Despite what your parents probably told you growing up, meeting strangers on the internet so they can take you into international waters can be a good idea. In my case, this ‘three hour tour’ didn’t leave me a castaway on a desert island nor the subject of a true crime podcast, it turned into a revaluation of the range of a Critically Endangered species of seabird.
Perusing the eBird community discussion group on Facebook, I ran across a discussion related to Costa Rica, where I live. The poster’s name–Chris Fischer–seemed vaguely familiar and when I looked at his profile I realized that he was the birder with the big year record for Central America and he lived quite close to where I grew up in rural Pennsylvania. I was able to help get his issues sorted out and he invited me on a seabirding (aka pelagic) trip he was organizing.
Past Pelagics
My experience with pelagics was limited as I probably couldn’t live any farther away in Costa Rica from a port where they (infrequently) operate from. On top of that, I would be just arriving from a month long trip to South America, so I assumed I would be too busy, tired and short on budget to do it. However, my experiences with penguins, albatrosses, and other pelagic species in the Beagle Channel of Argentina had me rethinking the invitation and I reached back out to Chris for more details.
The Trip
He let me know they still had one spot available. We’d be making the inaugural voyage in a custom built boat for pelagic birding with room for about seven of us. The passenger list was a veritable hall of fame of Neotropical birders. Several field guide authors and some of the top birders in Costa Rica were going; quite a crew to learn from!
It was going to be a whirlwind trip for me to fit it into my schedule. Leave before dawn, drive six hours, sleep for a few hours, go forty miles offshore in the boat, get back to shore and drive the six hours back so I wouldn’t miss my twelve hour shift at work the next day. It was going according to plan until about an hour into the drive when, in the middle of nowhere, I suddenly felt some extreme intestinal distress. I barely made it to the next town where I will leave this aspect of the story to your imaginations.
Still, I was determined to make this trip even if I ended up having to do my business in the ocean off the side of the boat. I was left with a splitting headache, dehydration, and couldn’t eat anything. I barely slept. But I was the first person at the door the next morning. A cocktail of every pain, nausea, and stomach relief aid I could find in my stomach, we set out for the beach at the crack of dawn.
My only previous deep sea experience was uneventful. Other than a lone Tahiti Petrel, which is becoming a regular on most pelagics out of Cabuya, we only saw the most common species. This day was different. From the outset we were observing lifer after lifer for me. I scored a pair of lifers from each of several families: Boobies, Storm-Petrels, Jaegers and Phalaropes. The excitement kept me going but the pills were wearing off. I was hunkered down in the bow of the boat as we worked our way through a massive flock of Wedge-tailed and Pink-footed Shearwaters.
The Sighting
Suddenly Jim Zook, a legend of Costa Rican birding, suddenly roared out “Galpagos Petrel, Galpagos Petrel, Galpagos Petrel!” Right off our starboard the Galapagos Petrel was winding its way through the flock of Shearwaters with a Pomarine Jaeger in hot pursuit. I was cured. A wave of adrenaline surged through me. I didn’t realize how significant the sighting was yet, but I could tell from everyone’s reaction that this was big.
I quickly adjusted my camera settings and got myself in a more stable position on my knees in the bow. I watched as the petrel banked about a hundred yards out and started flying right at me. It was going to fly right across the bow. The straight flight gave me ample time to focus and my camera started firing in rapid bursts. The Jaeger passed by so close in pursuit I could barely fit the entire bird in the frame.
As quickly as it appeared, it was gone. That’s the surprisingly ephemeral nature of pelagic sightings. Despite being on open ocean, birds seem to appear and vanish out of thin air. With the Jaeger in pursuit, it kept flying flat out off our port. We took chase but the boat was no match for the speed of these seabirds. We lost them. It didn’t dampen the mood. The co-builder of the boat Wilfredo “Pollo” Villalobos had his shirt off and was dancing. Robert Dean, the British illustrator and co-author of “The Birds of Costa Rica” reacted with quintessential British subtlety simply said “lifer”.
Continued in part two…the science of the sighting.
