HONORING LUKE COLE

Hello, Birders,

Today, we honor a dear friend of the birding community, Luke Cole. Luke was an attorney and a pioneer in the field of environmental justice, serving poor people and people of color.

Luke began going on Shearwater Journeys' pelagic trips in 1989. In 1999, he began co-leading our pelagic trips. He was an avid seabirder who enjoyed the seabirds, marine mamma

ls, and people from the world over whom he met on these trips.

It could be said that Luke's seabirding experience reached its apex when he joined me on a voyage which departed from Ushuaia, Argentina this past March. From there, we embarked on a 25 day journey to the Antarctic Peninsula where Luke made a continental landing a Neko Harbor, thereby claiming to set foot on the Antarctic Continent. From the peninsula, we made seven glorious landings on the South Georgia, where Luke walked among the hundreds of thousands of King Penguins. Crossing the Southern Atlantic Ocean, we did a Zodiac cruise at Gough Island and then traveled on to the Tristan da Cunha Islands. Unable to land at either Nightingale or Inaccessible Islands, again, we Zodiac cruised on a warm, sunny day. Five days later, our voyage ended in Cape Town, South Africa. Here, Luke and I said farewells to each other, not knowing that it would be our last farewell.

Please join me in raising a toast of root beer to our dearly missed friend, Luke Cole, as we pay tribute to him and honor him this after noon in San Francisco.

More information can be found at this web site:

http://www.lcmemorial.org/

Luke was a friend without equal to me, personally, a loyal leader to Shearwater Journeys, and a faithful and true husband to Nancy Shelby, and a devoted family man. Truly, he was a man who "walked his talk." He will be sorely missed by countless friends, devotees, students, and family.

Fly well on your journey, Luke,

Debi Shearwater

TRIP REPORT: 24 OCTOBER 2009 HALF MOON BAY

Howdy, Seabirders,

Shearwater Journeys' unscheduled pelagic trip from Half Moon Bay today was, unfortunately, weathered out. A hearty, sold out, boat load of throughly prepared seabirders departed from Huck Finn Sportfishing Center, www.huckfinnsportfishing.com, in Half Moon Bay, attempting to make it to the Continental Shelf. The weather deteriorated rapidly, while the forecast was updated to include winds up to 30 knots. Six miles offshore, we aborted the day. I would like to thank the folks who took a chance, and showed up for this special charter with Captain Dennis Baxter. Our captain did a great job, but sometimes weather conditions make it impossible to conduct a trip.

Please stay tuned for more trips with Captain Baxter on the New Captain Pete in 2010. We look forward to working with him next year!

Shearwaters forever,

Debi Shearwater

CHASING SEABIRDS: OCTOBER 24 from HALF MOON BAY

Howdy, Seabirders,

By popular request, Todd McGrath and I have organized a pelagic trip on Saturday, October 24th, departing from Half Moon Bay Sportfishing on the New Captain Pete. Todd and I will be co-leading. The fee is $135 per person, payable in cash, at the dock. We have only a few spaces open on this trip which will run from 7 am until 4:30 pm. Advance reservations are essential. Please contact me by email: debi@shearwaterjourneys.com.

Recent pelagic trips from Half Moon Bay have produced some fantastic seabird records, including Short-tailed Albatross, and the stunning first confirmed and photographed record of a WHITE-CHINNED PETREL! To view images of this petrel, please see the following links:

Alvaro Jaramillo's images:

http://www.birdsofchile.com/WCPE.htm

John Sterling's images:

http://sterlingbirds.smugmug.com

Please contact me as soon as possible, if you would like to join Shearwater Journeys' pelagic trip on October 24th.

See you out there,

Debi

TRIP REPORT: 18 OCTOBER 2009 FORT BRAGG

Howdy, Seabirders,

Folks on board Shearwater Journeys' October 18, 2009, departing from Noyo Harbor, Fort Bragg enjoyed a beautiful day, with non-stop seabirding. Most trips from this port head for Noyo Canyon, to the north. However, since the weather and sea conditions were so good, I decided to head south to the Point Arena Buoy, Navarro Canyon and Arena Canyon. In years past, this has been a great hangout for albatrosses. We were not disappointed, as we saw flocks of 50+ BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSSES, sitting on the water. In all, we tallied 168 Black-foots for the day. Hundreds and hundreds of CASSIN'S AUKLETS were feeding on krill between shore and the 100 fathom line, along with 2 BLUE WHALES and 2 HUMPBACK WHALES. The nearshore seabirding was best, as offshore, we lost the vast majority of the birds. Some very nice schools of PACIFIC WHITE-SIDED and NORTHERN RIGHT WHALE DOLPHINS were on the shelf, as well. A single FLESH-FOOTED SHEARWATER was a highlight for many of the folks on board, as well as a county bird. FOS (first of the season) MEW GULL was spotted amongst the many gulls following the boat. Two SABINE'S GULLS were a good find this late in the season. Finally, on the way home, two ANCIENT MURRELETS were spotted. Our captain did a great job of getting the boat positioned so that everyone on board could see these little birds, FOS for me, as well as a Mendocino County bird for me!

Many thanks to the birders on board, from near and far. The leaders on this trip were: Lisa Hug, Todd McGrath, Scott Terrill, Linda Terrill, and Debi Shearwater.

The full report follows:

PACIFIC LOON- 2

COMMON LOON- 1

WESTERN GREBE- 4

CLARK'S GREBE- + in the harbor

BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS- 168

NORTHERN FULMAR- 121

PINK-FOOTED SHEARWATER- 48

FLESH-FOOTED SHEARWATER- 1

BULLER'S SHEARWATER- 17

SOOTY SHEARWATER- 3

BROWN PELICAN- 14

BRANDT'S CORMORANT- 30

DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT- 3 in the harbor

PELAGIC CORMORANT- 1

SURF SCOTER- 27

WHITE-WINGED SCOTER- 8

RED-NECKED PHALAROPE- 200

RED PHALAROPE- 60

SOUTH POLAR SKUA- 1

POMARINE JAEGER- 14

HEERMANN'S GULL- 4

MEW GULL- 1

CALIFORNIA GULL- 50

WESTERN GULL- 280

WESTERN/GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULL- 15

SABINE'S GULL- 2

COMMON MURRE- 1060

ANCIENT MURRELET- 2

CASSIN'S AUKLET- 1200

RHINOCEROS AUKLET- 29

CALIFORNIA SEA LION- 50

NORTHERN FUR SEAL- 2

BLUE WHALE- 2

HUMPBACK WHALE- 2

NORTHERN RIGHT WHALE DOLPHIN- 200

PACIFIC WHITE-SIDED DOLPHIN- 250

OCEAN SUNFISH- 1

BLUE SHARK- 1

Shearwaters forever,

Debi

Flocking Long-billed Curlews

Hi, Birders,

While making a short birding run mid-day, I spotted a flock of 363 high-flying LONG-BILLED CURLEWS! I was on Santa Ana Valley Road. Gunning the engine, I tried to follow them with my car, hoping that I would get a better view once they landed. Speeding around and over the hills, I headed for Quien Sabe Road. Sure enough, I arrived just in time to see a portion of the flock, settling down on the grassy knolls. However, raucous RAVENS drove them off! As this flock took to the sky, they were joined by the remainder of their flock, which had settled somewhere else. Now, they were together, flying and circling higher. Finally, they were joined by yet a third flock of 130 additional birds. Circling higher yet, were some 493 birds, calling as they went. They split up into smaller flocks, finally heading off toward Panoche Valley, or the great Central Valley. Meanwhile, as I watched all of this, a winter resident FERRUGINOUS HAWK sat on the telephone pole and an adult GOLDEN EAGLE was chased by a RED-TAILED HAWK. I had already passed 2 other Golden Eagles and one PRAIRIE FALCON.

I headed over to Paicines Reservoir. In a small elderberry shrub north of the turnout, I found at least 8 PHAINOPEPLAS feeding.

Birding on the Faultline,

Debi Shearwater

TRIP REPORT: SEP 27, 2009: MONTEREY BAY

Whoaaa, Cowboys & Cowgirls,

Monterey seabirds and marine mammals put on quite the show on the Shearwater Journeys' September 27th pelagic trip run in conjunction with the Monterey Bay Birding Festival. The day began auspiciously with Alvaro Jaramillo spotting a high-flying female WOOD DUCK, while we were still at the dock. This was quickly followed by the PEREGRINE FALCON who was eating breakfast on the radio tower along Cannery Row. Next up, were two BOTTLENOSE DOLPHINS, spotted by leader, Jennifer Green. On top of that, the sun was out and the seas were glassy-calm! We had not seen much sun for the past 3 days, being enshrouded in fog. I guess this should have been our clue that we were in for a great day. Yup, next up, BLACK-VENTED SHEARWATERS. These coastal shearwaters have not made much of an appearance in Monterey Bay for several years. It was nice to see our southern friends, again. Hold on! Abe Borker yells, "What's this bird?" I fix my bins on a fast-flying black and white MANX SHEARWATER! Abe is the newest leader to join the Shearwater Journeys' crew. His enthusiasm is very contagious! Approaching several fishing vessels, we found good numbers of BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSSES. A few stops for COMMON MURRES and RHINOCEROS AUKLETS were made. Some scattered ASHY STORM-PETRELS were passing by. Then, Terry Hunefeld of Southern California Seabirding, asks me, "Do you have orcas here?" Do we ever! Thanks to Terry for spotting the ORCAS (KILLER WHALES) which led us to observe one of the most amazing events I have ever witnessed.

From the get-go, the orcas were tail-lobbing and splashing quite a bit, thrashing all around. A single XANTUS' MURRELET flew off in between the orcas. Finally, as they approached our vessel, we were able to see that they appeared to be trying to kill an OCEAN SUNFISH, (Mola mola)! I've seen an adult male orca kill a Blue Shark, but never a Sunfish. The spyhopping, breaching and tail lobbing continued. Once, they went after a COMMON MURRE! (I've seen them kill a Rhinoceros Auklet). We were enjoying this show in beautiful, sunny weather, with calm seas! Then suddenly, some HUMPBACK WHALES appeared at our 10 o'clock. The orcas were at the 2 o'clock. Unbelievably, the three humpback whales made their way, keeping their ranks extremely close to each other, toward the orcas! It was hard to believe what we were seeing. I have seen orcas killing and chasing large baleen whales. But, this was the other way around! The humpbacks were chasing and bearing down on the killer whales! It was as if the humpbacks were acting like passerines that mob an owl. They seemed quite intent on their pursuit of the killer whales and came incredibly close to them. At least one of the humpbacks was making a racket with its blowing. We watched all of this with great interest. Many cameras were firing away! Our captain had radioed the other vessels. Alas, as they approached, the entire scene was engulfed in fog. We departed, leaving four vessels chasing the whale, or each other, in the fog. Thank you, Terry! Yes, indeedy, we do have orcas!

Heading out along the canyon edges, we searched for rafts of storm-petrels. Finding several small flocks, we finally found a raft of about 4,000 ASHY STORM-PETRELS. Two WILSON'S STORM-PETRELS were among these. One of the Wilson's was lured to our oil slick for a close view. One BLACK STORM-PETREL was also spotted. It is quite possible that the variety of storm-petrels will increase over the next few weeks.

We visited both Monterey and Santa Cruz Counties. Jennifer Green kept detailed notes for both counties, as well as GPSing our spots. Many thanks to Jennifer. We thank the Monterey Bay Birding Festival folks who joined us, as well as the many folks who journeyed from far away. Shearwater Journeys' leaders on this trip were: Alvaro Jaramillo, Denise Wight, Abe Borker, Jennifer Green, and Debi Shearwater. Many thanks to Terry Hunefeld for his gracious help.

The complete species list follows for SEPTEMBER 27, 2009
Monterey/Santa Cruz

RED-THROATED LOON-1/0
PACIFIC LOON- 2/0
EARED GREBE- 1/0
WESTERN GREBE- 3/0
BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS- 28/32
NORTHERN FULMAR- 1/1
PINK-FOOTED SHEARWATER- 85/60
BULLER'S SHEARWATER- 3/4
SOOTY SHEARWATER- 190/32
MANX SHEARWATER- 1/0
BLACK-VENTED SHEARWATER- 10/0
WILSON'S STORM-PETREL- 1/1
ASHY STORM-PETREL- 4000 on the county lines
BROWN PELICAN- +
BRANDT'S CORMORANT- +
PELAGIC CORMORANT- 12/0
SURF SCOTER- 6/0
WOOD DUCK- 1/0
BLACK TURNSTONE- 12/0
SURFBIRD- 1/0
RED-NECKED PHALAROPE- 133/9
RED PHALAROPE- 9/0
SOUTH POLAR SKUA- 1/0
POMARINE JAEGER- 4/0
PARASITIC JAEGER- 1/0
HEERMANN'S GULL- +
CALIFORNIA GULL- +
WESTERN GULL- +
SABINE'S GULL- 7/0
ELEGANT TERN- 62/0
COMMON TERN- 2/0
FORSTER'S TERN- 14/0
COMMON MURRE- 330/82
XANTUS' MURRELET-1/0
XANTUS/CRAVERI'S- 2/0
CASSIN'S AUKLET- 0/24
RHINOCEROS AUKLET- 140/235
TUFTED PUFFIN- 0/1
GREAT EGRET- 3/0
PEREGRINE FALCON-1/0
SEA OTTER- +
CALIFORNIA SEA LION- +
HARBOR SEAL- +
HUMPBACK WHALE- 5
KILLER WHALE- 5 or 6, no adult males observed
BOTTLENOSE DOLPHIN- 2
DALL'S PORPOISE- 4
OCEAN SUNFISH- 4
BLUE SHARK- 2

I invite you to visit the following web sites:
Abe Borker's stunning images
Denise Wight's web site
Alvaro Jaramillo on the Field Guides web site
Southern California Birding
Monterey Bay Birding Festival

Happy trails to you until we meet again,
Debi Shearwater
Shearwater Journeys, Inc.