Day 6, September 12, 2006. The Mother of the Mother of the Mother. Sep 07—24, 2006
Posted by Marshall Iliff
Marshall Iliff
Marshall Iliff, a lifelong nature lover, began birding at age 11 after attending a National Wildlife Federation Camp in the mountains of North Carolina. He attended VENT...Related Trips
I'm not sure if anyone tried, but if one had, one might have seen Short-tailed Albatross, Red-legged Kittiwake, and Mottled Petrel all from the hot tub within 10 minutes. And that's not counting Laysan and Black-footed albatrosses, Fork-tailed and Leach's storm-petrels, Sooty and Short-tailed shearwaters, Northern Fulmars, Parasitic Jaegers, Black-legged Kittiwake, or any of several other species that were nearly constant presences today. This was, without question, the best day of pelagic birding of this trip—possibly of my life—but I did not think to start my "hot tub list."
Dawn found us at Seguam Pass, an area of exceptional currents and upwelling famous for its albatross concentrations (especially Short-tailed). We laid our chum slick as dawn broke and immediately were surrounded by hundreds of feeding birds including up to 45 albatrosses of both species. Although no Short-taileds visited initially, we did spot one, and then another, once we were underway. Our second chum slick was a bust, but the third time was the charm. While looping back to investigate a Short-tailed on the water, our slick pulled in one, then another, then another, and so on, until our day's total reached seven! Several age classes were represented, including three first stage (juveniles), one near-juvenal plumaged bird with an extensive whitish belly, three different birds in a subadult plumage with varying degrees of a brown shawl around the head, plus one older bird. Two more birds later in the day gave us a total of 10 (!) for the day.
The Mottled Petrels started at 15:20. After days of watching and a bit of apprehension that perhaps we were "too late," the first petrel appeared far off the starboard beam. A few people got on that one (which cleared the lecture hall during Alistair's marine mammal talk), but it took almost an hour to find the next. With some teamwork, we eventually deduced that the petrels were in a concerted line moving westward, and by heading south for several miles we were able to intersect the line such that almost everyone had good looks. Only about five were close enough to see well in binoculars, but many more were easily scoped from the stable top deck in the relatively light seas.
While we observed Mottled Petrels, our chum slick worked its magic. Although slow at first, it eventually pulled in albatrosses (including another Short-tailed) along with three Red-legged Kittiwakes (the first good looks for some), up to 17 Pomarine Jaegers at once, and many other species. Most surprising, a mystery albatross appeared far back in the wake and on its approach was identified as a Black-footed x Laysan. Although this hybrid combination is not common, it has been recorded many times. Our bird was the size of a Black-footed, whitish on the breast and belly, had a pinkish-gray bill intermediate between the two species, and had a moderate amount of white on the underwing, unlike Black-footed. This was a new bird for even our most seasoned leaders.
Bird activity continued to be strong until dinnertime and beyond. During the night from 10 until past midnight, Fork-tailed Storm-Petrels were seen circling the ship in the lights—there was a light misting of rain in the fog and the birds appeared confused by the fog. One apparent Leach's Storm-Petrel was reported to have struck one cabin, and one Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel found the following morning was admired by all and released.