggerhead Sea Turtles and several groups of Spotted Dolphins while out at sea. The total number of pelagic species was very low for this time of year, as we only could find Cory's and Audubon's Shearwaters, Wilson's Storm-Petrel and Bridled Tern. The expected Sooty Terns and hoped for rarities were no where to be found this trip. The results below can also be viewed in PDF format by clicking here; GA-Pelagic-trip-Report-8-6-05.pdf
These pictures were taken while on a pelagic trip that left Tybee Island by Bob Zaremba, unless otherwise noted. Click on the thumbnail to enlarge the photograph.
Unauthorized use of these images is prohibited.
Birding Kennesaw Mountain Georgia Birding Trip Reports This site was last updated 08/08/05 |
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