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From the Mountains to the Sea

Would you like to see whales in the Bull Run Mountains? It might happen in a few million years, but none of us will be around then. So, if the whales can't come to us, we will go to them.

Bull Run Mountains Conservancy is organizing a pelagic field trip on the last weekend in August. We will leave this area on Friday afternoon and spend the night at a hotel since the boat will leave the dock promptly at 5 a.m. on Saturday morning and return at 7 p.m.

For those of you who don't know, pelagic is a fancy way of saying "ocean going". We will be going to the edge of the continental shelf off the mid-Atlantic coast of Delaware/ Maryland. Some of the whale species we might see include fin, minke, humpback, and long-finned pilot whales. Dolphin sightings may include bottlenose, common or saddleback, and Risso's dolphin.

The list of possible seabird species is even longer. Most of them spend their entire lives at sea far from land, coming ashore only to breed. Get out your bird book. If you haven't checked Wilson's storm-petrel off on your life list, you will on this trip. Leach's storm-petrel is possible, and this is the best time of the year to see the very rare white-faced-storm petrel. Four species of shearwaters and three species of jaegers are about during this season. South polar skua (really from there), arctic tern (really from there), bridled tern (from Central and South America), and several other species are also possibilities. There have even been sightings of albatross species off the mid-Atlantic coast, but don't get your hopes up for that one.

Besides whales and seabirds, other species of interest could be sharks, sea turtles, and other types of marine life not seen from land. Every pelagic trip is different. You never see the same things on every trip, and you never know what to expect.

If you would like to join us on this trip, contact BRMC at (703) 753-2631 before July 31, 2005 to get more detailed information and reserve your space. This trip is limited to 10 participants.