SAN BENITO COUNTY BIRDING

HOWDY, BIRDERS

The recent "Pineapple Express" has brought some much need rain to San Benito County, California. Not nearly enough to end the ongoing 500 year drought, but better than no rain at all! Along with the rains, birds have been on the move in San Benito County. 

This morning, February 8, 2014, Steve Rottenborn discovered the first record of LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL at San Felipe Lake at the northern border of the county. Here is a full report:

Steve Rottenborn found the first San Benito County record of a LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL this morning, February 8, 2014, at San Felipe Lake. He emailed me about the find and I ran out there immediately. Steve also emailed the MBB list serve, but it did not initially go up. 

I spent about an hour birding with Steve from the Highway 152 call box pullout. Additional outstanding highlights included: 44 GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GEESE (not easy to find in San Benito County this winter), 60 CACKLING GEESE, 1 male EURASIAN WIGEON, 1 male EURASIAN GREEN-WINGED TEAL, 1 WESTERN GULL, 1 GLAUCOUS GULL, and some probable high counts of: 150 HERRING GULLS, 75 THAYER'S GULLS and 250 GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULLS. CAUTION: one very white gull with an all black bill is present, identity unknown, easily mistaken for ?

ABOUT SAN FELIPE LAKE: The only public viewing location for this lake, locally known as "Soap Lake" is from the extremely dangerous Highway 152. Many fatalities have occurred along this particular stretch of highway. I strongly recommend attempting to pull over to the pull outs in the direction of traffic and not trying to cross traffic. For the most part, Highway 152 is the border for Santa Clara and San Benito Counties, but not everywhere! Beware of county lines, especially if you are submitting an eBird checklist. If you submit an eBird checklist, and I hope you do so, please give your best estimate of birds, or count one-by-one, if smaller numbers and note this on the checklist. 

A large flock of gulls, estimated greater than 1000, and as many as 2000,  has been frequenting this lake. There is a dump on the other side (Santa Clara County) of Highway 152. I thought that the dump was closed on weekends, and consequently, no or few, gulls would be there on weekends. However, it seems that at least some gulls are using the dump on weekend, but not nearly as many. 

Leaving the lake, I turned on Lover's Lane (first 150 yards of this road are in Santa Clara County) where I found one FERRUGINOUS HAWK sitting in the top of a tall evergreen tree at a residence! 

Been a long time since I've ticked a new San Benito County bird. Many thanks to Steve Rottenborn! 

Below is the complete eBird checklist which I entered, below, subject to changes by Steve.

San Felipe Lake / Soap Lake, San Benito, US-CA
Feb 8, 2014 10:15 AM - 11:15 AM
Protocol: Stationary
Comments:     Steve Rottenborn + Debi Shearwater checklist compilers. Steve arrived at the Highway 152 call box pullout about 9 am and notified me by email that he had found a LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL, FIRST RECORD FOR SAN BENITO COUNTY. There is a dump on the other side of the freeway which I believe is closed on weekends. During the week, as many as 2000 gulls have been present at the lake. Far fewer gulls were present today, but still a good selection. This location is best visited in the morning hours, rather than pm hours when one is looking straight into the sun. Conditions today: Overcast, about 58F. Recent rains from a "Pineapple Express" system that is forecast to bring more rain to the drought-stricken region Steve found a number of additional rare birds, in the checklist. He tried to photograph the Lesser Black-backed gull through his scope. A good quality spotting scope is necessary. CAUTION: EXTREME CARE NEEDS TO BE TAKEN IN PULLING OVER TO THIS CALLBOX AREA AS TRAFFIC IS HEAVY ON THIS VERY DANGEROUS ROAD WHERE MANY DEATHS HAVE OCCURRED.
37 species (+2 other taxa)

Greater White-fronted Goose  44
Cackling Goose  60     Probably Aleutian; This could represent a record high count for SBT County of this species. Careful estimate.
Canada Goose  15
Gadwall  60
Eurasian Wigeon  1
American Wigeon  60
Mallard  250
Cinnamon Teal  10
Northern Shoveler  15
Northern Pintail  90
Green-winged Teal (Eurasian)  1     Bold, horizontal, white stripe.
Green-winged Teal (American)  150     This could represent a record high count for SBT County of this species. Careful estimate.
Bufflehead  40
Ruddy Duck  80
Pied-billed Grebe  2
Eared Grebe  5
Great Blue Heron  1
Snowy Egret  10     This could represent a record high count for SBT County of this species. Careful estimate.
Turkey Vulture  3
Golden Eagle  1
Red-shouldered Hawk  1
Red-tailed Hawk  3
American Coot  120
Long-billed Curlew  3
Western Gull  1     Found by Steve Rottenborn. Few records for San Benito County. Steve can describe it.
California Gull  50
Herring Gull  150
Thayer's Gull  75     This could represent a record high count for SBT County of this species. Careful estimate.
Lesser Black-backed Gull  1     A first San Benito County record, found by Steve Rottenborn. 2nd cycle. He might have some images.
Glaucous-winged Gull  250     This could represent a record high count for SBT County of this species. Careful estimate.
Glaucous Gull  1     At least one glaucous gull has been present for several weeks. Second winter with the pale-based, dark-tipped bill.
gull sp.  1     One very white gull with an all dark bill. Not a Glaucous gull. This gull has been present for several weeks. Steve was not sure about the identity of this individual.
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)  2
Black Phoebe  1
Say's Phoebe  1
American Crow  6
American Pipit  1
Song Sparrow  3
Red-winged Blackbird  60

View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S16843660

San Benito County Birding,

Debi Shearwater

TRIP REPORT & IMAGES OF THE DAY BY STEVE ROTTENBORN: OCTOBER 13, 2013 MONTEREY BAY

Howdy, Birders,

This is a trip report for Shearwater Journeys' October 13, 2013 pelagic trip departing from Monterey Bay. The day began with seabirds — lots of seabirds, right from the get-go. Many shearwaters were close to shore only one mile off Point Pinos! Flocks of migrating PACIFIC LOONS coursed overhead, while SOOTY, PINK-FOOTED and BULLER'S SHEARWATERS put on quite a show at the stern. Highlights included; FLESH-FOOTED SHEARWATER which showed well, some of the first SHORT-TAILED SHEARWATERS of the fall season, continuing SOUTH POLAR SKUAS, arriving winter gulls: BONAPARTE'S, MEW, HERRING, GLAUCOUS-WINGED and a good show of CASSIN'S and RHINOCEROS AUKLETS. HUMPBACK WHALES continue in the bay, but a STELLER'S SEA LION was a surprise. All images in this report provided by leader extraordinaire, Steve Rottenborn, below. Please do not use without permission. 

BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS, below, flying up the wake.

 BULLER'S SHEARWATER, below, continued, now closer to shore.

 It might even be possible to see BULLER'S SHEARWATER from Point Pinos.

 October is the very best month of the year to hope to see FLESH-FOOTED SHEARWATER, below, although there are records for all months of the year.

 NORTHERN FULMAR, below are still arriving in large numbers due to the recent northerly weather systems, whereas Black-vented Shearwaters seem to have retreated to the south. 

 PINK-FOOTED SHEARWATER, below.

 PINK-FOOTED SHEARWATER, below. Most will depart for Isla Mocha in the Juan Fernandez Islands to breed soon. 

 SOOTY SHEARWATER, below, a mostly unnoticed, declining species throughout the Pacific. 

 THAYER'S GULL, below.

BONAPARTE'S GULL, below. 

STEVE ROTTENBORN, one of the leaders on this trip.

Many thanks to the birders who traveled from near and far to join our trip, including from France, Canada and Germany! The leaders on this day were: Clay Kempf, Steve Rottenborn, Scott Terrill, Linda Terrill, Rick Fournier, John Garrett and Debi Shearwater. We had yet, another beautiful day at sea, with glassy-smooth waters for most of the day. 

The complete species list for MONTEREY/SANTA CRUZ COUNTIES follows. 

OCTOBER 13, 2013 SHEARWATER JOURNEYS MONTEREY BAY

PACIFIC LOON- 43/5

COMMON LOON- 9/0

EARED GREBE- 2/1

WESTERN GREBE- 3/0

BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS- 15/7

NORTHERN FULMAR- 42/10

PINK-FOOTED SHEARWATER- 153/400

FLESH-FOOTED SHEARWATER- 1/0

BULLER'S SHEARWATER- 31/50

SOOTY SHEARWATER- 410/800, a very low count, declining species

SHORT-TAILED SHEARWATER- 4/2, a very low count, declining species

BROWN PELICAN- 143/2

BRANDT'S CORMORANT- 320/2

DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT- 1/0

PELAGIC CORMORANT- 11/0

GREAT EGRET- 4, near the harbor

GREAT BLUE HERON- 1, near the harbor

BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT HERON- 1, near the harbor

SURF SCOTER- 62/0

BLACK TURNSTONE- 4, on Coast Guard jetty

SURFBIRD- 4, on Coast Guard jetty

RED-NECKED PHALAROPE- 60/0

RED PHALAROPE- 15/25

SOUTH POLAR SKUA- 2/2

POMARINE JAEGER- 4/1

PARASITIC JAEGER- 3/0

POMARINE/PARASITIC- 3/0

BONAPARTE'S GULL- 2/1

HEERMANN'S GULL- 70/3

MEW GULL- 1/1

CALIFORNIA GULL- 53/?

HERRING GULL- 5/3

WESTERN GULL- 400/100

GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULL- 0/3

ELEGANT TERN- 55/12

COMMON MURRE- 235/400

PIGEON GUILLEMOT- 1/0

CASSIN'S AUKLET- 45/25

RHINOCEROS AUKLET- 165/250

AMERICAN CROW- 3, in the harbor

BELTED KINGFISHER- 2, in the harbor

SEA OTTER- 8

CALIFORNIA SEA LION- 350

STELLER'S SEA LION- 2, offshore

NORTHERN FUR SEAL- 1

HARBOR SEAL- +

HUMPBACK WHALE- 8-10

DALL'S PORPOISE- 12

OCEAN SUNFISH- 1

SPACES ARE STILL AVAILABLE THIS SEASON:

OCTOBER 25 MONTEREY BAY

OCTOBER 27 HALF MOON BAY

NOVEMBER 16 HALF MOON BAY

SEE YOU OUT THERE!

SHEARWATERS FOREVER,

DEBI SHEARWATER

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