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September 5, 2001

Pelagic trip Sept 3/4, 2001

The evening of September 3, we departed from Barnegat Light, New Jersey on an overnight pelagic trip onboard the boat the "Doris Mae". We slept well. The seas were calm and would be during our entire outing the next day.

We arrived at our intended destination, the Hudson Canyon, about 85 miles offshore, when it was still dark. A chum-slick was put onto the water. It became large, attracting early in the morning a large number of birds. There were many Wilson's Storm-Petrels (maybe a thousand - 1500 during the entire trip). Also: Cory's, Greater, and Audubon's Shearwaters (15 of the latter for the day.) Some jaegers flew in. All the species were seen closely.

And, then, there was the "soft-spoken" call: "there's a WHITE-FACED STORM-PETREL". It was not as close at first as we wanted, but the light-colored bird, with its dangling feet, could certainly be seen. As it had appeared, it disappeared. So we travelled along the long slick and lo and behold, we found it again, rather off by itself from the Wilson's Storm-Petrels. Our boat got close to the bird, as it continued to move low over the water, We (I should say our adept captain) stayed with it for 20 minutes as it continuously flew, in its odd way. The bird was moving, as we were, at a speed of 12 knots, but its wings were hardly moving at all. Its long legs were hitting the water one bounce after another, bringing to mind to some of us, a bird on a pogo stick and to others an avian kangeroo. I wondered if it had come in that manner all the way from the Azores! The White-faced Storm-Petrel was so close to our boat as we accompanied it. (We look forward to enjoying the bird on video again & again, and to sharing some of it on the FONT web-site! www.focusonnature.com )

But our day at sea was far from over when we veered away from the White-faced Storm-Petrel. During the trip, nearly a dozen Pomarine Jaegers were seen - closely - adults, sub-adults, and birds of the year. And a Long-tailed Jaeger was seen. It, too, close to us, and as we did with the White-faced Storm-Petrel, we travelled with it as it flew - for quite a while. Our speed with Long-tailed Jaeger next to us was up to 20 knots. Again, an adept captain. Again, a nice bird on video.

In addition to the birds there were some other oceanic creatures that we enjoyed: A large Manta Ray, early in the morning right by the boat. It stayed with us for a while, as remoras stayed with it. Also large, a swordfish was seen closely. Its huge fins were above the water. Sometimes that big fish comes to the surface after some doing some fishing of its own in the deep. Swordfish attain a length of 15 feet and a weight of 1300 pounds. We learned on the radio from a nearby fishing boat that the largest of all the world's fish, a Whale Shark was seen in the area. We unfortunately did not see it.

Even larger than the Whale Shark is the Fin Whale (the second largest creature in the world). 7 were seen during our trip, including one that remained still for a while just beneath the surface of the water only yards (less than 50) from our boat. Later, 4 Fin Whales were close to the boat, with 2 swimming underneath it. Other marine mammals included: a Humpback Whale, a group of 8 Gray Grampus, or Risso's Dolphins (again, seen closely) and a larger group of about 70 Offshore Bottle-nosed Dolphins. They were swimming by the boat, rapidly at the bow. We could look down on them - the adults with their young. (The adults always putting themselves between their youngsters and boat).

And then it was time for us to go back to shore. In about 4 hours, we were back at the dock. It had been a fine trip. Most of the sightings were about 80-90 miles offshore from the New Jersey coast, but the closest land to us, when we were at the Hudson Canyon, was actually Long Island, New York.
Cory's Shearwater, 32
Greater Sherwater, 23
Audubon's Shearwater, 15
Wilson's Storm-Petrel, 1500
WHITE-FACED STORM-PETREL, 1
Red-necked Phalarope, 1
Pomarine Jaeger, about 10
Long-tailed Jaeger, 1
Herring Gull (not at the Hudson Canyon)
Great Black-backed Gull (not at the Hudson Canyon)
Common Tern, 6
Arctic Tern, 2
a few terns too distant to ID
Fin Whale, 7
Humpback Whale, 1
Risso's Dolphin (Gray Grampus), 8
Offshore Bottle-nosed Dolphin, 70
Manta Ray, 6 2 Remoras with the Rays
Swordfish, 1
Not as large a fish, but certainly the most colorful of the day were the Dolphin (fish) or Mahi-mahi. At times, skipjacks and tuna were seen jumping at the water's surface. We hope to be doing such a trip (or two) again next year. We'll certainly get the word out as soon as we know what we can do (the dates & the price). And we are planning again to have free continental breakfast and drinks as we did on the trip this year! Good birding (pelagic and otherwise), wherever you may be,

Armas Hill
Focus On Nature Tours, Inc.
P.O. Box 9021
Wilmington, DE 19809,
USA Phone: 302-529-1876
Fax: 302-529-1085
www.focusonnature.com

Update :  FONT does not seem to offer pelagic tours anymore.