ABC was well represented on todays Westport Seabirds pelagic trip. Ken and I went down yesterday, birded a bit in the afternoon and headed for the Monte Carlo this AM. On arrival we joined Joe and Maggie Tieger and Terry and Karen Gillis along with Bruce LaBar and Cara Borre as a spotters.

On arrival Bruce told me about Amar Ayysh, a well known Chicago area birder, who is a renouned gull expert. I had a chance to sit and talk with Amar on the ride back in today. He is in the research part of writing a book on North American gulls, with visits to both the UPS Slater Museum and the U.W. Burke Museum, both places well known for their outstretched wing collections.

As a part of the welcome today, Bruce talked about what he feels are the best resources for birders to use in study before or reference during or after a pelagic trip, and he mentioneKirk Zufelt. After the welcome, Bruce was perusing the book, and one of the birders on board asked him what the thought of the book. Bruce raved about how he loved the book, and asked the guest if he had looked at the book. He replied, Ï wrote it.” Kirk Zufelt is an avid pelagic birder from what he tongue-in-cheek calls the pelagic headquarters of the world, Sault Ste Marie, Ongtario, Canada, who is on a quest to see every seabird in the world. You can read about it at his website: Pelagic Odyssey. His book is Oceanic Birds of the World: A Photo Guide.

I had a chance to talk with Kirk also, and he is a practicing pediatrician who is going on both of this weekends Westport Seabirds trips as a handy adjunct to visiting his daughter who lives near or in Vancouver, BC.

Top birds on the trip today were Flesh-footed Shearwater, both small terns, both phalaropes, Long-tailed Jaeger as a part of the Skua Slam (in Europe) or Jaeger Slam (in the U.S. just does not sound as cool) with all three jaegers plus South Polar Skua.

All this plus nice weather after a minor squall on the ride out, moderate seas, and fairly warm temperatures.

Good birding.

Ed Pullen

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