TRIP REPORT: SEP 27, 2009: MONTEREY BAY

Whoaaa, Cowboys & Cowgirls,

Monterey seabirds and marine mammals put on quite the show on the Shearwater Journeys' September 27th pelagic trip run in conjunction with the Monterey Bay Birding Festival. The day began auspiciously with Alvaro Jaramillo spotting a high-flying female WOOD DUCK, while we were still at the dock. This was quickly followed by the PEREGRINE FALCON who was eating breakfast on the radio tower along Cannery Row. Next up, were two BOTTLENOSE DOLPHINS, spotted by leader, Jennifer Green. On top of that, the sun was out and the seas were glassy-calm! We had not seen much sun for the past 3 days, being enshrouded in fog. I guess this should have been our clue that we were in for a great day. Yup, next up, BLACK-VENTED SHEARWATERS. These coastal shearwaters have not made much of an appearance in Monterey Bay for several years. It was nice to see our southern friends, again. Hold on! Abe Borker yells, "What's this bird?" I fix my bins on a fast-flying black and white MANX SHEARWATER! Abe is the newest leader to join the Shearwater Journeys' crew. His enthusiasm is very contagious! Approaching several fishing vessels, we found good numbers of BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSSES. A few stops for COMMON MURRES and RHINOCEROS AUKLETS were made. Some scattered ASHY STORM-PETRELS were passing by. Then, Terry Hunefeld of Southern California Seabirding, asks me, "Do you have orcas here?" Do we ever! Thanks to Terry for spotting the ORCAS (KILLER WHALES) which led us to observe one of the most amazing events I have ever witnessed.

From the get-go, the orcas were tail-lobbing and splashing quite a bit, thrashing all around. A single XANTUS' MURRELET flew off in between the orcas. Finally, as they approached our vessel, we were able to see that they appeared to be trying to kill an OCEAN SUNFISH, (Mola mola)! I've seen an adult male orca kill a Blue Shark, but never a Sunfish. The spyhopping, breaching and tail lobbing continued. Once, they went after a COMMON MURRE! (I've seen them kill a Rhinoceros Auklet). We were enjoying this show in beautiful, sunny weather, with calm seas! Then suddenly, some HUMPBACK WHALES appeared at our 10 o'clock. The orcas were at the 2 o'clock. Unbelievably, the three humpback whales made their way, keeping their ranks extremely close to each other, toward the orcas! It was hard to believe what we were seeing. I have seen orcas killing and chasing large baleen whales. But, this was the other way around! The humpbacks were chasing and bearing down on the killer whales! It was as if the humpbacks were acting like passerines that mob an owl. They seemed quite intent on their pursuit of the killer whales and came incredibly close to them. At least one of the humpbacks was making a racket with its blowing. We watched all of this with great interest. Many cameras were firing away! Our captain had radioed the other vessels. Alas, as they approached, the entire scene was engulfed in fog. We departed, leaving four vessels chasing the whale, or each other, in the fog. Thank you, Terry! Yes, indeedy, we do have orcas!

Heading out along the canyon edges, we searched for rafts of storm-petrels. Finding several small flocks, we finally found a raft of about 4,000 ASHY STORM-PETRELS. Two WILSON'S STORM-PETRELS were among these. One of the Wilson's was lured to our oil slick for a close view. One BLACK STORM-PETREL was also spotted. It is quite possible that the variety of storm-petrels will increase over the next few weeks.

We visited both Monterey and Santa Cruz Counties. Jennifer Green kept detailed notes for both counties, as well as GPSing our spots. Many thanks to Jennifer. We thank the Monterey Bay Birding Festival folks who joined us, as well as the many folks who journeyed from far away. Shearwater Journeys' leaders on this trip were: Alvaro Jaramillo, Denise Wight, Abe Borker, Jennifer Green, and Debi Shearwater. Many thanks to Terry Hunefeld for his gracious help.

The complete species list follows for SEPTEMBER 27, 2009
Monterey/Santa Cruz

RED-THROATED LOON-1/0
PACIFIC LOON- 2/0
EARED GREBE- 1/0
WESTERN GREBE- 3/0
BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS- 28/32
NORTHERN FULMAR- 1/1
PINK-FOOTED SHEARWATER- 85/60
BULLER'S SHEARWATER- 3/4
SOOTY SHEARWATER- 190/32
MANX SHEARWATER- 1/0
BLACK-VENTED SHEARWATER- 10/0
WILSON'S STORM-PETREL- 1/1
ASHY STORM-PETREL- 4000 on the county lines
BROWN PELICAN- +
BRANDT'S CORMORANT- +
PELAGIC CORMORANT- 12/0
SURF SCOTER- 6/0
WOOD DUCK- 1/0
BLACK TURNSTONE- 12/0
SURFBIRD- 1/0
RED-NECKED PHALAROPE- 133/9
RED PHALAROPE- 9/0
SOUTH POLAR SKUA- 1/0
POMARINE JAEGER- 4/0
PARASITIC JAEGER- 1/0
HEERMANN'S GULL- +
CALIFORNIA GULL- +
WESTERN GULL- +
SABINE'S GULL- 7/0
ELEGANT TERN- 62/0
COMMON TERN- 2/0
FORSTER'S TERN- 14/0
COMMON MURRE- 330/82
XANTUS' MURRELET-1/0
XANTUS/CRAVERI'S- 2/0
CASSIN'S AUKLET- 0/24
RHINOCEROS AUKLET- 140/235
TUFTED PUFFIN- 0/1
GREAT EGRET- 3/0
PEREGRINE FALCON-1/0
SEA OTTER- +
CALIFORNIA SEA LION- +
HARBOR SEAL- +
HUMPBACK WHALE- 5
KILLER WHALE- 5 or 6, no adult males observed
BOTTLENOSE DOLPHIN- 2
DALL'S PORPOISE- 4
OCEAN SUNFISH- 4
BLUE SHARK- 2

I invite you to visit the following web sites:
Abe Borker's stunning images
Denise Wight's web site
Alvaro Jaramillo on the Field Guides web site
Southern California Birding
Monterey Bay Birding Festival

Happy trails to you until we meet again,
Debi Shearwater
Shearwater Journeys, Inc.