This weekend was Natalia's first time officially spotting on a pelagic. While she performed admirably for a couple days out in the Gulf Stream aboard the Stormy Petrel II, a sexier pair of boobies ended up stealing the show.
You never know what to expect when rolling the dice on a pelagic trip, or hell, in birding anywhere, but on Friday's trip we encountered something unprecedented. We first spotted a distant sulid--a young Brown Booby, which uncooperatively picked up and flew away from the boat. Not 15 minutes later as we were creeping up on a flock of sitting shearwaters I heard Brian's voice over the radio urging us to look at the "big white bird in the middle."
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| Masked Booby with Cory's Shearwaters |
This booby was far more friendly than its Brown cousin and seemed content to preen with its shearwater friends while we ogled from close range.
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| Masked Booby |
It looked like it was molting into its first set of adult or near-adult feathers, giving it a bit of a mud-spattered look.
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| Masked Booby |
The mud-spattered thoughts were too offensive and off it flew.
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| Masked Booby |
With two boobies around and the hot, still weather, it was feeling like the Caribbean out there, so not surprising that Bridled Terns also put in a good showing.
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| Bridled Tern |
Otherwise, the weekend provided the usual summer pelagic species found off Hatteras.
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| Great Shearwaters |
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| Cory's Shearwater (with Masked Booby) |
A north wind turned the ocean into a roller coaster on Saturday which brought a lot more Black-capped Petrels in close to the boat.
I rate myself a pretty lousy sea bird photographer and this pic captures my lack of skill, while at the same time the Black-capped Petrel essence. They're so fast it's all I can do to keep one in frame!
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| Black-capped Petrel - has places to go |
The Saturday trip also offered some good looks at Band-rumped Storm-Petrel, which we missed entirely on Friday.
Thanks to Brian Patteson and Kate Sutherland for organizing the trips and making it a fun weekend.
