Pelagic Birding, 9/28/2014

Sunrise Over the Atlantic Ocean

Last week I went on a pelagic trip into the Atlantic Ocean. We left Ponce Inlet at 4 am in search of a sunrise and some pelagic birds. We were not disappointed. The sunrise was spectacular, and we had a chance to see some nice pelagic birds. We didn't see anything rare, but it was fun nonetheless.

Cory's Shearwater

Great Shearwater

Audubon's Shearwater

Shortly after sunrise, we saw our first pelagic bird--a Cory's Shearwater. Soon we were in the midst of the Gulf Stream (about 40 miles off shore), and we began to see more Cory's Shearwaters (a couple were Scopoli type), one Great Shearwater, several Audubon Shearwaters, and both Sooty and Bridled Terns. We had at least one Parasitic Jaeger (my only lifer on the day), one likely Pomarine Jaeger, and a few Brown Boobies.

Sooty Tern

Bridled Tern

We went out 65 miles to the western edge of a canyon that was about 2,500 ft deep about half way across the Gulf Stream. At about 60 miles out, we began to see a few Black-capped Petrels

Black-capped Petrels

I was hoping we'd see some phalaropes; we found one; a Red-necked Phalarope. It allowed our boat to get pretty close a couple times for photos.

Red-necked Phalarope

Throughout the day we encountered lots of migrants, at least one Merlin, one Barn Swallow, one Bobolink and several species of warbler, including many American Redstarts, Northern Parula, Magnolia Warblers, Black-throated Blue Warbler, Cape May Warbler, Blackburnian Warbler, Black-and-White Warlbers and several Common Yellowthroats. Two even landed on the boat, and with one I suspect we saved its life.

Common Yellowthroat