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Transcription
Dayle N. Husted
1964
23.
July 20, 1964: Several large flocks were seen today composed mainly of
Sooty Terns, Wedgetails, and Petrel sp. The weather was fairly calm, but
the sea was very rough and we were headed into the swells and the ship got
bounced around several times.
July 21, 1964: Today started off better, the weather and the seas calmed
down and we got out on the bow. Several flocks were seen today. They were
composed of Sooty Terns, Wedgetails, Petrel sp., A Bulwer's Petrel, Frigate,
and Tropicbird were also seen today. Several Dark rumped Petrels and Bonin
Island Petrel were also seen. About 1330 this afternoon 2 dark rumped Petrels
and a wedge-tail were seen diving at a glass ball. I pulled up and shot and
got one of the dark rumped Petrels which fell right beside the fish ball.
While I am thinking of it, we need a shotgun out here that is worth something.
The blunderbuss is a hopeless case. The pattern is too close for about 30
yards then it spreads all over and isn't worth anything. We need a pump or
an automatic full choke. If I would have had a repeater I think I could
have gotten the other dark rumped Petrel and the Wedgetail. The dark rumped
Petrel might be a Galapogos subspecies because it had a white rump. I thought
I read somewhere that the Galapagos ones had a white rump. The bird was
checked for parasites and some Mallaphoag were found. It was then put in
the deep freeze. Also, today one of those Petrel-Shearwater sp. was seen.
I got a good look at it. It was about the size of a dark rumped Petrel. It
was all white except for the all black underwing which had a very thin, very
faint black line down the middle. The bird flew with few flaps, but it had
some fairly high rising glides. It was kind of a cross between a wedgetail