On a recent cruise from Ft. Lauderdale, FL to St. Thomas, St. Lucia, Martinique, Grenada and St. Vincent and back, I was surprised at the paucity of sea birds. The only birds sighted were Magnificent Frigatebirds, usually a couple near the ports, and one day near the Bahamas we had a small flock of 10 Gannets diving for fish near the bow of the ship. No gulls of any kind in the ports at all. Since this is was a first cruise for me, is this normal?
Take a look at my report from Antigua wetlands to show that laughing gull actually are quite common around the Lesser Antilles during summer. Also, there is a paper that can be downloaded from http://www.amazona-guadeloupe.com/e...tput/index.html (look under latest news) that details some rather large numbers of pelagic birds seen around Guadeloupe.
Having said the above, when I go out on a whale watch on the caribbean side of Dominica, I normally see about 5 birds (maximum of 50) during a three hour outing.
HTH
Niels