Why take a June pelagic trip from San Diego?

Searcher will depart San Diego June 2 at noon and return June 6 at 6:00 a.m. for 5 days at sea.  We'll explore the southwestern corner of the ABA from the Mexican border, north to the Channel Islands, then west more than 100 miles offshore to travel south to the edge of the Continental Shelf, visiting underwater seamounts, ridges and domes where nutrient-rich upwellings create life- zones attracting rare albatross, tropicbirds and pterdroma petrels.

Last year in June and July, dozens of Cook's Petrels were seen off the coast of San Diego and Baja.  Other expected species include Black- footed Albatross, Red-billed Tropicbird and Flesh-footed Shearwater (all Searcher specialties).

The secret to finding rarities (like Red-billed Tropicbird, Cook's Petrel, Tufted Puffin ) and mega-rarities (Shy, Short-tailed and Light- mantled Albatross; Hawaiian, Bulwer's and Murphy's Petrel, Red-tailed Tropicbird) is to be out there, in deep water life-zones, with knowledgeable leaders who know where and when to look, following temperature and current breaks, chumming, watching, waiting....

Rarities and mega-rarities we'll be on the lookout for include:

* Short-tailed Albatross: seen off Santa Cruz Island 5 Jul 2005

* Stejneger's Petrel: 3 SoCal records, 2 of them in July.

* Tufted Puffin: rare and irregular Jan - June. Seen in the Channel Islands 5 Jun 2005 and May 2002.

* Hawaiian Petrel: could be seen anytime April - September over deep water.  11 of 14 accepted records in the state are June-September, remaining 3 records are spring - April & May.  One seen from shore at Point Dume Los Angeles 12 Aug 2006.

Our leaders will be Todd Easterla, Jon Feenstra and Dave Pereksta. Todd's son, Tanner, will be aboard as well as our official chum- master, mixing up all kinds of concoctions to bring in rare pterodroma petrels and storm petrels.

Todd was raised on birds and birding since he was eight years old. His father, Dr. David Easterla, teaches at the University of Missouri and is co-author of Birds of Missouri. Todd has worked as a tour leader and contract biologist and operated Pterodroma Tours to pursue offshore species. He has been leading pelagic trips in California for 16 years.