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| Pelagic Trips | | Chum | Comments | Site Map |
Chumming
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What is Chum
It's a big ocean and chumming is equivalent to using backyard bird feeders to attract birds close to the boat. The best chum is a fishing boat cleaning fish and throwing the waste over the side. Gulls seems to be attracted from great distances to such a feast. You can only chum for birds that are naturally scavengers (i.e. an animal or other organism that feeds on dead organic matter). Alcids for example are not scavengers and will not respond to chum.
Do not bring chum unless invited by the trip sponsor to do so and do not start chumming until directed by the trip leader. Chumming can be very messy and some boat captains just won't allow it on their boat. Do not try to chum from a whale watching boat.
Do not throw garbage (even biodegrable) in the ocean from a whale watching boat or a fishing boat. Plastics and other trash is a serious problem for marine animals and teaching tourists not to use the ocean as a garbage dump is one of the objectives of the whale watching trips.
Popcorn and Stale Bread Attracts Gulls and More Gulls
A group of gulls following a pelagic birding boat may attract jaegers and other birds to the boat. Unlike the tubenosed birds, gulls do not have great olfactory senses and find food visibly. Stale sliced bread can be hurled like a frisbie into the air behind the boat to attract the gulls. Once you have attracted a bunch of gulls you can probably quit throwing bread.
In my experience no birds except gulls eat popcorn. The big advantage of popcorn is that it floats.
Do not feed gulls in the vicinity of breeding birds. Gulls prey on baby terns, oystercatchers, and seabirds. Feeding gulls even in the non-breeding season increases the number of gulls that will live to be around when the hatchlings are vulnerable.
If the objective of your trip is to see
Alcids, especially the smaller Auklets and Murrelets,
do not attract gulls.
Gulls prey on small Alcids. A recent pelagic trip out of San
Diego on January 1, 2010 started chumming with popcorn while
still in the harbor. This attracted a great flock of gulls
all of which could be seen in the harbor. On this trip we
saw several small Auklets which were announced as Cassin's
Auklets. I don't know because the birds dove as soon as
the boat surrounded by gulls approached. This trip could be an interesting Alcid trip that
would document the presence of small Alcids in southern
California waters if the sponsors would leave the stale popcorn
in the garbage.
Bait
Fish
Cutt up pieces of bait fish thrown behind the boat is
effective, but the bait will sink almost immediately and is expensive. You
should plan to tip the crew for cutting it up and throwing it for you.
I am not sure about the value of canned Tuna Fish. Canned tuna has been cooked and is packed in either water or soy bean oil both of which tend to remove the fishy odor. I have seen it brought on the boat several times, but never seen it used. I assume the tuna would still sink just like bait fish. Besides it is a bit pricey.
Beef Fat - Floats,
Birds Love It, It is Cheap
I
was totally amazed to see chucks of beef fat or suet used as chum on the
Perpetual Bank Trip out of Oregon. It floats and it seems to
work with most normal scavengers. On the August 2010 BBC shelf
edge pelagic, a group of Band-rumped Storm-petrels were
returning time and again giving the best close-to-the-boat ever
looks at these birds.
You can get this beef fat from the butcher by asking for beef suet for feeding birds usually for a small cost. I understand that credit for this excellent idea belongs to the sponsors of the Westport, Washington pelagics. Thanks guys.
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Here is a Wilson's Storm-petrel
approaching a chuck of beef suet. Photographed by Scott
Spangenberg on a recent BBC Extreme Pelagic. When even
larger chucks were thrown, the birds would perch on the
floating chunks. Blair Nikula observed this method of chumming actually gives the birds some food in exchange for following the boat around. Some seabirds especially the tubenosed birds find food by smell. Fish smell that is not beef fat. While they love beef fat after they find it, you should be using some kind of fish oil to help them find it. I have seen Albatrosses, Fulmars, Shearwaters, Storm-petrels feeding on suet. I don't know about Gannets or Boobies. |
| Drip Bag with Fish Oil
Mike uses Menhaden Oil which can be purchased at a bait store or ordered . To dispense the oil he uses a Fountain Syringe purchased at any drug store. It needs to have an opening at the top and bottom and should be firmly attached to the boat.On The July 5, 2004 CORE trip this method left trail of oil floating on the surface and attracted a stream of Storm-petrels and Shearwaters that followed the boat constantly for 3 days. This is perhaps not quite ethical as the birds are following the scent and not obtaining any food energy for their efforts. You should toss out bits of fat or fish bait to actually give them some food. |
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On the right Mike Overton with the gallon of Lighthouse 100% Menhaden Oil. One source for this oil is: Norva Bait Co; 945 Beaufort, NC 28516 On: the Perpetua Bank trip off Oregon, they punched a hole in the bottom of the plastic jug and tied the jug to the back of the boat. This was not as effective as the drip bag on the eastern trip. Either the hole kept getting plugged or there just were not many Storm-petrels around that day. as we had only a few Forked-tailed Storm-petrels on that trip. It was hard to say the drip was attracting them. Just as effect if a little more expensive is to use Cod Liver Oil purchased at any drug store. Pour it directly from the bottle to lay a slick. . Lay a Slick
Frozen Fish
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