Wednesday, August 15, 2012

TRIP REPORT: AUGUST 10, 2012 MONTEREY BAY

#700 @ 70
Howdy, Seabirders,
This is a trip report for Shearwater Journeys' pelagic trip departing from Monterey Bay, August 10, 2012. Seas and high winds limited our route, but certainly not our determination, nor expectations of Monterey seabirds. We made it about 14 miles west of Point Pinos. Our awesome, voodoo chum slick brought many seabirds close to the boat's stern. Highlights of the day included this SOUTH POLAR SKUA, below; a Grand Slam on the jaegers: POMARINE, PARASITIC and LONG-TAILED; loads of BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSSES; the first of the fall season NORTHERN FULMAR and juvenile SABINE'S GULL; two FORK-TAILED STORM-PETRELS along with 72 ASHY STORM-PETRELS and many of the usual fall seabirds. One lady achieved her 700th Life Bird on her 70th birthday! More "Images of the Day" by Beth Hamel can be enjoyed, here

The Big, The Bad, THE SOUTH POLAR SKUA! We lov'em! Mostly, we love saying, "Skuaaaaa!"
Image by Beth Hamel, copyright. All rights reserved. Please ask permission to use.

Many thanks to the birders who joined us from near and far, including eight different states and Sweden and the UK. The leaders for this trip were: Clay Kempf, Jennifer Green, Rick Fournier, Ben Thompson on chum and Debi Shearwater.

The complete species list follows. All birds were in MONTEREY COUNTY.
AUGUST 10, 2012
BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS- 42
NORTHERN FULMAR- 1
PINK-FOOTED SHEARWATER- 31
SOOTY SHEARWATER- 259
FORK-TAILED STORM-PETREL- 2
ASHY STORM-PETREL- 72
BROWN PELICAN- 4, offshore
BRANDT'S CORMORANT- 200, in harbor
DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT- 1, outside of the harbor
PELAGIC CORMORANT- 2
DUCK SP.- 6
BLACK OYSTERCATCHER- 1
BLACK TURNSTONE- 7
SURFBIRD- 5
RED-NECKED PHALAROPE- 142
RED-NECKED/RED PHALAROPE- 64
RED PHALAROPE- 28
SOUTH POLAR SKUA- 2
POMARINE JAEGER- 3
PARASITIC JAEGER- 1
PARASITIC/POMARINE JAEGER- 2
LONG-TAILED JAEGER- 2
CALIFORNIA GULL- 18
WESTERN GULL- +
SABINE'S GULL- 52
ELEGANT TERN- 50
COMMON TERN- 1
COMMON/ARCTIC TERN- 3
ARCTIC TERN- 6
COMMON MURRE- 160
PIGEON GUILLEMOT- 19
CASSIN'S AUKLET- 2
RHINOCEROS AUKLET- 17
GREAT EGRET- 2
GREAT BLUE HERON- 1
SEA OTTER- +
CALIFORNIA SEA LION- 150
PACIFIC WHITE-SIDED DOLPHIN- 22
DALL'S PORPOISE- 5

Spaces are still available on many of our Monterey trips, as well as many other trips departing from such places as Bodega Bay, Half Moon Bay and Fort Bragg. There could not be a better time to get out to see seabirds! Please check the Shearwater Journeys' schedule for the most up to date availability. 

Jump on board our next trips:
August 17th from Monterey
August 22 from Bodega Bay
August 24 & 25 from Fort Bragg
Real birds eat squid,
Debi Shearwater



2 comments:

Tom said...

Was that one juvenile Sabines Gull (as the paragraph says) or was it 52 (as the list says)? Thanks, Tom Robben

Debra Shearwater said...

It is one juvenile Sabine's Gull, plus 51 adults. We like to note when the first juvenile shows up.