King, Warren B., 1963-1964
Page 62
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Transcription
King, Warren B. 1964 37 March 31 A slow day for birds, but lots of wind and high seas. Gale winds continue with little let up in sight. Sooty Shearwaters again predominated today. Ten and eight probables were recorded, all headed northwest. Harcourt's (one type B, 1 ?) and Storm Petrel (4) sp. were next followed by Shearwater/petrel (1) and a Booby sp. reported by the watch but not observed by Bob or myself. From his description it is plausible. An adult Red-foot or Masked. It would be the first for the cruise since the first day ; if it were a Red-foot. No Black-footed Albatross yet even though we are past 21°N. The bird recorded as Booby was reidentified as Laysan Albatross after the same watch saw one on 1 April 1964. This seems more likely in view of the scarcity of Boobies out here this month. April 1--At 0550 the watch saw a Black-footed Albatross behind the ship. We had expected them one day earlier but the convergence between the north pacific current and the north pacific central waters moves north as we head east so this may be understandable, if the one has any causal relationship upon the other. One Harcourts Storm Petrel today, Type B. Sooty Shearwaters again dominated the day: three and fourteen probables, all heading northwest. At 1104 a Laysan Albatross was seen at very close range by Sundell. At 1227 another Black-foot appeared - six hours after the first so I feel it is safe to assume it is a new bird. At 1630 another one showed up. 1227 bird had an all white rump and 1630 had an all dark rump so these were obviously distinct birds, giving a day's population of three. At 1641 a shorebird appeared, small and light colored, a phalarope or sanderling, identical to those seen previously the on^trip