Spring 2009 Photo Album courtesy of Steve Howell

These photos were taken during our 19 consecutive days offshore this spring from May 20 thru June 7th.  We hope to get captions done soon, but for now each species is labeled.  We have organized them into 6 pages and you can navigate to the next / previous at the bottom of each page.  Or, click on the page number here to go directly there : 2 3 4 5 6

Trindade Petrel (dark morph) May 23, 2009  While they were in short supply this spring, we had close views of most individuals.  Some years, when the Trindade Petrels are here, they are much easier to see;  this spring only turned up four or five. 

Trindade Petrel (dark morph) June 7, 2009  This bird made a nice pass on the last day of the set at about 1340 in the afternoon.  Bob Flood, who was with us for all 19 days this spring, spotted and called this one!  A great conclusion to the "Spring Blitz" especially the day following another, smaller, all-dark seabird encounter!

Fea's Petrel May 27, 2009  Of the eight individuals seen this spring, most did not linger nearby if they came in well at all!  On this day though, we had at least two individuals visit us regularly in the slick for almost three hours (photos made it possible to determine the individuals).

Bermuda Petrel  May 29, 2009  On this day, three individual Cahows were photographed, a new high for one day offshore here!  The dark cowl is easily seen on this individual.  All three individuals are pictured here.

Bermuda Petrel  May 29, 2009  This bird exhibits nicely the underwing pattern typical of a Bermuda Petrel.  Looking at the underwing and the cowl on this individual and the one pictured below, you can see some subtle variation.

Bermuda Petrel  May 29, 2009

Black-capped Petrel  June 5, 2009  Most likely due to the weather conditions thru the 19 days, only modest numbers of Black-capped Petrels were recorded, many days numbering only in the single digits.  Interestingly enough, May 27th was the day with the lowest number of Black-cappeds (six), but we had the cooperative Fea's Petrel!  The individual pictured above is a darker one showing no white collar and dark smudging on the chest.  We typically identify more of the "white-faced" individuals in the spring.

Black-capped Petrel  June 5, 2009  This individual, a sharp looking "white-faced" bird, has a much whiter face and collar than the one pictured above.

Black-capped Petrel  June 3, 2009  An excellent example of a whiter individual.  Note the white between the eye and black cap.  These birds typically show more white in the underwing than their darker counterparts.

Black-capped Petrel  June 6, 2009  This is more common, an individual showing intermediate qualities!  

Black-capped Petrels  June 6, 2009  A truly spectacular show was witnessed by all aboard June 6 with about 20 individuals visible at one time around the boat!  These four were calling as they fought over some shark's liver we put out on the slick.

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