BREAKING NEWS: HAWAIIAN PETREL on SHEARWATER JOURNEYS'S HALF MOON BAY TRIP

The highlight of Shearwater Journeys's August 2, 2014 pelagic trip departing from Half Moon Bay was a HAWAIIAN PETREL (Pterodroma sandwichensis) which was spotted by leader Scott Terrill as it flew up the wake to an awesome-sauce slick more than a mile long made by Debi Shearwater. This gorgeous petrel flew up the side of the boat and off the bow, giving every person on board excellent views! It was a life bird for many on board, including some who were doing their first-ever pelagic trip!

Amazingly, I spotted a HAWAIIAN PETREL on this same day on a Monterey Bay pelagic trip! See that trip report, here, and more images by David Pavlik, here. David, pictured below, was on both trips, 2013 and 2014! What a lucky guy!

Does David look happy, or what? Actually, on this year's trip he ticked another Life Bird, CRAVERI'S MURRELET! 

Many additional seabirds sparked a lot of excitement, including SCRIPPS'S and CRAVERI'S MURRELETS; BLACK and ASHY STORM-PETRELS and SABINE'S GULLS. Having missed the MARBLED MURRELETS in the morning, leader Linda Terrill (eagle-eye!) spotted two on the return to the harbor. It was a fabulous day! And, my new chumming technique really paid off in spades, er, I mean petrels! Although I am loathe to make seabird predictions, I did mention to a few of the leaders recently that the stationary offshore high pressure system was ideal for Hawaiian Petrel, a seabird dependent on mega-scale wind patterns. 

HAWAIIAN PETREL images in this post by Scott Terrill. The Hawaiian Petrel is listed as ENDANGERED by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Although this species is rare in California, we now know from radio tracking that it is part of our "normal" offshore avifauna. 

THE NEW FACES OF SEABIRDING, above.

Fifteen of the sixteen birders under the age of 35 celebrating the Hawaiian Petrel! 

We thank all of the folks from near and far who joined us on this day, including at least one person who hitchhiked to meet up with this trip!

The leaders on this trip were:

SCOTT TERRILL, LINDA TERRILL, ABE BORKER & DEBI SHEARWATER

THE COMPLETE SPECIES LIST FOR 2 AUGUST 2014 FOLLOWS:

All birds were in SAN MATEO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA:

RED-THROATED LOON- 2

PACIFIC LOON- 1

BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS- 53

NORTHERN FULMAR- 9

**HAWAIIAN PETREL- 1

PINK-FOOTED SHEARWATER- 310

SOOTY SHEARWATER- 1935

BLACK-VENTED SHEARWATER- 3

ASHY STORM-PETREL- 1

BLACK STORM-PETREL- 1

BROWN PELICA- 335

BRANDT'S CORMORANT- 50

DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT- 60

PELAGIC CORMORANT- 2

WANDERING TATTLER- 2

BLACK TURNSTONE- 12

SURFBIRD- 4

RED-NECKED PHALAROPE- 17

PARASITIC JAEGER- 2

CALIFORNIA GULL- 12

WESTERN GULL- 100

GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULL- 1

SABINE'S GULL- 2

ELEGANT TERN- 290

COMMON MURRE- 280

PIGEON GUILLEMOT- 12

SCRIPPS'S MURRELT- 2

CRAVERI'S MURRELET- 6

MARBLED MURRELET- 2

CASSIN'S AUKLET- 5

RHINOCEROS AUKLET- 4

CALIFORNIA SEA LION- 30

HARBOR SEAL- 2

HUMPBACK WHALE- 6

HARBOR PORPOISE- 12

OCEAN SUNFISH- 10

BY-THE-WIND-SAILOR- ++

EGG YOLK JELLY- 2

MOON JELLY- 4

UPCOMING HALF MOON BAY TRIPS & LEADERS:

AUG. 16: SCOTT TERRILL, LINDA TERRILL, TODD MCGRATH, JIM HOLMES, DEBI SHEARWATER (one space available, email Debi now)

AUG. 17: STEVE ROTTENBORN, STEVE TUCKER, JIM DANZENBAKER, DEBI SHEARWATER- SOLD OUT, WAIT LIST AVAILABLE

AUG. 23: SCOTT TERRILL, LINDA TERRILL, STEVE TUCKER, WILL BROOKS, DEBI SHEARWATER

SEP. 7: STEVE TUCKER, STEVE HAMPTON, WILL BROOKS, DEBI SHEARWATER

SEP. 8: DEBI SHEARWATER & TBA

SEP. 15: STEVE HAMPTON, NICK LEVENDOSKY, DEBI SHEARWATER

SEP. 21: STEVE ROTTENBORN, STEVE HAMPTON, MARISSA ORTEGA-WELSH,  WILL BROOKS, DEBI SHEARWATER

SEP. 24: JON DUNN, JIM HOLMES, PETER PYLE, STEVE HAMPTON, JIM DANZENBAKER, JENNIFER GREEN, DEBI SHEARWATER

OCT. 5: STEVE TUCKER, STEVE HAMPTON, COURTENAY RAY, DENA SPATZ, DEBI SHEARWATER

OCT. 12: SCOTT TERRILL, LINDA TERRILL, STEVE HAMPTON, STEVE TUCKER, DEBI SHEARWATER

UPCOMING BODEGA BAY TRIPS:

SEP. 1: STEVE HOWELL, LISA HUG, DEBI SHEARWATER

SEP. 19: STEVE HOWELL, PETER PYLE, STEVE TUCKER, LISA HUG, JENNIFER GREEN, DEBI SHEARWATER

HOPE TO SEE YOU OUT THERE!

SHEARWATERS FOREVER,

DEBI SHEARWATER

debi@shearwaterjourneys.com