This is a full report of the Thursday, August 6 Cook's Petrel chase trip. We departed Fishermans' Wharf, Monterey at 6 am, heading straight offshore to the same area where we had found 91 Cook's Petrels and 3 Dark-rumped Petrels on August 2. Originally, the skipper and I had planned to head southwest. However, the sea surface temperature chart which I was able to obtain, indicated an uphill current to the north. When skipper David Lemon said, "This is where I would go, if I was fishing," that made up my mind. We arrived in "the area" approximately 0915. However, for well over and hour and a half, we saw no signs of any petrels. In fact, we had left most of the seabirds behind us. Finally, Oscar Johnson spotted a COOK'S PETREL at the far distant horizon. This would not do. Finally, in desperation, I decided to stop the boat, and lay out a slick that I was pretty darn sure would not work. There simply was not enough wind for the petrels to be flying, or else, they had up and flew the coop. Just as I was at the stern starting the slick with Wes Fritz's "magic brew, " some of the folks on the bow spotted a flock of birds on the water. Terry Hunefeld called my attention to the flock. Whaoooo! TWENTYTWO COOK'S PETRELS WERE SITTING ON THE WATER RIGHT WHERE I HAD STOPPED THE BOAT!! Okay, we were just a few yards away. Some birders called for the skipper to move the boat toward the flock. In his infinite wisdom, David, made his own decision to let the current carry the boat on its own toward the flock. This turned out to be a brilliant decision! Photographers crammed the bow, and cameras ticked away. Finally, the flock flew off, some of them making a casual pass over the slick at our stern. Every single person on board had excellent views of the petrels. This was, by far, the closest views of any of the trips, and best chance for the photographers to get their shots. Everyone was very happy. I made the decision to spend the remaining time of our trip in the deep offshore waters. Finally, it was time to return to the dock.
Cook's Petrels were hardly the only highlight of the day. Some county birders on board were positively thrilled, since we had crossed into both Santa Cruz and San Mateo Counties. Two LEACH'S STORM-PETRELS were the first of the fall season for Monterey Bay. BULLER'S SHEARWATERS; all three jaegers, SOUTH POLAR SKUA, SABINE'S GULLS, ARCTIC TERNS, and XANTUS' MURRELETS were additional highlights. Once again, the marine mammals were not too shabby, either. SEI WHALE (rarely sighted anywhere off Monterey Bay), BLUE WHALES, FIN WHALES, HUMPBACK WHALES, NORTHERN RIGHT WHALE DOLPHINS, RISSO'S DOLPHINS, PACIFIC WHITE-SIDED DOLPHINS, HARBOR and DALL'S PORPOISES kept us glued to the ocean throughout the day. The day ended with multiple breaching Humpback Whales for most of the last hour's drive home.
I would like to thank all of the birders who traveled from all over California to make this trip. Special thanks to Wes Fritz, Oscar Johnson, Paul Lehman, Guy McCaskie, Jon Dunn, Larry Sansone, Monte Taylor, Chris Conard, Bruce Barrett, Peter Ginsberg, Terry Hunefeld, David Wimpfheimer, Matthew Dodder, Frances Oliver, Maryanne Steuer, and James Huntington who flew in from Iowa for the trip.
The complete species list for AUGUST 6, 2009 MONTEREY BAY: COOK'S PETREL CHASE TRIP follows:
Santa Cruz County/Monterey County/San Mateo County
BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS- 1/37/1
COOK'S PETREL- 0/17/1
PTERODROMA SP.- 0/0/3
PINK-FOOTED SHEARWATER- 0/14/0
BULLER'S SHEARWATER- 0/2/1
LEACH'S STORM-PETREL- 0/2/0
ASHY STORM-PETREL- 4/14/9
BROWN PELICAN- 0/6/0
BRANDT'S CORMORANT- 0/10/0
RED-NECKED PHALAROPE- 0/500/0
RED PHALAROPE- 11/18/38
SOUTH POLAR SKUA- 0/2/0
PARASITIC JAEGER- 0/2/0
POMARINE JAEGER- 0/3/0
LONG-TAILED JAEGER- 1/52/18
JAEGER SP.- 0/5/0
CALIFORNIA GULL- 0/40/0
WESTERN GULL- 0/10/0
SABINE'S GULL- 0/127/1
ELEGANT TERN- 0/2/0
COMMON TERN- 0/2/0
COMMON/ARCTIC- 1/4/11
ARCTIC TERN- 1/9/15
COMMON MURRE- 0/170/0
XANTUS' MURRELET- 0/2s+2h/1
CASSIN'S AUKLET-0/3/0
RHINOCEROS AUKLET- 0/53/0
SEA OTTER- +
CALIFORNIA SEA LION- +
NORTHERN FUR SEAL-5
*SEI WHALE-1
BLUE WHALE- 2
FIN WHALE- 3
HUMPBACK WHALE- 35
NORTHERN RIGHT WHALE DOLPHIN- 5
RISSO'S DOLPHIN- 40
PACIFIC WHITE-SIDED DOLHIN- 80
HARBOR PORPOISE- 2
DALL'S PORPOISE- 12
OCEAN SUNFISH- 1
BLUE SHARK- 3
Pterodromas forever,
Debi
Debra Shearwater
Shearwater Journeys, Inc.
PO Box 190
Hollister, CA 95024
831.637.8527
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