ARCHIVED TRIP REPORTS:

FREEPORT PELAGIC July 19 to 21, 1998
Aboard the M/V Fling

Link to Photo Gallery: All photography copyrighted © Garett Hodne 1998.

Subject: July 20 Freeport Pelagic
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1998 23:10:45 -0500
From: Russell Graham
Since many of you have asked me privately, I thought I would post one response to the entire list.

Pelagic birds seen:
Audubon's Shearwaters,
Leach's Storm-Petrels
Band-rumped Storm-Petrels,
Masked Booby
Bridled Terns
Sooty Terns

Marine animals:
Loggerhead Turtle
Bryde's Whale
Bottle-nosed Dolphins

The boat is VERY comfortable, fast and maneuverable. The gracious crew never stop serving food and an assortment of refreshments are always available. I've been on numerous pelagic trips and the sun deck of the M/V Fling is one of the best observation platforms I've encountered.
I can't wait until September!
Russell Graham
Texas Ornithological Society
Carrollton, TX

Subject: RBA Texas 7/23/98
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 1998 07:02:02

Magnificent Frigatebird
Band-rumped Storm-Petrel* Texas Review Species
Audubon's Shearwater* Texas Review Species
Masked Booby
Sooty Tern
Bridled Tern* Texas Review Species

The pelagic trip out of Freeport the 20th was very smooth and produced almost 100 SOOTY TERNS (Sterna fuscata), some BRIDLED TERNS* (Sterna anaethetus), BAND-RUMPED STORM-PETREL* (Oceanodroma castro), AUDUBON'S SHEARWATER* (Puffinus lherminieri), and a MASKED BOOBY (Sula dactylatra). There were bottlenose dolphins riding the bow wave and a loggerhead turtle but the most spectacular find was a curious 40 foot Bryde's Whale (pronounced "breuder's" after a Norwegian who built the first whaling station in Durban, South Africa in 1913). This is probably the only baleen whale that resides in the Gulf of Mexico.
Dwight Peake

OCEANOGRAPHIC CONDITIONS for July 20, 1998