Shearwater Journey's pelagic trip today, departed on a spacious, new
boat from the Yacht Harbor in Santa Cruz. It was a very birdy day
with some very distinct highiights, among them: knock-out views of a
LAYSAN ALBATROSS which flew straight in from the bow, circled the
boat, and sat on the water, a terrific show for all. Not to be
outdone, at least 17 BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSSES were also found. Five
species of shearwaters included: 350 PINK-FOOTED SHEARWATERS, 2 FLESH-
FOOTED SHEARWATERS, 15 BULLER'S SHEARWATERS, 1000 SOOTY SHEARWATERS,
and 17 newly arrived, BLACK-VENTED SHEARWATERS. A grand slam on the
jaegers produced, POMARINE, PARASITIC and LONG-TAILED JAEGERS. The
star of the alcid show was 10 MARBLED MURRELETS off of West Cliff
Drive. Four HARBOR PORPOISES, our smallest cetacean, were spotted
while watching the murrelets. HUMPBACK WHALES were no less
spectacular, with feeding frenzies of shearwaters, BROWN PELICANS,
BRANDT'S CORMORANTS, and CALIFORNIA SEA LIONS. Many happy moments
were spent with the bow-riding NORTHERN RIGHT WHALE DOLPHINS and
PACIFIC WHITE-SIDED DOLPHINS many of them with calves in a herd of
nearly 1000 animals.
We thank all of the participants, and the MONTEREY BAY BIRDING
FESTIVAL (www.montereybaybirdingfestival.org) and the leaders: Jon
Dunn, Alan Hopkins, Jennifer Green, Steve Howell, David Suddjian,
Steve Gerow, and Debra Shearwater.
Spaces are still available on all of our October trips, including a
few on the trip that departs from Santa Cruz on October 12th. Please
email Debra Shearwater, debi@shearwaterjourneys.com for reservation
information.
The complete species list follows:
SEPTEMBER 26, 2008 MONTEREY BAY FROM SANTA CRUZ
RED-THROATED LOON- 2
PACIFIC LOON- 2
COMMON LOON- 1
EARED GREBE- 3
WESTERN GREBE- 28
LAYSAN ALBATROSS- 1
BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS- 17
NORTHERN FULMAR- 1
PINK-FOOTED SHEARWATER- 350
FLESH-FOOTED SHEARWATER- 2
BULLER'S SHEARWATER- 15
SOOTY SHEARWATER- 1000
BLACK-VENTED SHEARWATER- 17
ASHY STORM-PETREL- 12
BROWN PELICAN- 200
BRANDT'S CORMORANT- 200
DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT- 50
PELAGIC CORMORANT- 2
SURF SCOTER- 4
WANDERING TATTLER- 1
BLACK TURNSTONE- 40
SURFBIRD- 20
SANDERLING- 20
RED-NECKED PHALAROPE- 1
SOUTH POLAR SKUA- 7
POMARINE JAEGER- 6
POMARINE/PARASITIC JAEGER- 3
LONG-TAILED JAEGER- 1
HEERMANN'S GULL- 200
CALIFORNIA GULL- 1000
WESTERN GULL- 1000
ELEGANT TERN- 300
COMMON TERN- 2
COMMON MURRE- 1000
MARBLED MURRELET- 10
RHINOCEROS AUKLET- 45
SEA OTTER- 20
CALIFORNIA SEA LION- 500
HUMPBACK WHALE- 17
NORTHERN RIGHT WHALE DOLPHIN- 300
PACIFIC WHITE-SIDED DOLPHIN- 700
HARBOR PORPOISE- 4
OCEAN SUNFISH- 1, large one
Shearwaters forever,
Debra Shearwater
831.637.8527
debi@shearwaterjourneys.com
PO Box 190
Hollister, CA 95024
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