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New Field Guide and upcoming Pelagic Trips



Greetings all,

My new book, "Guide to the Offshore Wildlife of the Northern Atlantic" IS 
out, but due to delays in shipping from Hong Kong, it's arrival at Univ 
of Texas Press was delayed 2 weeks - due there now on 15 January. It 
won't be available for general purchase for a few weeks after that. 
However, there will be a couple opportunities to get the book in the next 
few weeks:

1) Carolina Bird Club winter meeting. CBC has obtained (or will have) a 
number of copies for sale at the meeting and I'll be there to autograph 
them.

2) Brian Petteson has two pelagic trips scheduled out of Hatteras on the 
first and thrid weekends in February. I will be on both trips with copies 
of the book. If that's not motivation to go on these trips, consider the 
following: The first weekend in February for the past 2 years in a row, 
Brian has found albatrosses. In 1999, on Feb 6, he had an imm. Black-
browed off Virginia Beach and in 2000, also on Feb 6, we (I was there) 
had a subadult Yellow-nosed. Both birds were seen at point blank-range 
for an extended period of time. Moreover, last year's Yellownosed was 
found while we were manovering to get close to two Great Skuas that had 
flown in and sat down in the water. I've been off with Brian on a number 
of winter trips and have seen Great Skuas on every single trip! Brian 
only runs 2 or 3 winter trips per year in NC (2 this year). It's not like 
summer when you can "pick and choose" from a wide selection. February is 
a good time to look for alcids and with this year's  obvious invasion of 
a lot of other northern species (e.g., Goshawk, Snowy Owl) it is easy to 
imagine that seabirds may also be pushed down by what has been an extra 
cold winter up north. Still not convinced? Then try this for size. A 
southbound Ross' Gull was seen this December off Maryland and I'm 
convinced that one of these days we are going to get a White-capped 
Albatross here (Debi Shearwater told me tonight that on more than one 
occasion, she has seen two per day! in her neck of the woods. No relation 
to us you think? They're just as common off South Africa as they are off 
Australia - and a whole lot closer. Anyway, y'all should plan to come. 
Last year's albatross trip was so empty it nearly didn't run and a lot of 
people were hurting after for missing it. Come along, get your copy of 
the book, I'll sign it and maybe we'll see something worth bragging 
about.

Mike Tove
Cary, NC