Howdy, Birders,
This is a trip report for Shearwater Journeys' August 30, 2013 pelagic trip departing from Bodega Bay. This nearly 12 hour trip experience a mixture of fall seabirds, much like Spanish tapas — appetizing bits and pieces, here and there. The serving of tapas is designed to encourage conversation because people are not so focused upon eating an entire meal. In some countries it is customary for diners to stand and move about while eating tapas. Well, that's exactly how this day went down. Great conversation. Outstanding showing of LONG-TAILED JAEGERS harassing flocks of SABINE'S GULLS. Nice, small rafts of ASHY STORM-PETRELS, while BLACK STORM-PETRELS and a few FORK-TAILED STORM-PETRELS, along with two WILSON'S STORM-PETRELS few into our oil slick. Loads and loads and loads of krill and schooling fish were visible on the fish finder. Krill of course meant that we saw BLUE WHALES. Numbers of RED PHALAROPES really jumped on this day. We did hit a nice "hard edge" of warm water, jumping from 58 to 60 degrees F. The question of the fall season remains: Where are the Cassin's Auklets? We should be seeing more of these alcids. They had a terrific breeding season at the Farallon Islands, laying eggs at a record early date, and double brooding, too. Wherever they are, I bet there's loads of krill there, too.
One of the many SABINE'S GULLS that put on quite a show, above.
LONG-TAILED JAEGERS were quite flashy.
A raft of SABINE'S GULLS, below.
Fog was with us for most of the day, but we still had reasonable visibility.
BLACK STORM-PETREL, above, and FORK-TAILED STORM-PETREL, below.
All images by leader, Steve Tucker, copyright. Please do not use without permission.
To see Steve's blog, Bourbon, Bastards, and Birds, click here.
Many thanks to the birders who joined us from near and far. The leaders on this day were: Lisa Hug, Steve Howell, Steve Tucker, Jennifer Green and Debi Shearwater.
The complete species list follows. We were in SONOMA COUNTY for almost all of the day.
AUGUST 30, 2013 SHEARWATER JOURNEYS' BODEGA CANYON TRIP:
WESTERN GREBE- 1
BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS- 24
NORTHERN FULMAR- 2
PINK-FOOTED SHEARWATER- 25
BULLER'S SHEARWATER- 32
SOOTY SHEARWATER- 237
WILSON'S STORM-PETREL- 2
FORK-TAILED STORM-PETREL- 15+
ASHY STORM-PETREL- 200+
BLACK STORM-PETREL- 8 to 10
BROWN PELICAN- 1 outside the harbor
BRANDT'S CORMORANT- +
DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT- +
PELAGIC CORMORANT- +
MALLARD- 3, offshore
WANDERING TATTLER- 1, in the harbor
WHIMBREL- 1, in the harbor
RUDDY TURNSTONE- 1, in the harbor
BLACK TURNSTONE- + in the harbor
SURFBIRD- + in the harbor
RED-NECKED PHALAROPE- 25
RED-NECKED/RED PHALAROPE- 500
RED PHALAROPE- 800
SOUTH POLAR SKUA- 1
POMARINE JAEGER- 3
POMARINE/PARASITIC JAEGER- 1
LONG-TAILED JAEGER- 21
CALIFORNIA GULL- 3
WESTERN GULL- 28
SABINE'S GULL- 35
ELEGANT TERN- 5
COMMON TERN- 2
COMMON MURRE- 510
PIGEON GUILLEMOT- 2
CASSIN'S AUKLET- 20
RHINOCEROS AUKLET- 15
CALIFORNIA SEA LION- +
STELLERS SEA LION- 1
BLUE WHALE- 6 to 8
HUMPBACK WHALE- 12 to 16
NORTHERN RIGHT WHALE DOLPHIN- 4
PACIFIC WHITE-SIDED DOLPHIN- 8
DALL'S PORPOISE- 4
Our next pelagic trips departing from Bodega Bay with spaces available are:
SEPTEMBER 20
OCTOBER 18
Hope to see you out there!
Shearwaters Forever,
Debi Shearwater
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