"Near-shore Dovekies"

[J. BRIAN PATTESON]

The Belmar report got me thinking about something I've noticed with
Dovekies down here. Last winter when we had the biggest influx of
Dovekies I have ever seen around Cape Hatteras, it seemed that the birds
were closer to the beach in January and early February than they were
later on. First trip out we had them ridiculously close- dozens of them
just two miles off the beach. Later on, we had to go out the edge of
the Gulf Stream to find them. I don't know how many were out there on
the first few trips though, as we never made it that far. I have also
noticed comparatively more birds inshore during January versus February
in previous years. Someone found a Dovekie ashore yesterday near Oregon
Inlet, so it will be interesting to see how far south they get this
year. Most years we get at least a few, but last year was off the
charts.

Brian Patteson
Hatteras, NC
br...@patteson.com
www.seabirding.com/

[Paul Guris]

Brian, last year was unique up here in the Mid-Atlantic.  The water was positively frigid which I suspect made for less than ideal feeding conditions.  We've found that we don't seem to find Dovekies up here when/where the water temps drop below 45F.  Inshore alcids hang in a bit colder but their numbers seem to drop when the temps start approaching 40F.

Here's the URL for a sea surface temperature map for Jan. 16 of this year.  Notice that it shows the coastal water temps in the mid 40s and the Hudson Shelf Valley (the area where it says "150 ft  200 ft") in the low 50s. 

http://marine.rutgers.edu/cool/sat_data/show/?file=../../regions/nybight/sst/noaa/2012/img/120116.016.1353.n16.jpg


Now look at a map from Jan. 16 of last year.  Coastal water temps were in the upper 30s and the Hudson Shelf Valley was mostly in the low 40s.  That's an 8-10 degree temperature change.

http://marine.rutgers.edu/cool/sat_data/show/?file=../../regions/nybight/sst/noaa/2011/img/110116.016.1817.n18.jpg


The warmer temperatures this year have also meant incredibly extended seasons for both bluefish and striped bass.  When I went sea bass fishing on Dec. 30, we had to move off of one wreck because the bluefish were so plentiful we couldn't catch any sea bass!

The weather is finally getting more seasonally cold up here.  Maybe a prolonged cold snap might push more birds out of our area later this winter.


-PAG

--
Paul A. Guris
See Life Paulagics
PO Box 161
Green Lane, PA  18054
215-234-6805
www.paulagics.com
paulagics.com@gmail.com
in...@paulagics.com