Yesterday's Paulagics pelagic aboard the Brooklyn VI out of Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, was, as in now par for the course, another rousing success. We left the dock a little after 9 PM on Sunday night (August 28), and woke up on Monday over deep water to the east of the mouth of the Hudson Canyon.
This was the third Brooklyn-based deep water pelagic in a row to see Black-capped Petrel, and we tallied our highest number of that species to date. Because of the relatively calm seas, we were able to see marine life farther away than is sometimes the case, and we had some great experiences with non-birds as well. The highlight of these, for me, was the big pod of *Striped Dolphins* that we found early in the morning. They were being, at times, very athletic, as the species is wont to do, and it was a really special treat for all those on board. We also came upon Spotted Dolphins at least twice, and we had somewhere in the realm of* 300* Pilot Whales once we made it back to the Hudson Canyon. A fairly close look at a Hammerhead Shark, encounters with some Loggerhead Sea Turtles, a couple of *Mola mola *(Ocean Sunfish), a few Portugese Man O' War, a smattering of Flying Fish, and (for some) a single breach of a Manta Ray, rounded out the non-bird highlights. *The off shore bird list follows*: *BLACK-CAPPED PETREL*- *16* *WHITE-FACED STORM-PETREL*- 3 *Band-rumped Storm-Petrel*- 25 Leach's Storm-Petrel- 3 Wilson's Storm-Petrel- 230 Audubon's Shearwater- 18 Cory's Shearwater- 225 Great Shearwater- 13 Black Tern- 2 Storm-Petrel sp.- 3 Long-tailed Jaeger- 1 Great Black-backed Gull- 2 The White-faced Storm-Petrels deserve a special mention, since two of them gave some of the best looks you can get of the species. We were able to continuously observe the first one for over 13 minutes, with some cripplingly close views (a sample of how close is at the photo link below), thanks to Keith's deft boat-handling. Thanks, as always, go to Paul and Anita Guris for organizing these trips. Without them, we would get off shore much less, and with much less good humor. Captains Mike and Keith, and mates/chefs/etc. Philly and Jesus, the crew of the Brooklyn VI, were amazing. There aren't enough words conveying effusive praise in my vocabulary to properly give them their due. We learn more about the distribution of life in the deep every time we go out there, and we thank everyone who joined us on this episode of exploration as well. Finally, thanks a ton to the other leaders/spotters: Sean Sime, Shane Blodgett, Andy Guthrie, Alec Humann, and Lookas Musher. Here is a gallery of some photos I took on the trip yesterday: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29840397@N08/sets/72157672158136092 Good Petreling -Doug Gochfeld. Brooklyn, NY. -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
