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Organising a pelagic - need tips! (1 Viewer)

Ho ho ho - Di-Hydrogen - mono-oxide eh! Its well know as a bird attractant - in large enough quantities i beleive wildfowl find it irresistable!
 
Jasonbirder said:
Ho ho ho - Di-Hydrogen - mono-oxide eh! Its well know as a bird attractant - in large enough quantities i beleive wildfowl find it irresistable!
So some say, but I've also come across birds killed by it. I once found a Redwing that had died as a result of prolonged exposure to solid DHMO, and a brood of Spotted Flycatcher chicks that died as a result of the nest becoming filled with liquid DHMO

Michael
 
Michael Frankis said:
So some say, but I've also come across birds killed by it. I once found a Redwing that had died as a result of prolonged exposure to solid DHMO, and a brood of Spotted Flycatcher chicks that died as a result of the nest becoming filled with liquid DHMO

Michael

Hi

Why can we not just carry out bird watching without using chemicals in concentrations that we have no full understanding of how it effects the birds and the whole environment.
Fishing boats can attract the most numerous amounts of sea birds, do they have to use chemicals.

Just a thought

Chris
 
I guess some of us are just selfish - whilst perhaps I shouldn`t because of the potential dangers it can bring, I myself always make sure I leave a small quantity of DHMO (Dihydrogen monoxide) in the vicinity of my bird feeders in the garden - particularly in the summer months (when the higher air tempretures cause rapid evaporation) it is succesful in attracting larger than expected numbers of birds and species to the garden.
Maybe I ought to rethink what i`m doing?
;)
 
Lots of advice. Edward, but I'll second Glen's comments in particular. I helped administer the Los Angeles pelagics for three years, and chummed mostly with popcorn and some occasional dippers of fish oil, once we got out into the open Pacific, cruising slowly and creating a long line of oil and gulls-- and shearwaters-- behind us.

Get a good night's sleep and eat a light breakfast.
 
Chris Mason said:
Hi

Why can we not just carry out bird watching without using chemicals in concentrations that we have no full understanding of how it effects the birds and the whole environment.
Fishing boats can attract the most numerous amounts of sea birds, do they have to use chemicals.

Just a thought

Chris
Hi Chris,

The effects of DHMO on birds and the environment are well understood, just not well known among the general public.

I'm actually aware of numerous cases of large numbers of seabirds being killed by DHMO inhalation as a direct result of the activities of fishing boats. The same boats also commonly cause heavy mortality among fish by adverse DHMO contact problems

Michael
 
Thanks for the info about DHMO!.
I have just done some research on it and now realise what effect it could have on the well being/or not, of our wildlife population.
 
Charles Harper said:
Lots of advice. Edward, but I'll second Glen's comments in particular. I helped administer the Los Angeles pelagics for three years, and chummed mostly with popcorn and some occasional dippers of fish oil, once we got out into the open Pacific, cruising slowly and creating a long line of oil and gulls-- and shearwaters-- behind us.

Get a good night's sleep and eat a light breakfast.

Thanks for the tips Charles. Do people go on pelagics in Japan?

I've underestimated the effect of seasickness once and when you're really suffering a Great Auk could swim past and you wouldn't give a damn. A light breakfast of thinly-sliced puffin breast on toast it is then.

E
 
Seasickness can be a killer - whilst suffering you really just feel like you want to curl up and die - i`m a terrible sailor - but strangely enough always perk up and forget about it when there`s a bird to be seen.
Plenty of bottled water and boiled sweets to take the taste away always helpful I find!
 
Jasonbirder said:
boiled sweets

BBBBBBBBBLLLLLLLLLLLLLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH

I'm off to Scilly 1st week of August for the evening pelagics (proper British Fea's, Wilson's, Red-billed Tropicbird, Wandering Albatross, Matsudaira's & Swinhoe's side by side for comparison etc...) and I know that I will be sick on every trip. Always am, always will be. And that's the fun of pelagics ... err ... maybe not.
 
tom mckinney said:
and I know that I will be sick on every trip. Always am, always will be. And that's the fun of pelagics ... err ... maybe not.
Never been sick on one yet ;) . . . did get a bit queezy on the one in a little boat out in the four metre high waves though . . .
 
As with much here, I am poorly aware of what the Japanese birdwatching contingent can get up to, Edward. Visitors, however, must content themselves with any of several inter-island ferry routes. The WBSJ last year was flogging a trip out to otherwise-inaccessible Torishima Island (sole breeding site for Short-tailed Albatross)-- two days, 70,000 yen ($650/£ 350). A little rich for my blood.
 
Further thoughts, Edward-- don't know whether these are no-brainers or not:

How many participants do you expect? Re boat size-- it should be big enough to span those waves, so you don't get beaten to death, lose your bins overboard, or start heaving before you get past the breakwater; but small enough to maneuver back onto your chum trail or take off briskly toward that little black alcid at 9 o'clock. (And stability is a big big big concern for viewing too of course.)

Which reminds me that you need to come to a pre-sail agreement as to how to indicate direction and altitude of a sighting: '12 o'clock' is dead ahead, of course, 'above' or 'below horizon', f'lying L' or 'R' should do it.

And be sure the layout of the boat allows birders to get to the bow, and preferably on top for a 360° view.
 
Charles Harper said:
Further thoughts, Edward-- don't know whether these are no-brainers or not:

How many participants do you expect? Re boat size-- it should be big enough to span those waves, so you don't get beaten to death, lose your bins overboard, or start heaving before you get past the breakwater; but small enough to maneuver back onto your chum trail or take off briskly toward that little black alcid at 9 o'clock. (And stability is a big big big concern for viewing too of course.)

Which reminds me that you need to come to a pre-sail agreement as to how to indicate direction and altitude of a sighting: '12 o'clock' is dead ahead, of course, 'above' or 'below horizon', f'lying L' or 'R' should do it.

And be sure the layout of the boat allows birders to get to the bow, and preferably on top for a 360° view.

Thanks Charles,

They are important considerations. I don't think we'll get more than 10 people (Icelandic birding scene is small) so we won't be sailing on the QE2. We're going to talk to a few salty sea dogs over the next week to get an idea of what kind of boat we can expect. One of the whalewatching boats would be ideal but in August they'll be all, well, whalewatching.

And if we do see a little black alcid that we don't recognise in our part of the Atlantic then it's going to be a stupendous find (Iceland did have a Crested Auklet in 1912 - a bit before my time)!


E
 
Michael Frankis said:
Hi Chris,

The effects of DHMO on birds and the environment are well understood, just not well known among the general public.

I'm actually aware of numerous cases of large numbers of seabirds being killed by DHMO inhalation as a direct result of the activities of fishing boats. The same boats also commonly cause heavy mortality among fish by adverse DHMO contact problems

Michael


Bit thick me, the penny has only dropped now, one week later, about the DHMO business!! Well I was a language and lit man at university, and dropped sciences as soon as I could. That's my excuse!!!

E
 
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