Seabirds by Season on the Stormy Petrel II

An introduction to seabirds will begin this presentation, then Kate will cover seabirds that are offshore from Hatteras Island, NC in the winter, spring, summer and fall. She will focus on those species that are pelagic, or “of the open ocean” and share images and some identification criteria as well. Kate will also cover information about the Black-capped Petrel. This endangered tubenose, nests on Hispaniola in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, though it could be nesting in other locations in the Caribbean, we just don’t know. These birds utilize the Gulf Stream waters offshore of the southeastern US and also those waters associated with this warm water current as it moves to the north / northeast.

Speaker: Kate Sutherland
Mindful Network Founder

Kate Sutherland moved to Hatteras, NC in 2001 to work with Brian Patteson. He owns a company called Seabirding that runs pelagic birding tours in the Gulf Stream and has the enigmatic Black-capped Petrel as their signature species! In 2016 she also began helping Bob Flood lead the Cahow Experience, a tour in Bermuda to see the highly endangered Bermuda Petrel. 2019 found her on her first research cruise from Woods Hole, MA as a seabird observer on a trip to study beaked whales. 2023 and 2024 she worked as a guide and researcher aboard the Heritage Adventurer, a ship based in New Zealand on trips to the Ross Sea (Antarctica). Her niche is seabirds, so offshore is her habitat. She recently earned her master’s in marine biology at University of North Carolina Wilmington investigating the foraging ecology of Black-capped Petrels by using stable isotopes in feathers from historical specimens collected offshore of NC by David Lee, former curator of birds at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences.

Kate recently earned her master’s in marine biology at University of North Carolina Wilmington investigating the foraging ecology of Black-capped Petrels by using stable isotopes in feathers from historical specimens collected offshore of NC by David Lee, former curator of birds at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences.

Host or Publisher Seabrook Island Birders