water over 450 m deep. The only least tern recorded during the Texas surveys was seen 

 in NTEX near the 100-m contour (Map 35). This tern may have been a migrant. 



The distribution of birds with respect to bathymetry was simpler in November 

 than in August. The offshore element was gone, and essentially all birds were found over 

 relatively shallow water. Royal terns occurred out to the 100-m contour (Map 40), but 

 81% were inshore of 40 m, just as in August. The two laughing gull groups identified 

 were in waters 10 and 36 m deep (Map 40). Herring gulls, absent in August, were common 

 in November (Map 41). They occurred out to the 60-m contour and, like royal terns, 81% 

 occurred inside the 40-m contour. We also recorded 10 sightings of unidentified gulls 

 distributed rather evenly between the 10- and 50-m contours (Map 42). 



Birds in NFLA 



Practically all birds seen in NFLA during August were relatively close to land. 

 The only summer migrant pelagic species identified was the bridled tern; other 

 unidentified dark terns may have also been bridled terns (Map 43). The two Sandwich 

 tern groups seen were both over 160 km from land and over water in excess of 100 m deep 

 (Map 44). This species generally is considered an inshore tern, so perhaps these sightings 

 were of migrants moving southward from the large Louisiana colonies. 



The rest of the birds seen during August were restricted to inshore, shallow 

 areas. Eighty-one percent of the royal tern sightings were over water less than 20 m 

 deep, and all were landward of the 30-m contour (Map 44). The brown pelican sightings 

 also were all landward (east) of the 30-m contour, and 66% were over water less than 10 

 m deep (Map 45). Magnificent frigatebirds (Map 46) ranged farther out to sea than the 

 pelicans and royal terns, but still 81% were landward of the 20-m contour. The 

 westernmost sighting of a magnificent frigatebird group was over water 45 m deep, about 

 50 km from shore. 



The November sightings of birds in NFLA were predominantly in nearshore 

 waters. However, both brown pelicans and royal terns tended to range further offshore 

 than they did during August. Mean depths for brown pelicans and royal terns were 29.9 

 and 22.4 m, respectively. Magnificent frigatebirds were present in low numbers inside 

 the 10-m contour. 



Birds in SFLA 



The bird fauna in SFLA during August can be grouped into coastal and offshore 

 elements. The coastal element consisted mostly of permanent and summer residents, 

 while the offshore element was composed of summer migrant pelagics and the summer 

 resident, sooty tern. 



The coastal element included brown pelicans, magnificent frigatebirds, and 

 various pale terns. Brown pelicans were recorded only in the northeast corner of the 

 survey subunit within 40 km of land (Map 47). Least, common group, and Sandwich terns 

 were found in the same area, close to land and mostly within the 25-m contour (Map 

 48). Royal terns were identified only landward of the 25-m contour (Map 47), although 

 four unidentified terns offshore between the 25- and 50-m contours may have been royal 

 terns (Map 49). Magnificent frigatebirds were most common nearshore, but ranged over 

 the eastern two-fifths of the survey subunit (Map 50). They were recorded several times 



46 



