TRIP REPORT: WESTERN FIELD ORNITHOLOGISTS MEETING

WESTERN FIELD ORNITHOLOGISTS' MEETING PELAGIC TRIPS with

SHEARWATER JOURNEYS

Howdy, Seabirders,

This is a trip report for Shearwater Journeys' pelagic trips on SEPTEMBER 27 (two boats out of Bodega Bay, including one for photographers), SEPTEMBER 30 (from Sausalito to the Farallones Islands) and OCTOBER 1 ( from Half Moon Bay), 2012. These trips were offered in conjunction with the Western Field Ornithologists' Annual Conference held in Petaluma, CA. Highlights were many and varied, including six species of shearwaters: a light morph WEDGE-TAILED, MANX, FLESH-FOOTED, BULLER'S, SOOTY and PINK-FOOTED; LAYSAN and BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSSES; NORTHERN FULMAR; five species of storm-petrels, FORK-TAILED, ASHY, BLACK, WILSON'S and LEACH'S STORM-PETRELS; all three jaegers: NORTHERN GANNET, POMARINE, PARASITIC and LONG-TAILED: SOUTH POLAR SKUA; SABINE'S GULL; ARCTIC TERN, RHINOCEROS and CASSIN'S AUKLETS and MARBLED MURRELETS. Please see the trip compilation list, below. 

On SEPTEMBER 27th, two boats departed from a very foggy Bodega Bay harbor. Dense, cold fog would continue throughout the day, sometimes pushing back far enough to view more seabirds. One of these boats was a dedicated photographers' special trip, while the other boat was our regular seaworthy vessel, the "New Sea Angler." BLACK STORM-PETREL, below, was the first storm-petrel of the day. Shearwater Journeys' September 21 trip to Bodega Canyon recorded near-record numbers of black storm-petrels. However, the fog prevented us from finding those huge rafts of thousands of storm-petrels. Martin Meyers images from this day, are below. Copyright, Martin Meyers. 

 A CHESTNUT-SIDED WARBLER, below, in Peter Pyle's hands, landed on the vessel. 

 A RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH found the only piece of wood on the upper structure of the boat.

 The long-line vessel, CAPTAIN COOK was dropping its' line.

 On September 30th we departed from the Clipper Yacht Harbor for the Farallones Islands on board "Outer Limits." The morning was bright and sunny at the harbor. However, the islands were enshrouded in fog. The NORTHERN GANNET was still coming to Saddle Rock in the afternoons. So, I hatched a plan with the captain to head offshore to the Continental Shelf, first thing rather than after visiting the islands. We were about 8 miles off the North Islands, when leader Peter Pyle spotted an unusual shearwater with a scaly back and long, wedge-shaped tail. He managed to swing his camera up to grab a couple shots of a light morph WEDGE-TAILED SHEARWATER. The vast majority of the folks on board did not see this shearwater, including me. We were in an area with loads of marine life— Pacific White-sided Dolphins and many shearwaters, South Polar Skuas and a few Black-footed Albatrosses. Peter Pyle has seen more birds than anyone else on the Farallon Islands and on this date he added THREE new birds to his list: Northern Gannet, Eurasian Collared Dove and Ruddy Duck! Go Peter!!

 WEDGE-TAILED SHEARWATER, above. MANX SHEARWATER, below. Both images, copyright, Peter Pyle.

 Suddenly, someone spotted a tall dorsal fin of a male ORCA. As the captain was about to position the boat for photographs, two more ORCAS appeared nearer our vessel. Many of us managed to obtain images of the second male and a female. (Orca photographs may come later). Seconds later, Peter Pyle spotted a MANX SHEARWATER, images above and below. Many birders on board did see this rare shearwater. Finally, we had a report of a GREAT WHITE SHARK ATTACK in progress at the islands. So, we high-tailed it to the spot, but when we arrived it was over. Apparently, it wasn't much of a show. However, the NORTHERN GANNET sitting on Saddle Rock was a big hit!

October 1 found us gathered at Pillar Point, Half Moon Bay, although many birders skipped this trip to chase the reported COMMON CUCKOO at Watsonville. After viewing several MARBLED MURRELETS just outside of the harbor, we headed offshore to the Pioneer Canyon where we found clear, blue 59 F water. The entire day was clear and quite warm. It was 100 F many places onshore! We enjoyed a nice day at sea, working our way back to the 100 fathom edge.

Shearwater Journeys thanks all the birders who came from near and far, to make these trips so successful. We hope to see you, again. Many thanks to Western Field Ornithologists for connecting with us, as well.

The leaders for these trips were as follows:
SEP 27, BODEGA BAY: PETER PYLE, SCOTT TERRILL, LINDA TERRILL, JIM DANZENBAKER, LIST HUG, DEBI SHEARWATER
SEP 27, BODEGA BAY PHOTOGRAPHER'S TRIP: VINCE ORSINI
SEP 30, FARALLON ISLANDS: PETER PYLE, RUSS BRADLEY, ANNIE SCHMIDT, DEBI SHEARWATER
OCT 1, HALF MOON BAY: PETER PYLE, SCOTT TERRILL, LINDA TERRILL, DEBI SHEARWATER

The complete species lists for all four trips can be found below. It shows how doing more than one trip can add immensely to one's seabirding experience. The weather could not have been more different between all three dates!

SEP 27/SEP 27PHOTO/SEP30/OCT 1, 2012

COMMON LOON- 0/0/1/2
WESTERN GREBE- 0/0/10/16
CLARK'S GREBE- 0/0/2/0
BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS- 25/70/3/6
LAYSAN ALBATROSS- 0/2/0/0
NORTHERN FULMAR- 2/0/1/2
PINK-FOOTED SHEARWATER- 70/80/50/140
FLESH-FOOTED SHEARWATER- 0/0/0/1
*WEDGE-TAILED SHEARWATER- 0/0/1/0, LIGHT MORPH
BULLER'S SHEARWATER- 9/20/75/9
SOOTY SHEARWATER- 50/50/75/75
*MANX SHEARWATER- 0/0/1/0
WILSON'S STORM-PETREL- 0/2/0/0
FORK-TAILED STORM-PETREL- 11/1/0/1
LEACH'S STORM-PETREL- 0/1/0/0
BLACK STORM-PETREL- 30/0/5/1
*NORTHERN GANNET- 0/0/1/0
BROWN PELICAN- +/+/30/155
BRANDT'S CORMORANT- 1500/+/25/95
DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT- 0/0/8/42
PELAGIC CORMORANT- 8/+/2/2
SURF SCOTER- 0/0/1/1
RUDDY DUCK- 0/0/1/0
BLACK OYSTERCATCHER- 0/0/1/1
BLACK TURNSTONE- 0/0/2/4
SURFBIRD- 0/0/0/3
RED-NECKED PHALAROPE- 8/0/0/4
RED-NECKED/RED PHALAROPE- 0/20/0/0
RED PHALAROPE- 7/0/30/10
SOUTH POLAR SKUA- 2/14/6/10
POMARINE JAEGER- 7/2/10/16
PARASITIC JAEGER- 0/0/0/
LONG-TAILED JAEGER- 5/2/2/1
HEERMANN'S GULL- 30/+/20/55
CALIFORNIA GULL- 80/+/50/150
HERRING GULL- 0/0/1/0
WESTERN GULL- 100/+/200/285
SABINE'S GULL- 7/50/5/0
ELEGANT TERN- 2/+/10/20
ARCTIC TERN- 0/0/0/1
COMMON MURRE- 115/+/125/328
CASSIN'S AUKLET- 70/50/100/600
RHINOCEROS AUKLET- 40/20/30/17
RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH- 1/0/0/0
CHESTNUT-SIDED WARBLER- 1/0/0/0
AMERICAN COOT- 1/0/0/0
SNOWY EGRET- 2/0/0/0
EURASIAN COLLARED DOVE- 0/0/5/0
PEREGRINE FALCON- 0/0/0/2, over the harbor
CALIFORNIA SEA LION- 11/+/+/+
NORTHERN FUR SEAL- 2/0/+/0
GRAY WHALE- 0/0/2/0
HUMPBACK WHALE- 1/0/0/2
ORCA- 0/0/3/0
PACIFIC WHITE-SIDED DOLHIN- 25/0/75/
HARBOR PORPOISE- 1/0/10/0
DALL'S PORPOISE- 8/0/0/5
OCEAN SUNFISH- 1/0/2/0

Spaces are available on the following trips: 
OCT 6, MONTEREY 
OCT 7, HALF MOON BAY
OCT 14, MONTEREY BAY
OCT 26, BODEGA BAY
OCT 28, HALF MOON BAY
NOV 20, HALF MOON BAY

SHEARWATERS FOREVER,

DEBI SHEARWATER

debi@shearwaterjourneys.com