Results of Jan. 15 Belmar, NJ Pelagic

[Paul Guris]

Despite some breezy conditions, Sunday's trip out of Belmar, NJ was a real success.  Because the winds were blowing 15-20 out of the northwest we headed north and stayed within 2-3 miles of the beach for protection.  Despite being this close we actually had a large FIN WHALE between us and the beach.  Fin Whales are the second largest species of whale and adults are about 60-70' long so that's a lot of animal that close inshore.  We had several others and a few more whale blows in the area as well.  Moving up the beach we also found multiple RAZORBILLS along the way though trying to approach them in the choppy seas was tough.  At our northernmost point we turned to the southeast and put the wind on our tail for a pretty comfortable ride. 

As we cruised further offshore we found several COMMON MURRES.  These birds are now to be expected in this area at this time of year.  We moved about 11-12 miles offshore and worked our way south.  I was hoping DOVEKIES were still in the area as they had been the prior week and I was not disappointed.  Singles and small groups were seen, mostly in flight but a few on the water.  A final total of 40 birds was excellent for this close to shore.  To paraphrase leader Tom Reed, "there's something wrong with watching Dovekies while you still have cell phone signal."  A few BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKES put in a showing moving at amazing speed in the wind.

When we hit our most southerly point of the day, we turned towards land so we could get a smooth ride home.  We turned up more RAZORBILLS and COMMON MURRES, but the highlight for that leg of the trip was the gull show.  We had a gorgeous first cycle ICELAND GULL come in to stern to chow down on the beef suet chum we were flinging.  We had a bit of time so I asked the captain if he could turn the boat and run for a bit so the light would be better for the photographers.  The Iceland Gull continued to come in but a BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKE flew in and stole the show.  The bird stayed with us for at least 40 minutes and was often floating over the back of the boat.  I had to change my 300mm lens for a zoom just so I could consistently fit it in the frame!  To round things out a nice second cycle LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL also came in for a bit.

Photos of some of the birds can be found at the URL below, and we'll be putting up a guest photo album with favorite shots by our participants.
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.147667368682651.30046.100003181671988&type=3&l=bf05dc9e1f

 
The following are the totals for the day:
   45  Canada Goose
    2  American Black Duck
    1  scaup sp.
    7  White-winged Scoter
    2  Black Scoter
   42  Long-tailed Duck
    2  Bufflehead
   18  Red-breasted Merganser
   15  Red-throated Loon
   28  Common Loon
   17  Great Cormorant (group of 12 had 2 on a buoy and the rest in the water nearby)
    3  Black-legged Kittiwake (all adults or near adults)
   17  Bonaparte's Gull
    7  Ring-billed Gull
  4000  Herring Gull
    1  Iceland Gull (juvenile / first cycle bird)
    1  Lesser Black-backed Gull (second cycle bird)
  600  Great Black-backed Gull
   40  Dovekie (excellent total for this close to shore)
    5  Common Murre (uall basic plumage birds)
   55  Razorbill
    9  large alcid sp. (Razorbill or murre)
 
    3  Fin Whale
 
Thanks to our leaders Scott Barnes, Tom Reed, Tom Johnson (official keeper of the list), Doug Gochfeld, and Dave Lord.  A big thanks to all of you who came out with us for a chilly but exciting day of birding.

We're hoping to get trips out of Freeport, NY on Jan. 28, Cape May, NJ on Feb. 4, and Lewes, DE on Feb. 11.  Alcids have been showing up very well in the Mid-Atlantic this year.


-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