BIRDER BATMAN
Howdy, Seabirders,
This is a trip report for Shearwater Journeys's pelagic trip departing from Monterey Bay, October 14, 2012. Monterey Bay seabirds did not disappoint us! Highlights were many, including, this young SEA OTTER, below that was frolicking with kelp while our vessel was still tied up at the dock!
Next, along swam the blotchy-skinned HARBOR SEAL, below.
Departing Monterey harbor, the light was just beautiful.
Suddenly, whoa— wait for it—
BATMAN BIRDER was spotted on board our vessel!
We were told he goes by, "Eli" and is 10 years old. Make no mistake about it, he is an avid birder and seems to have just about memorized his various field guides. He knows a "new tick" when he sees one, but does not keep a Life List. Can you imagine if you had seen all of this marine life at age ten?
Flocks and flocks of BLACK-VENTED, a few SOOTY and PINK-FOOTED SHEARWATERS along with many gulls, were feeding on market squid, Loligo opalescens that was being chased to the surface by the much larger and predatory Dosidicus gigas, HUMBOLDT SQUID! This squid, sometimes called, Giant Squid, can grow to six feet and weigh up to 110 pounds! The life of this species is being researched by a team, including the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
Our captain, Tinker, caught 3 of these GIANT SQUIDS so that we could have a close-up view.
Leaving the feeding seabirds, we headed out to the weather buoy where we found four SOUTH POLAR SKUAS. A few HUMPBACK WHALES put on a pretty good show. A single, adult male KILLER WHALE was spotted, but we were not able to get photo ID shots. Loads of POMARINE JAEGERS were out there. Heading back to the harbor, we encountered huge rafts of the coastal BLACK-VENTED SHEARWATERS, just outside of the harbor. I estimated 2100 shearwaters. I have not seen numbers like this for many years. So, this may well presage a forecast of a coming El Nino for the winter of 2012-13. Indeed, a recent sighting of MAGNIFICENT FRIGATEBIRDS off Southern California may be another indicator of El Nino.
Many thanks to the folks who joined us from near and far. The leaders on this day were: Clay Kempf, Jennifer Green, Rick Fournier, John Garrett, Nick Levendosky and Debi Shearwater.
The complete species list follows.
OCTOBER 14, 2012
MONTEREY/SANTA CRUZ COUNTY
RED-THROATED LOON- 1/0
PACIFIC LOON- 2/0
COMMON LOON- 10/2
WESTERN GREBE- 2/0
AMERICAN COOT- 1/0
BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS- 4/8
PINK-FOOTED SHEARWATER- 200/125
SOOTY SHEARWATER- 100/100
BLACK-VENTED SHEARWATER- 2100/350
BROWN PELICAN- +/0
BRANDT'S CORMORANT- +/0
PELAGIC CORMORANT- 5/0
SURF SCOTER- 11/0
BLACK TURNSTONE- 23/0
SURFBIRD- 14/0
RED-NECKED PHALAROPE- 10/15
RED PHALAROPE- 2/0
SOUTH POLAR SKUA- 0/0
POMARINE JAEGER- 0/35
PARASITIC JAEGER- 8/0
HEERMANN'S GULL- +/+
CALIFORNIA GULL- +/+
HERRING GULL- 1/0
WESTERN GULL- +/+
GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULL- 1/0
ELEGANT TERN- 110/15
COMMON MURRE- 20/10
CASSIN'S AUKLET- 8/8
RHINOCEROS AUKLET- 90/40
GREAT EGRET- 5/0
PEREGRINE FALCON- 1/0
SEA OTTER- 8 + PUP, at the dock
CALIFORNIA SEA LION- +
HUMPBACK WHALE- 6
KILLER WHALE- 1, adult male
DALL'S PORPOISE- 8
OCEAN SUNFISH- 10
HUMBOLDT SQUID- + caught 3
All images, copyright, Debi Shearwater. Please do not use without permission.
Watch out for BIRDER BATMAN.
REAL SEABIRDS EAT SQUID,
Debi Shearwater
debi@shearwaterjourneys.com
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