*Posted with permission of the list owner* See Life Paulagics has scheduled its first NY offshore trip for the 2020 season! Yes, 2020!!! The 14hr, January 11th trip will depart from Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn aboard the Brooklyn VI at 5am, returning around 7pm. The boat is 100ft long and stable with ample rail space on two decks. It also has a heated cabin and a full galley. Street parking is readily available at this season. We will be actively chumming to keep gull and gannet activity behind the boat throughout the trip while we navigate towards the best areas for viewing alcids (Razorbills, Puffins, Dovekies and Common Murres). While many of our first experiences with alcids in NY are scoping tiny specks while being buffeted on a windy beach, pelagic trips offer the best chance to see the species we encounter through binoculars and often at close range, offering ample photographic opportunities and study. Another benefit of getting offshore in winter is the warmer water temps in the deep often moderate the air temp and even a downright frigid dockside departure can be met with viewing Puffins 75 miles offshore in temps that are quite enjoyable.
Target Species: Northern Fulmar, Dovekie, Razorbill, Common Murre, Atlantic Puffin, Glaucous, Iceland, and Lesser Black-backed Gulls, Black-legged Kittiwake, Red Phalarope. While we don't always see every species every trip, these are the birds that we expect to encounter with some regularity. There is also a well established history of genuine rarities on east coast winter pelagics. NYS's first and only Western Gull was discovered on a Paulagics trip, multiple records in the mid-atlantic of Yellow-nosed Albatross are from winter months, and it's worth noting that this window offers us our best opportunity for the holy grail bird, the Great Skua Dolphin and whales are also possibilities and we give all see life ample attention. Hope to see you aboard!!! Sean Sime Brooklyn, NY More information on cost and sign-ups can be seen here: http://paulagics.com/trips -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01 Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --