ABOUT: The ALBACORE OFFSHORE MONTEREY TRIP

A HOLISTIC APPROACH to SEABIRDING

ALBACORE GROUNDS: OFFSHORE MONTEREY

with 

SHEARWATER JOURNEYS

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2015

After the record shattering El Nino of 1982-83, Shearwater Journeys began offering offshore pelagic trips departing from Monterey to the albacore fishing grounds because fisherman had reported incredible numbers of many of specialty seabirds and marine mammals that were often associated with albacore. 

From the get-go, these trips had a holistic approach. "Holistic" has been defined as: "characterized by the comprehension of the parts of something as intimately interconnected and explicable only by reference to the whole."More than any other pelagic trip, this trip focused on the "whole picture" — the whole ecosystem — from the tiny krill to the Pacific saury and the massive blue whales that fed on the krill, to the albacore that fed on the saury, to the surface-feeding Buller's shearwaters, to the plunge-diving Arctic terns that fed from above, to the swarms of jaegers above them — when all these parts come together in one vast ocean scene, it is simply spectacular! This is a trip not to be missed, especially this year with another, massive El Nino in progress. 

Above, Sea Surface Temperature Anomalies 1982 El Nino

Albacore (Thunnus alalunga), is al large, migratory tuna that visits the central coast of California some years, mostly during fall. This fish is built for speed with long pectoral fins. Albacore populations have shifted northward with changing oceanographic conditions. The bulk of the catch now comes from Oregon and Washington.

Above, our Captain, Tinker, and I with an ALBACORE that I caught on one of our many trips. 

Fishermen have been harvesting this fish for over 100 years. It is most often caught by trolling or pole-and-line. Sometimes, we use live bait if available, usually live anchovies. Watching the albacore chase and catch the bait is amazing! Whether trolling or using a fishing pole, once a fish is hooked, the fisherman yells, "FISH ON!" The boat will stop and the captain will assist the fisherman in bringing the fish on board where it will be stored under the seat. This is called, "having one in the box."

PACIFIC SAURY, above, is a pelagic schooling fish found in the North Pacific. Often, whole schools burst out of the ocean, indicating that an albacore is chasing them from below! Sometimes, the albacore itself will launch itself out of the water! In fishermen's terms, this is called sighting a "JUMPER."

A columnar whale blow shooting some 30 feet high is a sure sign of a BLUE WHALE! 

The largest animal that has ever lived on Earth, BLUE WHALES are observed on about 90% of our albacore trips. The tiny dorsal fin, steely-blue and freckled skin are the field marks of the very sought after blue whale. 

Flocks of SABINE'S GULLS sitting on the water are common on albacore trips. 

Pomarine, and sometimes, parasitic jaeger chase Sabine's gulls until they drop their food.

Sometimes, flocks of ARCTIC TERNS sit on the sea, too. 

Tuna fishermen call the Arctic tern, "tuna birds," indicating that albacore may be nearby.

More often, Arctic terns in are the sky, being pursued by LONG-TAILED JAEGERS.

The jaeger show can be incredible, with long-taileds topping 100 individuals. As many as 30 can be around the vessel at one time. 

We have a near 100% record of finding SOUTH POLAR SKUA on this trip!

The murrelets, tiny alcids of the sea, are the most prized birds on this trip. 

Generally, flat-calm seas are necessary to be able to spot this alcid, the size of one's hand at a distance. 

SCRIPPS'S MURRELETS, above and below. 

GUADALUPE MURRELET, below, is the rarest of the three species none of which have been found along the central coast of California recently — until the warm water showed up in 2014. So, 2015 looks very promising.

There's always a chance for a rarity on a 12 hour trip. 

Twice on albacore trips, we have found RED-TAILED TROPICBIRDS. 

Almost all records for this species have been more than 100, and closer to 200 miles offshore. 

The rarely observed BAIRD'S BEAKED WHALE is often seen on our albacore trips. 

Note the bulbous head and protruding "beaks" on these large toothed whales, below. 

Listen to their sound, here. 

Typically, we do go much further offshore on an albacore trip than the standard Monterey trip. But, there are times when offshore reports from the fishermen might indicate that going offshore is like heading into a giant dead zone. Once such year this happened, and I elected to go north to the many canyons located off Davenport. 

That was a historic day: OCTOBER 14, 2006. 

At the crack of dawn, leader David Vander Plyum spotted a STREAKED SHEARWATER! 

This mega-rare shearwater is usually found in nearshore waters off Japan! 

A GREAT SHEARWATER, above, was soon spotted as well! This shearwater occurs in the Atlantic Ocean!

By day's end, we had once again SET A WORLD RECORD for the HIGH COUNT OF SHEARWATERS SEEN IN ONE DAY!

*EIGHT SPECIES OF SHEARWATERS*

Shearwater Journeys also set a world record of eight species of shearwaters on October 1, 1994. 

And, it was a different set of eight shearwaters on each trip!

In 2009, record numbers of COOK'S PETRELS showed up near a canyon south of Monterey. Incredibly, we found them on many trips that stayed out beyond the regular hours. 

HAWAIIAN PETREL, below, is still a good contender for any offshore trip, although nearly all of the Hawaiian petrels I've seen have been within 10 miles of shore, sometimes much closer. 

During an El Nino, it is possible for just about anything to show up.

WEDGE-TAILED SHEARWATER, above, has been seen from shore in Southern California this year. WEDGE-RUMPED STORM-PETREL (2 mist netted at the Farallon Islands this year), BULWER'S PETREL (found on a late July Shearwater Journeys' trip after El Nino), and maybe even WAVED ALBATROSS (2 sight records by good observers, neither confirmed)  could show up this year — who knows?

A surprise BROWN BOOBY fly by our September 13, 2014 albacore trip. 

The massive body of a BLUE WHALE, above, showing the splash guards and blowholes. 

Rarely seen, blue whale tail flukes.

Our typical Monterey seabird trips depart at 7 a.m. and return at 3 p.m. 

The albacore trip departs at 5:30 a.m. and returns at 5:30 p.m. 

If you could only do one Monterey seabird trip, do this one!

THERE IS ONLY ONE ALBACORE TRIP:

SEPTEMBER 12, 2015

LEADERS: SCOTT TERRILL, LINDA TERRILL, MARY GUSTAFSON, NICK LEVENDOSKY, RICK FOURNIER, DEBI SHEARWATER

DON'T MISS OUT!

DEBI SHEARWATER

debi@shearwaterjourneys.com

Special thanks to the photographers: Dave Pereksta, Todd McGrath, Beth Hamel, Bryan Hix, Scott Terrill, and Dave Pavlik. Please do not use images 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

RETURN FROM SVALBARD: THE ARCTIC PEARL

Greetings Birders & Adventurers,

A group of 12 keen adventurers have recently returned from Shearwater Journeys' successful charter Svalbard charter voyage, 28 June to 8 July. This is a brief report of our adventures.

As with most voyages to this region, we departed from Longyearbyen. Our blue vessel is parked, above, at the dock. She is dwarfed by the larger cruise ship! Even the most remote places on Earth are now being impacted by cruise ships. The locals told me that in one day, 4,000 passengers disembarked from one such ship in — in a town that only numbers 2,400 full time residents! Longyearbyen is located at Adventfjorden, a side arm of Isfjorden.

An image from the top deck of our ship, showing passengers loading the Zodiac. Only five steps and we're all in the Zodiac! And, with only 12 guests on board, we all fit in one Zodiac. This saves us precious time — more time on shore! Images above and below, Feodor Pitcairn, copyright.

Our little ship navigates through ice, above, or open seas below. She is so small that she can fit in places where larger ships (even if "only" 100 passengers), cannot dare venture. In addition, our captain records his own soundings for use at the time of the voyage, and on later voyages. Much of this region is uncharted. Image below, Feodor Pitcairn, copyright.

Our expedition leader, below, carries a rifle. This is required by the government of Svalbard.

Guests on shore, below. Images, above and below, Feodor Pitcairn, copyright.

Among our group of enthusiastic guests were professional photographers (National Geographic & Google), a geologist, a botanist, ranchers from California who raise grass fed beef, a biologist and retired folks. 

The supreme icon of the High Arctic, the polar bear, was naturally one of our main target species. It had been a tough season prior to our arrival in the Svalbard region. Ice was everywhere, making the polar bears quite dispersed. And, not easy to find. Some trips recorded only 1 or 2 sightings. One trip saw none. So, we felt fortunate to find 14 polar bears, the highest count on any voyage up to that point. But, this pales in comparison to the 48 bears we saw on last year's voyage. Ice was quite different last year, though. Only remnants of pack ice were around, concentrating the bears. Nevertheless, both voyages enjoyed classic polar bear studies.

We observed a total of 14 polar bears, some close, some distant, some very close! 

We watched this mother and her cub of the year (COY) for more than an hour before they both swam off to some unknown destination.

 

We came upon the bear, below, just as it was finishing up consuming a ringed seal. Ivory gulls were in attendance along with the ubiquitous glaucous gulls. This image begs the question, "Does a bear shit in the woods?" I guess the answer would have to be, "Not always."

Walrus, another High Arctic icon were also high on our list of most wanted marine mammals. 

 About midnight, our first night out, the captain all but put the ship's bow on the beach in order to give folks a great view of walrus! Seriously, our expedition leader said that if he had jumped off the bow, it would have been a dry landing.

One of the advantages of being on such a small ship was that the crew was always actively looking for wildlife, as well. This sometimes resulted in a 3 a.m. wake up call! Such things do not happen on 100 passenger ships. Oh, the joys!

 

In the end, we saw walrus many places, including one landing with nearly 400 on shores, and piled up in mud wallows inland — a bit of a surprise. 

Reindeer, the most northerly of all deer, are circumpolar on the tundra. The Svalbard reindeer is a smaller subspecies of the Siberian and Canadian reindeer. Both sexes wear antlers, the only deer to do so. We had wonderful encounters with these slow-moving grazers, including some small calves.

 

 Other marine mammals included views of one blue whale — great to see this species returning to this region, and two beluga whales hugging the edges of a glacier!

Seals included the bearded seal, above, ringed seals, harp seals and harbor seals, below. This is the most northerly population of harbor seals. 

 

Birding included a visit to the famous basalt cliff colonies of Alkefjell. 

Tens of thousands of seabirds, nest on these cliffs. Brunnich's guillemot (Thick-billed murre), black guillemot, Atlantic puffin and little auk were recorded during our voyage.

 While nearly all visitors view these spectacular cliffs from a Zodiac, our captain was able to bring the ship within a few feet of the rock wall, allowing us to capture wonderful images from eye level while standing on the steadier deck of the bow of the ship.

 Among the gulls, black-legged kittiwake, below, were well represented.

 Glaucous gulls on ice, below. Our keen expedition leader also spotted great black-backed gull, herring gull and lesser black-backed gull.

You'll have to look very closely to pick out the ivory gull feeding at the seal kill in the image, below. In all, we saw 19 ivory gulls.

Arctic skua (parasitic jaeger) was by far the most commonly sighted skua. However, we did see long-tailed skuas, pomarine skuas and a pair of nesting great skuas.

 Arctic tern, below, was observed every day of our voyage, as well as at Longyearbyen. Shorebirds included purple sandpiper, sanderling, dunlin, red phalarope, ringed plover, all at nests. The only songbird we saw was the snow bunting. 

Waterfowl was represented by red-throated diver (on nests), common diver (unusual, possibly breeding), many common eider nests, long-tailed duck, king eiders (with a flock of 14 at Longyearbyen), below. Geese included barnacle, brent and pink-footed, all on nests.

 

Svalbard hosts a surprising variety of plants which we delighted in finding. Moss campion, below, has flowers that face south, therefore it is often called "tundra compass." We saw other campions, buttercups, the endemic Svalbard poppy, scurvygrass, loads of purple saxifrage, cinquefoil and the gorgeous boreal Jacob's ladder. 

The landscapes were varied, sometimes foggy, icy, rainy.

Our Zodiac travels along the pack ice edge, Image by Feodor Pitcairn, copyright.

 

And, finally, our expedition leader took us out to 'play in the ice' one day. I've seen that twinkle in his eye before! He beached the nose of the Zodiac on a piece of two foot thick pack ice surrounded by moving bergs all around. And, we all jumped off on to the ice for some fun — uh, huh, playing with the ice!

Yes, we had our life jackets on.

 

Svalbard is a beautiful wilderness.

 

 We were the first voyage of the season to circumnavigate Spitsbergen, primarily because the ice changed enough to let us do so.
Thank you for sharing this time.

 Yours in expedition adventure,

Debi Shearwater

All images: Debi Shearwater, unless indicated otherwise. Copyright.