WE SAVED THE SCRIPP'S MURRELETS. CAN WE SAVE THE ASHY STORM-PETREL?

SCRIPP'S MURRELETS, father on right, chick on left, as seen on Shearwater Journeys' September 9, 2013 Half Moon Bay pelagic trip. These small alcids breed on Anacapa Island, one of the Channel Islands off southern California. We saved them by eradicating the black rat from this island. 

WE SAVED the SCRIPP'S MURRELET!

For more information see this short video:

CAN WE SAVE THE ASHY STORM-PETREL?

A small flock of ASHY STORM-PETRELS, above. It is thought at approximately 50% of the world's population of Ashy Storm-Petrels breed at the Farallon Islands. This small, swallow-sized seabird is threatened by an imbalance of nature caused by the non-native mice on the Farallon Islands. A program to eradicate the mice has been proposed. Please comment on the EIR no later than September 30, 2013.

YES, WE CAN!

Thank you, and the storm-petrels thank you,

Debi Shearwater

Images, copyright, Steve Tucker. Please do not use without permission.

INVASIVE HOUSE MOUSE ERADICATION PROJECT: FARALLON NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE, CALIFORNIA

COMMENT NOW! TAKE ACTION, PLEASE!

ASHY STORM-PETREL

Image, copyright, Julio Mulero

Howdy, Birders,

As a birder who has had the privilege of visiting many of the world's breeding seabird colonies at islands everywhere, it has become evident to me that the impact of introduced predators at these breeding colonies can be quite substantial. Tremendous successes and strides have been made by eliminating these predators which include rats, mice, cats, goats, pigs and more. Excellent examples such as Campbell Island have shown how not only seabirds can rebound with the removal of rats, but also native vegetation — in this case, the mega herbs.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife has announced the availability of a draft environmental impact statement (EIS) for a proposed project to eradicate non-native, invasive house mice from South Farallon Islands, part of the Farallon National Wildlife Refuge off the coast of California. The comment period ends on September 30, 2013.

Please, comment on this draft at this link. Hit the COMMENT NOW! button near the top of the page!

ASHY STORM-PETRELS FOREVER,

Debi Shearwater

Birders Speak About the Epic September 20, 2013 Bodega Bay

Three 2013 BIG YEAR BIRDERS, above: NEIL HAYWARD, ISAAC SANCHEZ and JAY LEHMAN on the epic September 20, 2013 Shearwater Journeys' pelagic trip which departed from Bodega Bay and ventured offshore to the Cordell Bank, recording a modern day record number of storm-petrels. 

Image, courtesy Isaac Sanchez

Here's what Isaac Sanchez had to say about birding with the guys:

It was also a pleasure on the pelagic trip to run into birding buddy Jay Lehman who is doing a traditional Big Year (currently at 650+).  We first birded together with another mutual birding buddy Paul Serridge while in graduate school over 40 years ago.  It was also a pleasure to meet Neil Hayward who is the 2013 Big Year front-runner with 710 species.

Isaac, himself is doing a PHOTO BIG YEAR. To date, he has photographed more than 550 birds in the USA. He might reach 575. "At the beginning of the year, I never dreamed of photographing 500 birds much less 550.  With 3 months left there is a chance I can reach 575, but 600 still seems out of reach. I have often been asked the question: what do you do with all of your bird photos?  The short answer is that I enjoy sharing them with other birders.  And I share without an ulterior motive.  I don’t sell my photos and I intend to remain an amateur for the foreseeable future.  I have already donated over 400 images to NatureInstruct, a Canadian web site devoted to bird identification. Bird photography is a great learning tool.  I am a better birder because I can discover and carefully study field marks that I would otherwise miss in the field. I am extremely gratified that my Big Year photos have already been viewed over 100,000 times.  I hope viewers enjoy the photos as much as I do.  For me, each photo provides context for a pleasant memory." 

It seems that BLACK STORM-PETREL was a Big Year tick for all three of these fellow. 

Isaac had this to say about the trip: Yesterday was an unbelievable spectacle!  At the beginning of the trip you posed the question to the leaders: where do you think the birds are?  Well I guess you answered your own question. :-)

The Shearwater pelagic out of Bodega Bay was one of those experiences that birders only dream about.  We encountered rafts of storm petrels in the thousands on the Cordell Bank (I haven’t seen the official estimate yet, but Debi Shearwater and other leaders on board, including pelagic guru Steve Howell, were bandying around numbers in excess of 10,000).  Given that we had never seen a Fork-tailed or a Black Storm-Petrel before, this was an extraordinary introduction to both birds.  Ashy Storm-Petrel was the predominant species (whose world wide numbers have been estimated to be less than 20,000), with Fork-tails close behind.

And, Jay said of the trip:  The second new bird for the year was Black Storm-Petrel.  Black Storm-Petrels were mixed with Ashy and Fork-tailed Storm-Petrels in the largest flock of storm-petrels ever recorded in North America, a total of 17,000+ storm-petrels.  It was AWESOME!  Truly, a lifetime experience.  Debi Shearwater reports on her blog that there were 10,500+ Ashy Storm-Petrels, 6,500+ Fork-tailed Storm-Petrels, 300 Black Storm-Petrels and 25 Wilson's Storm-Petrels.  We had a grand slam of jaegers:  Pomarine, Parasitic and Long-tailed Jaegers and South Polar Skua.  Sea mammals put on a good show with 15-17 Blue Whales, 12   Humpbacked Whales, 50 Northern Right Whale Dolphins, 350 Pacific White-sided Dolphins and 8 Dall's Pofpoises. Pinnipeds included: California Sea Lion, Stellar's Sea Lion, Northern Fur Seal, Northern Elephant Seal and Harbor Seal.  It was quite an exciting trip.

Long time sea birder, Jim Chiropolos had this to say about the trip:

I was on the September 20 Shearwater Journeys pelagic and it was amazing.

Entering and leaving the cordell bank (but not over the bank itself) storm petrels were everywhere. Huge rafts of storm pertrels were everywhere. At times, it seemed that every yard of ocean had a storm pretel! In all my time birdwatching, I'm not sure if I have ever seen more birds. It was like watching the wilderbeast migration in Africa. It was one of those special birding moments. Imagine, perfect light, and everywhere, storm petrels dancing on a gente swell in the ocean, horizon to horizon. The areas we had the big storm petrel flocks, I don't think we saw anything but storm petrels - very interesting in itself. 

The trip leaders - Debby Shearwater, Peter Pyle and Steve Howell conservatively estimated at least 15,500 storm petrels, including 10,500 ashy, 4,500 fork tailed, several hundred black an multiple Wilsons. Debby thinks we may have seen a record amount of storm petrels ever on a single pelagic trip! No Way! Even the leaders were amazed and had never seen anything like it (I think) and they spend a lot of time on the ocean.

We also had the jaeger slam with multiple skuas, great marine mammel watching (and also smelled and heard multiple whales they were so close) on a very gentle ocean swell - no one got sea sick.

A great, great day on the ocean. Maybe I will see you out there some day.

Ashy Storm-Petrels Forever,

Debi Shearwater 

Check out Shearwater Journeys' offshore seabird trips!

TRIP REPORT: SEPTEMBER 22, 2013 HALF MOON BAY

MARBLED MURRELET (Brachyramphus marmoratus), copyright, Mark Rauzon.

Howdy, Birders,

This is a trip report for Shearwater Journeys' September 22, 2013 pelagic trip departing from Half Moon Bay. Highlights included 2 FLESH-FOOTED SHEARWATERS, 1 LAYSAN ALBATROSS, a GRAND SLAM of POMARINE, PARASITIC and LONG-TAILED JAEGERS, SOUTH POLAR SKUA and the return of MARBLED MURRELETS outside of the harbor, including two calling juveniles. We were especially thrilled to see the Marbled Murrelets which disappeared once the squid fishing vessels showed up in the same are where the murrelets hang out. The squid fishermen moved elsewhere and the murrelets returned. Leader Steve Hampton indicated that the vocalizing juveniles would almost certainly have hatched at one of the local redwood tree colonies. This is good news, indeed! We had an extremely pleasant 11 hour day with good sea conditions throughout. The warm water had moved outside of our reach save for one little bubble of 59 F near the 50 fathom line where Buller's Shearwaters were feeding. Offshore, the SST's hovered around 57 F.  The Flesh-footed Shearwaters were a Big Year tick for two 2013 contenders!

FLESH-FOOTED SHEARWATER (Puffinus carneipes), copyright, Mark Rauzon.

Many, many thanks to birders who came from near and far to join our trip. The leaders on this day included: Steve Tucker, Adam Searcy, Steve Hampton and Debi Shearwater.
The complete species list for SAN MATEO/SAN FRANCISCO COUNTIES follows:

SEPTEMBER 22, 2013 SHEARWATER JOURNEYS HALF MOON BAY
COMMON LOON- 0/3
EARED GREBE- 2/0
WESTERN GREBE- 7/0
LAYSAN ALBATROSS- 0/1
BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS- 2/18
PINK-FOOTED SHEARWATER- 100/250
FLESH-FOOTED SHEARWATER- 1/1
BULLER'S SHEARWATER- 40/70
SOOTY SHEARWATER- 35/85
ASHY STORM-PETREL- 0/25
BLACK STORM-PETREL- 0/10
BROWN PELICAN- +/1
BRANDT'S CORMORANT- +/30
DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT- +/0
PELAGIC CORMORANT- 6/0
BRANT- 2/0
BLACK OYSTERCATCHER- 5/0
WHIMBREL- 3/0
MARBLED GODWIT- 12/0
BLACK TURNSTONE- 15/0
SURFBIRD- 8/0
SANDERLING- 8/0
RED-NECKED PHALAROPE- 0/3
RED PHALAROPE- 0/15
SOUTH POLAR SKUA- 0/3
POMARINE JAEGER- 4/10
PARASITIC JAEGER- 1/1
LONG-TAILED JAEGER- 0/3
JAEGER SP.- 0/3
HEERMANN'S GULL- +
CALIFORNIA GULL- +
WESTERN GULL- +
SABINE'S GULL- 0/2
ELEGANT TERN- +/+
COMMON MURRE- 352/50
MARBLED MURRELET- 7/0, including two calling juveniles
CASSIN'S AUKLET- 4/14
CALIFORNIA SEA LION- +/+, including some offshore herds
STELLER'S SEA LION- 1, at the weather buoy
NORTHERN FUR SEAL- 4
NORTHERN ELEPHANT SEAL- 1
HUMPBACK WHALE- 4
HARBOR PORPOISE- 2
DALL'S PORPOISE- 13
SHARK SP.- 1
OCEAN SUNFISH- 7

SPACES AVAILABLE ON UPCOMING TRIPS:

HALF MOON BAY: SEP 28 & 29; OCT 27; NOV 16

BODEGA BAY: OCT 18

MONTEREY BAY: OCT 5, 13, 25

FARALLON ISLAND GREAT WHITE SHARK TRIP: OCT 20

LAYSAN ALBATROSS (Phoebastria immutabilis), copyright, Mark Rauzon.

Images in this post, courtesy Mark Rauzon. Please do not use without permission. To see more images of this day by Mark, click here. To view Mark's complete photo gallery, click here. 

JUMP ON BOARD!

SHEARWATERS FOREVER,

DEBI SHEARWATER

TRIP REPORT: SEPTEMBER 20, 2013 BODEGA BAY SPECTACULAR STORM-PETREL SAFARI

Howdy, Birders,

This is a trip report for Shearwater Journeys' September 20, 2013 pelagic trip departing from Bodega Bay. This was a pelagic trip for the record books! We found a SPECTACULAR STORM-PETREL BONANZA consisting of: 10,500+ ASHY STORM-PETRELS, 6,500+ FORK-TAILED STORM-PETRELS, 300 BLACK STORM-PETRELS and 25 WILSON'S STORM-PETRELS, for a GRAND TOTAL of 17,325+ STORM-PETRELS. This almost certainly represents a record count for storm-petrels anywhere in North America, by sea or air. In addition to the beautiful sea conditions and lovely weather, our day was highlighted by a GRAND SLAM of the JAEGER: POMARINE, PARASITIC and LONG-TAILED, as well as SOUTH POLAR SKUAS. Most of the usual fall seabirds were encountered. Marine mammals included: 15-17 BLUE WHALES, 12 HUMPBACK WHALES, 50 NORTHERN RIGHT WHALE DOLPHINS, 350 PACIFIC WHITE-SIDED DOLPHINS and 8 DALL'S PORPOISES. Pinnipeds included: CALIFORNIA SEA LION, STELLER'S SEA LION, NORTHERN FUR SEAL, NORTHERN ELEPHANT SEAL and HARBOR SEAL. 

IT WAS A DAY FOR THE SEABIRD HISTORY BOOK.

All images, below, copyright, Steve N.G. Howell who co-lead this trip. Please do not use without permission. Steve N.G. Howell is the author of the recently published guide: PETRELS, ALBATROSSES & STORM-PETRELS of NORTH AMERICA: A PHOTOGRAPHIC GUIDE.

A very small portion of one of the rafts of storm-petrels, above, which shows how this looks from a distance.

Storm-petrel rafts (a flock of storm-petrels resting on the water) are typically very skittish in our area, rarely allowing close approach with a vessel. Most sources state that these storm-petrels are nocturnal feeders and rest on the ocean during the day. 

LONG-TAILED JAEGER, above.

POMARINE JAEGER, above.

SOUTH POLAR SKUA, above, putting on a show.

 

One of the many BLUE WHALES, above. Its coloration makes it blend in well. 

STELLER'S SEA LION, above, rarely seen in our area. 

HUMPBACK WHALE tail flukes above.

An interesting HEERMANN'S GULL, above, as we approached the harbor. I'm betting that this image will appear in Steve N.G. Howell's forthcoming book about terns and jaegers, as the white wing patches clearly imitate a jaeger.

Many thanks to the birders who traveled from near and far to join our offshore trip. The leaders on this day were: Steve N.G. Howell, Peter Pyle, Lisa Hug, Adam Searcy, Steve Tucker and Debi Shearwater. 

The complete species list follows. Except for the harbor and a few miles, we were in MARIN COUNTY for nearly the entire day. 

SHEARWATER JOURNEYS' SEPTEMBER 20, 2013 TRIP TO CORDELL BANK

RED-THROATED LOON- 1

COMMON LOON- 1

BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS- 43

PINK-FOOTED SHEARWATER- 383

BULLER'S SHEARWATER- 10

SOOTY SHEARWATER- 79

*WILSON'S STORM-PETREL- 25

**FORK-TAILED STORM-PETREL- 6500+

**ASHY STORM-PETREL- 10500+

**BLACK STORM-PETREL- 300

BROWN PELICAN- +

BRANDT'S CORMORANT- +

DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT- +

PELAGIC CORMORANT- +

MARBLED GODWIT- +, harbor

BLACK TURNSTONE- + , harbor

RED-NECKED PHALAROPE- 170

RED PHALAROPE- 60

SOUTH POLAR SKUA- 3

POMARINE JAEGER- 10

PARASITIC JAEGER- 2

LONG-TAILED JAEGER- 12

JAEGER SP.- 3

HEERMANN'S GULL- 10, offshore

CALIFORNIA GULL- 250

WESTERN GULL- 150

SABINE'S GULL- 10

ELEGANT TERN- + jetty

COMMON MURRE- 450

CASSIN'S AUKLET- 23

RHINOCEROS AUKLET- 11

PINTAIL- 23, offshore 

CALIFORNIA SEA LION- +

STELLER'S SEA LION- 4

NORTHERN FUR SEAL- 4

NORTHERN ELEPHANT SEAL- 1

HARBOR SEAL- +

BLUE WHALE- 15-18

HUMPBACK WHALE- 12

NORTHERN RIGHT WHALE DOLPHIN- 50

PACIFIC WHITE-SIDED DOLPHIN- 350

DALL'S PORPOISE- 8

BROWN JELLIES

We can take you out there!

Our next trip departing for the Cordell Bank from Bodega Bay is OCTOBER 18th.

We also have trips departing from Pillar Point, Half Moon Bay, easily accessible from all regions of the Bay Area:

SEPTEMBER 28 & 29; OCTOBER 6 & 27; NOVEMBER 16

Don't forget our GREAT WHITE SHARK SEARCH trip on OCTOBER 20th to the Farallon Islands. 

See you out there!

Shearwaters Forever,

Debi Shearwater

FIVE SEABIRDS THAT BROUGHT GREG MILLER'S BIG YEAR TO #700 — AND, BEYOND!

Did you know?

On this very day, 15 years ago, Greg Miller saw his 700th bird while doing the famous BIG YEAR?

In 1998 Greg Miller, Al Levantin and Sandy Komito were real birders depicted in the book, The Big Year: A Tale of Man, Nature and Fowl Obsession by Mark Obmascik. All three of the guys joined Shearwater Journeys' pelagic trips, hoping to tick as many seabirds as possible. It was an El Nino year. Seabirds were really hot. And, I do mean really HOT! 

Greg Miller would tick the following five species:

 #697 CRAVERI'S MURRELET, above, A gem of a bird!

#698 SOUTH POLAR SKUA, above, the biggest, baddest pirate of the sea.

 #699 FLESH-FOOTED SHEARWATER, above, a bird one usually needs to make 10 trips to find.

#700 RED-BILLED TROPICBIRD, above, a glittering diamond of a seabird! 

#701 XANTUS'S MURRELET, which has since been split into two species: SCRIPP'S MURRELET, above, and GUADALUPE MURRELET which is the species that Greg saw that magical day. Any one of these seabirds would have been considered, "good." But, as Greg says, "Seeing all five species in one day was jaw dropping!"

AND, YOU KNOW WHAT ELSE?

THESE FIVE SPECIES OF SEABIRDS HAVE NOT BEEN RECORDED ON THE SAME DAY SINCE! 

GREG MILLER, YOU ARE ONE BLESSED BIRDER!

Many thanks to ace pelagic trip leader and photographer, Dave Pereksta for the images in this blog. 

All images, copyright, Dave Pereksta. Please do not use without permission. 

Tomorrow begins our Pelagic Parade of Seabird Trips!

Jump on Board!

Debi Shearwater

More Trips + More Leaders + More Seabirds = MORE FUN! 

Jump on board with Shearwater Journeys' Leaders!

September is here. The best days of seabirding are just around the corner. Like the BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS in the image above, being followed by SABINE'S GULLS, we at Shearwater Journeys, hope to lead you to the seabirds! I'm not sure about that little LONG-TAILED JAEGER, sitting on the water behind this crowd. Jump up, buddy! Don't miss the action. 

Shearwater Journeys offers more seabird trips than anyone else on the West Coast. In fact, Debi Shearwater is the only full time pelagic tour operator in the U.S.A. (world?) Thirty eight years of organizing offshore pelagic trips, from Crescent City to San Diego,  has given her a depth and breadth of unsurpassable experience off the California Coast. Beginning September 6th from Monterey, she will do sixteen pelagic trips from three different ports, taking over 1,000 birders offshore! This gives her a feel and handle on not only where the seabirds can be found, but also where not to head to look for them. Negative data is important, too! 

An amazing assemblage of leaders, some with decades of seabirding experience, and  most with worldwide seabirding experience, will be on board these trips. Below, please find our complete trip schedule for the remainder of 2013. Shearwater Journeys has always had a high number of leaders on board to provide you with a higher quality experience. Both beginners and "old salts" are welcome. 

Note: some trips listed as LIMITED SPACES AVAILABLE are nearly sold out. Email Debi for these trips, or to be added to the waiting list. Trips color-coded could be great for photographers who need more space on board the boat. These trips are not packed full, although all trips have enough reservations to "go." Do you have a favorite leader? Check it out. More leaders may be added to some trips. Leaders are subject to change. All leaders are volunteers. KEY: MTY= Monterey; HMB= Half Moon Bay; FI= Farallon Islands; Bodega Bay; Albacore trip departs from Monterey. RESERVATIONS: If booking at the last minute, email Debi: debi@shearwaterjourneys.com for assistance. 

SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER 2013

FRI. SEP 6 MTY: Clay Kempf, Rick Fournier, Jennie Duberstein, John Sorensen, Debi Shearwater

SAT. SEP 7 ALBACORE: Steve Tucker, Wes Fritz, Debi Shearwater

SUN. SEP 8 HMB: Steve Tucker, Steve Hampton, Tim Miller, Debi Shearwater

MON. SEP 9 HMB: Wes Fritz, Steve Tucker, Debi Shearwater

TUE. SEP 10 MTY: Tim Miller, Nick Levendosky, Wes Fritz, Debi Shearwater. Special Santa Cruz County trip = Guaranteed FUN! (departs from Monterey)

WED. SEP 11 MTY: Clay Kempf, Mary Gustafson, Debi Shearwater

THU. SEP 12 MTY: Jim Holmes, Nick Levendosky, Dave Pereksta, Mary Gustafson, Debi Shearwater- LIMITED SPACES AVAILABLE

FRI. SEP 13 MTY: Dave Pereksta, Mary Gustafson, Sophie Webb, Debi Shearwater's birthday!

SAT. SEP 14 MTY: Clay Kempf, Steve Rottenborn, Dave Pereksta, Mary Gustafson, Debi Shearwater

SUN. SEP 15, MTY: Dena Spatz, Mary Gustafson, Abe Borker, Tim Miller, Debi Shearwater

MON. SEP 16 HMB: Jim Holmes, Wes Fritz, Mary Gustafson, Debi Shearwater

FRI. SEP 20 BODEGA: Peter Pyle, Adam Searcy, Lisa Hug, Steve Howell, Steve Tucker, Debi Shearwater

SUN. SEP 22 HMB: Adam Searcy, Steve Tucker, Steve Hampton, Debi Shearwater

FRI. SEP 27 MTY: Rick Fournier, Tom Johnson, Dave Pereksta, Debi Shearwater- LIMITED SPACES AVAILABLE

SAT. SEP 28 HMB: Steve Rottenborn, Scott Terrill, Linda Terrill, Tom Johnson, Debi Shearwater

SUN. SEP 29 HMB: Tom Johnson, John Garrett, Tim Miller, Steve Hampton, Debi Shearwater

SAT. OCT 5 MTY: Clay Kempf, Scott Terrill, Linda Terrill, Adam Searcy, Tom Johnson, Debi Shearwater

SUN. OCT 6 HMB: Adam Searcy, Steve Tucker, Tom Johnson, Debi Shearwater- SOLD OUT

SUN. OCT 13 MTY: Steve Rottenborn, Clay Kempf, Scott Terrill, Linda Terrill, Rick Fournier, Debi Shearwater

FRI. OCT 18 BODEGA: Steve Tucker, Lisa Hug, Jennifer Green, Debi Shearwater

SUN. OCT 20 FI: Peter Pyle, Jim Holmes, Annie Schmidt, Debi Shearwater

FRI. OCT 25 MTY: Clay Kempf, Nick Levendosky, Jennifer Green, Marissa Ortega-Welch, Holly Poole-Kavana, Debi Shearwater

SUN. OCT 27 HMB: Scott Terrill, Linda Terrill, John Garrett, Abe Borker, Debi Shearwater

SAT. NOV 16 HMB: Todd McGrath, Tim Miller, Abe Borker, John Garrett, Debi Shearwater

WE CAN TAKE YOU OUT THERE! 

SHEARWATERS FOREVER,

DEBI SHEARWATER

Image at top by Steve Tucker, copyright. 

Please do not use without permission. 

Shearwater Logo by Keith Hansen, copyright. 

IMAGES OF THE DAY BY STEVE N.G. HOWELL: AUGUST 30, 2013

HOWDY, SEABIRDERS, 

Please enjoy a few of STEVE N.G. HOWELL'S images, below, from the Shearwater Journeys' August 30, 2013 Bodega Bay pelagic trip. 

All images, copyright, Steve Howell. Please do not use without permission.

 One of more than 200 ASHY STORM-PETRELS, in the fog, above.

BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS, above. 

 

LONG-TAILED JAEGERS, above, putting on a show while the sun was out, above. 

 BLACK STORM-PETREL, above, breeds south of California.

FORK-TAILED STORM-PETREL, above, breeds north of California. 

 BULLER'S SHEARWATER, above. 

 LONG-TAILED JAEGER, above.

 SABINE'S GULLS, above and below.

 SABINE'S GULLS & LONG-TAILED JAEGERS, below.

 WILSON'S STORM-PETREL, below.

BLUE WHALE, the largest animal that has ever lived on Earth, below. 

Happy Trails,

Debi Shearwater

TRIP REPORT: AUGUST 30, 2013 BODEGA BAY SEABIRD SPANISH TAPAS

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