This is a report of Shearwater Journeys' Monterey Bay Fall Seabird Classic trip, August 21, 2009. This trip runs from 7 am until 3 pm. Surprisingly, 35 COOK'S PETRELS were found, not far from Point Pinos. Other highlights included: BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSSES; NORTHERN FULMAR; BULLER'S SHEARWATERS; ASHY STORM-PETRELS; POMARINE, PARASITIC & LONG-TAILED JAEGERS; SOUTH POLAR SKUA; SABINE'S GULLS; XANTUS' MURRELETS; and 1 TOWNSEND'S WARBLER.
During the morning orientation, I asked how many folks on board were making their first trip on Monterey Bay. Nearly everyone on board was a "first timer." At the dock, I mentioned that earlier trips had found quite a few Cook's Petrels, but that we did not anticipate seeing any on this trip due to the fact that the petrels had been further offshore than what we would be able to make on this day. No one seemed to be concerned about this, as Cook's Petrels were not their target species, but rather the more common species were what they were searching for. As the ocean Gods would have it, we ended the day by finding 35 COOK'S PETRELS, some of them quite close to the boat! Totally unexpected and very surprising, we were all just thrilled. Oh, well, every time I announce that we are not going to see "xyz," we end up finding it! The significant aspect of this trip is that we found the Cook's Petrels much nearer to shore than on the previous trips. This means that these little pterodroma gems might be within reach of upcoming "classic" trips with Shearwater Journeys. See below for available dates.
It was a marvelous day, with seabirds, non-stop. SABINE'S GULL numbers increased over recent trips, as did the ASHY STORM-PETREL numbers. It seemed to take forever to pick up the jaegers, but eventually, all three species were hovering over the vessel. A dozen HUMPBACK WHALES were found, along with a herd of 250 super-fantastic NORTHERN RIGHT WHALE DOLPHINS who rode the bow of our vessel for over an hour. The skies were uniformly high overcast, making for the most favorable of conditions. Seas were very calm with eight knots of wind from the northwest. A TOWNSEND'S WARBLER was lost in the overcast skies. Finally, at the end of the day, two XANTUS' MURRELETS were spotted just off Point Pinos. One individual sat on the water, obliging with "life bird" views for all of the very, very happy participants on board!
We would like to thank all of the participants who traveled from CA, VA, FL, NY, Il, TX, NY, AZ, MN, WA, and England, as well as The Netherlands. The leaders on this trip were: Don Doolittle, Wes Fritz, John Hiles, Jennifer Green and Debra Shearwater. We covered two counties: Monterey and Santa Cruz.
Below is the complete species list for the AUGUST 21, 2009 SHEARWATER JOURNEYS' MONTEREY BAY TRIP:
MONTEREY COUNTY/SANTA CRUZ COUNTY:
BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS- 11/23
NORTHERN FULMAR- 8/4
COOK'S PETREL- 35/0
PINK-FOOTED SHEARWATER- 21/15
BULLER'S SHEARWATER- 21/36
SOOTY SHEARWATER- 3500/50
ASHY STORM-PETREL- 3/100
BROWN PELICAN- +/0
BRANDT'S CORMORANT- +/0
PELAGIC CORMORANT- 2/0
BLACK TURNSTONE- 2/0
RED-NECKED PHALAROPE- 45/17
RED PHALAROPE- 2/0
SOUTH POLAR SKUA- 2/2
POMARINE JAEGER- 15/6
POMARINE/PARASITIC JAEGER- 3/0
PARASITIC JAEGER- 2/1
PARASITIC/LONG-TAILED JAEGER- 1/0
LONG-TAILED JAEGER- 34/10
HEERMANN'S GULL- +/+
CALIFORNIA GULL- +/+
WESTERN GULL- +/+
SABINE'S GULL- 92/52
ELEGANT TERN- 27/0
COMMON MURRE- 285/30
PIGEON GUILLEMOT- 18/0
XANTUS' MURRELET- 2/0 (scrippsi)
CASSIN'S AUKLET- 23/7
RHINOCEROS AUKLET- 32/50
TOWNSEND'S WARBLER- 1/0
SEA OTTER- +
CALIFORNIA SEA LION- +
HARBOR SEAL- +
HUMPBACK WHALE-12
NORTHERN RIGHT WHALE DOLPIN- 250
RISSO'S DOLPHIN- 4
PACIFIC WHITE-SIDED DOLHIN- 20
DALL'S PORPOISE- 8
Pterodromas forever,
Debi
Debra Shearwater
Shearwater Journeys, Inc.
PO Box 190
Hollister, CA 95024
831.637.8527
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