BIRDING OFF TREASURE CAY

July 2001 Table of Contents

BIRDING OFF TREASURE CAY
by Dr Woody Bracey

With the wind having blown strongly from the east for four weeks, and it being the season ofseabird movement, Woody and Betsy Bracey, Paul Dean and Lionel Levine went over 20 miles out NE into the Atlantic on the Predator captained by James Nielsen of Treasure Cay. We had postponed the trip the day before because of high winds and rough seas but still had waves of 6'- 8' and even higher through Whale Cay passage. On the way out we found that the Bridled Terns had returned to their nesting place on Don't Rock. Just past Whale Cay a pair of Laughing Gulls were harassing a flock of migrating (all black bills) Roseate Terns.

It was some time and distance into rough sea before we encountered pelagic birds. Audubon's Shearwaters began to appear five miles from land but only as singles. Our destination was "Tabletops", a seamount 20 miles offshore where the sea rises from over 3000' deep to several hundred feet causing an upwelling. The fishing is usually excellent here and if the fish are here so are the birds.

A Wilson's Storm Petrel and a Black-capped Petrel were seen as we neared our destination but it was so rough it was difficult to hold binoculars steady. At "Tabletops" the water turned from a deep blue to an eerie purplish-blue colour and in the distance we saw a Magnificent Frigatebird harassing feeding terns. We stopped the boat and began putting overboard conch slop that we'd brought as chum.

At first the frigatebird and terns seemed to fly toward us but then veered off. During the trip we put out six 5-gallon containers of conch but it proved totally ineffective in luring any seabirds or fish.

We lingered at this location for about half an hour just drifting but the rocking motion was just too much and it was difficult to focus on the birds which did come close enough to view - Bridled and Sooty Terns, Audubon's Shearwaters and Storm Petrels. We decided to troll using
artificial lures at 6-8 knots per hour and went parallel to the coast of Great Guana Cay heading SW. It was a relief to be going with the seas for a change. More birds began to appear and the viewing conditions improved considerably. Two mid-sized Greybacked Terns flew by but were
too distant to diagnose with certainty. Probably Common but Arctic had been seen a week before onshore when the winds were at their peak (30-40 mph).

Our best finds were two different species of storm petrels: first a noticeably larger Leach's right beside the boat, and then a much more direct flying Band-rumped. We had excellent views of each but they did not linger and conditions were too rough to get a photo despite having cameras ready. Our total of eight storm petrels were a high number in this area. They seem to occur in direct ratio to how rough the seas are, which is why they're called storm petrels.

Nice surprises were Brown Booby and White -tailed Tropicbird Singles, Sooty and Bridled Terns passed regularly as did Audubon's Shearwaters but none of the larger shearwaters (Cory's, Greater and Sooty) we'd hoped for. Not one fish strike in four hours of trolling. We were out for seven hours (10 am - 5 pm) under cloudy skies with winds of 15 mph from the NE. We covered the ocean from Green Turtle Cay in the north to Man-O-War Cay in the south staying well offshore the whole time. Things picked up on the way in at about 4 pm as they usually do for some reason closer to shore but before reaching the reefs. Once inside the Sea of Abaco Least Terns were seen fishing for small fry, Double-crested Cormorants and a lone Brown Pelican on pilings but surprisingly no Royal Terns. All in all it was a successful t
Species Totals: Brown Booby - 1, Double-crested Cormorant - 6, Magnificent Frigatebird - 1, Laughing Gulls - 20+, Brown Pelican - 1, Black-capped Petrel - 1, Wilson's Storm Petrel - 6, Leach's Storm Petrel - 1, Band-rumped Storm Petrel - 1, Audubon's Shearwaters - 20+, Roseate Tern - 20, Common Tern(?) - 2, Least Tern - 6, Bridled Tern - 20, Sooty Tern - 6, White-tailed Tropicbird -1.

July 2001 Table of Contents