Shorebirder

On Saturday 10/13 Carolyn and I joined Brian Patteson for their annual October trip offshore. For the full story, be sure to check out their blog . Highlights were a single SOUTH POLAR SKUA and a killer show of Black-capped Petrels. I kept busy scanning for birds and not taking many photos, but I did manage these. Black-capped Petrel (white-faced) "Scopoli's" Cory's Shearwater South Polar Skua  - NB

On May 28th we were treated to a boatside Cuvier's Beaked Whale, a life mammal for me and certainly my personal "best bird" of the day! Cuvier's Beaked Whale flying fish And that concludes my photo summary of our Memorial Weekend pelagics out of Hatteras, NC. Only took me two and a half months! Really looking forward to spending more time in the Gulf Stream on Brian's boat. Thanks to Brian, Kate, Dave & Bob for a fine weekend on the water.  - Nick 

On May 27th we were fortunate enough to see one of each North Atlantic tropicbird species: an adult White-tailed and an immature Red-billed. Both of these birds made at least one pass directly over the boat, but you wouldn't know this by the shockingly poor quality of the photos! Enjoy :) immature Red-billed Tropicbird adult White-tailed Tropicbird  - NB

Over our three days at sea we recorded a South Polar Skua and all 3 jaeger species. Below are select images of the SP Skua, a Long-tailed Jaeger, and a few Poms.   South Polar Skua, a rather dark individual Long-tailed Jaeger - a near adult bird, the only signs of immaturity, as far as I can tell, are a couple of underwing coverts and a single undertail covert. Third-summer?   Pomarine Jaeger (presumed third-summer) Pomarine Jaeger (second summer) Pomarine Jaeger (presumed second summer)  - NB

Cory's Shearwater   Calonectris diomedea borealis "Scopoli's" [Cory's] Shearwater   Calonectris diomedea diomedea Compared to borealis , Scopoli's appears smaller-headed and slimmer-billed with narrower wings. However, the go-to field mark is the underwing pattern. Specifically, on Scopoli's, the white on the wing linings bleeds well into the underside of the primaries. Note this pattern in the Scopoli's shown above, as well as the subtle structural differences. In borealis , the dark primaries contrast rather strongly with the white wing linings. The above bird is a nice example of Scopoli's [Cory's] Shearwater, currently treated as a subspecies of Cory's by the AOU but may be destined for full species status in the near future. Borealis can show some bleeding of white onto the primary bases but the extent of variation is still, as far as I can tell from my sources, being worked out. This was the only Scopoli'...