On Saturday, Jan 7, Mel Baughman, Dave Pardoe, Paul Rehm and I headed
out for a long day of fishing and birding on the Super Sport out of
Rudee Inlet. Dockside temperature at our 4:50 AM departure time was
about 37 with a NW wind at perhaps 8 mph. My focus was on fishing. I did
carry binoculars around my neck much of the time however. The Super
Sport hadn't been able to go offshore for a Saturday trip for a month
due to weather conditions.
I'd strongly suggest paying the $100 and getting out for a trip if
you'd like to fill in some gaps in our knowledge of what birds frequent
these offshore areas of Virginia at this time of the year and also add a
few pelagics to your VA list. If the weather is at all decent-- and ours
was superb-- you should have the entire upper deck to yourself for
birding and cetacean watching. The boat won't stop for birders however
but you will find yourself with perhaps six or eight 45 minute stops
over wrecks and perhaps 1-2 hours of running time each going off shore
and returning when you might see birds under adequate lighting
conditions. Seats behind the upper deck house are somewhat shielded from
wind and salt spray but are not undercover. Bring your own breakfast and
lunch and snacks as well as drinks. There is limited food available on
board but if the boat is crowded at all, you'll save a lot of time and
maximize your birding time if you stay up top with your food and only
hang out in the cabin when weather and darkness make birding hopeless
and painfull.
The boat ran for 3 hours at about 14 knots to places east of Virginia
Beach for wreck fishing. Water depths ranged from about 85 ft to 130 ft.
Surface water temperatures were 42-43 degrees.
Paul Rehm and I focused on fishing for the black seabass that often
populate these offshore wrecks. Mel and Dave did not fish and focused
more on the birds. The boat was very well-booked with perhaps 80 paying
customers. There was virtually no room on the lower deck level for any
birding which kept Dave and Mel from trying to wade through those of us
dangling pieces of squid, untangling incredible tangles of line, hooks,
bait, sinkers and keeping our place at the rail amid massive coolers,
bait and fish buckets, extra clothing, etc.
The Super Sport's ample upper deck was completely empty however and if
anyone is considering birding on this fishing boat, you'll have lots of
room up top for very comfortable birding-- assuming you also have
weather that was about as good as you can get in mid-January. Most of
the day was spent wreck hopping 45-50 miles off shore. The temperatures
were in the low 40s. Winds were negligible.
We traveled in darkness from 5 AM until dawn at 6:30 or so. Seas were
very rolling and winds at about 12 knots until we were 20-30 miles off.
No one ventured outside the cabin unless they were seasick or were
really anxious to rig up until after 7 AM or so. By about 8:00 AM, I
went outside to survey my place at the rail and look for birds and
cetaceans. There was ver little to see although a few red-throated
loons passed by and occasionally single or doubles of northern gannets
would check out the boat and then go on.
At about 8:20 AM, and close to our first fishing spot, the wake kicked
up a single phalarope. It flew away from the boat fairly rapidly. I
couldn't do any better on ID. Likely a red but the contrast between
dorsal and ventral plumage seemed very striking.
By about 10:30 AM the boat had settled into serious fish-catching with
many black sea bass coming over the rail. Discarded squid baits and
small black sea bass unable to quickly dive for the depths gradually led
to a build up of gulls around the boat and these gulls followed us from
wreck to wreck over the next 5 hours. Gannets built up to as high as 7
individuals. Many of the gulls appeared to be herring gulls but there
were far more lesser black-backed gulls than I had ever seen before. My
estimate is that there were perhaps 20 or more of them following the
boat and hoping for food.
At some point while running between wrecks, I caught sight of an alcid,
probably a razorbill. The bird first flew directly toward the stern of
the boat, then veered off to portside before landing and disappearing.
Near our final destination, a flock of 20-30 Bonaparte's gulls joined
the outer edge of the larger gulls. They stayed with us for 10-15
minutes. There may have been other species with them. I was heavily
involved in black sea bass when they appeared.
There were a number of whales observed and the captain actually pointed
out one group via the boat's sound system. I can only say there we saw
at least two species based on spout direction ( one group with "straight
up" spouts and a second group with spouts that were directed
consistently forward at a significant angle). We saw no small
cetaceans.
I was very happy with the number(about 25) and size of black seabass
that I caught. The anglers aboard also boated and generally discarded a
large number of spiny dogfish. Two relatively small bluefish were
caught. At least three seabass that I saw came up missing half to two
thirds of their bodies meaning that large sharks or bluefish lurked
below. Having fished these offshore wrecks and rocky spots from Maine to
North Carolina, this was the least diverse catch I'd ever seen.
My hunch was that there were many more birds to be seen than those few
I have reported. I did not see anything that said shearwater to me. I
am also sure there were more alcids, more phalaropes and a much greater
number and variety of gulls to be seen than those few I've reported. The
one birding highlight for me was the number of lesser black-backed
gulls.
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