TRIP REPORT: OCTOBER 1, 2011 MONTEREY BAY

Howdy, Birders,

Whooaa! We had a fabulous day of seabirds and marine mammals on Shearwater Journeys' Saturday, October 1, 2011 pelagic trip. Highlights of the day included: beautiful sea conditions with outstanding views of BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS, NORTHERN FULMAR, FLESH-FOOTED SHEARWATER, PINK-FOOTED SHEARWATER, BULLER'S SHEARWATER, SOOTY SHEARWATER, SHORT-TAILED SHEARWATER, ASHY STORM-PETREL, SOUTH POLAR SKUA, SABINE'S GULL, 27 BAIRD'S BEAKED WHALES, HUMPBACK WHALE, RISSO'S DOLPHINS, PACIFIC WHITE-SIDED DOLPHINS, DALL'S PORPOISE and one adult male, KILLER WHALE.

As has been the case for the last several weeks, SOOTY SHEARWATERS and COMMON MURRES were feeding on a very large aggregation of market squid, Loligo loligo, just outside of the harbor. Below, is the image of squid on the boat's fishfinder.
As on previous trips, a number of RISSO'S DOLPHINS were also feeding on the squid. Above is the tall, scarred fin of a Risso's Dolphin, kayakers who seem to be fishing and Hopkins Marine Station at China Point in the background. Hopkins Marine Station, part of Stanford University, is the oldest marine station on the west coast. The image below, shows a breaching Risso's Dolphin. These large, up to 13 feet in length, dolphins, have round, bulbous heads, tall dorsal fins (often mistaken for killer whales at a distance), and much scarring on the body. They only have teeth in the lower jaw, and feed almost exclusively on squid.

A juvenile Sabine's Gull, above, put on quite a show for the photographers!

We headed north to the canyons off Davenport to look for some ASHY STORM-PETRELS. We did find some scattered storm-petrels, but no large concentrations of flocks. We spotted some confusing whale blows— many of them! After sorting it out and getting closer to the whales, I determined that there was one HUMPBACK WHALE and two pods of BAIRD'S BEAKED WHALES, in very close proximity to each other. The humpback whale began tail-lobbing which it carried on for quite some time. The Baird's Beaked Whales sounded. However, we were able to follow them for several dives. These large, up to 40 feet, toothed whales probably feed on squid. These whales are rarely seen and very little is known about them. The images below show the typical "army" brown coloration of the scarred body and triangular-shaped dorsal fins.

The above image shows the low, bushy blow characteristic of Baird's Beaked Whales.

South Polar Skuas made passes at the stern, where leader Jennifer Green was offering chopped up sardines to them and other diners. A group of Pacific White-sided Dolphins cruised the bow, and later, Dall's Porpoises did the same. This was turning out to be a great day for cetaceans! Then, I spotted a tall, black dorsal fin — an adult male, KILLER WHALE! We were on our return to the harbor, but watched this fellow for several dives, while trying to obtain photo-ID images for the Killer Whale ID Catalogue. Although we did not see any other Killer Whales in the area, I was certain that others of his pod were not far away. Before heading to the harbor, we alerted the whale watching fleet. One of the boats found this male, and following him for several miles, he brought them to his pod of 7-8 others.

In addition to all of the special seabirds and marine mammals, we also had some special guests on board this day. Above, is CAPTAIN SPURGEON STOWE with his friend, owner/operator of the "Miss Hatteras." Born at Hatteras, North Carolina, many birders have traveled with Captain Stowe on his vessel, including both Jennifer and I. Spurgeon had never before seen a Killer Whale until this day! And, he was happy with the Black-footed Albatrosses! Captain Stowe described the trip as, "a world class operation."

A personal highlight of the day for me was the meeting the two fine young men, below. The taller fellow, Robert Walsh, is a Ph.D. candidate at UC Davis, Avian Conservation and Ecology Lab. Bobby is with his younger cousin, Ben Thompson, smiling because he saw 18 new Life Birds.

Debi & Ben, above.

Many thanks to all the fun folks on board who came from near and far for this trip. The leaders on this day were Jennifer Green and Debi Shearwater.

The complete species list, MONTEREY/SANTA CRUZ/TOTAL, for OCTOBER 1, 2011 follows:

PACIFIC LOON- 4/0/4

BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS- 3/28/31

NORTHERN FULMAR- 6/5/11

PINK-FOOTED SHEARWATER- 140/30/170

FLESH-FOOTED SHEARWATER- 1/0/1

BULLER'S SHEARWATER- 6/3/9

SOOTY SHEARWATER- 70/50/120

SHORT-TAILED SHEARWATER- 0/1/1

ASHY STORM-PETREL- 0/46/46

BROWN PELICAN- +

GREEN-WINGED TEAL- 1

CANADA GEESE- 16

RED-NECKED PHALAROPE- 50/5/55

RED PHALAROPE- 3/15/18

SOUTH POLAR SKUA- 0/4/4

POMARINE JAEGER- 4/4/8

POMARINE/PARASITIC - 1

HEERMANN'S GULL- +

CALIFORNIA GULL- 20

WESTERN GULL- +

SABINE'S GULL- 0/3/3

ELEGANT TERN- 12/0/12

COMMON MURRE- 125/50/175

CASSIN'S AUKLET- 27/0/27

RHINOCEROS AUKLET- 70/20/90

SEA OTTER- 4

CALIFORNIA SEA LION- 400

NORTHERN FUR SEAL- 2

HUMPBACK WHALE- 1

BAIRD'S BEAKED WHALE- 27

KILLER WHALE- 1, adult male

RISSO'S DOLPHIN- 120

PACIFIC WHITE-SIDED DOLPHIN- 30

DALL'S PORPOISE- 8

OCEAN SUNFISH- 3

BLUE SHARK- 1

MANY CHRYSOARA JELLIES + other jellies

A warm water plume had pushed north along the coast. This could lead to mixing of the various sea surface temperatures. The Shearwater Journeys' trip at Half Moon Bay on October 2 confirmed this! It could be a very, very interesting time to get offshore.

Spaces are available on the following trips:

OCTOBER 8 departing from Monterey

OCTOBER 14 departing from Bodega Bay

OCTOBER 15 departing from Half Moon Bay

Shearwaters forever,

Debi Shearwater

AKA: "Annie Auklet" as played by Angelica Huston in the movie, "The Big Year" opening October 14th at a theater near you!