TRIP REPORT: AUGUST 25, 2013 HALF MOON BAY - A SEA OF SPLENDORS

Howdy, Birders,

This is a trip report for Shearwater Journeys amazing August 25, 2013 pelagic trip departing from Half Moon Bay. From start to finish, nearly 12 hours later, this was a day which encompassed the splendor of seabirding. The seas were near glassy, flat calm. Skies were predominantly blue with sunshine most of the day, excellent for photography. Being a very small group made the day more intimate, and also allowed the photographers easy access to their subjects. All images in this report, copyright, Steve Rottenborn. Please do not use without permission. Highlights of this trip included: WARM WATER @ 60-61 degrees F, more below, huge rafts of BULLER'S SHEARWATERS, rafts of hundreds of ASHY STORM-PETRELS, increasing numbers of BLACK STORM-PETRELS, two FORK-TAILED STORM-PETRELS; a jaeger "grand slam" with POMARINE, PARASITIC, LONG-TAILED JAEGERS and SOUTH POLAR SKUA, ARCTIC TERNS, SCRIPP'S MURRELETS, CASSIN'S AUKLETS, RHINOCEROS AUKLETS, TUFTED PUFFINS, and 32 feeding HUMPBACK WHALES. Oops, and a LARGE-BILLED SAVANNAH SPARROW on the jetty — a new "rocky shorebird!"

The inner harbor area was still choked with 1200 ELEGANT TERNS, above, and 1000 BROWN PELICANS, below. However, the feeding flock of sooty shearwaters had departed, most likely following the anchovy runs. A few Brown Pelicans have been spotted with blue leg bands. These should be reported to the INTERNATIONAL BIRD RESCUE. Learn more about their brown pelican rehab, here. 

We had great views of the usual rocky shorebirds, including BLACK OYSTERCATCHER, BLACK TURNSTONE and SURFBIRDS. A LARGE-BILLED SAVANNAH SPARROW, spotted by our captain and identified by leader, Steve Rottenborn, was quite a surprise — and, a Life Bird for many on board!

Departing from the harbor, we immediately began running into many father/chick COMMON MURRE pairs, as below. The "chick" goes out to sea with the father who cares for it for several weeks. Their back and forth vocalizations are so sweet. Eventually, they form these "nursery schools," flocks.

It is common to see SOOTY SHEARWATERS mixed in with the murre flocks. 

It was a little bit surprising to encounter the first BULLER'S SHEARWATERS, below, in amongst these mixcd flocks of murres and sooty shearwaters. 

The seas were so calm that most of the shearwaters and albatrosses were sitting on the water, rather than flying. Flocks of several hundred Buller's shearwaters, sitting on the water, is an absolutely gorgeous site — especially, when they rise in flight, like a ballet.

BULLER'S SHEARWATER, above and below.

A plastic bottle floats among a flock of BULLER'S SHEARWATERS. The big "find" of the day was 60 degree F sea surface temperatures, before we even made it to the 50 fathom line! The "relaxation period" of the seas allowed warmer water from Southern California to flow northward. Indeed, we were to be inside of this huge band of warm water, up to 61 F at times, for many, many miles. This is the stuff of albacore tuna fishing lure. The tuna fishermen were out in droves, but the albacore were not biting. Tuna fishermen call the Buller's shearwaters and Arctic terns, "tuna birds." Indeed, these birds were right with the tuna. We did see Pacific Saury, a type of bait fish, jumping, probably being chased by tuna. 

We saw the first of many HUMPBACK WHALES en route to the Pioneer Canyon. 

Along the edges of the Pioneer Canyon, we found rafts of hundreds of ASHY STORM-PETRELS, above. 

The storm-petrels were attracted to the oil slick at our stern, flying in for some close-up shots. Amongst the hundreds of ASHY STORM-PETRELS, above, were quite a few BLACK STORM-PETRELS, and two FORK-TAILED STORM-PETRLS. 

A beautiful SABINE'S GULL, above and below,  was amongst one flock of shearwaters. 

Steve spotted a SOUTH POLAR SKUA, sitting in one flock. Everyone was able to get a great view.

SOUTH POLAR SKUA, below, takes flight showing the big wing patches.

TUFTED PUFFINS, below, gave a good show.

Again, we encountered as huge feeding lot of HUMPBACK WHALES, with as many as 20 in view at the same time. Below, is an image of four of those whales. 

Many thanks to the superb co-leaders, Steve Rottenborn, below.

And, Tim Miller, below.

The Humpbacks are waiting for you! 

Thank you, one and all for joining this amazing day at sea!
It was a lot of fun!

The complete species list for SAN MATEO/SAN FRANCISCO COUNTIES follows:

AUGUST 25, 2013 SHEARWATER JOURNEYS' HALF MOON BAY

PACIFIC LOON- 1/0

CLARK'S GREBE- 1/0

WESTERN/CLARK'S GREBE- 5/0

BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS- 5/2

PINK-FOOTED SHEARWATER- 7/10

BULLER'S SHEARWATER- 500/80

SOOTY SHEARWATER- 450/150

FORK-TAILED STORM-PETREL- 0/2

ASHY STORM-PETREL- 7/1000

BLACK STORM-PETREL- 0/20

BROWN PELICAN- 1000/0

BRANDT'S CORMORANT- 2/0

DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT- 300/0

PELAGIC CORMORANT- 2/0

BLACK OYSTERCATCHER- 1/0

BLACK TURNSTONE- 13/0

SURFBIRD- 8/0

RED-NECKED PHALAROPE- 25/8

RED PHALAROPE- 40/30

SOUTH POLAR SKUA- 0/1

POMARINE JAEGER- 2/1

PARASITIC JAEGER- 5/0

LONG-TAILED JAEGER- 0/1

JAEGER SP.- 1/1

HEERMANN'S GULL- 20/0

CALIFORNIA GULL- 15/10

WESTERN GULL- 160/40

SABINE'S GULL- 0/2

ELEGANT TERN- 1200/0

ARCTIC TERN- 2/9

COMMON MURRE- 500/2

PIGEON GUILLEMOT- 3/0

*SCRIPP'S MURRELET- 3/0

CASSIN'S AUKLET- 16/3

RHINOCEROS AUKLET- 60/7

TUFTED PUFFIN- 4/0

*LARGE-BILLED SAVANNAH SPARROW- 1/0

CALIFORNIA SEA LION- 1

NORTHERN FUR SEAL- 2

HARBOR SEAL- 1

HUMPBACK WHALE- 32

PACIFIC WHITE-SIDED DOLPHIN- 12

HARBOR PORPOISE- 8

BLUE SHARK- 1

SHEARWATERS FOREVER,

Debi Shearwater

TRIP REPORT: AUGUST 23, 2013 MONTEREY BAY: WARM WATER INVASION

Howdy, Birders,

This is a trip report for Shearwater Journeys' August 23, 2013 pelagic trip departing from Monterey Bay, California. Highlights included: BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS; increasing numbers of BULLER'S SHEARWATERS, increasing numbers of RHINOCEROS AUKLETS, 4 BOTTLENOSE DOLPHINS, 8 BLUE WHALES, 11 HUMPBACK WHALES, 175 RISSO'S DOLPHINS, 4 PACIFIC WHITE-SIDED DOLPHINS and a very large OCEAN SUNFISH. After four days of very calm conditions along the central coast, a pressure system had moved in bringing with it increased northwest afternoon winds. However, we were on the downhill side of the winds and managed to have more than a pleasant return ride to the harbor. The big news, though was a warm water invasion during the calm period. Sea surface temperatures reached 59 degrees F. 

 

We enjoyed excellent views of the world class Monterey Bay Aquarium, above. 

 Not often spotted, we saw four BOTTLENOSE DOLPHINS riding along the kelp beds. They have been spotted feeding on schooling anchovies near shore, from Monterey to Santa Cruz, Half Moon Bay and San Francisco. 

 One of eight BLUE WHALES, above, which we put the whale watching fleet on. Blue whales are the largest animals that have ever lived on Earth. Most of the whale is not visible. Even though these are the largest of all whales, they have a very small dorsal fin, as above.

 Blue Whales rarely raise their tail flukes, although the one above, and below, did so. A layer of diatoms is present on the tail stalk of this whale which can be seen as a dark yellowish-brown coloration on the tail stalk. 

After a full day of birding, we headed toward the inner part of the bay to get out of the wind a bit, and to see some HUMPBACK WHALES, below.

 

As many as 11 Humpback Whales were feeding along the shoreline, viewable in the background. Monterey Bay is a very, very rich feeding ground for seabirds and marine mammals. One does not need to travel far offshore to witness the feeding spectacles of marine life!

 Humpback Whale tail flukes, above and below. Their flukes are always scalloped on the trailing edge.

 As if it was the grand finale firework at a Fourth of July celebration, several Humpbacks fully breached for the ending of a lovely day at sea with a bunch of great folks on board our trip. 

 

We thank all of those folks who came from near and far to join our trip on this day. And, I thank Victor Emanuel Nature Tours for joining us with leader, Jeri Langham. The leaders on this trip were: Clay Kempf, Nick Levendosky, Jennifer Green and Debi Shearwater. Images courtesy of Linette Mansberger, copyright. 

Friends for nearly four decades: Jeri Langham & Debi Shearwater

The complete species list for MONTEREY/SANTA CRUZ COUNTIES/TOTAL follows:

AUGUST 23, 2013 SHEARWATER JOURNEYS

BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS- 5/12/17

NORTHERN FULMAR- 0/1/1

PINK-FOOTED SHEARWATER- 18/21/39

BULLER'S SHEARWATER- 6/22/28

SOOTY SHEARWATER- 380/360/740

BROWN PELICAN- 25/10/35

BRANDT'S CORMORANT- 300/3/303

CANADA GOOSE- 3/0/3

WHIMBREL- 1/0/1

BLACK TURNSTONE- 11/0/11

SURFBIRD- 6/0/6

RED-NECKED PHALAROPE- 290/70/360

RED PHALAROPE- 3/10/13

POMARINE JAEGER- 7/8/15

POMARINE/PARASITIC- 2/0/2

PARASITIC JAEGER- 0/1/1

HEERMANN'S GULL- +

CALIFORNIA GULL- +

WESTERN GULL- +

SABINE'S GULL- 1/2/3

ELEGANT TERN- 78/4/82

COMMON TERN- 0/1/1

CASPIAN TERN- 0/1/1

COMMON MURRE- 225/85/310

PIGEON GULLEMOT- 6/0/6

RHINOCEROS AUKLET- 46/62/108

SEA OTTER- 12

CALIFORNIA SEA LION- 75

NORTHERN ELEPHANT SEAL- 1

BLUE WHALE- 8

HUMPBACK WHALE- 11

RISSO'S DOLPHIN- 175

PACIFIC WHITE-SIDED DOLPHIN- 4

BOTTLENOSE DOLPHIN- 4

OCEAN SUNFISH- 1

EGG YOLK JELLIES- +

Hope to see you out there!

Shearwaters Forever,

Debi Shearwater

LESSONS for PELAGIC BIRDING FROM SANDY KOMITO

WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM SANDY KOMITO

Howdy, Birders,
Following on from the previous post about doing more than one pelagic trip if visiting from outside of the area, I thought I would use SANDY KOMITO as an example. Many birders know about Sandy from reading the book, The Big Year: A Tale of Man, Nature, and Fowl Obsession by Mark Obmascik. Or, from the movie, "The Big Year." Actually, Sandy has been on the birding scene for a long, long time. And, he's still going at it, methodically and with patience.
Each person who has ever been on a pelagic trip with me has a little 3 x 5 index card in my file box. This has been my method from the early days, beginning in 1976 of tracking people. Today, the file houses thousands and thousands of cards! Looking at Sandy's card, I can see all of the trips he's ever made with Shearwater Journeys. His first trip was September 13 to 16, 1985. With a date such as that, I know that it was an two night, overnight, offshore trip. It was probably on the old "Condor" out of Santa Barbara. The old "Condor" bears little resemblance to the new "Condor" of today which still operates out of Santa Barbara. I don't remember every trip — it has been far too many days at sea for me, but I hope that Sandy saw some of the seabirds he was searching for on that big trip.
Well, Sandy continued doing trips with me over all these many years so that he has filled up two 3 x 5 cards! One would think that this man must have seen every seabird imaginable with a score sheet like that. Nope.
Birding is a dynamic sport. It seems that there is always something new taking place. Seabirding is no different. Recently, the split of Xantus's murrelet to SCRIPP'S and GUADALUPE murrelets has sent a scurry of birders back to sea. New information and knowledge and range changes have come to the forefront of seabirding, such that we now know that HAWAIIAN PETRELS regularly range off Northern California. The question is: when and where. For Sandy Komito, the Hawaiian Petrel proved to be elusive. He tried in 2010, 2012 and again, this season — all August trips which seems to be one of the best times to hope to see this mysterious and endangered petrel.
Sandy, who lives on the East Coast, did exactly as I have suggested in the previous post — he booked THREE TRIPS! The best bet for finding Hawaiian Petrel is probably the Half Moon Bay trips. Sandy booked July 27 & July 28. Both were great birding trips, excellent days at sea. But, alas! No Hawaiian Petrel. Sandy's third trip was August 2, departing from Monterey. Well, in all honesty, I almost said to him at the dock, "You know, Sandy, we are not going to see a Hawaiian Petrel today." I know better. Every time, I've said something like that, I was proved wrong. And, in this case, I would have proved myself wrong, because, I spotted a petrel — which Brian Sullivan got on, right away — you gotta love the younger birders — HAWAIIAN PETREL!!! HAWAIIAN PETREL!! SANDY WAS ON IT! EVERYONE ON BOARD SAW IT. What an amazing day! And, below, you can see just exactly how happy Sandy was to see not only a new ABA (American Birding Association) bird, but also, a LIFE BIRD. Folks, Sandy Komito does not score life birds in the ABA area very often. Patience and persistence paid off for Sandy, as well as booking more than one trip when coming such a long distance. Later, I was reminded that we also saw a Hawaiian Petrel on exactly the same date in 2009.

Debi Shearwater & Sandy Komito

So, the reader might well wonder if I take my own advise. You betcha! A few years ago, I went "Back East" as we say, to see some spring pelagic birds. I booked seven trips with Brian Patteson. Of those seven trips: one had very rough weather, one had very calm seas and five had medium seas. Out of seven trips, I saw black-capped petrel on every trip, herald petrel on four trips, and Fea's Petrel (one bird) on one trip. My seven trips netted me a very nice seabird list. Another time, I returned to the East Coast for winter seabirding with my good friend, Paul Guris. I booked the only two trips See Life Paulagics had during the time I was there. One trip was weathered out. So, I was happy to have the second trip which was a huge success. 

There you have it!

See you out there

Shearwaters Forever,

Debi

Hawaiian Petrel image by Brian Sullivan from August 2, 2013

Please do not use without permission

WHY SHOULD I DO MORE THAN ONE PELAGIC TRIP?

Howdy, Birders,
For nearly forty years, birders have been flocking to the central coast of California to witness the fall seabird migration which runs from late July through late November, some years into early December. Birders have come from every state in the USA to head offshore with Shearwater Journeys, as well as from many countries around the globe, including Canada, UK, Spain, Italy, Germany, France, Belgium, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Poland, Hungary, South Africa, Kenya China, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, Costa Rica, Mexico, Chile — to name a few.
Many times, I am asked how to plan trips, which trips to take, how many trips to take and so on. Doing pelagic trips during migration is best compared to visiting one's favorite land birding site during migration. This could be Cape May, New Jersey, High Island, Texas or the Scilly Isles in the UK. Would you visit these places to spend only 7 or 8 hours birding? Probably not, unless, it just happened to sandwich in between a trip for some other purpose other than birding. Why should pelagic birding be any different? Would you travel all the way across the country for only a few hours spent trying to see new birds with which you have little birding experience? Naturally, most folks on a birding trip will combine birding on land with birding at sea — heading out to look for many of the California specialties. In the Monterey and central coast area, these could include: California condor, prairie falcon, golden eagle, Nuttall's woodpecker, California quail, yellow-billed magpie, wrentit, California thrasher, Lawrence's goldfinch, tricolored blackbird, as well as the newly split "sage" sparrows. The biggest expenditures involve getting to California and staying in California. So, why not add another pelagic trip to the program?

Adding a second, or even a third pelagic trip can really pay off. You might spend your first day trying to get the jizz of shearwater or storm-petrel flight down. On your second day, these things will be more apparent. Weather is a factor. One day might have less than ideal conditions, while the next day could prove to have stunning conditions. Thinking about birding on land — sometimes, we go out and it is just "dull" whereas the next visit to the same patch is "hot." Seabirding is no different. Some days are "rust" and some days are "diamonds." Give yourself a chance to experience this. One day at sea might find a South polar skua, while the next day finds none.

Below, I list the two day tally for AUGUST 17/18 Shearwater Journeys' trips departing from Half Moon Bay, California. On August 17th, we had some swell and choppy seas, whereas on August 18, the seas had smoothed out considerably. Smooth seas made spotting the SCRIPP'S MURRELETS much easier. These tiny alcids, the size of one's hand, are usually very difficult to spot in swells. On the other hand, the swells and breezy day of August 17, set the conditions up for a LAYSAN ALBATROSS to follow our vessel for nearly three hours! The birders who did both trips scored a high list of seabirds. In fact, those birders saw pretty much all of the seabirds that one could reasonably expect during this time of year, in central California Here are the lists, side by side.

AUGUST 17/AUGUST 18

WESTERN GREBE- 12/17
CLARK'S GREBE- 1/1
LAYSAN ALBATROSS- 1/0
BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS- 8/30
NORTHERN FULMAR- 1/2
PINK-FOOTED SHEARWATER- 90/80
FLESH-FOOTED SHEARWATER- 0/1
SOOTY SHEARWATER- 8265/9288
WILSON'S STORM-PETREL- 1/1
ASHY STORM-PETREL- 226/30
BLACK STORM-PETREL- 3/1
BROWN PELICAN- 1200/2129
BRANDT'S CORMORANT- 130/15
DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT- 90/27
PELAGIC CORMORANT- 325/3
BLACK OYSTERCATCHER- 7/7
WANDERING TATTLER- 2/1
WHIMBREL- 0/1
MARBLED GODWIT- 0/1
BLACK TURNSTONE- 11/24
WILLET- 0/1
RED-NECKED PHALAROPE- 6/20
RED PHALAROPE- 55/153
POMARINE JAEGER- 4/6
PARASITIC JAEGER- 2/0
LONG-TAILED JAEGER- 9/31
HEERMANN'S GULL- 1500/137
CALIFORNIA GULL- 190/3
WESTERN GULL- 950/477
SABINE'S GULL- 7/5
ELEGANT TERN- 800/764
COMMON TERN- 2/0
ARCTIC TERN- 2/19
COMMON MURRE- 325/1183
PIGEON GUILLEMOT- 12/7
SCRIPP'S MURRELET- 0/2
CASSIN'S AUKLET- 7/21
RHINOCEROS AUKLET- 8/57
TUFTED PUFFIN- 0/3

Something to think about when planning your pelagic trips!

Shearwaters Forever,

Debi

Laysan Albatross image, copyright, Todd McGrath

Please do not use without permission

TRIP REPORT: AUGUST 18, 2013 HALF MOON BAY

Howdy, Birders,

This is a trip report for Shearwater Journeys' August 18, 2013 nearly 11 hour, pelagic trip departing from Half Moon Bay. Highlights included: 2 SCRIPP'S MURRELETS and 3 very fine TUFTED PUFFINS. The seas calmed down quite a bit from the previous day. In fact, the offshore region was quite amazing. Lines of convergences had formed where two currents meet, trapping a lot of bull kelp. This kelp provided a resting spot for migrating ARCTIC TERNS, see below. LONG-TAILED JAEGERS put on a good show, with 31 tallied for the day. We traveled 31 miles offshore, reaching 600 fathoms and covering many canyon edges. There was a warm band of 60 F degree water, but it was inshore. Inshore, the water was "salmon brown" while offshore it was a clear blue, but not the deep turquoise or nearly black water necessary for albacore. At the "601" a high spot to the south, anglers caught a few albacore a couple of days ago. One angler caught a yellowfin tuna, rare for our area, but common off of San Diego. As I write this report, we are experiencing offshore weather conditions pushing northward from Southern California. This could lead to some fine seabirding on our next offshore trips, August 23 (Monterey), 25 (Half Moon Bay) and 30 (Bodega Bay). All images, copyright, Todd McGrath. Please do not use without permission. 

Todd's image of the PIGEON GUILLEMOT, above, gives one a good idea of how dreamy the seas were on this day. 

The SOOTY SHEARWATER, BROWN PELICAN, ELEGANT TERN, HEERMANN'S GULL mixed flock was still feeding near the harbor. 

 PINK-FOOTED SHEARWATERS were our companions most of the day.

 Offshore, we encountered a few BULLER'S SHEARWATERS and very surprisingly a Selasphorus hummingbird buzzed right up to our vessel some 28 miles out. 

 A group of three adult TUFTED PUFFINS put on quite a show. 

ARCTIC TERNS resting offshore on bull kelp.

 ARCTIC TERN in flight, above, and SABINE'S GULL, below. 

Both are High Arctic nesters migrating south.

 PARASITIC JAEGER, below, another High Arctic nesting species heading south.

We had a wonderful day at sea with folks from eight different states and Italy. Many thanks to all. The leaders on this trip were: Todd McGrath, Jim Holmes and Debi Shearwater. Great conversations. Loads of fun, too.
The complete species list for SAN MATEO/SAN FRANCISCO COUNTIES follows.
AUGUST 18, 2013 SHEARWATER JOURNEYS
WESTERN GREBE- 17/0
CLARK'S GREBE- 1/0
WESTERN/CLARK'S GREBE- 14/0
BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS- 19/11
NORTHERN FULMAR- 0/2
PINK-FOOTED SHEARWATER- 49/31
BULLER'S SHEARWATER- 0/2
SOOTY SHEARWATER- 8851/482
WILSON'S STORM-PETREL- 0/1
ASHY STORM-PETREL- 17/13
BLACK STORM-PETREL- 0/1
BROWN PELICAN- 2100/29
BRANDT'S CORMORANT- 14/1
DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT- 27/0
PELAGIC CORMORANT- 3/0
BLACK OYSTERCATCHER- 4/0
WANDERING TATTLER- 1/0
WHIMBREL- 1/0
MARBLED GODWIT- 1/0
BLACK TURNSTONE- 24/0
SURFBIRD- 8/0
WILLET- 1/0
RED-NECKED PHALAROPE-19/1
RED PHALAROPE- 29/124
POMARINE JAEGER- 0/6
LONG-TAILED JAEGER- 0/31
HEERMANN'S GULL- 129/7
CALIFORNIA GULL- 0/3
WESTERN GULL- 235/92
SABINE'S GULL- 0/5
ELEGANT TERN- 761/2
COMMON/ARCTIC TERN- 0/4
ARCTIC TERN- 0/19
COMMON MURRE- 1169/14
PIGEON GUILLEMOT- 7/0
SCRIPP'S MURRELET- 0/2, excellent views, sitting on the water
CASSIN'S AUKLET- 7/14
RHINOCEROS AUKLET- 9/48
TUFTED PUFFIN- 0/3, excellent photo ops
SELASPHORUS HUMMINGBIRD- 0/1, about 28 miles offshore
CALIFORNIA SEA LION-+
HARBOR SEAL- 2
HUMPBACK WHALE- 6 to 8
PACIFIC WHITE-SIDED DOLPHIN- 125
HARBOR PORPOISE- 4
OCEAN SUNFISH- 12

Spaces are available on many of our trips.

See Shearwater Journeys for the schedule.

Shearwaters Forever,

Debi

TRIP REPORT: AUGUST 17, 2013 HALF MOON BAY: TEN SPECIES OF TUBENOSES!

FIRST OF SEASON: FLESH-FOOTED SHEARWATER

Howdy, Birders,

This is a trip report for Shearwater Journeys' August 17, 2013 pelagic trip departing from Half Moon Bay, California. Highlights included: LAYSAN ALBATROSS; FLESH-FOOTED SHEARWATER (first of the fall season), BULLER'S SHEARWATER, ASHY STORM-PETREL, WILSON'S and BLACK STORM-PETRELS (seen well by almost all on board), POMARINE, PARASITIC and LONG-TAILED JAEGERS; COMMON and ARCTIC TERNS; and HUMPBACK WHALES. All images, copyright, Todd McGrath. Please do not use without permission. Want to learn more about "tubenoses?" Click here. 

 A whopping TEN SPECIES OF TUBENOSES were observed on this trip!

We started the morning by taking a drive through the thousands of SOOTY SHEARWATERS which I had previously reported near the Pillar Point Harbor. In addition, we tallied some 325 PELAGIC CORMORANTS which might be a high count in recent years for the central coast of California. Undoubtedly, these birds are feeding on the schooling ANCHOVIES. 

A LAYSAN ALBATROSS, above followed our vessel for nearly three hours, appearing in both San Mateo and San Francisco Counties. 

 

The first FLESH-FOOTED SHEARWATER of the fall season showed up, as leaders Linda Terrill and Todd McGrath spotted it simultaneously. As usual, it flew right past the wake of the boat — long enough for Todd to capture the image, above. This is one of the "highly prized" species on West Coast pelagic trips. It may become more so in the future, as biologists are working to make a more accurate estimate of the world population of this species. Some biologists in Australia are making dire estimates that the population has plummeted from an original estimate of 450,000 pairs to 60,000 pairs. 

 BULLER'S SHEARWATERS, above, were found in mixed species flocks.

 We tallied all three species of jaegers: POMARINE, PARASITIC, above & LONG-TAILED. 

 PINK-FOOTED SHEARWATERS, above, were with us throughout the day.

SABINE'S GULL, above, were found in both San Mateo and San Francisco Counties. 

Returning to the harbor at day's end, we were treated to the sight of feeding seabirds, including nearly 800 ELEGANT TERNS. Above, an adult is feeding a still dependent youngster. Grow up, already!

We had a wonderful, nearly 11 hour day at sea. One new Big Year birder was on board, Ron Furnish, who ticked a load of new birds for the year. One young birder, Will, scored 16 Life Birds! The leaders on this trip were: Todd McGrath, Jim Holmes, Scott Terrill, Linda Terrill and Debi Shearwater. Many thanks to all of those folks who traveled from near and far to join us at sea!

The complete species list follows for SAN MATEO/SAN FRANCISCO COUNTIES/TOTAL

AUGUST 17, 2013 SHEARWATER JOURNEYS

WESTERN GREBE- 12/0/12

CLARK'S GREBE- 1/0/1

WESTERN/CLARK'S GREBE- 30/0/30

LAYSAN ALBATROSS- 1/1/1

BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS- 6/8/8

NORTHERN FULMAR- 0/1/1

PINK-FOOTED SHEARWATER- 26/64/90

FLESH-FOOTED SHEARWATER- 0/1/1

BULLER'S SHEARWATER- 3/0/3

SOOTY SHEARWATER- 8135/130/8265

WILSON'S STORM-PETREL- 1/0/1

ASHY STORM-PETREL- 42/84/126

BLACK STORM-PETREL- 3/0/3

BROWN PELICAN- 1200/0/1200

BRANDT'S CORMORANT- 130/0/130

DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT- 90/0/90

PELAGIC CORMORANT- 325/0/325

BLACK OYSTERCATCHER- 7/0/7

WANDERING TATTLER- 2/0/2

BLACK TURNSTONE- 11/0/11

SURFBIRD- 1/0/1

RED-NECKED PHALAROPE- 3/3/6

RED PHALAROPE- 19/36/55

POMARINE JAEGER- 1/3/4

PARASITIC JAEGER- 0/2/2

LONG-TAILED JAEGER- 1/6/9

HEERMANN'S GULL- 1500/1/1500

CALIFORNIA GULL- 190/1/190

WESTERN GULL- 925/25/950

SABINE'S GULL- 5/2/7

ELEGANT TERN- 800/0/800

COMMON TERN- 2/0/2

ARCTIC TERN- 2/0/2

COMMON MURRE- 310/14/ 325

PIGEON GUILLEMOT- 12/0/12

CASSIN'S AUKLET- 0/7/7

RHINOCEROS AUKLET- 4/4/8

CALIFORNIA SEA LION- 25/3/28

STELLER'S SEA LION- 1/0/1

HUMPBACK WHALE- 0/2/2

HARBOR PORPOISE- 12/0/12

SPACES ARE AVAILABLE ON THESE UPCOMING TRIPS:

HALF MOON BAY: AUG 25; SEP 8, 9, 16, 22, 28, 29; OCT 6, 27; NOV 16

BODEGA BAY: AUG 30; SEP 20; OCT 18

MONTEREY: ALBACORE TRIP: SEP 7 

MONTEREY BAY: AUG 23; SEP 6, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 27; OCT 5, 13, 25

Jump on board!

Tubenoses Forever,

Debi