Shearwater Journey's pelagic trip on Monterey Bay today was nothing
short of sensational! It was an action-packed, non-stop, mind-blowing
day of thousands upon thousands of feeding shearwaters, sea lions,
dolphins and humpback whales! The day began with a bang, when we
located both the summering LONG-TAILED and HARLEQUIN DUCKS in the
harbor. The usual suspects were along Cannery Row, including COMMON
MURRES and PIGEON GUILLEMOTS. Once we hit the bell buoy off Pt.
Pinos, the first shearwater of the day flew in— a BULLER'S
SHEARWATER! We knew that we were in for something great, and sure
enough, none of us was disappointed! Only two miles off Point Joe, we
encountered the first of thousands of feeding SOOTY, PINK-FOOTED and
BULLER'S SHEARWATERS along with PACIFIC WHITE-SIDED DOLPHINS and
HUMPBACK WHALES. Heading south to Cypress Point, we encountered one
mass of feeding marine life after another. Sometimes, we found flocks
of shearwaters resting on the sea, obviously satiated! When the
flocks of Buller's Shearwaters launched themselves in the air, it was
a like a dreamy ballet. Soon, a FLESH-FOOTED SHEARWATER was spotted
at the stern, coming into the chumming. BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSSES made
occasional passes, but the larger numbers of this species were found
toward the end of the day. White-sided dolphins were joined by
NORTHERN RIGHT WHALE DOLPINS, bowriding with their pale chocolate
calves and breaching and tail-slapping. Each new mass of wildlife
produced more Humpback Whales, sometimes breaching. On the fish-
finder, we could see large shoals of anchovies. The shearwaters were
diving and looking in the water for the fish. Finally, I saw a Sooty
Shearwater flying with a large anchovy, with a Pink-footed
Shearwater, calling, in hot pursuit! The Pink-foot won out, and stole
the fish! "Wheep, wheep," calling Pink-foots were very busy. The
dolphin show that had begun at 9:30 am continued until just after 1
pm. On the north side of the outer bay, we began to encounter
scattered ASHY STORM-PETRELS, along with many more RHINOCEROS and a
few CASSIN'S AUKLETS. Then, a flock of nearly 100 Ashys lifted off
the water, and leader Brian Sullivan spotted a single FORK-TAILED
STORM-PETREL amongst them. Returning to the harbor, leader Jennifer
Green brought the boat to a screeching halt for a single XANTUS'
MURRELET which promptly flew to the other side of the earth, as they
usually do! Two NORTHERN FUR SEALS and a single NORTHERN ELEPHANT
SEAL (rare at sea) added to the day, along with two good sized OCEAN
SUNFISH. Meanwhile, overhead, SABINE'S GULLS, and all sorts of
JAEGERS gave the aerial show! It was an exhausting, but thrilling day
to witness this spectacular array of miles and miles of wildlife.
There was never one dull minute!
By any standards, this was a great day. But, it is pretty early in
the fall season to have such a great variety of seabirds, in
particular. The sea surface temperatures ranged from 58-59-61F, with
some good temperature gradients. This is early for these numbers of
Buller's Shearwaters. In most years, as soon as we see high numbers
of Buller's, we usually encounter the Flesh-footed Shearwaters. But,
Fleshy-foots are more easily seen in October. Sea conditions were not
very good for finding the storm-petrels. In recent years, we have not
found storm-petrel flocks in August. With calmer seas, more storm-
petrels might be found. So, it was a day with some major bonuses.
We thank all of the participants on this day! Many photographers were
just delighted with the show! The August 22 leaders were: John
Sterling, Clay Kempf, Brian Sullivan, Jennifer Green, & Debra
Shearwater.
Our next Monterey trip with space available is August 29th. Please
call Linda at 408-353-8036 for a reservation. Leaders for the August
29th trip are Linda Terrill, Clay Kempf, and Jennifer Green.
The complete species list follows:
AUGUST 22, 2008 MONTEREY BAY
EARED GREBE- 1
WESTERN GREBE- 1
BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS- 31
NORTHERN FULMAR- 2
PINK-FOOTED SHEARWATER- 975
FLESH-FOOTED SHEARWATER- 1
BULLER'S SHEARWATER- 225
SOOTY SHEARWATER- 18,000
FORK-TAILED STORM-PETREL- 1
ASHY STORM-PETREL- 225
BROWN PELICAN- 150
BRANDT'S CORMORANT- 550
PELAGIC CORMORANT- 6
HARLEQUIN DUCK- 1
LONG-TAILED DUCK- 1
BLACK TURNSTONE- 7
RED-NECKED PHALAROPE- 250
SOUTH POLAR SKUA- 1
POMARINE JAEGER- 7
POMARINE/PARASITIC- 2
PARASITIC JAEGER-1
LONG-TAILED JAEGER- 4
JAEGER SP.- 2
HEERMANN'S GULL- 50
CALIFORNIA GULL- 30
WESTERN GULL- 200
SABINE'S GULL- 48
ELEGANT TERN- 45
COMMON MURRE- 28
PIGEON GUILLEMOT- 12
XANTUS' MURRELET- 1
CASSIN'S AUKLET- 16
RHINOCEROS AUKLET- 48
SEA OTTER- 6
CALIFORNIA SEA LION- 40
NORTHERN FUR SEAL- 2
NORTHERN ELEPHANT SEAL- 1
HARBOR SEAL- 12
HUMPBACK WHALE- 16
NORTHERN RIGHT WHALE DOLPHIN- 450
RISSO'S DOLPHIN- 7
PACIFIC WHITE-SIDED DOLPHIN- 2200
DALL'S PORPOISE- 4
OCEAN SUNFISH-2
Shearwaters forever,
Debra
Debra Shearwater
Shearwater Journeys, Inc.
PO Box 190
Hollister, CA 95024
www.shearwaterjourneys.com
debi@shearwaterjourneys.com
