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Nikon and The Brevard Nature Alliance present the Space Coast Birding & Wildlife Festival Brevard Community College, Titusville Campus 1311 North U.S. Highway 1, Titusville January 23 - 28, 2008 -- Titusville, Florida A celebration of birds and wildlife. |
ANOTHER "WOW" SPACE COAST BIRDING FESTIVAL PELAGIC (JAN 2008)
Last year it was a Black-legged Kittiwake. What would the surprise result be for 2008. Perhaps a first state record of Great Skua?The trip left out of New Smyrna Beach at 6:30 a.m. and, thanks to Michael Brothers' expertise, we chummed from almost the start of the trip. Gulls followed us as we progressed toward our goal. That goal was the edge of the Gulf Stream. Our findings:
Sabine's Gull: An immature bird was the star of the trip, a lifer for many participants and one of the very few mid-winter Florida records for Sabine's.
Red Phalarope: They seemed to be everywhere. Our count was 645 which may be a record high for Florida.
Iceland (kumliens) Gull: A first-cycle bird, attracted by the gulls following the boat, which in turn were attracted by chumming. This gull is not a very common visitor to Florida. There were possibly two birds, perhaps coming from the Volusia dump location.
Lesser Black-backed Gull: An immature spent a lot of time around the boat.
Great Black-backed Gull: Two immatures also spent a lot of time around the boat.
Audubon's Shearwater: There were many observed up close and, based on some thoughts as to other species of the puffinus group, none could be verified by pictures.
Pomarine Jaeger: Several were seen, all adults with reasonable observations.
Sooty/Bridled Terns: Several were seen but, as they were far off, they could not be identified for sure as to which species they were. A cautious approach was best here.
Let skip to another group pelagic -- sea turtles and dolphins.
Leatherback: Seven or eight were observed. This is the largest of the living turtles with record weight of a ton and six feet in length. This was a lifer for many and others had only observed one in their lifetime. Interestingly enough, this turtle feeds mainly on jellyfish.
Loggerhead: Our major breeding sea turtle in Florida.
Green: At the jetty in New Smyrna Beach's north side.
Spotted Dolphin: They did some bow riding, which was fun for people to watch up close.
Bottlenose Dolphin: According to Michael Brothers,they are a subspecies,which means they are related to our coastal Bottlenose but a little different. They treated the participants to bow riding also.
The show of birds did not end until we almost docked.
Purple sandpiper: On the northerly jetty at New Smryna Beach.
Great Cormorant: An immature that normally roosted on the tower at the north jetty was on a channel marker close to our docking, a fine end to the day and a Florida lifer for many.
Join us in 2009 as one never knows what jewel may turn up.
Murray Gardler
Brooksville, FL