Southern New England Outdoor and Nature Site: Seabirding with Patterson's

Brian Patterson and Kate Sutherland

For two years I have been putting a bug in the ear's of Scott Tsagarakis and Carlos Pedro about how much fun it would be to do a pelagic trip out of North Carolina. They had both done the trip many times before but not for a few years. Both of them had done the trip so many times the owner of the boat knows them personally.

For me, this would be a bucket list trip. There is no place east of the Mississippi that I wanted to go more. There are multiple reasons. First, they are the only show in town. The birding trips they run go out into the Gulf Stream. Nowhere else on the East Coast does the Gulf Stream come as close to shore as North Carolina. They can make out to the Gulf Stream in a couple of hours. Secondly, because they are the only boat on the East Coast that runs these trips, it means all of the birding legends in the U.S. and world come on these trips. Anyone that has done a big year over the last twenty or so years has been on the boat. This includes legends like Neil Hayward and James Huntington (Huntington was on our boat!).

The boat is run by two legends themselves.. Brian Patterson owns the boat while Kate Sutherland is a spotter and handles the reservations. As a team they have put many birding greats on some very rare species. I wanted to go on this trip as much to meet them and stand where great birders stood as much as to see birds.

The boat goes out of Hattaras, NC. You meet at 5:15 am and Brian gives a lecture on safety, sea conditions, etc. The boat leaves about 5:30 and stays out until almost 5 pm. The cost is $170-177 depending on how many trips you take. I was going to sign up for only one trip. I LOVE pelagics and am prone to sea sickness and/or falling asleep. However,

Masked Booby

Scott strongly suggested multiple times to book at least two trips in case one of them gets weathered out. Scott was right!!!

I booked for Sunday and Monday. Carlos, Scott and Wayne flew down on Saturday and booked four trips throughout their week. I got down (driving) Thursday and camped and land birded Thurs, Fri, and Sat until they got there. Our first trip on Sunday didn't look good. We got to the dock and Brian cancelled the trip. I was happy about this. It rained sideways all day and the sea was angry. It would have been absolutely miserable. To this, I thank Scott for pushing me to reserve two days on the boat.

Monday's weather was better. The rain had finally pushed offshore, and the wind laid down a little. It was still pretty rough. We took off at 5:30 am. The trip isn't bad but because of the sand flats, it takes forty five minutes to get into the open ocean. From there it is another 90 minutes or so depending on where the Gulf Stream current moved.

Almost our very first bird of the day was a Masked Booby. This is a great bird and the first one seen by the boat this year! Despite the awful lighting, we had great looks at it for two or three minutes. From what I am told, it is a young bird.

Kate sets out a chum slick and it attracts a bunch of birds behind the boat. By far the most abundant birds were Wilson's Storm Petrels. There were also plenty of Great Shearwaters trailing the boat. Other birds that can also be seen from northern pelagics were Cory's Shearwater and Sooty Shearwater.

This leads me to lifers! Since this was my first time out, I was assured a couple of lifers from really common birds. I knew from reports I studied I was going to see Audubon's Shearwater, Band Rumped Storm Petrel, and Black Capped Petrel. I did get to see all three of them. Though my photos are something to be desired. The morning had white nasty skies, big seas rocking the boat, and a very tired Nick trying to keep steady as the boat rocked. None of this made for good photo ops.

Between the three birds listed above and the Masked Booby I got four lifers. There were many other possible species I could have got ranging from fairly common to once every five year birds. Many of the really experienced people on the boat were only hoping for Bermuda Petrel and European Storm Petrel. They really couldn't get any other new species because they had seen them all. I left plenty of birds on the table for another trip including possibilities such as: Fea's Petrel, both Tropicbirds, and Skua. Guess I'll just have to back some day!

My favorite bird was the Black Capped Petrel. Not only was it beautiful but the way it mastered the strong wind was nothing but pure art. It could fly with its wings horizontal. It was so fast and the gliding was just a joy to watch. I really wish I wasn't so tired and could have appreciated it more.

I ended up sleeping away about three hours of the trip. I think I took too much Bonine and it just hit me. I only missed a subspecies of Cory's Shearwater during my naps. Other than that, I saw all the birds. But next time, I know to only take one pill and to bring lots of caffeine!

Despite having a rather short species list, the trip lived up to expectations. Kate is unbelievably nice. She knows her birds and was great at getting people on the birds. The same can also be said for the other hard working spotters Ed Corey and Andrew Rapp. The crew on the boat is just awesome. I was thrilled to meet Brian and Kate. When we got off the boat I asked if I could get a photo . Kate was much more willing than Brian, but they both posed for me. All in all it was a great trip.