Michael Brothers of the Marine Science Center in Ponce Inlet hosts a few pelagic trips off the Florida East Coast each year. These are the premier pelagic trips that go out to the Gulf Stream in search of sea birds and we highly recommend them.
Birders are used to getting up early but this weekend’s excursion started at 2:00 am Saturday aboard the Pastime Princess. Because it’s a three hour drive from home, we decided to leave right after the Belmont Stakes to watch American Pharaoh win the first Triple Crown since 1978. Traffic cooperated and we were able to get there in time to have some dinner, drinks, and watch the Tampa Bay Lightning playoff game before trying to catch a couple hours sleep in the car at the marina parking lot. Everything went well except for the getting sleep part, due mostly to the heat and humidity of a June night and partly to a couple of girls who arrived early too, after what must have been a really fun night out.
We boarded on schedule and headed out to sea on what was a fairly calm night. Fortunately, the slow rolling seas allowed us to grab a few winks and by first light we were all up scanning the horizon for anything that can fly or swim. There is something about watching the sunrise on a boat, on the open ocean that is both peaceful and magical at the same time. Throw in a couple of Cory’s Shearwaters cruising just above the top of the waves with some Sooty Terns and you have the perfect morning. Not long after that three Short-finned Pilot Whales came in close to the boat giving everyone great looks and photo opportunities.
Cory’s Shearwater
Short-finned Pilot Whale
Motoring eastward over the next 6 hours we saw many more Cory’s, seven Audubon’s and a couple of Great Shearwaters. Also on the way we were lucky to see three different Storm-Petrels, Wilson’s, Band-rumped and Leach’s. Sharon also got the Black-capped Petrel for her year and life lists. We traveled 103 miles from land before reaching our destination in the Gulf Stream, and then it was time to head back if we were going to get in by 9:00, a full 26 hours since we left home.
Great Shearwater
Pastime Princess
The cruise back to port was a little slow, but we did see quite a few terns, including more Sooty along with a few Royal and Sandwich terns. We also added a few more Storm-Petrels on the return trip. As we came within sight of land we were greeted by a pod of Atlantic Spotted Dolphin racing towards our vessel. What a great way to end a perfect day of Pelagic birding with the Marine Science Center and a group of veteran birding guides.
Sooty Tern
Atlantic Spotted Dolphin
Wilson’s Storm-Petrel
A special thank you to Michael Brothers for sharing the photos of the Sooty Tern, Wilson’s Storm-Petrel and Atlantic Spotted Dolphin.
Addendum: The next Saturday we made a trip to the Brooksville area and found our target bird, Mississippi Kite. We drove straight to the location reported on eBird and it was there when we arrived. This happens maybe 50% of the time so we were ecstatic. Picked up two more year birds including Carolina Chickadee and Tufted Titmouse. As of June 14th we have 351 year birds; 149 to go to reach our goal!
Mississippi Kite
Carolina Chickadee
Next up: Free Birds & Jail Birds in the Adirondacks
Trip : Total Species: 38 Year Birds: 11 Life Birds: 6
2015 : Year Birds: 351 Life Birds: 31
Here’s the list: 2015 Bird List