Feb. 14, 2004 Pelagic Trip from Hatteras

Birds of Note

Northern Fulmar- 1(!)

Manx Shearwater- 1

Red Phalarope- 239

Little Gull- 4 (3 ad., 1 fw)

Thayer's Gull- 1 ad.

Lesser Black-backed Gull- 30

Dovekie-3

Razorbill- 341

Of course there were gannets, Herring Gulls, Great Black-baked Gulls, and over 1100 Bonaparte's Gulls.

Other Marine Life

Bottlenose Dolphin- 100+

Common Dolphin- 50

Sperm Whale- 3

Hammerhead Shark- 7

Loggerhead Turtle- 2

An incursion of warm water from the Gulf Stream meant we had to go farther north than usual looking for the winter birds.  We rarely miss Great Skua on these trips, but we did today.  Interestingly, on the morning of Feb. 15 over 8,000 Razorbills were tallied by shore-based observers at Cape Point, far and away and new record count for the species south of New England. -BP

For the first time in many years, we did not get to visit the Norfolk Canyon off Virginia Beach.