Shearwater Journeys' pelagic trip, departing from Emeryville to the Farallon Islands, on August 7, 2011 was a big success. For more than ten years, we have had a 100% success rate in finding our target species, Tufted Puffin. While the puffin is the main feature of this trip, many additional highlights are enjoyed by those on board. "Bonus birds" included a BROWN BOOBY and a LAYSAN ALBATROSS! One glance at the total species list, will not need to convince you that we saw one heck of a lot of seabirds!
Departing from Emeryville, we travel directly under California's iconic GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE. In the image above, the bridge is enshrouded in the morning fog which often blankets the shoreline. Along the way, we encounter many HARBOR PORPOISE, along with many father/chick pairs of COMMON MURRES. At about 20 day's old, the chick jumps from the rocky ledge where it hatched. The father then cares for it over a period of several weeks. They call, back and forth to each other.
Departing from Emeryville, we travel directly under California's iconic GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE. In the image above, the bridge is enshrouded in the morning fog which often blankets the shoreline. Along the way, we encounter many HARBOR PORPOISE, along with many father/chick pairs of COMMON MURRES. At about 20 day's old, the chick jumps from the rocky ledge where it hatched. The father then cares for it over a period of several weeks. They call, back and forth to each other.
After a couple of hours, we arrive at Southeast Farallon Islands. Here, we are overwhelmed by the sights and sounds of thousands ofseabirds, coming and going to their nesting burrows, ledges, or other cavities. On SugarLoaf, we saw many TUFTED PUFFINS, standing, or sitting. Several puffins flew around our vessel, while some sat on the water, as Beth Hamel captured in the above image.
Expert leaders, Peter Pyle and Alan Hopkins gave a detailed
Expert leaders, Peter Pyle and Alan Hopkins gave a detailed description of the biologist's life on the islands. Seabird monitoring has taken place over many decades. The islands are fully protected, even to the point where we are not permitted to use the public address system while close to shore. Point Reyes Bird Observatory has conducted research here for decades. Meanwhile, we enjoyed great views of CASSIN'S AUKLETS and rafts of hundreds of PIGEON GUILLEMOTS! Below, is Tony Brake's excellent image of a Cassin's Auklet.
Russ Bradley who is currently on the island, had reported a Brown Booby the day prior to our trip. We searched in vain, all of the rocky ledges where Russ had reported the booby. 
Folks broke out their lunches while we took in all of the abundant wildlife— not only seabirds, but NORTHERN ELEPHANT SEALS, HARBOR SEALS, NORTHERN FUR SEALS and STELLER'S SEA LIONS. Heading offshore just a few more miles, we crossed the Continental Shelf. At least a dozen HUMPBACK WHALES were in this area, along with a few distant Gray and Blue Whales. The above image by Tony Brake, shows the underside of a Humpback Whale's tail flukes. The dolphin show was just as thrilling, with both PACIFIC WHITE-SIDED and NORTHERN RIGHT WHALE DOLPHINS riding the bow for over half an hour.
Tony captured this PARASITIC JAEGER in flight. A few SABINE'S GULLS cruised up the wake of our vessel.
Suddenly, Peter Pyle spotted an incoming LAYSAN ALBATROSS amongst the many BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSSES which were already lured to our boat. Another bonus seabird!
The general thinking is that Laysan Albatrosses which show up at this time of year along our coast, are probably birds which breed in Mexico, rather than the Midway Atoll.
It may be possible to compare the underwing pattern in Tony's image above with images from Shearwater Journeys' July 30, 2011 Half Moon Bay trip to determine if this is the same individual.
Notice how incredibly short the tail of this albatross is in the above image. For close up views, the albatross flew right in to the stern of our vessel. Many NORTHERN FULMARS were also around.
Finally, it was time to head back to the harbor. On our return to Emeryville, the GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE was in full sun.
Russ Bradley who is currently on the island, had reported a Brown Booby the day prior to our trip. We searched in vain, all of the rocky ledges where Russ had reported the booby. Suddenly, Mike Parr, Vice President of the American Bird Conservancy, shouted, "BROWN BOOBY!" Quickly, most of us were able to spot this adult booby in flight. This was a real bonus bird, as well as a SAN FRANCISCO COUNTY bird for many on board.
Folks broke out their lunches while we took in all of the abundant wildlife— not only seabirds, but NORTHERN ELEPHANT SEALS, HARBOR SEALS, NORTHERN FUR SEALS and STELLER'S SEA LIONS. Heading offshore just a few more miles, we crossed the Continental Shelf. At least a dozen HUMPBACK WHALES were in this area, along with a few distant Gray and Blue Whales. The above image by Tony Brake, shows the underside of a Humpback Whale's tail flukes. The dolphin show was just as thrilling, with both PACIFIC WHITE-SIDED and NORTHERN RIGHT WHALE DOLPHINS riding the bow for over half an hour.
Tony captured this PARASITIC JAEGER in flight. A few SABINE'S GULLS cruised up the wake of our vessel.
Suddenly, Peter Pyle spotted an incoming LAYSAN ALBATROSS amongst the many BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSSES which were already lured to our boat. Another bonus seabird!
The general thinking is that Laysan Albatrosses which show up at this time of year along our coast, are probably birds which breed in Mexico, rather than the Midway Atoll.
It may be possible to compare the underwing pattern in Tony's image above with images from Shearwater Journeys' July 30, 2011 Half Moon Bay trip to determine if this is the same individual.
Notice how incredibly short the tail of this albatross is in the above image. For close up views, the albatross flew right in to the stern of our vessel. Many NORTHERN FULMARS were also around.
Finally, it was time to head back to the harbor. On our return to Emeryville, the GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE was in full sun.
It is quite a thrill to sail right under the bridge!
Below, is Alcatraz Island.
We end our day with stunning views of the SAN FRANCISCO SKY LINE!
We would like to thank all of the folks who came from near and far for joining us on this spectacular day, including folks from the American Bird Conservancy and Golden Gate Audubon Society. I thank Russ Bradley for giving me the "head's up" about the Brown Booby. Russ and his lovely wife, Annie Schmidt will be co-leading the September 18th trip from Half Moon Bay. I also thank Peter Pyle who works at the Institute for Bird Populations and Alan Hopkins, past president of Golden Gate Audubon Society, and local artist. I thank Tony Brake for the bird images in this post, except for the Tufted Puffin by Beth Hamel. All images are copyright. Non-bird images by Debi Shearwater. Please do not use images without permission.
The complete species list follows:
7 AUGUST 2011, EMERYVILLE to the FARALLON ISLANDS, total species list:
LAYSAN ALBATROSS- 1
BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS- 18
NORTHERN FULMAR- 25
SOOTY SHEARWATER- 400
PINK-FOOTED SHEARWATER- 20
*BROWN BOOBY- 1, adult
BROWN PELICAN- 100
BRANDT'S CORMORANT-750
DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT- 4
PELAGIC CORMORANT- 50
BLACK OYSTERCATCHER- 1
RUDDY TURNSTONE- 1
RED-NECKED PHALAROPE- 6
RED PHALAROPE- 3
POMARINE JAEGER- 3
PARASITIC JAEGER- 2
HEERMANN'S GULL- 30
CALIFORNIA GULL- 250
WESTERN GULL- 1000
SABINE'S GULL- 15
ELEGANT TERN- 24, many birds out at the islands
COMMON MURRE- 3000
PIGEON GUILLEMOT- 400, many large rafts in Fisherman's Bay
CASSIN'S AUKLET- 100
RHINOCEROS AUKLET- 25
TUFTED PUFFIN- 30
CALIFORNIA SEA LION- 500
STELLER'S SEA LION- 2
BLUE WHALE- 2, distant
GRAY WHALE- 2, distant
HUMPBACK WHALE- 12
WHITE-SIDED DOLPHIN- 300
NORTHERN RIGHT WHALE DOLPIN- 150
HARBOR PORPOISE- 22
OCEAN SUNFISH- 1, very large
BEAUFORT- 4
Our upcoming trips with spaces available include:
MONTEREY: Aug. 12, 26; Sep, 8, 9, 11, 12, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26; Oct.1, 8, 16; Nov 27.
BODEGA BAY: Aug. 17; Sep. 14 (limited spaces).
HALF MOON BAY: Sep. 16, 17, 18, 19 (ALL Sep trips have limited spaces. Please select a first and second choice). Oct. 2, 10, 15; Nov. 22.
FORT BRAGG: Aug. 19, 21, 22. (Aug 20 is SOLD OUT).
Shearwater Journeys' first five trips of the fall 2011 season have been extremely productive and successful. We think it is going to prove to be a fabulous fall season. I hope that you can join us on a trip or two.
Shearwaters forever,
Debi Shearwater
This male, ORCA, put on quite a show, swimming belly up and waving his paddle-like pectoral flippers in the air. 
Fork-tailed Storm-Petrels breed on offshore stacks, from northern California, north to Alaska. It is unclear to us as to whether these are non-breeding adults or recently fledged birds. We hope to get more information on this. There is no reliable place, nor time, in the State of California where one can be assured of finding this storm-petrel. Finding rafts and rafts of these petrels, sitting on the water, was very exciting. 
ASHY STORM-PETRELS, below, were observed in good numbers. About 55% of the world's population of Ashy Storm-Petrels breed on the nearby Farallon Islands.
