All photos by Don DesJardin
Since Searcher is always roving the seas, we thought we would bring you an up to date account on what bird species we see and where.
1/26/2008
Offshore Oceanside
Location: Oceanside/San Diego offshore
GPS:
Species: The warm sun shone upon nearly 100 birders today as they sailed out of Oceanside Harbor into calm waters for a 3-hour tour sponsored by the Buena Vista Audubon. Almost immediately the call of "Pom Jaeger!" went up as a morning began of witnessing the interaction of jaegers, terns, shearwaters and gulls, i.e. shearwaters, terns and gulls catching fish, jaegers chasing shearwaters, terns and gulls.
This season's "invasion" of Rhinoceros Auklets was very much in
evidence as we totaled 45, in stark contrast with some years totaling
zero all season. Other alcids: 2 fairly close Cassin's Auklets were
seen with another 6 and one Common Murre too distant to be seen by many.
3 "dark" shearwaters were sighted (read: Sooty or Short-tailed). One was positively identified as a Short-tailed by its uniform medium- grey underwings and a soaring, banking, erratic non-sooty flight style; it banked within 100 feet of the boat. Other tubenoses
included 3 Northern Fulmar (2 dark and a light morph) that came by to dine on our popcorn chum.
During the course of the morning we saw several small flocks of 6-10 Bonaparte's Gulls, and 8 Red Phalarope. Jaegers were seen well by all, 6 Pomarine and 6 Parasitic, pretty much all engaged in chasing prey or finding prey to chase.
A surprise was only one loon. A Pacific. Period.
Mammals included a pod of 20 Common Dolphin, a pod 6 Bottlenose
Dolphin and a spouting Gray Whale that surfaced 5 or 6 times within
several hundred feet of the boat for great looks by all aboard.
In short, a fun morning of birds, marine mammals, old friends and new
ones.
A special thanks from the Buena Vista Audubon Society to Andy Mauro
for organizing this whole affair. Without his idea and hard work,
this would not have happened.
Totals:
1 Short-tailed Shearwater
331 Black-vented Shearwater
2 dark shearwater sp
3 Northern Fulmar
8 Red Phalarope
59 Bonaparte's Gull
15 Royal Tern
6 Parasitic Jaeger
6 Pomarine Jaeger
1 Common Murre
45 Rhino Auklet
8 Cassin's Auklet
1/19/2008
Offshore San Diego--9 mile bank/Coronados Islands
Location: Offshore San Diego--9 mile bank/Coronados Islands
GPS:
Species: A Caspian Tern flew overhead as Dave Povey, Matt Sadowski, Lea
Squires and I departed Mission Bay Dana Landing at 7:30 a.m. this
morning. Within a mile we began seeing multiple Rhinoceros and Cassin's Auklets. Small groups were seemingly everywhere.
About 5 miles offshore we passed through a cloud of 1200 Bonaparte's Gulls, all moving together in unison as if choreographed. Black-vented Shearwaters appeared here and there. A Northern Fulmar circled a few times. A Pom Jaeger flew in to investigate the commotion created by the gulls around our chum.
By the time we reached the 9-mile bank (about 14 miles west of Point Loma) we had counted 81 Rhino and 92 Cassin's Auklets plus 37 Black-vented Shearwaters. We took a short break to absorb the spectacle of so many birds. I filled and hung my new "Chum-O-Matic" cod-liver-oil- drip-system over the side of the boat to see what tubenoses it might attract.
Motoring south down the Nine-mile Bank, the Rhino and Cassin's
Auklets continued. Never did more than 2 minutes go by without an
alcid sighting. Just north of the Mexican border a Pink-footed
Shearwater came in to check us out. Either it followed us all the
way to the Coronados Islands (13 miles) or we saw 2 or 3 different
birds.
A couple miles south of the border we found 2 Red Phalarope and
another Northern Fulmar. Several miles further south we came upon 2 Xantus's Murrelets (scrippsi) amongst the continuing auklets. A bit further along, a molting Sooty Shearwater followed us off and on for a few miles. We were 5 miles north of the islands when we saw our
first Brown Booby flying overhead.
As we approached the islands, we saw 2 more Brown Boobies in flight.
At Middle Rock we counted 19 more, including one downy chick. The Masked Booby was present, well photographed by Matt. We visited North and Middle Islands and "Middle Rock" and saw 3 Pelagic Cormorants and about 8 oystercatchers, mostly Blacks, but at least 2 with "American" blood.
We made our way back to the mainland traveling about 6 miles off
shore. Black-vented Shearwaters ruled this region, outnumbering
auklets for the first time today. We counted 300 - 400 Black-vents
before we reached Point Loma. There, 1.5 miles off shore, we found an enormous flock of at least 3000. It was an awesome sight with them feeding and flying all around us. Suddenly Dave hollered
out, "There's a white one!!" and we looked to see an almost entirely
white Black-vented Shearwater with white secondaries and alternating white and dark primaries.
It turns out, after Matt got home and sorted through 400 photos, that
there may have been 2 leucistic black-vents. I'll let him comment
when he posts a photo link later tonight.
Today's totals:
1 Masked Booby
22 Brown Boobies
3500 BV Shearwater
1-3 Pink-footed Shearwater
1 Sooty Shearwater
2 Northern Fulmar
2 Pom Jaegers
175 Rhino Auklets
300 Cassin's Auklets
2 Xantus's Murrelets
1200 Bonaparte's Gulls
2 Red Phalarope
3 Pelagic Cormorant
6 Black Oystercatcher
2-3 Hybrid Oystercatcher
22 Brant
Terry Hunefeld, Leucadia
www.SoCalBirding.com
Life is short.
Bird often.
9/20/2007
Pelagic trip Sept 3-7
Location: Offshore San Diego--5 days
GPS:
Species:
Note: The September multi-day pelagic trip in southern California waters on the 95-foot live-aboard "Searcher" was last week, and, as always, it was an incredible trip. You never know what you will see on The Searcher because it ranges out to the seldom explored areas at the continental shelf, beyond the reach of day trips.
In fall of 2003 a Bulwar's Petrel was seen. Last fall we found Dark-rumped (Hawaiian) Petrel. This fall it was Cook's Petrel.
There will be two 5-day pelagic trips on the Searcher in 2008: June
2-6 and September 1-5. Every trip since 2003 has been sold out well in advance because there is space for only 30 participants.
I've found that there is no better way to really learn pelagic birds
than being out there for five days surrounded by top pelagic leaders
and passionate fellow birders.
Terry Hunefeld
San Diego
9/4/2007
Cory's Shearwater in US Waters!
Location: offshore San Diego
GPS:
Species: I was offshore again, chasing Marlin, on Tuesday the Sept. 4, 2007. Wehad two boats in the area of the "182" about 24 nautical miles west of San Diego. Actually that area was rather slow for birds, more being seen around the Nine Mile Bank (11-17 n. m.). Two birds I did see there were rather shocking. First was an adult Red-billed Tropicbird at 32d 41.3'N and 117d 42.1'W (about 21 n.m. from Pt Loma)about noon.
The next, at about 1:25p.m., was the Cory's Shearwater that came in to investagate the spashing of a marlin. The bird came right into the spot where the marlin had been, and passed within 75ft of the boat. I got great looks as the sun was over my shoulder, the bird seen against a dark blue sea. This bird flew in with that heavy 'Albatross like' wing beat in the light wind. The uppers were a uniform rich golden brown in the sunlight. The under parts bright white from throat to under tail coverts. The top of the tail was dark with a small crescent of white at the base. Bill was heavy and appeared light colored in the that lighting. Underwings whiter than Pink-foot's. The bird was seen flying out to the west for a 1/4 mile or more. The that languid wing motion.
All this in U.S. waters!!
Sighted two Adult Red-billed Tropicbirds ( even closer) at 32d 45.0'N and 117d 29.0'N aout 17n.m. west of Point Loma.
Sea Surface Temps. 72-75.2 degrees F.
Partial List:
Cory's Shearwater 1
Pink-footed Shearwater 22
Black-vented Shearwater 7
Black Storm Petrel 278
Leach's Storm Petrel 2
Least Storm Petrel 37
Red-billed Tropicbird 3
Red-necked Phalarope 35
Red Phalarope 2
Parasitic Jaeger 6
Pomarine Jaeger 2
Common Tern 29
Marine Mammals
Blue Whale 2
Common Dolphin 4 pods 1000+
Risso's Dolphin 2 pods 30+
Bottlenose Dolphin 1 pods 200+
California Sealions 2pods? 100+
Fish
Striped Marlin 1 (the one that got away)
reported by Dave Povey
8/31/2007
Tropicbird
Location: 30-mile Bank
GPS: 32 38.3 N/117 48.5 W
Species:
Note: ave Povey and Terry Hunefeld were joined by Tom Blackman and Peter Ginsburg on an 11 hour pelagic trip to the 30 mile bank midway between La Jolla and San Clemente Island. A Red-billed Tropicbird was seen three times in the area of the 30-mile bank. It may have been one bird, we suspect two individuals. The water even that far out was surprisingly warm – 70.3 degrees.
Trip List:
30 Pink-footed Shearwater
10 Black-vented Shearwater
84 Common Tern
63 Black Storm-petrel
8 Least Storm-petrel
5 Leach's Storm-petrel
140 Red-necked Phalarope
1 or 2 Red-billed Tropicbird
Terry Hunefeld, Leucadia
8/22/2007
Cory's and Red-billed Tropicbird
Location: Los Coronados
GPS:
Species:
Note: Visited the Islands briefly, on a run to and from the "101" and "Rock
pile" 10 n. miles s.e. of South Cornado Is. I stopped by the "Middle
Rock" to check on the booby roost. Ten Brown boobies were present at 7:30a.m. On the way home (2p.m.) I stopped again and had 21 Brown Boobies on or flying around the rock. Checked the Cory's Shearwater spot out of habit, nothing there as I expected. Caught a brief glimpse of what looked like a tropicbird through the notch at the top of the rock. I motored around to the weather side of the rock, expecting a large tern or similar, to find an Adult Red-billed
Tropicbird (scarlet red bill long upturned tail streamer, black
primeries, white secondaries, fine barring in the back and wing
coverts-looking gray, overall body bright white) flying up and down
that side if the rock. For the next 15 mins. it made several
approaches to maybe three different spots each time I thought it land it pulled out just a foot or so off the rock and started to circle
again. I tried taking a couple of pictures with a snap shot camera,
then thought I might lure it away from the rock, with popcorn and a
large flock of gulls. The gulls cooperated, but not the tropicbird.
The next surprise, was that the Cory's Shearwater (Gray brown back
large yellow bill, white under tail coverts) made a circled through
the gull flock then flew back towards the top of the rock and circled
there (a 100ft off the water)!!! I had not seen that bird since
spring and figured it to be long gone out into the Pacific. I'd been
careful to check all the Pink-foots early on, but had given the short
shrift or late. The tropicbird was not seen again, my photos are very
distant for a snap shot film camera.
Birds seen (partial list)
Cory's Shearwater 1
Pink-footed Shearwater 23
Sooty Shearwater 18
Black Storm Petrel 96
Least Storm Petrel 13
Red-billed Tropicbird 1
Brown Booby 10 (a.m.)1(south of South Is. 21 (p.m.)
Blue-footed Booby none
Red-necked Phalarope 350
Red Phalarope 1
Pomarine Jaeger 1
Common Tern 22
Rhinoceros Auklet 1
Brown-headed Cowbird 1 (5-6 miles offshore)
Dave Povey
Dulzura
8/18/2007
August 18 offshore San Diego report
Location:
GPS:
Species:
Note: On 8/18/07, Matt Sadowski wrote:
Mark Billings, Lea Squires, and I spent the day with Dave Povey out on his boat. We started off from Mission Bay and headed north towards La Jolla Canyon, west out to the "The Ridge" (30-mile bank), south to the US/Mexico border, and east across the northern portion of the 9-mile bank before returning to Mission Bay. We did not see anything mega-rare; the most unusual bird being a Black Tern within sight of La Jolla. We had no alcids and only one jaeger. A cooperative flock of Common Terns that contained a
few Arctics was roosting on the water and allowed close approach. We also had good views of Risso's Dolphins. Partial list below:
Pink-footed Shearwater (35)
Sooty Shearwater (15)
Black-vented Shearwater (1)
Leach's Storm-Petrel (3)
Ashy Storm-Petrel (4)
Black Storm-Petrel (1090 - majority in single roosting flock at 30-mile
bank)
Least Storm-Petrel (60)
Red-necked Phalarope (150)
Red Phalarope (3)
Sabine's Gull (4)
Black Tern (1 - within sight of La Jolla)
Common Tern (90)
Arctic Tern (4)
Parasitic Jaeger (1)
Matt Sadowski
Chula Vista, CA
8/16/2007
Cook's petrels in US waters
Location: Near the 60-mile bank
GPS: 32 10'/ 118 10'
Species: Two Cook's petrels flying around bait balls.
8/13/2007
Red-billed tropicbird
Location:
GPS: 32 24'/ 118 42'
Species:
8/6/2007
Cook's petrels in US waters!
Location: 32 23'N / 118 23'W
GPS:
Species: "We saw Cooks Petrels mostly flying and one sitting on the water. Most of the time we saw the birds flying in their usual high arcing flying pattern. There were a lot of bait balls around, so they may have been there for the food, but we never saw the"whirlwinds" (that's what we call them) when a group of Cooks swirl around over bait balls. There were no real interactions with other birds though there were others flying around."
Observations by Capt Aaron Remy
8/5/2007
August 5 Offshore San Diego report
Location:
GPS:
Species: Barbara Carlson, Tom Blackman, Trent Stanley, and I headed offshore Sunday Aug. 5th, with the purpose of birding San Diego waters. I had planned to go n.w. towards La Jolla then cut across to the "Ridge" some 26 miles out. Changed plans when I heard that the Blue Whales had moved up the Nine Mile Bank to the area (11-12 n.m.)just west of Pt Loma. I hoped to find the large numbers of Cassin's Auklets, Sooty Shearwater, Least Terns, and others. I had seen feeding on the krill at the Mexican end of the Nine Mile Bank (June 11, 24, & July 15). We failed to get the birds, the krill appeared on the boat's depth finder to be down 50-200 ft. Perhaps inaccessible to the birds.
No problem for the whales. From the Nine Mile Bank we drove west to the south end of the Ridge about 29 n. m. from Mission Bay.
Heavy overcast morning, bright hazy sun afternoon. 5 kts+ southwest breezy all day. Small acid viewing conditions only fair.
Partial list:
Pink-footed Shearwater 14
Sooty Shearwater 7
Black-vented Shearwater 2
Black Storm Petrel 160
Leach's Storm Petrel 2 (one dark rumped, one intermediate)
Red-necked Phalarope 55
Red Phalarope 5
jaeger sp 1
Sabine's Gull 1 (alternate plummage adult)
Least Tern 7 (including an adult with juvenile on a patty at 28 n.m.)
Murrelet sp. 3 (2 likely Xantus' based on gray/ brown
color as they flew directly away from us).
Cassin's Auklet 3 (plus one fresh dead bird)
Rhinoceros Auklet 1
Marine Mammals
Blue Whale 4-6
Common Dolphin 200+
Bottlenose Dolphin 50-60 (some seen "bow riding" a Blue Whale)
Calif. Sealion 10-15
Boney Fishes
Broad-billed Swordfish 1
Common Mola 2
Report by Dave Povey
8/2/2007
Black-footed albatross
Location:
GPS: 29 30'N / 116 15'W
Species: Black-footed albatross
Note: 13 black-footed albatross were feeding in this area.
8/1/2007
Cook's petrels
Location:
GPS: 29 30'N-30N / 116 10'W-116 30'W
Species: Cook's petrels
Note: Multiple birds were seen over a 30 mile area.
7/25/2007
Location: 29 30'/ 116 W
GPS:
Species: Several Cook's petrels (seen flying, sitting on the water, and feeding) and black-footed albatross.
7/25/2007
US/Mexico border pelagic report
Location:
GPS:
Species: Birds seen on Wed. July 25, 2007, in an area due west of Imperial Beach, to 28 n.m., but in Mexican waters.
1 Black-footed Albatross
9 Pink-footed Shearwater
53 Sooty Shearwater
43 Black Storm Petrel
1 LEAST STORM PETREL ( Nine Mile Bank, 11 n.miles )
1 RED-BILLED TROPICBIRD ( 24 n.miles )
2 Surfbird ( south bound well offshore )
60+ Red-necked Phalarope (many just off Pt.Loma kelp )
15 Common Tern
4 Least Tern
2 Xantus' Murrelet ( scrippsi )
6 CRAVERI'S MURRELET ( seen together at 40-60 ft in great light
conditions. Darker backed, darker faced than Xantus, grey underwing.
On approach long tails raised like Ruddy Ducks. 20 n. miles.
2 Cassin's Auklet
Marine Mammals
1 Fin Whale
10-12 Risso's Dolphin
300-400 Common Dolphin
Also seen 1 sea turtle (Green ?) and a number of flying fish.
Dave Povey
Dulzura
7/20/2007
Cook's petrel
Location:
GPS: 30N/116 30'W
Species: Cook's petrel
Black-footed albatross
Black storm petrel
red-billed tropicbird
All these were spotted within a few mile range in 65-degree water.
7/15/2007
Los Coronados area report
Location: Los Coronados/Nine Mile Bank
GPS:
Species:
Note: On Sunday July 15, I accompanied Dave Povey, Eitan Altman and Dan Baumann on Dave's boat, destined for Los Coronados Islands after heading 20 miles west along the border staying in US waters. We departed Shelter Island at 0630 hours and motored in awesterly direction. Things were slow until we got about eleven nautical miles out to the Nine Mile Bank where we began to pick up Black Storm-petrels and an occasional Sooty Shearwater. We crossed the bank and continued west. Things slowed way down. After about 5 miles of empty Pacific Ocean, we decided to turn around motor back to the Nine
Mile Bank, then head south, over the submarine canyon between the south end of the bank and the islands, then on to the Los Coronados
Islands.
When we reached the Nine Mile Bank and turned south, things really
began to pick up. We saw (one each) Ashy Storm-petrel and Leach's
Storm Petrel and our first pair of Cassin's Auklets before we entered
Mexican waters. Also seen in the US was an Elephant Seal and 2 Pink-
footed Shearwater.
As we crossed into Mexico, we followed whale blows to enormous
feeding frenzies: thousands of bait fish churning the surface feeding
on krill -- small shrimp-like crustaceans. It was a sight to behold:
Blue Whales feeding on krill, Cassin's Auklets so engorged on krill
that they couldn't fly, terns (Elegant, Common, Least) foraging on
the bait-fish foraging on krill.
The name krill is Norwegian. It comes from the Dutch word kriel
meaning "small fry". Photo:
We had 4 or 5 enormous Blue Whales feeding on the krill, sometime
within 200 feet of the boat. Following the birds, we found three
different areas where for several minutes the frenzy was so intense
that an acre or two of the ocean surface literally churned as if
powered by hundreds of underwater blenders. Dave put a net over the
side and scooped up krill by the quart. As he laid a slick of pureed
tuna guts, the storm petrel activity increased even further. We
spent close to 2 hours there, barely moving except to motor from
frenzy to frenzy, watching whales, storm-petrels, shearwater, terns
and auklets.
As we approached the islands, we came upon 4 or 5 Brown Boobies
foraging with gulls and terns. At Middle Rock, a Brown Booby sat on
a nest, the Blue-footed Booby was perched on its usual ledge, and one
Pelagic Cormorant was on a nest. Cory was no where to be seen. We
arrived back at Shelter Island at 4:30 p.m.
Cassin's Auklet US-8; Mex-150
Murrelet (sp) – Mex 4
Pink-footed Shearwater US- 6; Mex-12
Sooty Shearwater US-17; Mex-45
Black Storm-petrel US-13; Mex-38
Ashy Storm-petrel US-1
Leach's Storm-petrel US-1
Brown Booby Mex-30
Blue-footed Booby Mex-1
Pelagic Cormorant Mex-2 (one on next on middle rock)
Black Oystercatcher Mex-11
Black X American Oystercatcher Mex-1
Wandering Tattler Mex-1
Red-necked Phalarope US-12; Mex-12
Common Tern Mex-3
Least Tern US 27; Mex-20
Elegant Tern US 100; Mex-75
Hummingbird (sp) at Nine Mile Bank US-1
Blue Whale Mex-4or5
Elephant Seal US-1; Mex-1
Common Dolphin 150
Bottlenose Dolphin 35
Terry Hunefeld, Leucadia
7/2/2007
Cook's petrel
Location: 91 miles south of San Diego
GPS: 31'8 N/117' 22 W
Species: Cook's petrels and lots of bait fish in 1000 fathoms of water and 66 degree water.
6/24/2007
Coronado Islands report
Location:
GPS:
Species: Mike San Miguel, Todd McGrath, Jon Feenstra, and I did the boat ride to the lower Nine Mile Bank and the Coronado Is. June 24th.
No Cory's Shearwater, but lots of Cassin's Auklets and Blue Whales
in the area of the Coronado Canyon. Great viewing conditions,
overcast and nearly slick calm. Birds and whales all mixed together. Discussion ran to "I wonder if a whale ever swallows an auklet",
or "I wonder if a whale spout would shoot an auklet into the air".
The giddy talk you get when experiencing such impressive animals and close range (insert boat for auklet). We had views of multiple
whales including one with a much smaller juvnile. We have some
dissagreement on the numbers of whales but I think 10-15 would be as good a guess as any.
The Brown Booby chick at Middle Rock is now almost fully feathered, and has a companion, perhaps a little further along.
5 Pink-footed Shearwater
248 Sooty Shearwater
8 Black Storm Petrel
35 Brown Booby
1 Blue-footed Booby
7 Pelagic Cormorant (2 on nest)
19 Black Oystercatcher (1 downy chick)
1 American x Black Oystercatcher
1 Wandering Tattler
11 Common Tern
25 Least Tern
70 Elegant Tern
2 Royal Tern
4 Xantus' Murrelet
459 Cassin's Auklet's
Dave Povey
6/19/2007
Cook's petrels
Location:
GPS: 28 50N / 116 05 W
Species: Two Cook's petrels in 64-degree water with lots of bait fish around
6/19/2007
Black-footed albatross
Location: Between Islas Cedros and San Benito
GPS:
Species: Five black-footed albatrosses sighted.
6/15/2007
From the offshore tuna area
Location: 190 miles offshore San Diego
GPS: 29 30/117 00
Species: Black-footed albatross and Leach's storm petrels
6/12/2007
Alijos Rocks bird notes
Location: Alijos Rocks
GPS:
Species: Several sooty terns, few masked boobies, and a couple red-billed tropicbirds
6/11/2007
Coronados Islands report
Location:
GPS:
Species: Report from Terry Hunefeld:
We headed for the Los Coronados Islands by way of the Nine Mile bank. Between Point Loma and the 9-mile bank we saw (32) Cassin's Auklets, (9) Sooty Shearwater and (2) Common Terns.
Proceeding on to the Nine Mile Bank, we saw several more Sooties and Cassin's, plus two Ocean Sunfish (Mola Mola). Crossing into Mexican waters, we saw our first pair of Xantus's Murrelet, three enormous Blue Whales and 10 Bottlenose Dolphin
Activity picked up as we crossed the 2400 foot deep submarine Coronados Canyon south of the Nine Mile Bank: (1) Black-footed Albatross, (1) Sabine's Gull, (40) Sooties, (3) Cassin's Auklets and (12) Risso's Dolphins.
Crossing the plateau between the canyon and North Coronados Island yielded (67) Cassin's Auklets, (25) Sooties, (5) Xantus's, and a light-morph Northern Fulmar.
First stop: North Coronados Island: (8) Black Oystercatchers.
On Middle Rock we counted 27 Brown Boobies including one juvenile (all whitish down except for black face, bill and remiges) that was nearly the same size as the adults. The Blue-footed Booby stood alone on its favorite perch. Boobies were continually coming and going, some to points north, some from points north. No shearwater was seen (yet). (2) Black Oystercatchers.
On Middle Coronados Island we found (3) Black Oystercatchers and a hybrid Black/American. The Elephant Seals were evidently out to sea as none were seen on shore.
On South Coronados we counted (8) Black Oystercatchers, (1) hybrid Black/American and (3) Wandering Tattlers.
We stopped by Middle Rock again because we wanted to see if we could find nesting Pelagic Cormorants again (8 were seen, one or 2 on nests). The Blue-footed Booby was on another ledge, this time with a Brown Booby. There seemed to be some social interaction taking place, facing each other, some
slight moving from foot to foot.
While re-counting the boobies for the umpteenth time, we heard a strange call. All three of us turned at the same time to see a large lumbering silhouette of a shearwater. Dave exclaimed, "That's no booby!" as we watched it fly south from where we've seen the Cory's nest on previous
trips. It flew on long, arced, air-cupping wings out of sight around the backside of the island. We waited for it to circle the island (which Dave has seen the Cory's do in the past, but that was the last time we saw it, despite an hour of searching and waiting, and investigating feeding flocks all the way back).
We departed the islands, heading north across the plateau and submarine canyon. While still in Mexican waters we counted (255) Sooties, (310) Cassin's, (13) Xantus's, and another (or the same) Black-footed Albatross.
Once in US waters we proceeded up the Nine Mile Bank, following feeding flocks of birds, then east to Point Loma, counting an additional (122) Sooties, (1) Black Storm-Petrel, (12) Cassin's, and (10) more Risso's Dolphins.
Totals for the day:
Black-footed Albatross: 1 or 2
Sooty Shearwater: 486
Cory's Shearwater: 1 (seen poorly)
Black Storm-petrel: 1
Brown Booby: 27
Blue-footed Booby: 1
Black Oystercatcher: 27
Hybrid Oystercatcher: 2
Sabine's Gull: 1
Least Tern: 34
Common Tern: 2
Xantus's Murrelet: 20
Cassin's Auklet: 417
Mola Mola: 2
Blue Whale: 3
Risso's Dolphin: 22
Bottlenose Dolphin: 15
6/11/2007
More Cook's petrels!
Location: Outside Turtle Bay, 100 miles offshore
GPS: 27 30N/116 15 W
Species: Cook's petrels!
About 30 birds sitting on the water and another large group in flight were seen over very deep water in 64.5-degree water.
6/10/2007
Cook's petrels
Location: 260 miles southeast of San Diego
GPS: 28 20'N/116 25' W
Species: About 12 Cook's petrels were sighted this morning as we travelled through the area about 60 miles west of the south end of Isla Cedros.
There were several black-footed albatross, and black and Leach's storm petrels as well. The water temperature is 63-degrees and blue.
6/5/2007
Pelagic reports to resume!
Location:
GPS:
Species: Please check back to this blog throughout the summer. Our offshore fishing trips have begun and so we'll start to post any sightings from those journeys here.
Our annual early September birding trip is now full. We'll schedule an April, 2008 trip soon.
celia
