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

TRIP REPORT: WESTERN FIELD ORNITHOLOGISTS MEETING

WESTERN FIELD ORNITHOLOGISTS' MEETING PELAGIC TRIPS with

SHEARWATER JOURNEYS

Howdy, Seabirders,

This is a trip report for Shearwater Journeys' pelagic trips on SEPTEMBER 27 (two boats out of Bodega Bay, including one for photographers), SEPTEMBER 30 (from Sausalito to the Farallones Islands) and OCTOBER 1 ( from Half Moon Bay), 2012. These trips were offered in conjunction with the Western Field Ornithologists' Annual Conference held in Petaluma, CA. Highlights were many and varied, including six species of shearwaters: a light morph WEDGE-TAILED, MANX, FLESH-FOOTED, BULLER'S, SOOTY and PINK-FOOTED; LAYSAN and BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSSES; NORTHERN FULMAR; five species of storm-petrels, FORK-TAILED, ASHY, BLACK, WILSON'S and LEACH'S STORM-PETRELS; all three jaegers: NORTHERN GANNET, POMARINE, PARASITIC and LONG-TAILED: SOUTH POLAR SKUA; SABINE'S GULL; ARCTIC TERN, RHINOCEROS and CASSIN'S AUKLETS and MARBLED MURRELETS. Please see the trip compilation list, below. 

On SEPTEMBER 27th, two boats departed from a very foggy Bodega Bay harbor. Dense, cold fog would continue throughout the day, sometimes pushing back far enough to view more seabirds. One of these boats was a dedicated photographers' special trip, while the other boat was our regular seaworthy vessel, the "New Sea Angler." BLACK STORM-PETREL, below, was the first storm-petrel of the day. Shearwater Journeys' September 21 trip to Bodega Canyon recorded near-record numbers of black storm-petrels. However, the fog prevented us from finding those huge rafts of thousands of storm-petrels. Martin Meyers images from this day, are below. Copyright, Martin Meyers. 

 A CHESTNUT-SIDED WARBLER, below, in Peter Pyle's hands, landed on the vessel. 

 A RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH found the only piece of wood on the upper structure of the boat.

 The long-line vessel, CAPTAIN COOK was dropping its' line.

 On September 30th we departed from the Clipper Yacht Harbor for the Farallones Islands on board "Outer Limits." The morning was bright and sunny at the harbor. However, the islands were enshrouded in fog. The NORTHERN GANNET was still coming to Saddle Rock in the afternoons. So, I hatched a plan with the captain to head offshore to the Continental Shelf, first thing rather than after visiting the islands. We were about 8 miles off the North Islands, when leader Peter Pyle spotted an unusual shearwater with a scaly back and long, wedge-shaped tail. He managed to swing his camera up to grab a couple shots of a light morph WEDGE-TAILED SHEARWATER. The vast majority of the folks on board did not see this shearwater, including me. We were in an area with loads of marine life— Pacific White-sided Dolphins and many shearwaters, South Polar Skuas and a few Black-footed Albatrosses. Peter Pyle has seen more birds than anyone else on the Farallon Islands and on this date he added THREE new birds to his list: Northern Gannet, Eurasian Collared Dove and Ruddy Duck! Go Peter!!

 WEDGE-TAILED SHEARWATER, above. MANX SHEARWATER, below. Both images, copyright, Peter Pyle.

 Suddenly, someone spotted a tall dorsal fin of a male ORCA. As the captain was about to position the boat for photographs, two more ORCAS appeared nearer our vessel. Many of us managed to obtain images of the second male and a female. (Orca photographs may come later). Seconds later, Peter Pyle spotted a MANX SHEARWATER, images above and below. Many birders on board did see this rare shearwater. Finally, we had a report of a GREAT WHITE SHARK ATTACK in progress at the islands. So, we high-tailed it to the spot, but when we arrived it was over. Apparently, it wasn't much of a show. However, the NORTHERN GANNET sitting on Saddle Rock was a big hit!

October 1 found us gathered at Pillar Point, Half Moon Bay, although many birders skipped this trip to chase the reported COMMON CUCKOO at Watsonville. After viewing several MARBLED MURRELETS just outside of the harbor, we headed offshore to the Pioneer Canyon where we found clear, blue 59 F water. The entire day was clear and quite warm. It was 100 F many places onshore! We enjoyed a nice day at sea, working our way back to the 100 fathom edge.

Shearwater Journeys thanks all the birders who came from near and far, to make these trips so successful. We hope to see you, again. Many thanks to Western Field Ornithologists for connecting with us, as well.

The leaders for these trips were as follows:
SEP 27, BODEGA BAY: PETER PYLE, SCOTT TERRILL, LINDA TERRILL, JIM DANZENBAKER, LIST HUG, DEBI SHEARWATER
SEP 27, BODEGA BAY PHOTOGRAPHER'S TRIP: VINCE ORSINI
SEP 30, FARALLON ISLANDS: PETER PYLE, RUSS BRADLEY, ANNIE SCHMIDT, DEBI SHEARWATER
OCT 1, HALF MOON BAY: PETER PYLE, SCOTT TERRILL, LINDA TERRILL, DEBI SHEARWATER

The complete species lists for all four trips can be found below. It shows how doing more than one trip can add immensely to one's seabirding experience. The weather could not have been more different between all three dates!

SEP 27/SEP 27PHOTO/SEP30/OCT 1, 2012

COMMON LOON- 0/0/1/2
WESTERN GREBE- 0/0/10/16
CLARK'S GREBE- 0/0/2/0
BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS- 25/70/3/6
LAYSAN ALBATROSS- 0/2/0/0
NORTHERN FULMAR- 2/0/1/2
PINK-FOOTED SHEARWATER- 70/80/50/140
FLESH-FOOTED SHEARWATER- 0/0/0/1
*WEDGE-TAILED SHEARWATER- 0/0/1/0, LIGHT MORPH
BULLER'S SHEARWATER- 9/20/75/9
SOOTY SHEARWATER- 50/50/75/75
*MANX SHEARWATER- 0/0/1/0
WILSON'S STORM-PETREL- 0/2/0/0
FORK-TAILED STORM-PETREL- 11/1/0/1
LEACH'S STORM-PETREL- 0/1/0/0
BLACK STORM-PETREL- 30/0/5/1
*NORTHERN GANNET- 0/0/1/0
BROWN PELICAN- +/+/30/155
BRANDT'S CORMORANT- 1500/+/25/95
DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT- 0/0/8/42
PELAGIC CORMORANT- 8/+/2/2
SURF SCOTER- 0/0/1/1
RUDDY DUCK- 0/0/1/0
BLACK OYSTERCATCHER- 0/0/1/1
BLACK TURNSTONE- 0/0/2/4
SURFBIRD- 0/0/0/3
RED-NECKED PHALAROPE- 8/0/0/4
RED-NECKED/RED PHALAROPE- 0/20/0/0
RED PHALAROPE- 7/0/30/10
SOUTH POLAR SKUA- 2/14/6/10
POMARINE JAEGER- 7/2/10/16
PARASITIC JAEGER- 0/0/0/
LONG-TAILED JAEGER- 5/2/2/1
HEERMANN'S GULL- 30/+/20/55
CALIFORNIA GULL- 80/+/50/150
HERRING GULL- 0/0/1/0
WESTERN GULL- 100/+/200/285
SABINE'S GULL- 7/50/5/0
ELEGANT TERN- 2/+/10/20
ARCTIC TERN- 0/0/0/1
COMMON MURRE- 115/+/125/328
CASSIN'S AUKLET- 70/50/100/600
RHINOCEROS AUKLET- 40/20/30/17
RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH- 1/0/0/0
CHESTNUT-SIDED WARBLER- 1/0/0/0
AMERICAN COOT- 1/0/0/0
SNOWY EGRET- 2/0/0/0
EURASIAN COLLARED DOVE- 0/0/5/0
PEREGRINE FALCON- 0/0/0/2, over the harbor
CALIFORNIA SEA LION- 11/+/+/+
NORTHERN FUR SEAL- 2/0/+/0
GRAY WHALE- 0/0/2/0
HUMPBACK WHALE- 1/0/0/2
ORCA- 0/0/3/0
PACIFIC WHITE-SIDED DOLHIN- 25/0/75/
HARBOR PORPOISE- 1/0/10/0
DALL'S PORPOISE- 8/0/0/5
OCEAN SUNFISH- 1/0/2/0

Spaces are available on the following trips: 
OCT 6, MONTEREY 
OCT 7, HALF MOON BAY
OCT 14, MONTEREY BAY
OCT 26, BODEGA BAY
OCT 28, HALF MOON BAY
NOV 20, HALF MOON BAY

SHEARWATERS FOREVER,

DEBI SHEARWATER

debi@shearwaterjourneys.com

IMAGES OF THE DAY by Steve Howell: September 21, 2012

OCEAN DANCERS

Howdy, Birders,

The Hawaiian Petrel on Shearwater Journeys's pelagic trip to Bodega Canyon and Cordell Bank, September 21, 2012 was not the only highlight. Our skilled captain insisted that I put out a menhaden oil slick at a spot where he had seen thousands of storm-petrels a few days earlier. I did this. The resulting mass of dancing storm-petrels absolutely astounded all of the leaders — veterans of decades of seabird trips. I hope you will enjoy Steve Howell's images, below of the dancing show. It was just incredibly spectacular. This trip may have set a record for the sheer numbers of BLACK STORM-PETRELS, in particular, estimated at some 800-1000. FORK-TAILED STORM-PETRELS and ASHY STORM-PETRELS numbered about 1000 each, while 5 WILSON'S STORM-PETRELS put in a show, as well. All images, copyright, Steve Howell. Please do not use without permission.

BLACK STORM-PETREL, above.

Mountainous waves with dancing storm-petrels.

 It is very easy to pick out the pearly-gray FORK-TAILED STORM-PETRELS.

 FORK-TAILED STORM-PETRELS blend in well with the swells, below.

 Rafts of FORK-TAILED STORM-PETRELS.

 Above it all, a POMARINE JAEGER watches.

Shearwater Journeys's last departure in 2012 from Bodega Bay is Friday, October 26. This is a great time to see fall seabirds and early winter arrivals, including Ancient Murrelets, Northern Fulmar, Short-tailed Shearwater, and possibly, Black-legged Kittiwake. Rarities at this time of year have included Short-tailed Albatross, Parkinsons's and White-chinned Petrels. See you out there!

Storm-petrels forever,

Debi Shearwater

debi@shearwaterjourneys.com

BODEGA BAY'S RECENT SEABIRDS: IMAGES BY TODD MCGRATH

Hello, Birders,

Bodega Bay is one of the most incredible seabirding locales along the Central California Coast. Below, I present awesome images by my good friend and most avid sea birder, Todd McGrath. All of these images are from a recent trip he made to the Cordell Bank & Bodega Canyon. Shearwater Journeys has been offering trips to this unique region since 1980, operating with a very reliable captain and one of the most comfortable vessels for birding. We have an excellent line up of some of the nation's top seabird leaders on all of these trips. See more below. All images, copyright, Todd McGrath, all rights reserved. Please do not use without permission. For more trip details, click here. 

FORK-TAILED STORM-PETREL, above. Thousands are at Bodega Canyon now.

ASHY STORM-PETREL, above. Notice how gray the back appears.

 There is no reliable place, nor time, to search for FORK-TAILED STORM-PETREL, above, in California. 

 The nearest breeding colonies of ASHY STORM-PETRELS, above, is the Farallon Islands, although most trips to the islands do not see them.

 FORK-TAILED STORM-PETREL, above is the only pearly-gray storm-petrel in our region.

BLACK STORM-PETREL, above.

BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS, above.

CASSIN'S AUKLET, above, also breeds on the Farallon Islands. Notice the blue legs!

SHEARWATER JOURNEYS CORDELL BANK & BODEGA CANYON TRIPS:

WED, AUG 22 - Leaders: Jon Dunn, Peter Pyle, Steve Howell, Lisa Hug, Debi Shearwater

FRI, SEP 21 - Leaders: Peter Pyle, Todd McGrath, Lisa Hug, Debi Shearwater

THU, SEP 27 - Leaders: Peter Pyle, Lisa Hug, Jim Danzenbaker, Linda Terrill, Scott Terrill, Debi Shearwater - SOLD OUT

FRI, OCT 26 - Leaders: Lisa Hug, Debi Shearwater (Leaders may be added)

Shearwaters forever,

Debi Shearwater

TRIP REPORT: AUGUST 3, 2012 MONTEREY BAY

 BAM, BAM, BAM!

MONTEREY SEABIRDS!

Howdy, Seabirders,

This is a trip report for Shearwater Journeys' pelagic trip departing from Monterey Bay, August 3, 2012. In rapid fire succession, like lightning and thunder, one seabird after another presented itself — POMARINE JAEGERS chasing ELEGANT TERNS and PIGEON GUILLEMOTS scooting away along Cannery Row; SOOTY SHEARWATERS just off Pacific Grove; BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS, PINK-FOOTED SHEARWATERS and SABINE'S GULLS flying into the stern before we even made it to Point Pinos; RED and RED-NECKED PHALAROPES just outside the kelp beds; COMMON MURRE dads with their chicks; RHINOCEROS AUKLET and the first ASHY STORM-PETRELS— almost all of the species we would encounter for the day were seen prior to 9 am!! It's all about FOOD. In the above image, have a look at the thick, red lines in the lower half of the fish finder. This is food— loads of spawning squid are being encountered nearshore. RISSO'S DOLPHINS, large, grey squid feeding dolphins were up next! A few PACIFIC WHITE-SIDED DOLPHINS with tiny calves were part of this large herd. Sea surface temperatures nearshore were 55 F. 

I subscribe to a service, Terrafin, which gives sea surface charts, showing temperatures along with undersea contours. This is extremely valuable information. Fog can making readings obscure. So, the latest reading I could obtain was for July 31. It showed a giant plume of very warm water approaching Monterey Bay. Our captain, Tinker, informed me that the warm water was only 10 miles offshore. However, once on board, we received a call that the warm water was now only 5 miles offshore! We were on our way! Just how warm was it? Well, we went from 55 F to 59.8 F in a very short distance. This just about constitutes what fishermen call, "a hard edge," meaning that the temperature gradient occurs in a very short distance. Furthermore, all of those fishing boats in the parking lot had me curious. I knew it was a good salmon fishing season, but these guys were out for ALBACORE!! Yes, indeed, before the day's end, we would see "jumpers" albacore tuna, jumping to catch bait fish. And, where you have bait fish, you have even tinier fish that the bait fish eat. If the water is also crystal, clear deep blue (as opposed to the nearshore green water)— then, it's bingo— time for murrelets! Exactly where we saw albacore jumping, we also saw SCRIPPS'S MURRELETS! In the above image of the fish finder, the large, red blobs on the right side of the screen are albacore. BTW, albacore are always caught with a hook and line, one single fish at a time. That's why albacore tuna costs more in the supermarket. It is not caught in large purse seine nets which kills other wildlife, including dolphins.

To be sure, this had to be one of the most exciting early August trips that I've ever done. But, the real kicker was the STORM-PETRELS. As we headed offshore, we left behind nearly all of the albatross and shearwaters. The ocean appeared to be barren. Then, we saw a few ASHY STORM-PETRELS. Soon, a number of "white-rumped" storm-petrels were in view. When I finally got a good look at one, it was a LEACH'S STORM-PETREL. Although Leach's storm-petrels are common offshore during summer, we're talking offshore— meaning, 50-100 miles offshore! We were only 15 to 18 miles offshore. Soon, it became apparent that a great many Leach's storm-petrels were around us! And, as we headed southward toward the Davidson Seamount, although admittedly some 50 miles away, we encountered actual FLOCKS OF LEACH'S STORM-PETRELS! Spotting one small flock, sitting on the water, I was able to slow the boat while everyone on board (which was not many) crowded in the bow. On the water sat half a dozen Leach's along with two BLACK STORM-PETRELS! Great views and comparison. It doesn't get a whole lot better than that. We really don't know just how many Leach's storm-petrels we saw. I reckon well over 50 individuals, but there could well have been hundreds of them. They ranged from bright white rumps to intermediate, to some dark-rumped individuals. Some of the photographers may have distant images. If so, I'll post them in a future blog. In 36 years of fall pelagic trips, this is the highest count of Leach's storm-petrels I've ever encountered on a nearshore pelagic trip. The "tail" of the warm water plume is centered over the southern edge of the Davidson Seamount, a place where I ran trips decades ago when fuel was much cheaper. And, that tail is a whopping 62 F! I'm sure that if we could get there today, we'd see Cook's Petrels and Red-billed Tropicbirds. In any case, this warm water will be on the move over the next few days. There seems to be a "relaxation" period of the seas at this time. So, the warm water might remain stationary over the next several days. For local birders and, especially county birders seeking to add Leach's storm-petrels to their lists, this Friday's trip from Monterey, August 10, might be a great option.

The "take home" lesson is that food is not evenly distributed at sea. It is found in patches. And, those patches will be the place to look for feeding seabirds. We certainly had ample evidence of that on this day!

The SABINE'S GULLS just kept on cruising by while PINK-FOOTED SHEARWATERS and BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS flew into the wake, much to the delight of Paul Dodd and Ruth Woodrow from Australia. Along with others, Paul organizes pelagic trips from the Melbourne area.

Christian Haass from Germany having a good time, photographing seabirds. His brother, Nikolas Haass, was a guest leader with Shearwater Journeys. Lots of international connections on this day.

 Two happy chummers, tossing anchovies.

Many thanks to all of the birders who traveled from near and far, Switzerland, Germany, Australia. The leaders for this trip were; Clay Kempf, Jennifer Green and Debi Shearwater. 

The complete species list follows. All birds were in MONTEREY COUNTY.

AUGUST 3, 2012

BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS- 23

PINK-FOOTED SHEARWATER- 37

SOOTY SHEARWATER- 185

*LEACH'S STORM-PETREL- 55+

ASHY STORM-PETREL- 85

BLACK STORM-PETREL- 4

BROWN PELICAN- 200, one dead at the Coast Guard breakwater; many seemingly not waterproof

BRANDT'S CORMORANT- +

PELAGIC CORMORANT- 2

BLACK TURNSTONE- 1

SURFBIRD- 4

RED-NECKED PHALAROPE- 45

RED-NECKED/RED PHALAROPE- 40

RED PHALAROPE- 105

POMARINE JAEGER- 25

PARASITIC JAEGER- 1

HEERMANN'S GULL- +

CALIFORNIA GULL- 6

WESTERN GULL- +

SABINE'S GULL- 47

ELEGANT TERN- 67

ARCTIC TERN- 6 (4 adults, 2 first summer)

COMMON MURRE- 173

PIGEON GUILLEMOT- 23

SCRIPPS'S MURRELET- 2

MURRELET SP.- 1

CASSIN'S AUKLET- 11

RHINOCEROS AUKLET- 6

SEA OTTER- 12

CALIFORNIA SEA LION- +

HARBOR SEAL- +

HUMPBACK WHALE- 1, tail slapping

RISSO'S DOLPHIN- 180, with calves

PACIFIC WHITE-SIDED DOLPHIN- 70

OCEAN SUNFISH- 2

Jump on board our next trips from Monterey: August 10 & 17!

Shearwaters forever,

Debi Shearwater