This is a trip report for Shearwater Journeys's pelagic trip departing from Bodega Bay, October 26, 2012. Highlights included: good numbers of BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSSES and NORTHERN FULMARS; SEVEN SPECIES OF SHEARWATERS: PINK-FOOTED, FLESH-FOOTED, BULLER'S, SOOTY, SHORT-TAILED, MANX and BLACK-VENTED; good numbers of SOUTH POLAR SKUA and POMARINE JAEGER; five late LONG-TAILED JAEGERS; EIGHT SPECIES OF GULLS: BONAPARTE'S, HEERMANN'S, MEW, CALIFORNIA, HERRING, THAYER'S, WESTERN and GLAUCOUS-WINGED; COMMON MURRES; RHINOCEROS and CASSIN'S AUKLETS rounded out the day. The marine mammal show was excellent, with BLUE, HUMPBACK and GRAY WHALES; and NORTHERN RIGHT WHALE DOLPHINS and PACIFIC WHITE-SIDED DOLPHINS. Sea surface temperatures ranged from 54 F to 57.8 F. We encountered quite a bit of life at the 100 fathom line, although we made it as far as 650 fathoms 28.5 miles offshore, beyond Bodega Canyon and crossing over the Cordell Bank on the return ride. It was aggravatingly sunny all day long, preventing us from looking at any wildlife in the direction of the sun, which seemed to be often. Leader, Peter Pyle, spotted the MANX SHEARWATER just outside of the harbor. Three FLESH-FOOTED SHEARWATERS gave outstanding views to everyone on board, circling off the stern of our vessel. The SOUTH POLAR SKUAS, in particular, put on quite a show, repeatedly circling the boat overhead. Seas were decent in the morning, but increasing throughout the day with whitecaps being the norm on the ride home. On board the best party boat in Northern California, we did just fine, however.
This was our last pelagic trip of the 2012 season from Bodega Bay. Shearwater Journeys will be offering pelagic trips departing from Bodega Bay on these dates in 2013:
AUGUST 30, FRIDAY
SEPTEMBER 20, FRIDAY
OCTOBER 18, FRIDAY
Don't miss out on the action. Trips to this area have more "mega" seabird records than any other offshore area in the United States. This year's "mega" was a Hawaiian Petrel on September 21.
Many thanks to all of the local birders and out-of-state/country birders who joined us on this day. The leaders for this trip were: Peter Pyle, Jennifer Green and Debi Shearwater. We were in Sonoma County until about 12:30. After that, we were in Marin County until about 2:45 p.m. We returned to the dock about 5 p.m.
The complete species list follows.
OCTOBER 26, 2012
SONOMA/MARIN COUNTY
PACIFIC LOON- 8/0
COMMON LOON- 13/0
EARED GREBE- 700, outside of the harbor/0
BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS- 25/25
NORTHERN FULMAR- 40/27
PINK-FOOTED SHEARWATER- 78/48
FLESH-FOOTED SHEARWATER- 2/1
BULLER'S SHEARWATER- 74/30
SOOTY SHEARWATER- 40/40
SHORT-TAILED SHEARWATER- 1/0
*MANX SHEARWATER- 1/0
BLACK-VENTED SHEARWATER- 1/0
BROWN PELICAN- 15/0
BRANDT'S CORMORANT- 100/0
PELAGIC CORMORANT- 10/0
SURF SCOTER- 40/0
GREATER SCAUP- 9/0
BLACK OYSTERCATCHER- 6/0
BLACK TURNSTONE- 3/0
SURFBIRD- 5/0
RED PHALAROPE- 5/1
SOUTH POLAR SKUA- 8/2
POMARINE JAEGER- 8/15
LONG-TAILED JAEGER- 0/5
BONAPARTE'S GULL- 0/11
HEERMANN'S GULL- 20/0
MEW GULL- 3/0
CALIFORNIA GULL- 70/20
HERRING GULL- 2/1
THAYER'S GULL- 1/0
WESTERN GULL- 200/100
GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULL- 6/3
COMMON MURRE- 165/12
CASSIN'S AUKLET- 85/25
RHINOCEROS AUKLET- 27/15
PINE SISKIN- 1/0
WARBLER SP.- 1/0
CALIFORNIA SEA LION- +
STELLER'S SEA LION- 1
HARBOR SEAL- +
GRAY WHALE- 2
BLUE WHALE- 2
HUMPBACK WHALE- 4
NORTHERN RIGHT WHALE DOLPHIN- 20
PACIFIC WHITE-SIDED DOLPHIN- 250
OCEAN SUNFISH- 6, small ones
Shearwaters forever,
Debi Shearwater
debi@shearwaterjourneys.com
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