Did I See A Cape Verde Shearwater?

A full report on my pelagic trip off the coast of Maryland and Delaware will come soon, but first there's some controversy. About midday, and close to the farthest offshore we traveled, our boat spotted 3 shearwaters cruising the waves ahead of us. I saw one of the birds clearly but, not having any previous experience identifying shearwaters, was unable to identify it to species. Several other observers stated that the birds looked like greater shearwaters, but Paul Guris, the leader of the trip and a man who's identification skills I would come to respect as the day wore on, immediately called out that the bird did not look to him like a greater but could indeed be the much more uncommon Cape Verde shearwater. There are photos taken (thankfully) by George Jett and posted on the on the See Life Paulagics website. See for yourself.

Here are some other pictures of the Cape Verde Shearwater for comparison:

  ¶ 10:23 PM