Hello whalewatchers: We have had a wonderful morning today with great conditions. Light winds always makes for good whalewatching. We had two trips this morning and everyone had a good time. We had a cow and calf visit us at the Searcher for a short while. The calf was very young. 
Looking forward to this afternoon. It’s a chance for some folks to go ashore including Capt Art.
Team Searcher
Hello whalewatchers: It is so great to be back in Laguna San Ignacio! I always lament leaving here on the last trip every year, and then each year I get excited with the anticipation of returning. The place is like we never left–there are plenty of whales and it still looks as pristine as when we left.
The conditions are great today with good weather, light winds and partly cloudy skies, so it isn’t too hot. The latest census reported 140 total whales here which seems like a lot for this time of year. Today’s photo is of one of the pangas departing for a trip after lunch. Note the weather.
Team Searcher
Hello whalewatchers; We had a lovely day at Islas San Benito today. The day started with some clouds and a little rain, and then the skies cleared and there was plenty of sunshine. The island looks like it has gotten some recent rain, as it is green in spots and a few flowers already in bloom.
There are lots of elephant seals on the beaches with males fighting and females with pups. Unfortunately there is some mortality with the pups and as usual they all end up on the same beach. No sign of Guadalupe fur seals in the usual places. There are ospreys on the nest as usual. However, there is some changes with the habitat around the island. There is a shortage of kelp after the warm water last summer and fall. That might be part of the reason the fur seals haven’t arrived yet. The beach at the landing is different as well with less gravel.
Everyone seemed to have an awesome day. We are headed south to Laguna San Ignacio in calm seas. Looking forward to arriving in the morning.
Team Searcher
Hello whalewatchers! After a great morning with good weather and plenty of southbound gray whales, we had a nice lunch and the possibility of a little siesta. But then Capt Aaron and the boys located a group of orcas–seven whales total: one male, four females and two calves. They were feeding on something we didn’t get to ID but it sure smelled fishy in the area, with lots of bird life as well. We spent an hour and a half with them and everyone had a good chance at a photo or 200 with great lighting and close up as well.
Team Searcher
Dear whalewatchers: Yes, we are off and running (south) to Baja! Today is the first day of our season and guests are enjoying gray whales, common dolphin, a green island with nesting seabirds and elephant seals. The weather is beautiful too. Stay tuned for photos and reports from the boat in this space!
| 1-Sep | 2-Sep | 3-Sep | 4-Sep | ||
| Species Name | |||||
| Cinnamon Teal – Anas cyanoptera | — | 2 | — | — | |
| Black-footed Albatross – Phoebastria nigripes | — | 5 | 1 | 17 | |
| Northern Fulmar – Fulmarus glacialis | 1 | — | 1 | 1 | |
| Pink-footed Shearwater – Puffinus creatopus | 6 | 160 | 55 | 105 | |
| Buller’s Shearwater – Puffinus bulleri | — | — | 8 | — | |
| Sooty Shearwater – Puffinus griseus | — | — | 2 | 3 | |
| Black-vented Shearwater – Puffinus opisthomelas | 382 | 3 | — | 2,005 | |
| Leach’s Storm-Petrel – Oceanodroma leucorhoa | 1 | 4 | 110 | 125 | |
| Ashy Storm-Petrel – Oceanodroma homochroa | 25 | 12 | 6 | — | |
| Black Storm-Petrel – Oceanodroma melania | 179 | 378 | 174 | 89 | |
| Least Storm-Petrel – Oceanodroma microsoma | 10 | — | — | 3 | |
| Red-billed Tropicbird – Phaethon aethereus | — | — | 10 | 1 | |
| Brown Booby – Sula leucogaster | 1 | 1 | — | 1 | |
| Brandt’s Cormorant – Phalacrocorax penicillatus | 502 | 33 | — | — | |
| Double-crested Cormorant – Phalacrocorax auritus | 1 | — | — | — | |
| Pelagic Cormorant – Phalacrocorax pelagicus | — | 4 | — | — | |
| Brown Pelican – Pelecanus occidentalis | 36 | 6 | — | — | |
| Great Blue Heron – Ardea herodias | 1 | — | — | — | |
| Great Egret – Ardea alba | 6 | — | — | — | |
| Snowy Egret – Egretta thula | 4 | — | — | — | |
| Black Oystercatcher – Haematopus bachmani | — | 1 | — | — | |
| Long-billed Curlew – Numenius americanus | — | — | — | 1 | |
| Marbled Godwit – Limosa fedoa | — | 1 | — | — | |
| Black Turnstone – Arenaria melanocephala | — | — | — | 3 | |
| Sanderling – Calidris alba | — | 7 | — | — | |
| Short-billed Dowitcher – Limnodromus griseus | — | — | — | 12 | |
| Red-necked Phalarope – Phalaropus lobatus | 103 | 25 | — | 12 | |
| Red Phalarope – Phalaropus fulicarius | 5 | — | 12 | 2 | |
| phalarope sp. – Phalaropus sp. | — | 15 | — | 2 | |
| shorebird sp. – Charadriiformes sp. | — | 10 | — | — | |
| South Polar Skua – Stercorarius maccormicki | — | 3 | — | — | |
| Pomarine Jaeger – Stercorarius pomarinus | 1 | 7 | — | 2 | |
| Parasitic Jaeger – Stercorarius parasiticus | 1 | 2 | — | — | |
| Long-tailed Jaeger – Stercorarius longicaudus | — | 3 | 6 | 7 | |
| jaeger sp. – Stercorarius sp. (jaeger sp.) | — | 1 | 10 | — | |
| Craveri’s Murrelet – Synthliboramphus craveri | 13 | — | — | — | |
| Scripps’s/Guadalupe/Craveri’s Murrelet – Synthliboramphus | 11 | — | 3 | 2 | |
| Sabine’s Gull – Xema sabini | 1 | 6 | 1 | 1 | |
| Heermann’s Gull – Larus heermanni | 102 | 13 | — | — | |
| Western Gull – Larus occidentalis | 260 | 262 | 17 | 331 | |
| California Gull – Larus californicus | 2 | — | — | — | |
| Common Tern – Sterna hirundo | 140 | 2 | — | 4 | |
| Arctic Tern – Sterna paradisaea | — | — | 8 | — | |
| Common/Arctic Tern – Sterna hirundo/paradisaea | — | — | 12 | — | |
| Royal Tern – Thalasseus maximus | 3 | 5 | — | — | |
| Elegant Tern – Thalasseus elegans | 71 | 9 | — | 49 | |
| Mourning Dove – Zenaida macroura | — | 1 | — | — | |
| Brown-headed Cowbird – Molothrus ater | — | 6 | 1 | 1 | |
| passerine sp. – Passeriformes sp. | — | — | 1 | — |
Many thanks to John Schwarz for his blog posting about the pelagic tour: http://www.birdspix.com/. He includes short video footage of the Baird’s beaked whales too.
Hello all,
Today we started in the Tanner/Cortez bank area. There was a tremendous amount of birds there starting at daylight. Black-vented shearwaters were everywhere which is significant because they generally are closer to shore. Todd, John and Dave all mentioned they haven’t seen this amount of black-vented shearwaters ever in all their trips. Maybe the warm water conditions have something to do with it. Several blackfooted albatross appeared this afternoon. We had common dolphins. Risso’s dolphin , blue whales and California sea lions in the marine mammal department. Great weather and a great day again.
Today’s picture is a group of four albatross in our chum slick at sunset.
Team Searcher
Hello all,
We had another good day a long way offshore. We spent the day in really deep water– 2000 fathoms and deeper–off the shelf. We started on the Rodriguez Seamount and then went SSE to the San Juan Seamount late this afternoon. We were over 200 miles west of San Diego all day. There were lots of birds to look at at various times during the day and some whale sightings as well.
Pink-footed, sooty, black-vented and Bullers shearwaters, black-footed albatross, red-billed tropicbirds, jeagers, loads of storm petrels (ashy, Leachs, black). Arctic, elegant and common terns, western and Sabine’s gulls. There wasn’t too much time spent without birds today.
We saw Risso’s and common dolphin and a very large blue whale. It is interesting to think about seeing blue whales within 5 miles west of San Diego and then seeing them over 200 miles west of San Diego too! I think it means there is more and more blue whales in the Eastern Pacific. Great news!
Today’s picture is a Risso’s dolphin at the surface with more just under the surface in the foreground.
Team Searcher
Hello all,
Another great day with lots of birds. The highlights are south polar skua, pomarine and parasitic jeager, black-footed albatross. We had plenty of storm petrels and pink-footed shearwaters all day, lots of common dolphin, Risso’s dolphin, bottlenose dolphin and the highlight was a group of 20 Baird’s beaked whales. The weather cooperated with light winds all day and not much sea or swell. We are headed into San Miguel Island to have dinner and get some rest before heading west to the Rodriguez Seamount to start tomorrow.
Today’s photo is Dave Povey (chummed extraordinaire) in white hat and some fellow birders at the chum station.
Team Searcher
