Baja Birding Trip: Albatross Encounter
Baja Birding Trip: Day 4
Hello,
Today we are further offshore with hopes of some Cooks petrels. We still have incredible weather with no wind and not much swell.
It was a little slow on the birds today, though we saw plenty of black and leaches storm petrels and just a few black-footed and Laysan albatross. We did see a family of Xantus murrelets with two adults and two chicks.
An exciting sighting was a group of blue whales with a fin whale with them. We were able to get close enough to the fin whale to see its white lower jaw on the right side. We saw 10 or 12 blue whales in the afternoon and a couple of other fin whales.
Surfacing blue whale, photo by Sally Walton
All in all, a great day with plenty to see. We are headed for the area south and west of the Islas Coronados.
Looking forward to tomorrow,
Capt Art
Baja Birding Trip: Day 3 (day’s end)
Hello,
Another great day in deep water! Today was albatross day. We saw about 70 black-footed and 20 laysan albatrosses. From dawn to dusk you could easily find an albatross. We also saw lots of leachs and black storm petrels and one Cook’s petrel. There was the occasional black-vented shearwater too.
We did see about 30 sperm whales in two different areas and had great looks at them laying on the surface getting air before fluking and diving deep. A few common dolphin were around us too.
We are headed west tonight since we have the good weather and the opportunity to get out in deeper water. We hope to find some more Cook’s petrels.
More tomorrow,
Capt Art
Baja Birding Trip: Day 3 (mid day)
Hello,
We are checking in with a mid-morning report of great viewing of albatrosses. We stopped for awhile and had 22 albatrosses-17 black-footed and 5 laysan-right next to the boat. In addition, there were several black storm petrels. They were attracted to the fish oil chum we were putting in the water.
Before that we had good looks at 12 to 15 sperm whales on the surface. Also a quick look at a Cooks petrel, red phalaropes and a sun fish. All this before 10 am. We have been pretty busy.
More later,
Capt Art
Baja Birding Trip: Day 2
Hello,
Today we travelled southeast in very deep water heading for a seamount we call the “176.” It is called that because 176 fathoms is the shallowest the seamount comes up to, rising out of a depth of 1500-1800 fathoms. It lies 50 miles northeast of Isla Guadalupe and can be very productive for seabirds.
On our way there we saw laysan albatross, south polar skua and hundreds of least storm petrels. After arriving at the seamount we laid out a 4-mile slick with fish oil and beef fat, then turned around and travelled back up the slick. There were several storm petrels and a laysan albatross.
We went southwest towards Isla Guadalupe, looking for Cooks petrels. After a dry spell, we started to see storm petrels and a few black-vented shearwaters. Then we started seeing Cooks petrels for a total of 13 for the afternoon.
All in all, it was a great day with calm winds and not too much swell.
Headed east after dinner and looking forward to tomorrow,
Capt Art
Baja Birding Trip: Day 1
Hello,
We departed San Diego today at 4 pm for another pelagic birding trip. This time we are concentrating on birds in Mexican waters with plans to be offshore in deep water for four days.
We are headed for a sea mount NE of Isla Guadalupe 50 miles and plan to spend a few hours in that area. We are hoping for albatrosses, petrels, shearwaters and whatever else finds us.
We had excellent sightings today with both black-footed and laysan albatrosses, black storm petrels, sooty shearwaters and Xantus murrelets.
Black-footed albatross, photo by Todd McGrath
We also saw three different species of dolphins (common, Rissos and bottlenose) and two fin whales as well.
We topped off the day with a great fresh yellowtail dinner.
I call that a great start to this trip and we are looking forward to tomorrow. The weather is great with no wind or seas.
Capt Art
Terry Hunefeld’s Report on Wildlife Weekend
The Memorial Day Wildlife Weekend trip from San Diego aboard the live-aboard Searcher delivered all we hoped for and more: sunny skies, warm temperatures, gently rolling seas and pleasant breezes. Highlights included 6 tropicbirds, 6 skua, 4 Laysan Albatrosses and 11 species of cetaceans including blue whales, a cooperative minke whale, a very late northbound adult gray whale and 20 very-rare-this-far-south northern right whale dolphins.
We stayed south of San Clemente island to maximize both our marine mammal and bird lists. The trip report is now posted to SoCalBirding.com and included photos by 5 photographers plus video footage of south polar skua, laysan & black-footed albabross, blue, minke, fin and humpback whales, risso’s and pacific white-sided dolphin.
Trip report: http://www.socalbirding.com/2010tripreports/searchermay29312010.html
Wildlife Weekend, May 2010: day 3
Hello whalewatchers,
What a phenomenal morning! We spent time with five different cetaceans in just 3.5 hours–common, bottlenose and Rissos dolphins, along with humpback and blue whales. The highlight was definitely the two blue whales, as both of them were fluking.
We also encountered a tremendous amount of seabirds: shearwaters, gulls, terns, and albatrosses.
We are headed to the Coronado Islands to finish the trip with a look at some pinnipeds and nesting brown boobies.
I am truly amazed at the amount of marine life we have observed in the past 2.5 days. We found 11 total species of cetaceans: six species of dolphin and five species of baleen whales.
The weather has been great which helped out a lot.
Looking forward to offering this trip again next spring. Stay tuned for our 2011 schedule,
Capt Art
We are headed to the Coronado Islands to finish the trip with a look at some pinnipeds and nesting brown boobies.
I am truly amazed at the amount of marine life we have observed in the past 2.5 days. We found 11 total species of cetaceans: six species of dolphin and five species of baleen whales.
The weather has been great which helped out a lot.
Looking forward to offering this trip again next spring. Stay tuned for our 2011 schedule,
Capt Art
Wildlife Weekend, May 2010: day 2
Hello whalewatchers,
We had another spectacular day offshore starting with the weather. We had almost no wind all day and hardly any swell either. That helped a lot. We were able to see a minke whale up close this morning which probably would not have happened without the weather we had. Also we got up close to Xantus murrelets and were able to follow them easily and watch them swimming underwater with their wings.
Also we found hundreds of sooty shearwaters with some pink-footed shearwaters mixed in. A laysan albatross showed up before breakfast ended.
We found short-beaked common dolphin, pacific white-sided dolphin and, at the end of the day, northern right whale dolphins mixed with pacific white-sided dolphins.
Added in were hundreds of storm petrels, both black and leachs–a constant stream of them all day.
After lunch we located five fin whales and we were able to stay with them for two hours to get really good looks at them. At the same time there were black-footed and Laysan albatrosses.
All total, we added four new species of cetaceans for a total of nine species for the two days of the trip–that is six species of dolphins and three species of baleen whales.
Looking forward to tomorrow with reports of blue whales on our bow. We will be in that area at daylight and hope to finish the trip off by sighting the largest whale.
Capt Art
We had another spectacular day offshore starting with the weather. We had almost no wind all day and hardly any swell either. That helped a lot. We were able to see a minke whale up close this morning which probably would not have happened without the weather we had. Also we got up close to Xantus murrelets and were able to follow them easily and watch them swimming underwater with their wings.
Also we found hundreds of sooty shearwaters with some pink-footed shearwaters mixed in. A laysan albatross showed up before breakfast ended.
We found short-beaked common dolphin, pacific white-sided dolphin and, at the end of the day, northern right whale dolphins mixed with pacific white-sided dolphins.
Added in were hundreds of storm petrels, both black and leachs–a constant stream of them all day.
After lunch we located five fin whales and we were able to stay with them for two hours to get really good looks at them. At the same time there were black-footed and Laysan albatrosses.
All total, we added four new species of cetaceans for a total of nine species for the two days of the trip–that is six species of dolphins and three species of baleen whales.
Looking forward to tomorrow with reports of blue whales on our bow. We will be in that area at daylight and hope to finish the trip off by sighting the largest whale.
Capt Art
Wildlife Weekend: May 2010 “It’s only day 1!”
Hello Whalewatchers!
We had a very productive day today with great sightings of both cetaceans and seabirds. We started off right outside Pt Loma with a group of long-beaked common dolphin and sooty and pink-footed shearwaters, and several elegant terns.
After that we saw three fin whales up close. We were able to see the lower righthand side of the jaw that is white on a fin whale.
Risso’s dolphins were next with a group of 10 animals. Today was Risso dolphin day, as we saw at least 100 animals over a wide area of several miles.
Our rare sighting was a gray whale headed north. I can’t recall seeing a gray whale this late in the spring close to San Diego.
On the seabird front we saw at least two tropicbirds, one blackfooted albatross, several sooty and pink-footed shearwaters, and three south polar skuas.
The weather is great with diminishing wind and seas all day. We are looking forward to tomorrow as we head offshore in deep water where there is a temperature break with hopes of more whales, dolphins and sea birds.
Capt Art
