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

TRIP REPORT: MONTEREY BAY BIRDING FESTIVAL PELAGIC TRIPS

MONTEREY BAY BIRDING FESTIVAL PELAGIC TRIPS

SEPTEMBER 14, 15, 16 2012

Howdy, Seabirders,

This is a trip report for Shearwater Journeys' September 14, 15, 16, 2012. These trips were offered in conjunction with the Monterey Bay Birding Festival which is headquartered in Watsonville, CA. Highlights were many, including Greg Miller of "The Big Year" fame, as a guest leader on Sunday's trip! Bird highlights included: LAYSAN and BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSSES very close to the boat, both flying and sitting on the water; SOOTY, PINK-FOOTED, FLESH-FOOTED and BULLER'S SHEARWATERS; ASHY STORM-PETREL; POMARINE, PARASITIC and LONG-TAILED JAEGERS; SOUTH POLAR SKUA, SURFBIRD, SABINE'S GULL; SCRIPP'S MURRELET; CASSIN'S and RHINOCEROS AUKLETS; and TUFTED PUFFINS. Marine mammal highlights included: SEA OTTER, CALIFORNIA SEA LION, NORTHERN FUR SEAL, RISSO'S DOLPHIN, DALL'S PORPOISE. In particular, the September 16th trip had fabulous views of mixed species flocks of shearwaters and many jaegers, along with South Polar Skuas overhead. The Laysan Albatross flew right into the stern. It was a beautiful day!

We thank the many birders who joined us from near and far and the Monterey Bay Birding Festival organizers, especially Clay Kempf and Dave Brockman. Birders joined us from Canada, England, Finland, Sweden, Spain, Belgium and eighteen different states.

The leaders were as follows:
September 14: JENNIFER GREEN, CHRISTIAN SCHWARZ, DEBI SHEARWATER
September 15: TODD MCGRATH, DAVE PEREKSTA, ABE BORKER, TIM MILLER, DEBI SHEARWATER
September 16: TODD MCGRATH, DAVE PEREKSTA, SCOTT TERRILL, LINDA TERRILL, DEBI SHEARWATER and special guest leader, GREG MILLER

The complete species list follows and it shows how doing more than one trip can really add to one's life list. Many birders reported 10-16 life birds!

SEP 14/15/16 2012

PACIFIC LOON- 4/0/0
COMMON LOON- 1/0/0
EARED GREBE- 1/0/0
LAYSAN ALBATROSS- 0/0/1
BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS- 18/17/23
PINK-FOOTED SHEARWATER- 116/64/96
FLESH-FOOTED SHEARWATER- 0/0/1, beautiful views of the bird sitting on the water
BULLER'S SHEARWATER- 5/3/35
SOOTY SHEARWATER- 243/180/260
ASHY STORM-PETREL- 3/1/0
BROWN PELICAN- +/+/+
BRANDT'S CORMORANT- +/+/+
PELAGIC CORMORANT- 4/4/1
SURF SCOTER- 0/0/4
BLACK TURNSTONE- 7/4/6
SURFBIRD- 6/2/4
SOUTH POLAR SKUA- 0/O/4
POMARINE JAEGER- 15/11/14
PARASITIC JAEGER- 2/8/3
LONG-TAILED JAEGER- 0/1/5
HEERMANN'S GULL- +/+/+
WESTERN GULL- +/+/+
SABINE'S GULL- 3/0/0
ELEGANT TERN- 80/47/16
COMMON TERN- 3/7/1
COMMON MURRE- 262/112/104/
SCRIPP'S MURRELET- 0/0/1
CASSIN'S AUKLET- 0/8/0
RHINOCEROS AUKLET- 251/80/145
TUFTED PUFFIN- 1/1/0
SEA OTTER- +/+/+
CALIFORNIA SEA LION- +/+/+
NORTHERN FUR SEAL- 0/0/2
RISSO'S DOLPHIN- 0/16/0
DALL'S PORPOISE- 0/12/0
OCEAN SUNFISH- +/+/9

BELOW IS AN UPDATE FOR SHEARWATER JOURNEYS' FALL TRIPS:

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 21 BODEGA CANYON & CORDELL BANK with Peter Pyle, Steve Howell, Todd McGrath, Lisa Hug and Debi Shearwater leading.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 22 HALF MOON BAY STORM-PETRELS & FALL SEABIRDS with Todd McGrath, Scott Terrill, Linda Terrill and Debi Shearwater leading. Great for photographers!

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 23 HALF MOON BAY STORM-PETRELS & FALL SEABIRDS with Todd McGrath and Debi Shearwater leading. Great for photographers!

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 7 HALF MOON BAY STORM-PETRELS & FALL SEABIRDS with Debi Shearwater & TBA

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 26 BODEGA CANYON with Lisa Hug & Debi Shearwater

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 28 HALF MOON BAY LATE FALL SEABIRDS & EARLY WINTER SEABIRDS with Todd McGrath & Debi Shearwater

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 20 HALF MOON BAY: This trip may turn into a search for Mottled Petrel, with Todd McGrath & Debi Shearwater.

The following trips are SOLD OUT:
SEP 27 BODEGA CANYON & CORDELL BANK
SEP 27 BODEGA BAY PHOTOGRAPHER'S TRIP
SEP 30 FARALLON ISLANDS: POST BREEDING & GREAT WHITE SHARK
OCT 1 HALF MOON BAY STORM-PETRELS & FALL SEABIRDS

Our next trips departing from MONTEREY with spaces available are:
FRI, SEP 28 with Jennifer Green, Rick Fournier, Christian Schwarz, Ben Thompson
SAT, OCT 6 with Clay Kempf, Jennifer Green, Jim Holmes, John Garrett, Debi Shearwater
SUN, OCT 14 with Clay Kempf, Rick Fournier, John Garrett, Debi Shearwater

SHEARWATERS FOREVER,

Debi Shearwater

debi@shearwaterjourneys.com

MEET GREG MILLER ON A SHEARWATER JOURNEYS PELAGIC TRIP

Hello, Birders,

Meet Greg Miller, a central character in the popular book, The Big Year, by Mark Obmascik, on board Shearwater Journeys' Monterey pelagic trips, September 13 and 16. Based on a true story, the book depicts three guys who chase birds all over North America in an attempt to score "the Big Year." Amazingly, Twentieth Century Fox made a movie by the same name which showed last year. Greg was hired to be the bird advisor for the movie which was directed by David Frankel and starred Jack Black, Owen Wilson and Steve Martin. Angelica Houston played the sea-going, Debi Shearwater. Greg was on the set for three weeks and had a chance to meet many of the actors and crew. Lately, I've seen the movie as an in flight movie when flying from the West Coast to the East Coast and on HBO in a motel room. Greg has an incredible sense of humor and is one of birding's finest. Meet Greg on board and he can tell you much, much more. Or, meet Greg on land—

Meet Greg at the Monterey Bay Birding Festival in Watsonville where he will be the keynote speaker, September 15. This festival has many field trips with excellent leaders, workshops and more. Don't miss out. Shearwater Journeys is proud to be the official provider of pelagic trips for the festival. About 70% of the festival attendees partake of at least one pelagic trip. For more information and registration, see this link:

http://www.montereybaybirding.org/index.html

To learn more about Greg Miller, see:

http://www.gregmillerbirding.com/about/

Of course, Greg would be delighted to autograph your copy of The Big Year. So, be sure to bring it along!

Best in birding,

Debi