Magnolia Warbler Hitching a Ride

Back in mid-May Steve had an off-shore trip to Georges Bank. He's a marine biologist and goes off-shore at least a couple times a year. He and his co-worker Dave got some great pictures of the birds they saw while out there. Georges Bank itself is about 60 miles offshore, and then the area itself is 150 miles long by 75 miles wide. For more info: http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Georges_Bank

Apparently they get a lot of avian ocean hitch-hikers, which I think is a great term for it, although not widely used. Sometimes birds get blown out to sea in a storm and are exhausted and need to stop and take a rest. As you can see, they picked up a migratory warbler, and they also had an Eastern Kingbird stop to take a rest.



They also saw plenty of pelagic birds. I wrote another post earlier this week about what I believe to be an Audubon's Shearwater. Can anyone help on this I.D.?

Unfortunately this storm petrel (I believe a Wilson's Storm Petrel- the one most commonly seen near boats) was extremely weathered and exhausted when it landed on the boat. Steve said they watched it for a while and it got progressively worse. Eventually they went to look for it and couldn't find it- they assumed it "committed suicide" and just jumped over the boat. Although, who knows? It could have had a miraculous recovery and flown off into the sunset!


Sunset from the boat:



Here are some other cool pictures from his trip.

Steve holding a giant fluke:


Mako Shark:

Porbeagle Shark:

Don't worry- these sharks weren't harmed. They were measured and then released.

Thanks Steve and Dave for sharing your pictures!