Captain's Blog

Report

DATE: Sept. 1-5, 2008

TRIP: Offshore Birding Trip
28 passengers from 3 countries and 15 cities departed San Diego’s Fisherman’s Landing on a sunny, warm Labor Day afternoon, bound for a 5-day pelagic expedition through the Channel Islands, over deep water canyons and along the continental shelf-edge.

Highlights of the Sept 1-5, 2008 trip included Red-billed Tropicbird, Cook’s Petrel and Wilson’s Storm-petrel.

All participants had close views of more than 200 Leach’s Storm- petrels, including dark-rumped Leach’s Storm-petrels (O.I. chapmani) and Guadalupe Island summer-breeding Leach’s (O. I. socorroensis) that some authorities believe should be elevated to full species status.

Also of interest were close-ups of both subspecies of Xantus’s Murrelet, 2 Northern Fulmar, a first-year Ring-billed Gull 110 miles offshore at the Cortez Bank , a surprising (for SoCal) 169 Buller’s Shearwater, 1147 Pink-footed Shearwater, 578 Black Storm- petrel, 25 Sabine’s Gull, 5 Skua, 13 LT Jaeger, 20 Poms, 18 Ashy Storm-petrels, 4 Black-footed Albatross, 6 Blue Whale, 14 Fin Whale and a Sperm Whale.

Vagrants, lost, and out of place species over deep water included Greater Yellowlegs, Savannah Sparrow, Black Turnstone, McGillivray’s Warbler, Spotted Sandpiper, Mourning Dove and the inevitable (3) Brown-headed Cowbirds.

Monday afternoon we birded the north edge of the Coronado Canyon, then headed north up the Nine-mile Bank towards the Channel Islands. Black-vented, Pink-footed and Sooty Shearwater were plentiful, as were Black Storm-petrels (197).

Tuesday morning at dawn found us just south of Anacapa Island where we counted 700 Pink-footed Shearwater over the course of the morning. This was a “Skua-Slam” day with 4 South Polar Skua, 14 Poms, 2 Parasitic and 3 Long-tailed Jaeger.

Excellent weather allowed us to wake up Wednesday morning further north than Searcher has ever ventured – over Arguello Canyon (Cook’s Petrel!). After breakfast we cruised over the Rodriguez and San Juan Seamounts (Red-billed Tropicbird!). The deep water was right for Leach’s Storm-petrels (140) and Long-tailed Jaegers (8) with a sprinkling of the other jaegers/skua for our second “Skua-slam”. After dinner, the second tropicbird of the day flew just 20 feet overhead to Searcher’s lights.

Thursday we awoke at a flat-calm Cortez Bank, 110 miles west of San Diego. The sweet spot of the day came at the Sixty-mile Bank where Wes Fritz laid an enormous slick attracting hundreds of storm petrels, including 2 Least and a Wilson’s.

Full descriptions of what we saw by region follow at the end of this post.

Species List	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Ttl
Black-footed Albatross Northern Fulmar Cook’s Petrel Buller’s Shearwater Pink-footed Shearwater Sooty Shearwater Black-vented Shearwater Ashy Storm-petrel Black Storm-petrel Leach’s Storm-petrel Leach’s Storm-petrel (soccorinsis) Least Storm-petrel Wilson’s Storm-petrel Brown Pelican Red-billed Tropicbird Red-necked Phalarope Red Phalarope Western Gull Heermann’s Gull Ring-billed Gull (juv) Sabine’s Gull Black Tern Common Tern Arctic Tern Common/Arctic “Comic” Tern Elegant Tern Royal Tern South Polar Skua Pomarine Jaeger Parasitic Jaeger Long-tailed Jaeger Rhino Auklet Cassin’s Auklet Xantus’s Murrelet (scrippsi) Xantus’s Murrelet (hypoleucus)	0 0 0 0 74 23 95 4 197 0 0 2 0 95 0 75 7 220 115 0 22 1 29 0 0 55 2 0 1 2 1 1 6 0 0	0 2 0 49 1050 120 0 10 88 0 0 1 0 55 0 240 1 300 50 0 0 0 4 4 2 1 4 4 14 2 3 0 6 0 0	2 0 1 118 1 11 0 4 3 40 0 2 0 0 2 0 6 0 0 0 3 0 0 4 1 0 0 1 3 1 8 0 1 2 4	2 0 0 2 22 1 0 0 290 167 0 2 1 0 0 13 2 69 2 1 0 0 0 5 2 0 0 0 2 1 1 0 0 0 0	4 2 1 169 1147 155 95 18 578 207 0 7 1 150 2 328 16 589 167 1 25 1 33 13 5 56 6 5 20 6 13 1 13 2 4
				Ttl	3840
Blue Whale Sperm Whale Beaked Whale Fin Whale Common Dolphin Risso’s Dolphin Bottlenose Dolphin White-sided Dolphin Elephant Seal Guadalupe Fur Seal California Sea Lion Blue Shark Ocean Sunfish (Mola Mola)					6 1 1 14 1300 110 85 35 1 5 124 12 5

SEPTEMBER 2008 SEARCHER TRIP LOG (by Jon Feenstra)

Nine Mile Bank – USA 9/1/08 This list includes all birds recorded from exiting SD harbor, the entire length of the 9 Mile Bank (US), just north of there – all SD County water Northern Shoveler 6

Pink-footed Shearwater 64

Sooty Shearwater 23

Black-vented Shearwater 75

Ashy Storm-Petrel 3

Black Storm-Petrel 200

Brown Pelican 63

Brandt’s Cormorant 9

Red-necked Phalarope 70

Red Phalarope 6

phalarope sp. 15

Heermann’s Gull 51

Western Gull 108

Sabine’s Gull 23

Black Tern 1

Common Tern 28

Common/Arctic Tern 1

Royal Tern 2

Elegant Tern 49

Pomarine Jaeger 1

Parasitic Jaeger 1

Long-tailed Jaeger 1

Cassin’s Auklet 3

Rhinoceros Auklet 1

Anacapa Island – Southern Waters 9/2/08 Waters south of Anacapa Island to the NE corner of the Sta Cruz Basin – all in VenCo waters.

Pink-footed Shearwater 700

Buller’s Shearwater 2

Sooty Shearwater 52

Black Storm-Petrel 88

Brown Pelican 39

Greater Yellowlegs 1

Black Turnstone 1

Red-necked Phalarope 233

phalarope sp. 0

Heermann’s Gull 2

Western Gull 42

Common Tern 2

South Polar Skua 1

Pomarine Jaeger 3

Rhinoceros Auklet 1

Mourning Dove 1

Savannah Sparrow 1

Santa Cruz Basin – SBA County 9/2/08 This list includes birds from the north and west edges of the Sta Cruz Basin – all in SBA County

Pink-footed Shearwater 200

Buller’s Shearwater 12

Sooty Shearwater 31

Brown Pelican 5

Brandt’s Cormorant 2

Red Phalarope 1

Heermann’s Gull 5

Western Gull 85

Common Tern 1

Elegant Tern 1

South Polar Skua 2

Pomarine Jaeger 5

Parasitic Jaeger 1

jaeger sp. 2

Cassin’s Auklet 2

Santa Rosa Flats – SBA County 9/2/08 Birds seen over the south end of the Santa Rosa Flats, near the Santa Rosa Buoy, and the 311 Bank. All in SBA County.

Pink-footed Shearwater 37

Buller’s Shearwater 2

Sooty Shearwater 6

Brown Pelican 2

Red-necked Phalarope 3

Heermann’s Gull 1

Western Gull 56

Common Tern 2

Arctic Tern 3

Common/Arctic Tern 2

Pomarine Jaeger 5

Parasitic Jaeger 1

Long-tailed Jaeger 2

jaeger sp. 3

Cassin’s Auklet 3

Brown-headed Cowbird 1

San Miguel Island Pelagic waters 9/2/08 Birds recorded between the 311 Bank and Richardson Rock. The track was mostly along the 500 fathom line.

Northern Fulmar 2

Pink-footed Shearwater 215

Buller’s Shearwater 10

Sooty Shearwater 27

Brown Pelican 8

Brandt’s Cormorant 1

Red-necked Phalarope 7

Heermann’s Gull 2

Western Gull 66

Arctic Tern 1

Royal Tern 4

South Polar Skua 1

Pomarine Jaeger 1

Long-tailed Jaeger 1

Cassin’s Auklet 1

Arguello Canyon/948 Bank – SBA County 9/3/08 Species recorded at the 948 Bank starting at dawn (with a chum slick) and waters just to the south.

Black-footed Albatross 1

Cook’s Petrel 1

Buller’s Shearwater 5

Sooty Shearwater 8

Leach’s Storm-Petrel 5

Black Storm-Petrel 2

Arctic Tern 2

Common/Arctic Tern 1

Pomarine Jaeger 2

Long-tailed Jaeger 7

jaeger sp. 4

Cassin’s Auklet 1

Rodriguez Seamount – SBA County 9/3/08 Recorded in the vicinity of the Rodriguez Seamount which was passed while en route from Arguello Canyon to the San Juan Seamount.

Pink-footed Shearwater 1

Buller’s Shearwater 80

Sooty Shearwater 2

Leach’s Storm-Petrel (Dark-rumped) 16

Leach’s Storm-Petrel (White-rumped) 3

Ashy Storm-Petrel 4

Least Storm-Petrel 1

Red-billed Tropicbird 1

phalarope sp. 1

Sabine’s Gull 3

Arctic Tern 2

South Polar Skua 1

Pomarine Jaeger 1

jaeger sp. 4

Xantus’s Murrelet 2

Brown-headed Cowbird 1

San Juan Seamount – SBA County 9/3/08 Recorded within about 30 miles north of the San Juan Seamount. The RB Tropicbird was later at night (9:30PM) east of the San Juan and may have been in VenCo waters.

Black-footed Albatross 1

Buller’s Shearwater 34

Sooty Shearwater 1

Leach’s Storm-Petrel 120

Black Storm-Petrel 1

Least Storm-Petrel 1

Red-billed Tropicbird 1

Red Phalarope 6

Parasitic Jaeger 1

Long-tailed Jaeger 1

jaeger sp. 4

Xantus’s Murrelet 4

MacGillivray’s Warbler 1

Cortez Bank 9/4/08 Western and southern edges of Cortez Bank, and waters SE en route to Mushroom Bank.

Pink-footed Shearwater 17

Buller’s Shearwater 1

Leach’s Storm-Petrel 33

Black Storm-Petrel 5

Red-necked Phalarope 2

Red Phalarope 11

phalarope sp. 4

Heermann’s Gull 2

Ring-billed Gull 1

Western Gull 54

Arctic Tern 2

Pomarine Jaeger 2

Long-tailed Jaeger 1

jaeger sp. 2

Sixty-mile Bank – Los Angeles County 9/4/08 Includes birds recorded just north of the Mushroom Bank, along the north corner of the Mushroom, across the Sixty-mile Bank (including big chum slick), and just north en route to Butterfly Bank.

Black-footed Albatross 2

Pink-footed Shearwater 2

Sooty Shearwater 1

Wilson’s Storm-Petrel 1

Leach’s Storm-Petrel 38

Black Storm-Petrel 275

Least Storm-Petrel 2

Brandt’s Cormorant 1

Red-necked Phalarope 8

phalarope sp. 2

Western Gull 2

Common/Arctic Tern 2

Parasitic Jaeger 1

Brown-headed Cowbird 1

Butterfly Bank – LA County 9/4/08 Includes birds seen on and just south of the Butterfly Bank. We also sat on a slick on the bank for a time. The Leach’s included one Guadalupe type.

Pink-footed Shearwater 3

Leach’s Storm-Petrel 3

Black Storm-Petrel 7

Brandt’s Cormorant 2

Western Gull 3

Arctic Tern 3

DATE: June 2-6, 2008

TRIP: Offshore Birding Trip

Report

The squawking of Red-crowned Parrots greeted 27 birders as we boarded the live-aboard vessel Searcher at Point Loma’s Fisherman’s Landing on Monday morning, June 2, 2008 and prepared for our 5-day adventure on the high seas. Upon sailing we immediately headed for the Nine-mile Bank and within an hour were enjoying storm-petrels, alcids, shearwaters and Northern Fulmar.

Monday’s highlights included 33 Black-storm Petrels, 525 Sooties, 7 Northern Fulmar, 2 SOUTH POLAR SKUA, 18 Xantus’s Murrelets, Sabine’s Gull and 30 Risso’s Dolphin. At dinner in Searcher’s comfortable salon that evening, some participants already had eight lifers!

Tuesday morning we awoke at the Channel Islands, just south of Santa Barbara at Anacapa Island where we enjoyed close-ups of Pigeon Guillemots, Black Oystercatchers, Surf Scoters, Common Murre, Xantus’s Murrelets and hundreds of shearwaters, causing leader Jon Feenstra to exclaim, “This place is rich in birdly goodness!”

The seas were too high and the winds too windy to sail west to the San Juan Seamount, so at our morning leaders meeting we agreed with Captain Art to sail south with the seas and spend Tuesday night in the lee of San Nicholas Island.

Dave Pereksta proved clairvoyant as he prophesied what was in store for Tuesday by pronouncing: “Where there are birds, there are possibly other birds.” Sure enough, the day’s totals included 3 BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS, more than 1500 shearwaters, including a FLESH-FOOTED and 350 Pink-footeds plus 4 SOUTH POLAR SKUA, with 3 of them lined up on the water all at once, an exceptional sighting of this rare-in-spring and normally solitary species.

We breakfasted Wednesday morning in the lee of San Nick Island before heading out for deeper water to find extraordinarily high winds (35 – 50 mph) and 6-8 foot seas, highly unusual for June in the SoCal bight. Not able to reach our intended destination of the continental shelf edge, we continued south towards San Clemente Island. Despite big seas, we racked up sightings of Black, Ashy and Leach’s Storm-petrels, a LAYSAN’S ALBATROSS, an ARCTIC TERN and 5 more SKUA. We enjoyed another delicious Searcher dinner in the shelter of San Clemente’s Pyramid Cove.

Searcher departed the shelter of San Clemente at 1:00 a.m. Thursday and throughout the day we headed southwest to reach the southernmost portion of ABA waters. For the third day in a row, the weather gods served us high winds at a time of year when seas are typically benign. We weren’t about to let the weather get the best of us and found 7 more BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSSES, 2 more LAYSAN’S and more than 100 Leach’s Storm-petrels.

After 3 days of big seas, we awoke at the Nine Mile Bank Friday morning at 5 a.m. in flat calm glassy water and enjoyed close-ups of Xantus’s Murrelets and Cassin’s Auklets during breakfast. While the weather never allowed us to reach the “rarity zone” at the edge of the Continental Shelf, the June Searcher trip proved and exciting adventure for all aboard. A big thank you to Todd Easterlea, Jon Feenstra and Big Dave Pereksta for getting us on birds in big seas and a special thank you to Tanner Easterlea, Dave Povey and Wes Fritz for the great chumming that brought in all those tubenoses. Communication + Teamwork + Camaraderie equals FUN!!

Species List	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Ttl
Surf Scoter Pacific Loon Common Loon Black-footed Albatross Laysan Albatross Northern Fulmar Pink-footed Shearwater Sooty Shearwater Flesh-footed Shearwater Leach’s Storm-petrel Black Storm-petrel Ashy Storm-petrel Brown Pelican Double-crested Cormorant Brandt’s Cormorant Pelagic Cormorant Black Oystercatcher Red Phalarope Red-necked Phalarope Heermann’s Gull Western Gull Sabine’s Gull Caspian Tern Elegant Tern Royal Tern Forster’s Tern Least Tern Skua Pomarine Jaeger Xantus’s Murrelet Cassin’s Auklet Rhinoceros Auklet Common Murre Common Dolphin Bottlenose Dolphin Mola Mola Pacific White-sided Dolphin Northern Right-Whale Dolphin Fin Whale Elephant Seal Flying Fish Guadalupe Fur Seal	0 2 2 0 0 7 4 525 0 0 33 0 19 1 2 0 0 0 0 4 105 1 10 30 1 4 12 2 0 18 31 0 0 30 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0	7 0 0 3 0 2 350 1150 1 0 1 1 65 0 1500 7 7 1 2 0 2000 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 19 40 8 2 0 4 5 2 8 4 0 1 0	0 1 0 2 1 3 20 275 0 7 35 6 37 4 40 0 0 0 0 1 150 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 1 6 45 2 0 0 6 2 6 0 4 20 3 0	0 0 0 7 2 5 0 3 0 110 17 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 20 0 3 1 3 0 1 0 3	7 3 2 12 3 17 374 1953 1 117 86 7 121 5 1542 7 7 1 2 5 2260 1 10 30 1 4 12 11 1 43 116 10 2 50 12 11 9 11 8 21 4 3

DATE: September 3-7, 2007

TRIP: Offshore Birding Trip

Report

Day 1

After leaving San Diego Harbor to east end of Anacapa Island

Pink-footed Shearwater Sooty Shearwater Black-vented Shearwater Black Storm-Petrel Leach’s Storm-Petrel Least Storm-Petrel Brown Pelican Pelagic Cormorant Red-necked Phalarope

33 3 5 188 2 17 232 1 169

Red Phalarope Heermann’s Gull Western Gull Sabine’s Gull Common Tern Royal Tern Elegant Tern Pomarine Jaeger Parasitic Jaeger

11 40 142 2 51 9 11 2 5

Mammals: California Sea Lion, Long-beaked Common Dolphin, Risso’s Dolphin, Blue Whale, Humpback Whale, Bottlenosed Dolphin

Day 2

East end of Anacapa west to the South Point of Santa Rosa, then south to the east end of San Nicolas. Conditions were rough and windy.

Cook’s Petrel Pink-footed Shearwater Buller’s Shearwater Sooty Shearwater Black-vented Shearwater Leach’s Storm-Petrel Black Storm-Petrel Brown Pelican Brandt’s Cormorant Double-crested Cormorant Pelagic Cormorant Black Oystercatcher Surfbird Common Murre

1 275 4 243 1 2 2 2000 670 3 5 10 3

Red-necked Phalarope Red Phalarope Heermann’s Gull Western Gull Sabine’s Gull Royal Tern Elegant Tern South Polar Skua Pomarine Jaeger Parasitic Jaeger Cassin’s Auklet Rhinoceras Auklet

63 2 6 750 2 10 2 3 18 1 1 2

Day 3

East end of San Nicolas south to Tanner and Cortez Banks, then south-southwest to the 1000 fathom line. Sea anchored there.

Teal sp. Cook’s Petrel Pink-footed Shearwater Buller’s Shearwater Sooty Shearwater Black-vented Shearwater Leach’s Storm-Petrel Black Turnstone Red-necked Phalarope Red Phalarope Bonaparte’s Gull Heermann’s Gull Western Gull Arctic Tern Royal Tern Elegant Tern

3 1(night) 44 3 47 1 313 1 21 41 55 5 200 3 21 2

“Summer Guadalupe” Leach’s Storm-Petrel Black Storm-Petrel Brown Pelican Brandt’s Cormorant Pacific Golden-Plover Semipalmated Plover Marbled Godwit South Polar Skua Pomarine Jaeger Parasitic Jaeger Long-tailed Jaeger Xantus’s Murrelet Cassin’s Auklet Rhinoceras Auklet White-winged Dove

40 24 55 13 1 (night) 1 (night) 3 3 9 1 2 3 4 1 1 (night)

Mammals: California Sea Lion, Northern Elephant Seal, Northern Fur Seal, Short-beaked Common Dolphin, Fin Whale

Day 4

Albacore grounds south of Cortez Banks to the Mushrooom and Sixtymile Bankk

Black-footed Albatross Pink-footed Shearwater Sooty Shearwater Leach’s Storm-Petrel “Summer Guadalupe” Leach’s Storm-Petrel Black Storm-Petrel Red-billed Tropicbird Wandering Tattler Marbled Godwit Sanderling Red-necked Phalarope

4 4 2 176 28 153 3 1 5 1 62

Red Phalarope Western Gull Sabine’s Gull Pomarine Jaeger Long-tailed Jaeger Arctic Tern Common Tern Elegant Tern Mourning Dove Brown-headed Cowbird

55 74 1 7 3 5 169 1 1 1

Mammals: California Sea Lion, Blue Whale, Sperm Whale, Fin Whale, Baird’s Beaked Whale, Sei Whale, Pacific White-sided Dolphin

Photo Gallery

DATE: April 14-18, 2007

TRIP: Offshore Birding Trip

Report

Day 1

After leaving San Diego Harbor to just SE of Catalina Island

Surf Scoter Pacific Loon Common Loon Northern Fulmar Pink-footed Shearwater Sooty Shearwater Short-tailed Shearwater Black-vented Shearwater Black Storm-Petrel Brown Pelican Brandt’s Cormorant Double-crested Cormorant Pelagic Cormorant Bonaparte’s Gull

55 42 2 8 48 68 1 1 2 9 9 1 1 18

California Gull Western Gull Sabine’s Gull Caspian Tern Common Tern Forster’s Tern Royal Tern Elegant Tern Pomarine Jaeger Parasitic Jaeger Jaeger sp. Xantus’s Murrelet Cassin’s Auklet Rhinoceras Auklet

lots lots 3 2 1 28 12 29 17 8 3 9 1 11

Mammals: California Sea Lion, Bottlenosed Dolphin

Day 2

Spent in Oxnard harbor waiting out the weather

Day 3

Oxnard harbor to the east tip of Anacapa then along the south side of the Channel Islands west to the midpoint of Santa Rosa Island then SW to the 1000+ fathom waters about 20 miles east of the San Juan Seamount.

Surf Scoter Red-throated Loon Pacific Loon Common Loon Black-footed Albatross Northern Fulmar Pink-footed Shearwater Sooty Shearwater Black-vented Shearwater Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel Brown Pelican Brandt’s Cormorant Double-crested Cormorant Pelagic Cormorant Peregrine Falcon

115 3 67 3 3 10 61 396 1 1 thousands thousands ~1000 36 1

Black Oystercatcher Red-necked Phalarope Bonaparte’s Gull Heermann’s Gull California Gull Western Gull Black-legged Kittiwake Sabine’s Gull Elegant Tern Pomarine Jaeger Common Murre Pigeon Guillemot Xantus’s Murrelet Cassin’s Auklet Rhinoceras Auklet

2 21 55 1 ~1k thousands 1 16 2 10 7 26 20 77 28

Some participants also saw 2 alternate plumaged Tufted Puffins fly by south of Anacapa Is.

Mammals: California Sea Lion, Northern Elephant Seal, (offshore) Common Bottlenosed Dolphin, Long-beaked Common Dolphin, Risso’s Dolphin, Dall’s Porpoise

Day 4

Cortez Banks to the Mushrooom and Sixtymile Bank

Pacific Loon Common Loon Laysan Albatross Black-footed Albatross Northern Fulmar Pink-footed Shearwater Sooty Shearwater Leach’s Storm-Petrel Ashy Storm-Petrel Black Storm-Petre

1 1 1 9 70 4 72 2 1 103

Red-billed Tropicbird Red-necked Phalarope California Gull Western Gull Sabine’s Gull Pomarine Jaeger Long-tailed Jaeger Xantus’s Murrelet Cassin’s Auklet Rhinoceras Auklet

1 50 1 130 11 6 1 3 153 12

Mammals: California Sea Lion, Northern Right Whale Dolphin (~200 off the Mushroom)