This is a trip report for Shearwater Journeys' pelagic trip departing from Bodega Bay on September 20, 2009. A huge sea surface temperature break, ranging from the low 50s to 61 F beyond the 1500 fathom curve, was found. We reached 61F offshore at 1300 fathoms, our target spot, where we put out a large chum slick. The LONG-TAILED JAEGER show continued, but the much hoped for Pterodromas did not show up. We returned to our mini-slick at the north end of Cordell Bank, but the much hoped for Short-tailed (Steller's) Albatross did not show up. For a significant portion of the day, fog hampered our visibility. Like a veil, the fog lifted as we neared the 100 fathom line. It was here that we found five BLUE WHALES lunge feeding at the surface on krill. It was a spectacular, sublime ending to the day, watching the blues feeding in the brilliant sunshine. Little butterball CASSIN'S AUKLETS were so stuffed with krill that they could not lift off the water to fly away!
Image by Mark Rauzon, copyright, 2009.
Many thanks to all of our passengers who traveled to join our trip. The leaders on board were: Peter Pyle, Lisa Hug, Scott Terrill, Linda Terrill, Oscar Johnson, Wes Fritz, Todd McGrath, and Debi Shearwater. Thanks to Wes Friz for his magical chumming and to Oscar Johnson for tallying the county lists for Marin and Sonoma Counties.
The complete species list follows.
20 SEPTEMBER 2009 BODEGA BAY SHEARWATER JOURNEYS' PELAGIC TRIP:
Sonama/Marin/Total
RED-THROATED LOON- 2/0/2
PACIFIC LOON- 2/0/2
COMMON LOON- 5/0/5
WESTERN GREBE- 10/0/10
BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS- 15/11/26
NORTHERN FULMAR- 9/6/15
PINK-FOOTED SHEARWATER- 16/18/34
BULLER'S SHEARWATER- 0/3/3
SOOTY SHEARWATER- 17/17/34
WILSON'S STORM-PETREL- 0/1/1
FORK-TAILED STORM-PETREL- 0/1/1
ASHY STORM-PETREL- 2/17/19
BROWN PELICAN- 6/0/6
BRANDT'S CORMORANT- 35/0/35
DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT- 3/0/3
PELAGIC CORMORANT- 15/0/15
SURF SCOTER- 2/0/2
BLACK TURNSTONE- 0/1 (offshore)/1
RED KNOT- 5/0/5
RED-NECKED PHALAROPE- 50/3/53
RED PHALAROPE- 250/6/256
SOUTH POLAR SKUA- 0/5/5
POMARINE JAEGER- 2/7/9
PARASITIC JAEGER- 0/2/2
LONG-TAILED JAEGER- 0/31/31
JAEGER SP. -0/2/2
CALIFORNIA GULL- 25/55/80
WESTERN GULL- 125/20/145
SABINE'S GULL- 0/11/11
COMMON TERN- 1/0/1
ARCTIC TERN- 0/6/6
COMMON MURRE- 300/4/304
PIGEON GUILLEMOT- 8/0/8
CASSIN'S AUKLET- 800/0/800
RHINOCEROS AUKLET- 11/18/29
CALIFORNIA SEA LION- +
STELLER'S SEA LION- 1
FUR SEAL SP.- 1
HARBOR SEAL- +
MINKE WHALE- 1
BLUE WHALE- 5
HUMPBACK WHALE- 1
DALL'S PORPOISE- 2
OCEAN SUNFISH- 2
BLUE SHARK- 2
SALMON SHARK- 12
Shearwaters forever,
Debi
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