The BBC Extreme Pelagic on July 18th produced a Massachusetts record tally of Audubon's Shearwaters with 19 being logged in the warmer shelf waters well south of Nantucket. Views were generally good though not quite as satisfying as on other BBC pelagics to this area, perhaps due to the rougher sea conditions. This heavily molting bird (featured in the first three shots here) was the only one that came reasonably close to the boat.
Aududon's Shearwater. Fifteen miles NW of West Atlantis Canyon, MA. First Audubon's of the day rising well above the horizon followed just seconds later by a stunning Black-capped Petrel!
Greater Shearwater - About 240 seen during the day.
Cory's Shearwaters. The official count for the day tallied 232 birds though I must confess that it seemed like more at the time. Many were seen well and all/most, like the birds in these shots, resembled C.d. borealis with no strong candidates for C.d.diomedia, despite some diligent checking.
1 comment:
Great shots of the Cory's and Greater Shearwaters! Amazing what you can do with digibinning!
Post a Comment