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Subject: WBC Pelagic Trip 9/26
Date: Fri, 26 Sep 2003 22:16:00
From: John Arvin
Thirty-odd lucky birders participated in the latest of a series of World Birding Center pelagic trips into
deep waters off the continental shelf offshore from Port Isabel today. The undersea topography in this area
includes the Rio Grande submarine canyon, a deep gorge carved out by the river when sea levels were much lower
than they are today, and, for the Texas coast, a relatively narrow continental shelf. Depths of 1000 meters
(about 500 fathoms) are encountered within about 60 miles of shore, or about a three hour run from the dock.
A seamount known as the Colt 45 Reef is a sea floor feature that rises from water beyond the 1000 m. contour
and influences water circulation locally, bringing cool, nutrient rich waters up from the sea floor, greatly
enriching surface waters and concentrating marine life in the area. Colt 45 was our destination today.
About two and a half hours out of the dock we approached an anchored shrimp boat in only 240 feet of water.
Even from a distance we could see a number of birds in the vicinity of the boat. As we drew closer we could
see that a number of Cory's Shearwaters and two juvenile plumaged Masked Boobies were around the boat,
mostly sitting on the water or making short flights and landing again. We stopped to watch and
photograph the shearwaters, which numbered 16, and the boobies. After a time Dwight Peake,
one of our leaders who was in the wheel house with the captain, announced over the P. A. system
that we would move ahead about a quarter mile where a bird on the water appeared to be an adult Masked Booby.
As we neared the "booby" it began to looks stranger and stranger. Finally a giant seabird lumbered up off the
water and we were transfixed by the huge wingspan of an albatross! The albatross landed on the water not far away
and we were able to maneuver the boat for the best possible light angle as film and megabytes were burned at a record rate.
The bird was clearly a Yellow-nosed Albatross, adult or nearly so.
There are two previous records from the state, both from coast of the LRGV. One was a bird that I had
seen in 1976 after it had been picked up alive, and apparently well, alongside a road near the coast.
I saw and photographed it for the record at the zoo in Brownsville, where it lived out it days.
It is presently a specimen in the UT-Pan American collection. The other was a one-observer bird
very well described from the South Padre Island jetty in 1972. There is also a record from within
just a few miles of the Texas border at Holly Beach, Cameron Parish, LA, that was photographed
remarkably well in 1970. Ours was the first wild albatross seen by a pelagic trip in the Gulf of Mexico
and one of few such records for the whole Atlantic coast of North America. Needless to say, the entire
boat was ecstatic. Stay tuned to Texbirds as Eric Carpenter will have photos up on his website in a day or so.
However, it was far from a one-bird trip. After we left the albatross (steamed away from an albatross!!)
still milling around the shrimp boat, we encountered scattered Cory's Shearwaters in twos and threes,
an unusual (for early fall) number of Band-rumped Storm-Petrels, Bridled Terns, more Masked Boobies,
and a couple of Magnificent Frigatebirds.
A complete list follows:
Yellow-nosed Albatross - truly a magnificent experience!
Masked Booby - 6; a good count
Cory's Shearwater - 29; these large shearwaters were dwarfed by the albatross and probably didn't
get all the attention they deserved under the circumstances
Band-rumped Storm-Petrel - 12; typically these are more common earlier in the season.
Our late June trip saw over 30 plus 3 Leach's Storm-Petrels
Bridled Tern - at least six, including an adult with a food-begging juvenile standing on a piece of driftwood.
We were able to pull up right next to them and could easily hear the begging calls of the youngster over the engines other terns -
typically coastal species like Royal, Sandwich, Least, and especially Black Terns were well out to sea in numbers.
They were especially numerous around a long drift line of large Sargassum mats. Several hundred Black Terns
were attending this line on both our out and in-bound trips
Magnificent Frigatebird - 2 within sight of land
Land birds at sea, not many this trip: 1 Barn Swallow, 1 Yellow Warbler
(which attempted to come aboard), and one unidentified warbler were all that were seen.
John Arvin,
Mission
OCEANOGRAPHIC CONDITIONS for Sept. 26, 2003
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