Latest Trip Reports- seabirding.blogspot.com/

Trip Lists and Reports Archive- Right Here

PLEASE READ THIS PARAGRAPH BEFORE YOU GO ANY FARTHER

Here you will find daily lists of birds (species, numbers, etc.) seen on our trips. There is also an archive of trip reports from some of our past trips. Use these lists with some caution when trying to figure the odds of seeing these birds, particularly the less common species. Careful scrutiny will reveal that some years were better than others for some species. Some of the highly sought after species such as Fea's Petrel, Trindade Petrel (Herald), and Bermuda Petrel are not seen with the same frequency each year on the same dates. Don't put too much stock in any particular date range. The early 20's of May can be just as good or better than the late 20's of May for example, for seeing Fea's Petrel or even British Storm-Petrel. In 2008, several people booked for the very last few days of May after having seen the reports from 2005, 2006, and 2007 (only three years!) and the only British Storm-Petrels that we saw came by on May 18 and 20. Abundance of the more common species such as Cory's Shearwater and Wilson's Storm-Petrel might also vary quite a bit from day to day and year to year. Wind patterns and the dispersal of these birds vary annually. The birds ride the winds and follow the food over thousands of miles of ocean. In Spring 2010 we had very atypical conditions, such that the west wall of the Gulf Stream was two or three times farther offshore than usual, and this had a big impact on our trips. We had never seen such conditions before for such a long period in two decades of seabirding here. The anomaly began weeks ahead of those spring trips.

There are also some missing trip lists. We are working through the backlog, but it might take a while. As it is, it is certainly one of the most complete archives of pelagic bird lists you will find anywhere.

Capt. Brian Patteson

In trying to get a feeling about seasonal occurrence, just keep in mind that the Big Picture is more representative than last year's tallies, or the tallies from any given year.