The Setup: Mark Hoffman (one of our leaders) and Jim Stasz (another Maryland list fanatic) are running neck and neck on their Maryland state lists. White-faced Storm-Petrel happened to be a bird that Mark had for Maryland, but Jim did not. Mark also happened to be in England when this trip sailed. The following was an e-mail that Paul sent to mark after the trip.
Mark-
As you may have already heard, Jim Stasz saw the White-faced Storm-Petrel on Saturday's trip. My deepest apologies. I attempted to position myself near Jim when nobody was looking, but between having a full boat, everybody outside, and Jim's caution because he somehow found out about the contract you put on his life in case he got a bird that put him ahead of you, I just couldn't get the opportunity to nudge him overboard.
Perhaps on one of the upcoming trips you can rectify the situation. Look for a large fillet knife conveniently left near the chum. BTW, if you report Jim missing while we're still out in the deep, we should get more birding time for free. After all, we'd have to use our binoculars to search for the body, right?
Hope you're having a good time in England!
-Paul