COOKIN' IN THE COUNTIES!

Howdy, Seabirders,

Monterey Bay seabirding continued to surprise and delight birders on Shearwater Journeys' dedicated chase trip, August 2, 2009! Seabirds were the order of the day— and county seabirding was at its finest— fortunately for those county birders who were on board. 

A large contingency of hardcore birders met on Fishermans' Wharf in Monterey at 7 am. After the usual morning announcements, I asked the birders on board to thank Dick Veitch of the New Zealand Department of Conservation for eradicating cat's from Little Barrier Island, allowing Cook's Petrels' main breeding colony to flourish. This was per communication from my  friend, Mark Rauzon in Saipan, a seabird conservationist himself. Dick received a standing ovation at the dock! 

Dashing straight offshore to the 1000-1500 fathom line, we sighted our first COOK'S PETREL of the day about 0930 hrs. Just as on the July 31 trip, the first petrels were mere specks on the horizon. Throughout the day, we continued spotting petrels, with the last one being recorded at 1515 hrs. Sometimes, small groups of 3-6 petrels were sitting on the water. Todd McGrath spotted a Mesoplodon sp., probably a HUBB'S BEAKED WHALE early in the morning. Shortly, afterward, Todd and I were watching the first of three DARK-RUMPED PETRELS of the day. None of these was photographed, unfortunately. The seas were very calm, and at times, even glassy. One possible Stejneger's Petrel flew down the side of the boat, and away. Those on the opposite side of the boat did not see it. This is the flight of the gadfly petrel! A XANTUS' MURRELET of the hypoleucus race flew off. Later, we had knock out views of XANTUS' MURRELET scrippsi sitting on the water. The flat, calm seas allowed us to pick out the murrelets quite easily. There was plenty of jaeger activity, with a grand slam all the way around: LONG-TAILED, PARASITIC, POMARINE, & SOUTH POLAR SKUA. Flocks of SABINE'S GULLS sometimes followed the wake, briefly. The first of fall, RED PHALAROPES were nice to see. On the ride home, we saw a group of BAIRD'S BEAKED WHALES and over 50 HUMPBACK WHALES. Luckily, the PACIFIC WHITE-SIDED and NORTHERN RIGHT WHALE DOLPHINS rode the bow on our return to the harbor. However, being a dedicated "chase" trip, we did not stop for the whales. Each time we crossed a county line, the county birders had a hoot, trying to add species to their lists! 

We traveled about 45 NM from Point Pinos. The SST (sea surface temperature) ranged from 52.2 to 58.5F. No bait or schools of fish were present on the fish finder. It was extremely difficult to keep birds attracted to the excellent chum that Wes Fritz brought with him. Even the gulls would not follow. 

We thank all of the folks who traveled on the spur of the moment to join us on this special day. Many thanks to the folks who GPS'd the heck out of the day, too! Don Doolittle, Mike Rogers and Oscar Johnson were the key folks on board managing that. Scott Terrill and David Vander Pluym. 

The complete species list for the AUGUST 2, 2009 MONTEREY BAY TRIP FOLLOWS WITH TALLIES FOR EACH COUNTY: MONTEREY/SANTA CRUZ/SAN MATEO:

BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS- 31/0/0

NORTHERN FULMAR- 32/0/1

DARK-RUMPED PETREL- 1/1/1

COOK'S PETREL- 71/11/9

PINK-FOOTED SHEARWATER- 39/6/9

SOOTY SHEARWATER- 380/4/4

BROWN PELICN- 10/0/0

BRANDT'S CORMORANT- 40/0/0

BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER- 0/0/3

BLACK TURNSTONE- 1/0/0

RED-NECKED PHALAROPE- 28/0/0

RED PHALAROPE- 14/3/31, first of the fall

SOUTH POLAR SKUA- 2/1/3

POMARINE JAEGER- 4/0/0

PARASITIC JAEGER- 3/0/0

LONG-TAILED JAEGER- 38/5/10

JAEGER SP.- 9

HEERMANN'S GULL- 50/0/0

CALIFORNIA GULL- 90/2/0

WESTERN GULL- 100/0/0

SABINE'S GULL- 63/1/0

ELEGANT TERN- 22/0/0

COMMON TERN- 2/0/1

ARCTIC TERN- 1/0/0

COMMON MURRE- 145/0/0

PIGEON GUILLEMOT- 11/0/0

XANTUS' MURRELET- 5(1 hypoleucus)/4/2

XANTUS/CRAVERI'S MURRELET- 2/2/0

CASSIN'S AUKLET- 39/2/0

RHINOCEROS AUKLET- 42/0/0

SEA OTTER- +

CALIFORNIA SEA LION- +

STELLER'S SEA LION- 1

NORTHERN FUR SEAL- 9

NORTHERN ELEPHANT SEAL- 1

HARBOR SEAL- +

BLUE WHALE- 3

HUMPBACK WHALE- 62

BAIRD'S BEAKED WHALE- 4 or 5

BEAKED WHALE, SP. -1 probable Hubb's Beaked Whale

NORTHERN RIGHT WHALE DOLPHIN- 150, with calves

PACIFIC WHITE-SIDED DOLPHIN- 300, with calves

DALL'S PORPOISE- 30

BLUE SHARK- 6

Pterodromas forever,

Debi