Shearwater Journeys' last trip of the year took place on November 29th, departing from Fisherman's Wharf in Monterey. It was a great day for shearwaters, with a constant flow of shearwaters in view throughout the entire day, except for a brief period when we went over a shallow shelf that was loaded with CASSIN'S AUKLETS and quite a few ANCIENT MURRELETS. In all, we tallied seven species of shearwaters! (The one day world record is eight species, which Shearwater Journeys holds from two different trips). Topping the list, was a GREATER SHEARWATER spotted and identified by leader Scott Terrill, simultaneously by leader Linda Terrill. The Great Shearwater was not that close to the boat, but most everyone on board managed to see it. I was in the cabin, along with leaders John Sterling and Clay Kempf. I ran out to the stern, and had brief, but great views of the shearwater as it flew away from us. It was a state and county bird for county listing czar, John Sterling. Amazingly, Brian Sullivan managed to get off some good shots with his awesome camera! This is the fifth or sixth Great Shearwater that I have seen in California. I believe that it is the first one that I've seen in November. Another surprise was a single BULLER'S SHEARWATER, somewhat late (latest date that I have seen one is December 1). A distant FLESH-FOOTED SHEARWATER, single SHORT-TAILED SHEARWATER, plenty of PINK-FOOTED SHEARWATERS and many BLACK-VENTED SHEARWATERS were also found. Other early winter specialties, ANCIENT MURRELETS and BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKES made a nice showing, along with BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSSES. Very few NORTHERN FULMARS were recorded. And, as is often the case, few cetaceans, save a handful of PACIFIC WHITE-SIDED DOLPHINS near the end of the day, bow-riding. No phalaropes were found.
The morning started out auspiciously for me, waking to a dream of a running mountain lion, followed by a real earthquake, and then "pink sky in the morning" on my drive to Monterey. So, it was one of those days where I just "had a feeling." We went south from Point Pinos to the Big Sur Lighthouse, staying mostly 3-4 miles offshore the entire day. I haven't been that far south in a long time. The coastline was just magnificent. There was a northeast wind in the morning of about 10 knots, which laid down completely in the afternoon. Heading south was a great idea, as it turned out.
This trip completes our 2008 year of pelagic trips in California. We would like to thank all of the birders who came from near and far to see the splendors of our special marine life off the California central coast. We hope to see you in the coming year. The leaders on the November 29 trip were: Scott Terrill, Linda Terrill, Clay Kempf, John Sterling, Jennifer Green, Brian Sullivan, and Debra Shearwater.
Start off the New Year with our January 17th pelagic trip from Monterey. Please note, Debra Shearwater will only be available by email during the month of December.
The complete species list for NOVEMBER 29, 2008 follows:
RED-THROATED LO0N-1
PACIFIC LOON- 225
COMMON LOON- 10
EARED GREBE- 15
WESTERN GREBE- 15
BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS- 21
NORTHERN FULMAR- 5
PINK-FOOTED SHEARWATER- 125
FLESH-FOOTED SHEARWATER- 1
**GREATER SHEARWATER- 1
BULLER'S SHEARWATER- 1
SOOTY SHEARWATER- 27
SHORT-TAILED SHEARWATER- 1
BLACK-VENTED SHEARWATER- 1250
BROWN PELICAN- +
BRANDT'S CORMORANT- +
PELAGIC CORMORANT- 3
SURF SCOTER- 140
RED-BREASTED MERGANSER- 3
BRANT- 9
BLACK TURNSTONE- 1
POMARINE JAEGER- 9
BONAPARTE'S GULL- 1
HEERMANN'S GULL- 200
MEW GULL- 4
CALIFORNIA GULL- 150
HERRING GULL- 4
THAYER'S GULL- 2
WESTERN GULL- 200
GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULL- 15
WESTERN/GLAUCOUS-WINGED- 3
BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKE- 26
COMMON MURRE- 20
ANCIENT MURRELET- 33
CASSIN'S AUKLET- 320
RHINOCEROS AUKLET- 145
PEREGRINE FALCON- 1, on the radio tower on Cannery Row
SEA OTTER- 8
CALIFORNIA SEA LION- 50
PACIFIC WHITE-SIDED DOLPHIN- 30
BLUE SHARK- 1
Wishing you a joyful holiday season,
Debra
Debra Shearwater
Shearwater Journeys, Inc.
PO Box 190
Hollister, CA 95024
831.637.8527
www.shearwaterjourneys.com
*Antarctica, South Georgia, & The Falkland Islands, January 5-24, 2010*
Shearwater Journeys' Exclusive Charter
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