Three sightings of HAWAIIAN PETRELS on Shearwater Journey's August 8, 2008 pelagic trip from Fort Bragg thrilled seabirders with repeated passes as close as 50 feet to the boat! Other highlights of this day included two XANTUS' MURRELETS, sitting on the water providing excellent views of this small alcid that rarely reaches northern California; a BLUE WHALE just outside of the harbor, over 90 BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSSES; great views of CASSIN'S AUKLETS; a grand slam on all three species of jaegers, POMARINE, PARASITIC, and LONG-TAILED JAEGERS; over 550 COMMON MURRES, many with chicks, 55 RHINOCEROS AUKLETS, and other assorted wildlife.
THE STORY:
Well, its been in the news— 8-8-08 was supposed to be a very lucky day! Indeed it was for the folks who journeyed on the Shearwater trip that day from Fort Bragg. Billed as a "Search for Mega-rarities," we departed Noyo Harbor at 7:10 am with many a seabird veteran, and a few folks who were making their very first pelagic trip, ever. I announced in the morning that the recent, strange southernly storms may have created what I dub, The Great Southerly Push"— a movement of warm water from southern California, in finger-like streams to central (Monterey and environs) and sometimes, northern California (Fort Bragg), and even into Oregon. The marine forecast was for great sea conditions, and practically no wind from the north, any north! This presented a rare opportunity for us to travel south with no fears of being "creamed" on our return trip to the harbor by the prevailing northwest winds! Yippee! However, the very lack of wind, meant, in my opinion, that we had little chance of encountering any Pterodromas. And, so I announced that folks should not plan on any Hawaiian Petrels on this day! Maybe, better luck on our Sunday trip. But, perhaps, we could find some murrelets. I gave instructions for the proper calling of murrelets, meaning, "murrelets on the water," or "murrelets flying."
As we headed out of the harbor to a well known past fishing haunt, Casper Heights, Al De Martini bellowed out, "BLUE WHALE!" Turning the boat around, we followed this giant leviathan for several minutes. It seemed to be traveling and not feeding. Trouble is, it was traveling in the wrong direction for us. So, we resumed our track to the Caspers. The Caspers are three high knolls or pinnacles which attract fish. Leader Clay Kempf, dubbed them the "Casper Heights." It was immediately apparent when were within shouting distance of the "heights" as the shearwater numbers increased dramatically. The sea surface temperature was a very chilly 51.3F. I held out little hope for murrelets in such cold water. I was to be proved wrong, and it would not be the last time I would be proved wrong on this day! The holler came from the stern of the boat, " XANTUS MURRELET ON THE WATER!" Sure enough, at N39.07.25/W124.03.76 in 51.6F water, a sweet little Xantus was on the water for all to see.
Conditions were so great, that I decided to take a hunch and head to a "Life" canyon for me—Navarro Canyon off of Point Arena. This area of ocean has practically never been explored by any seabirders. On one past trip from Fort Bragg, I headed south, but I do not think that I reached this canyon. On the famous trip from Bodega Bay to Fort Bragg, overnighting in Fort Bragg, and returning to Bodega Bay (a once-only trip), we found the first North American record of an ADULT WHITE-CAPPED ALBATROSS! But, we did not make it to Navarro Canyon on that trip because the weather was so bad that we could not get more than 8 miles offshore. So, this would be the first birding trip, ever to reach Navarro Canyon!!
Looking at the chart in the wheelhouse with our skipper, we descended down a steep canyon wall some 22 miles offshore. This pleasant day gave way to one seabird after another, with jaegers flying in to check out the masses of BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSSES following our boat. When we reached the Point Arena weather buoy, a large structure, a BROWN-HEADED COWBIRD flew off the buoy and to our boat! I began to ponder where the heck to lay out a menhaden oil slick, and I kept thinking, "a little further, a little more down the canyon slopes." On deck, leader Lisa Hug and I were casually discussing this. I told Lisa of my plan to head downhill to deeper water. She asked if that would be good for anything-- any good seabirds, and I replied, well, it might if we wanted to see a pterodroma! Just about at that very moment, a tubenose flew within 50 feet of us, and whoaaa! It was the first HAWAIIAN PETREL OF THE DAY!! Running up to the bow, we locked our bins onto the bird, and followed it for 5 minutes before we could no longer see it. Immediately, I stopped the boat, and dumped out the oil. The petrel never returned. We were at: N39.06.05/W123.08.71, with a sea surface temperature of 54F. This petrel was in view from 11:06 until 11:11 am, by my watch. We estimate that we were 22 miles north off Point Arena lighthouse. Not only had we hit some great underwater topography, but also a good sea surface temperature break. In all the pandemonium, it is a miracle that no one stepped on the cowbird who was constantly underfoot, picking up crumbs of popcorn and such!
After all of that drama, and a great many "high fives" and broad smiles all around, we continued on our way. Ted and Chris Koundakjian logged a life bird that they have been searching for on many boat trips for the past several years. Ted estimated that this was his 161st pelagic trip with Shearwater Journeys! It didn't matter what we saw after this mega-rarity!! Well, ever the persistent one, I did tell stories of a few rare pelagic trips where we recorded TWO mega-rarities in one day. At 12:47 pm, the call went out again—HAWAIIAN PETREL!! This one seemed to fly thru the wake, and up the side of the boat. We were at N39.11.69/W124.11.36, some 5 miles from the previous sighting. Sea surface temperature was now a whopping 55.9F. This individual also flew within 50 feet of the boat. I dumped oil immediately, but it did not return. Whew!
The third sighting of HAWAIIAN PETREL came at 2:04 pm, some 12 miles from the second sighting at N39.18.77/W124.04.53, about 12 miles off Mendocino. Sea surface temperature was 55.8F and the depth was 2066 feet. This time, the petrel flew off rather quickly, making photography impossible. However, some of the passengers on board were able to obtain images of petrel #1 and petrel #2. We hope that these images might help us to learn whether we are dealing with one individual petrel, or two, or three. It seems extremely unlikely that we could be so lucky as to run into the same individual petrel three times in one day, over the course of our long travels.
Coming home, we encountered another XANTUS' MURRELET, on the water, sitting next to a CASSIN'S AUKLET. This was a great comparison. The Xantus was at N39.20.37/W123.58.95. Sea surface temperature was down to 53.6F. We were impressed with the numbers of Cassin's Auklets on this trip. It is no coincidence that Cassin's Auklets and a Blue Whale were both recorded on this day, as both are krill feeders.
Exploring Navarro Canyon was a great idea. Heading south was a great idea (although, bear in mind that all of the previous records of Hawaiian Petrels from Fort Bragg have been on trips that headed north). The Great Southerly Push seems to have materialized, in that we had 'fingers" or "streams" of warm water currents. Whether these currents and the the fact that we were over a steep, deep canyon attracted the Hawaiian Petrels, remains to be determined. Certainly, Fort Bragg pelagic trips offer one of the best opportunities to find Hawaiian Petrels anywhere on the California coast. I've also seen Hawaiian Petrels as many times on Bodega Bay trips that visit Bodega Canyon. Navarro Canyon needs much more exploration, and I fully intend to do this!
We doodled along the kelp beds on our return to the harbor, hoping for one of the small, rare alcids, but found none. We had nice views of many HARBOR PORPOISES and PIGEON GUILLEMOTS. Nevertheless, all on board were thrilled with this wonderful day of seabirding on a "mega-rarity search" trip, that actually found a mega!!
My friend, Sophie Webb, who is working on the ORCAWALE (see previous blog report at www.shearwaterjourneys.com) research cruise, reported a HAWAIIAN PETREL on August 7 and another sighting of HAWAIIAN PETREL on August 8, both off of OREGON. We are unsure if records of Hawaiian Petrel exist for Oregon. Sophie also reported seeing BLUE and SEI WHALES.
We thank all of the seabirders who joined us on the August 8, 2008 pelagic trip from Fort Bragg. Shearwater Journey's leaders for this day were: Lisa Hug, Clay Kempf, Al De Martini, and Debra Shearwater.
It is possible to join us on the August 10 Fort Bragg pelagic trip, if you live relatively close to town. We meet at 6:30 am in Noyo Harbor for a 7 am departure on the Trek II. We also have spaces available on the August 12 Bodega Bay pelagic trip. We meet at 6:30 am in Port O' Bodega for a 7 am departure on the New Sea Angler. You might try emailing me, if you are interested in either of these trips.
The complete species list for our fantastic trip is below:
AUGUST 8, 2008 FORT BRAGG PELAGIC TRIP MEGA-RARITIES:
BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS- 94
NORTHERN FULMAR- 25
**HAWAIIAN PETREL- 1 to 3
PINK-FOOTED SHEARWATER-68
SOOTY SHEARWATER- 350
BROWN PELICAN- 48
BRANDT'S CORMORANT- 100+
PELAGIC CORMORANT- 6
SURF SCOTER- 1
BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER- 16
BLACK OYSTERCATCHER- 1
WANDERING TATTLER- 1
WHIMBREL- 2
MARBLED GODWIT- 1
BLACK TURNSTONE- 1
SANDERLING- 1
RED-NECKED PHALAROPE- 85
POMARINE JAEGER- 2
POMARINE/PARASITIC JAEGER- 1
PARASITIC JAEGER- 3
LONG-TAILED JAEGER- 7
Jaeger sp.- 2
HEERMANN'S GULL- 40
WESTERN GULL- 150
WESTERN/GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULL- 1
SABINE'S GULL- 2
ELEGANT TERN- 3
CASPIAN TERN- 1
COMMON MURRE- 550
PIGEON GUILLEMOT- 35
XANTUS' MURRELET- 2
XANTUS/CRAVERI'S MURRELET-3, get-away birds
CASSIN'S AUKLET- 150
RHINOCEROS AUKLET- 55
BROWN-HEADED COWBIRD-1, HY
CALIFORNIA SEA LION- 12
STELLER'S SEA LION- 1
NORTHERN FUR SEAL- 3
NORTHERN ELEPHANT SEAL- 1
HARBOR SEAL- 2
BLUE WHALE- 1
RISSO'S DOLPHIN- 12
HARBOR PORPOISE- 28
DALL'S PORPOISE- 32
SALMON SHARK- 1
OSPREY- 15
Today, was a lovely day on shore in the Fort Bragg and Mendocino area. The weather is perfect! Tomorrow morning when we meet for the next pelagic trip, I'm sure we shall discover where folks went birding today and what was found. This is a great area for birding! I only managed a couple short hours of birding with my friends, Les & Cindy Lieurance. It seems like it was a great day for migrating Orange-crowned Warblers. The highlight of the day for me, though, was a family of five RIVER OTTERS that Les spotted at 10 mile bridge, just north of Fort Bragg. It was delightful to see them swimming across the river, and eating, and going up the river bank.
See you tomorrow morning for more adventures at sea,
Debra
Shearwater Journeys, Inc.
PO Box 190
Hollister, CA 95024
831/637-8527
www.shearwaterjourneys.com
