Spring Blitz Day 11 - 30 May 2026 by Kate Sutherland

And the Hatteras Gulf Stream delivered again!! We had an amazing day out there and we didn't really expect it with the wind blowing from the west southwest, but we were out there and it happened! In one hour this morning we had five other gadfly petrels of two species in addition to our usual Black-capped Petrels! I said it was mind blowing ;) You can read about it in our eBird trip report here: https://ebird.org/tripreport/532289 but I can also give you a quick rundown in this post!In less than an hour we had three Desertas Petrels and two Trindade Petrels come to visit the Stormy Petrel II with our Black-cappeds! Then we had another Desertas Petrel join us just before noon. As we headed back inshore with weather coming we had our first Roseate Tern offshore of the spring and also our first Brown Booby as well! The latter spent at least thirty minutes chasing and eating flyingfishes near the boat! Our trip on the 31st was cancelled due to weather...but that's okay because this was the trip to end the Blitz on!!Thanks so much to everyone who joined us for this epic eleven day run! And thank you so much to our leaders...today we had Brian Patteson, Daniel Irons, Todd McGrath, Chris Sloan and John Tsortos. Now fingers crossed for the rest of our Spring Seabirding Trips! - KateA few Desertas Petrel captures from todayThe Trindade PetrelsWhat looked to be a juvie light form Black-capped Petrel feeding in the slickThe Brown Booby on the shelfAnd a Wilson's Storm-Petrel with a wave