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 Pelagic Trip (Savannah, GA, Departure)
30 November 1998
Text and photos by James F. Flynn Jr.

Conditions Fog in early AM; cloudy/partly cloudy AM and PM
No. of Species 15

Red Phalaropes
 Red Phalaropes

Northern Gannet
 Northern Gannet

Royal Tern
 Royal Tern
 All photos 30 Nov 1998  by James F. Flynn, Jr.

 Note:   This report was prepared seven months after the actual trip.  Details in this account are generally sparse.  In any event, information concerning bird species found off of the Georgia Coast is  difficult to find, prompting the production of this report.

Ten birders set out on a pelagic trip organized by Giff Beaton using the Scat II out of Savannah.  Without a doubt, the stars of the day were the phalaropes, with 992 Red Phalaropes and 243 phalarope sp. being recorded.  Identification of the latter was hampered by early morning fog, and later, distance.  The majority of the phalaropes were found around man-made reefs in an area known as the Snapper Banks, 20 - 25 miles off of the Georgia Coast.

Some of the surprises found on this day included single Yellow-rumped Warblers well off the coast at two locations (45 - 50 miles off shore).  Three Cory Shearwaters were observed, setting a new Georgia late date for this species by 20 days.  A distant small shearwater, most likely a Manx Shearwater, zipped behind the ship at one point.  Once again, a Great Blue Heron was found in the vicinity of one of the Navy towers, approximately 50 miles off shore.

The table below details the species observed at each of the "stops" above (a "stop" is anywhere we located a bird).  Location data was recorded from the Scat II's GPS.

The table below shows the latitude and longitude of each sighting.

Species Number Stop
(see map)		 Latitude
(deg min) N		 Longitude
(deg min) W
Northern Gannet
Common Loon		 20
15		 1 31 49 80 49
Common Loon
Northern Gannet		 11
2		 2 31 47 80 45
phalarope sp.
Red Phalarope
Northern Gannet
Common Loon		 190
61
3
3		 3 31 44 80 42
Red Phalarope
phalarope sp.
Northern Gannet
Common Loon		 8
26
6
3		 4 31 42 80 39
Common Loon
Red Phalarope		 1
120		 5 31 40 80 35
Red Phalarope
Common Loon		 68
1		 6 31 38 80 32
Common Loon 4 7 31 36 80 29
Common Loon 1 8 31 34 80 26
Great Blue Heron
Common Loon		 1
2		 9 31 33 80 22
Royal Tern 14 10 31 31 80 13
Great Black-backed Gull
Common Loon		 1
8		 11 31 30 80 13
Cory's Shearwater 3 12 31 17.5 80 09
Royal Tern
Common Loon		 1
1		 13 31 16 80 08
Great Black-backed Gull
Royal Tern		 2
7		 14 31 14 80 07
Great Black-backed Gull 1 15 31 19 80 12
small shearwater sp. (Manx?)
Common Loon		 1
1		 16 31 21 80 14
Common Loon 1 17 31 24 80 17
Common Loon 4 18 31 27 80 20
Common Loon 12 19 31 32 80 24
Bridled Tern
Northern Gannet		 1
1		 20 31 34 80 26
Common Loon
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Northern Gannet
Red Phalarope
phalarope sp.
Herring Gull		 6
1
1
32
15
1		 21 31 38.5 80 31.5
Red Phalarope
Common Loon
phalarope sp.
Northern Gannet		 33
2
12
1		 22 31 42 80 34
Red Phalarope
Northern Gannet
Common Loon		 20
15
1		 23 31 45 80 36
Northern Gannet
Pomarine Jaeger		 4
2		 24 31 46 80 39
Northern Gannet
Herring Gull
Common Loon		 7
3
8		 25 31 46 80 41
Common Loon
Laughing Gull
Northern Gannet		 3
2
20		 26 31 48 80 44
Northern Gannet
phalarope sp.
Common Loon
Royal Tern
Herring Gull
Red Phalarope
Yellow-rumped Warbler		 25
8
11
11
3
650
1		 27 31 43 80 40
Red-throated Loon
Brown Pelican		 1
1		 28 31 42 81 50

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Reviewed 31 Dec 2002