BBC Extreme Pelagic #2, July 19

The second of three BBC 'Extreme' Pelagics sailed out of Hyannis, MA on Saturday at 4am. This trip was all about quality over quantity. Bird and mammal numbers were very low for most of the day, in stark contrast to the June trip to these very same waters (Atlantis Canyon). There were hours where we did not see more than a handful of birds. But our fortunes changed once we reached the warmer water around the canyons. Our highlights included 4 (!) BAND-RUMPED STORM-PETRELS, 1 BRIDLED TERN (first-summer), and 2 LONG-TAILED JAEGERS (first-summers). I didn't get much in the way of photos, but I've posted what little I do have:

This Long-tailed Jaeger cooperated by flying around the boat for quite some time.










This one silhouette shot is all I have of the other LT Jaeger, which also gave great views for a few minutes.


Continuing the trend of cooperative birds, this curious Bridled Tern put on a show.




I really should have been able to capture much better images than these, but the digibinning can be very hit or miss. Go to the "Links" section on the left side of this page and check out James P. Smith's blog for his images, which should be up in the coming days (the Bridled Tern has already been posted, with more to follow I'm sure). You can also check Massbird since people usually post links to their photos. Given how cooperative some of these birds were, there should be some excellent images to see. Things to look forward to include photos of the Band-rumps, plus photos of likely diomedea Cory's Shearwaters (aka Scopoli's Shearwater).

Click HERE for a temporary link to Rick Heil's trip summary which includes full counts.

Looking forward to the August trip.

- Nick

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