BREAKING OFFSHORE NEWS!

Howdy, Seabirders,

Just when you thought it couldn't get any better— Peter Pyle sent me a report from yesterday's survey. He spotted a DARK-RUMPED PETREL over the Davidson Seamount. Peter and Abe were beginning to pack up the flying bridge after studying 1000s of COOK'S PETRELS. Suddenly, Peter noticed a large, dark-backed Pterodroma petrel. He studied it, got Abe on the bird. Both shot their cameras, but alas, the "winged racer" got away. So, they are unable to say if it was a Hawaiian Petrel or a Galapagos Petrel. So, now we know that Dark-rumped Petrels are out there, too!

Other highlights of this day, July 25, 2010, as reported by Peter Pyle, included: 725 COOK'S PETRELS, 425 Leach's Storm-Petrels, 10 Long-tailed Jaegers, 15 Arctic Terns, 10 Xantus' Murrelets, 2 Cuvier's Beaked Whales, probable Baird's Beaked Whales, 80 Fin Whales and a variety of dolphins. A Baird's Sandpiper landed on the ship at the end of the day, above the center of the Davidson Seamount!

Peter and Abe are now headed into shore. They were about 15 n miles off Half Moon Bay when I last heard from them. You can catch up with them on Shearwater Journeys' trips this fall. Peter will be co-leading the July 31st trip departing from Half Moon Bay.

PLEASE NOTE: The July 31 Half Moon Bay trip is SOLD OUT. For all participants reading this email, please be at least on time, and preferably early to the boat. 7 am at the latest. We would like to get off on time, or earlier, in order to get offshore.

If you are looking for either Cook's Petrels, or Dark-rumped Petrels, I would highly recommend the following trips: Aug 11 from Bodega Bay (only a few spaces left) and August 13 & 15 from Fort Bragg. Spaces are available. Details on Shearwater Journeys' web site. The Blue Whale show in Monterey sounds absolutely sensational! August 6th from Monterey, we still have spaces available, and of course, we'll be seabirding, too! Monterey Bay is loaded with krill!!

If you are not a seabirder, and have made it this far in this email— please rejoice in hearing some good news about the ocean for a change!! Isn't it nice?

Pterodroma fever,

Debi Shearwater

TRIP REPORT: SEP 12, 2009: MONTEREY: OFFSHORE ALBACORE GROUNDS

Howdy, Seabirders,

Monterey seabirds delighted and thrilled us on Shearwater Journeys' offshore pelagic trip on September 12th. Highlights included one HAWAIIAN PETREL and 24 COOK'S PETRELS, a single LEACH'S STORM-PETREL, and a STEJNEGER'S BEAKED WHALE which circled our vessel, repeatedly popping up within inches of the boat! We were treated to great views of three FIN WHALES, while the LONG-TAILED JAEGER show continued along with good numbers of POMARINE JAEGERS. As of this date, every one of our trips has had a grand slam on all of the jaeger species, including SOUTH POLAR SKUA. SABINE'S GULLS were found in good numbers. The Hawaiian Petrel was the first pterodroma of the day! We tried to chase it, but could not. So, I stopped the boat to have Wes lay out a slick. At 9:30 am, I spotted the first Cook's Petrels of the day over the slick. In contrast to other trips, nearly every single Cook's Petrel made a close pass at the boat, allowing photographers to get some excellent images! The weather was perfect, as were the seas. We could not have asked for more. A PEREGRINE FALCON was on the radio tower along Cannery Row at the day's end.

Scott Terrill's image of one of the Cook's Petrels on the Albacore trip. Copyright, Scott Terrill, 2009.

Many thanks to the participants who hailed from 14 states, Canada, Germany, England and The Netherlands. Leading this offshore trip were: Scott Terrill, Linda Terrill, Abe Borker, Wes Fritz, and Debi Shearwater.

The complete species list follows. All records are for Monterey County.

12 SEPTEMBER 2009 MONTEREY BAY OFFSHORE TO THE ALBACORE GROUNDS

BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS- 19
NORTHERN FULMAR- 48
HAWAIIAN PETREL- 1
COOK'S PETREL- 24
PTERODROMA SP. (large)- 1
PINK-FOOTED SHEARWATER- 72
BULLER'S SHEARWATER- 5
SOOTY SHEARWATER- 385
LEACH'S STORM-PETREL- 1
ASHY STORM-PETREL- 110
BROWN PELICAN- 6
BRANDT'S CORMORANT- 250
SURF SCOTER- 2
RED-NECKED PHALAROPE- 300
RED PHALAROPE- 17
SOUTH POLAR SKUA- 5
POMARINE JAEGER- 27
POMARINE/PARASITIC- 2
PARASITIC JAEGER- 12
PARASITIC/LONG-TAILED JAEGER- 2
LONG-TAILED JAEGER- 93
HEERMANN'S GULL- 90
CALIFORNIA GULL- 125
WESTERN GULL- 200
SABINE'S GULL- 69
ELEGANT TERN- 18
ARCTIC TERN- 4
FORSTER'S TERN- 2
COMMON MURRE- 18
CASSIN'S AUKLET- 42
RHINOCEROS AUKLET- 59
PEREGRINE FALCON- 1, along Cannery Row
SEA OTTER- 8
CALIFORNIA SEA LION- 15
NORTHERN FUR SEAL- 4
HARBOR SEAL- 1
FIN WHALE- 3
HUMPBACK WHALE- 5
STEJNEGER'S BEAKED WHALE- 1
NORTHERN RIGHT WHALE DOLPHIN- 8
DALL'S PORPOISE- 25
BLUE SHARK- 1

Our last offshore trip from Monterey to the albacore grounds is October 10th. Spaces are still available.

Pterodromas forever,
Debi

TRIP REPORT: SEP 20, 2009: BODEGA BAY

Howdy, Seabirders,

This is a trip report for Shearwater Journeys' pelagic trip departing from Bodega Bay on September 20, 2009. A huge sea surface temperature break, ranging from the low 50s to 61 F beyond the 1500 fathom curve, was found. We reached 61F offshore at 1300 fathoms, our target spot, where we put out a large chum slick. The LONG-TAILED JAEGER show continued, but the much hoped for Pterodromas did not show up. We returned to our mini-slick at the north end of Cordell Bank, but the much hoped for Short-tailed (Steller's) Albatross did not show up. For a significant portion of the day, fog hampered our visibility. Like a veil, the fog lifted as we neared the 100 fathom line. It was here that we found five BLUE WHALES lunge feeding at the surface on krill. It was a spectacular, sublime ending to the day, watching the blues feeding in the brilliant sunshine. Little butterball CASSIN'S AUKLETS were so stuffed with krill that they could not lift off the water to fly away!


Image by Mark Rauzon, copyright, 2009.


Many thanks to all of our passengers who traveled to join our trip. The leaders on board were: Peter Pyle, Lisa Hug, Scott Terrill, Linda Terrill, Oscar Johnson, Wes Fritz, Todd McGrath, and Debi Shearwater. Thanks to Wes Friz for his magical chumming and to Oscar Johnson for tallying the county lists for Marin and Sonoma Counties.



The complete species list follows.

20 SEPTEMBER 2009 BODEGA BAY SHEARWATER JOURNEYS' PELAGIC TRIP:
Sonama/Marin/Total

RED-THROATED LOON- 2/0/2
PACIFIC LOON- 2/0/2
COMMON LOON- 5/0/5
WESTERN GREBE- 10/0/10
BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS- 15/11/26
NORTHERN FULMAR- 9/6/15
PINK-FOOTED SHEARWATER- 16/18/34
BULLER'S SHEARWATER- 0/3/3
SOOTY SHEARWATER- 17/17/34
WILSON'S STORM-PETREL- 0/1/1
FORK-TAILED STORM-PETREL- 0/1/1
ASHY STORM-PETREL- 2/17/19
BROWN PELICAN- 6/0/6
BRANDT'S CORMORANT- 35/0/35
DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT- 3/0/3
PELAGIC CORMORANT- 15/0/15
SURF SCOTER- 2/0/2
BLACK TURNSTONE- 0/1 (offshore)/1
RED KNOT- 5/0/5
RED-NECKED PHALAROPE- 50/3/53
RED PHALAROPE- 250/6/256
SOUTH POLAR SKUA- 0/5/5
POMARINE JAEGER- 2/7/9
PARASITIC JAEGER- 0/2/2
LONG-TAILED JAEGER- 0/31/31
JAEGER SP. -0/2/2
CALIFORNIA GULL- 25/55/80
WESTERN GULL- 125/20/145
SABINE'S GULL- 0/11/11
COMMON TERN- 1/0/1
ARCTIC TERN- 0/6/6
COMMON MURRE- 300/4/304
PIGEON GUILLEMOT- 8/0/8
CASSIN'S AUKLET- 800/0/800
RHINOCEROS AUKLET- 11/18/29
CALIFORNIA SEA LION- +
STELLER'S SEA LION- 1
FUR SEAL SP.- 1
HARBOR SEAL- +
MINKE WHALE- 1
BLUE WHALE- 5
HUMPBACK WHALE- 1
DALL'S PORPOISE- 2
OCEAN SUNFISH- 2
BLUE SHARK- 2
SALMON SHARK- 12

Shearwaters forever,
Debi