9 November 2013

This is the Buena Vista Audubon and  Grande Sportfishing Pelagic Trip report for Saturday Nov. 9, 2013.

This trip was planned as an easy, inexpensive,  short day of pelagic birding locally. Our hope was that beginning, or infrequent sea birders would find this trip attractive.  We of course hoped we'd find a few interesting birds, and catch some nice weather. I think we hit the bonafide "right" day.  We'd  seen dense fog overnight, but it broke nicely after dawn, and wind conditions were near zero.

We left the dock at 8 a.m. and due to the short nature of this trip , made a beeline offshore, with a very brief

look at Zuniga Jetty. We found a small number of Black Turnstones, and a lone Surfbird., among the many pelicans,cormorants, and gulls there. The bay and channel  held a few Surf Scoters, a couple of Common Loons,  Eared and Western Grebes, all newly arrived and still in small numbers. A couple of Royal Terns, a Forster's Tern, a local Osprey, a distant Peregrine Falcon, and tons of Heermann's Gulls escorted us south.

Offshore the life picked up immediately, and stay with us most of the trip. One complaint I hear about pelagic birding are the long dry spells of searching. We had hoped to avoid that today, and with a little planning, good wheel house direction and a good dose of luck, we had action most of the trip.

The near shore areas held the usual Black-vented Shearwaters, Brandt's Cormorants, Brown Pelicans, and Heermann's, California, and Western Gulls, but within a short distance we also started to add Cassin's Auklets, Bonaparte's Gulls, a few Red-necked Phalaropes, all zooplankton feeders. The Bonaparte's Gulls likely the most abundant species for the day with 500 or so, followed closely by Cassin's Auklets estimated at 300 plus. Red-necked Phalaropes numbers were well down from recent trips as expected this late in fall. The small number of Red Phalaropes ( 2 ) was low for the time of year.

The Nine Mile Bank had a few Northern Fulmars though many less than recent trips further offshore. Near the outer edge of the Nine Mile Bank we had a flyby Common Murre. The last few years this species has been plentiful locally.  Common Murres were nearly absent in the warm-water years. The" NINE" also produced a few jaegers, including one Pomarine on the water that let us drive up before it took off, a nearly black Pomarine doing it's best to look skua-like, and a flyby Parasitic Jaeger.

Pink-footed Shearwater were in good numbers and seen at all but the most inshore areas. We often had a half dozen following or around the boat much of the time on the Nine Mile Bank. The surprise of the day was a Flesh-footed Shearwater along with the Pink-foots, in the same general area as that species was seen on the Oct. 5th. and 13th. trips. Always a good bird in Southern California, and better yet in San Diego waters. This makes one wonder if this is a single bird that hung out locally , or if there were multiple birds involved here? Niether seems likely, but Oct.-Nov. is a good month historically for the species in So. Cal. so…who knows? I did heard a number of folks mention this Flesh-footed Shearwater as their Life, ABA, State, or County BIRD!  Success for one trip goal!

Our next surprise was a Brown Booby, an immature, that snuck in while we were congratulating ourselves over the Flesh-foot. The Booby colony just south of the border on Islas Los Coronados, sends us a bird from time to time. Somewhat regular off San Diego now, we still can't count on them ever trip. Brown Booby seem to follow the Common Dolphin pods, but the majority stay close to home below the border.   

Star of India
Photo by Dave Povey

Moving back to the east we encountered the same area of Bonaparte's Gulls, Cassin's Auklets, and Red-n. Phalaropes. We saw a few flyby Common and Pacific Loons. We now also had a good stream of north bound Black-vented Shearwaters which included a white bodied, mostly dark winged bird. These "pied" or partially leucistic Black-vents are actually somewhat common and often can be I'd. to individuals. I know I've seen this bird before. Still any bright white shearwater gives one  pause!

The extra added threat for the day, as we return home, was the sailing of the Star of India. She still sails every year. Making her one of the oldest functioning sailing vessels in the world. This year is her 150th anniversary of her Nov. 14, 1863 launch at the Isle of Man. She didn't have much of a breeze to work with, but still looked great. She was accompanied by two other San Diego Maritime Museum ships The California, and The America both working replicas of 1800's sailing ships. The hazy air and muted background gave the scene a bit of a dreamy look. If you could block out the modern yachts it was a scene fromanother time.  Nice punctuation to the day.

I think we hit all our goals for this trip! Short, nice weather, good birds.

Really nice finish to what turn out to be a very nice year of pelagic birding off San Diego.

Trip Track

 

Our sincere thanks to Buena Vista Audubon for their sponsorship and support. Thanks also James McDaniels owner and operator of Grande Sportfishing for providing his boat at a very reasonable price, and his willingness to adapt to our constant suggestions,demands and directions. Thank you to James's crew Charlie, Oscar, and others. Thanks  to our volunteer leaders for their hours of searching and explaining what we were seeing. Peter Ginsburg, Bruce Rideout, B J Stacey, Gary Nunn, Tom Blackman, Guy McCaskie, Matt Sadowski, and a special thanks to Paul Lehman who took charge of leader organization, gave birders directions and orientation both shore side and aboard, spent hours in the cramped wheelhouse, searching for, finding and  directing us to seabirds, mammals, and other points of interest. This is never an easy task. All the while he give interesting context ,and insight about those things we would see.

Last our thanks to you. We wouldn't  be able to do any trips without you. We sincerely hope you had the some great experiences. We always hope to have you see the bird, or birds you wanted. That's not always in our control, but we feel satisfied if we've pulled back the curtain to this amazing world just off our shores. We hope you will join us for trips now in planning for 2014!

Some of the Birds seen 2013:

Black-footed Albatross       May 4 (1), Oct. 13 (1)

Northern Fulmar      Apr. 13  (6),  Oct. 5  (12), Oct. 13 (50), Nov. 9 (10)

Great Shearwater     Oct. 13 (1)

Buller's Shearwater     June 16  (1)

Flesh-footed Shearwater     Oct. 5, Oct. 13, Nov. 9

Pink-footed Shearwater        Apr 13 (4),  May 4 (13), Jun. 16 (60), Oct. 5 (120), Oct. 13 (500), Nov. 9 (140).

Sooty Shearwater        Apr. 13 (20), May 4 (26), Jun. 16 (550), Oct. 5  (1), Oct 13 (26), Nov. 9 (4).

Black-vented Shearwater      Apr. 13 (3), May 4 (1), Jun. 16 (1), Oct. 5 (720), Oct. 13 (260), Nov. (150).

Black Storm-Petrel         Apr. 13 (4), May 4 (150), Jun. 16 (70), Oct. 5 (4000), Oct. 13  (130).

Ashy Storm-Petrel         Jun. 16  (4), Oct. 5 (2).

Leach's Storm-Petrel        Oct. 5 (1).

Least Storm-Petrel         Oct. 5 (3500), Oct. 13 (5500).

Red-billed Tropicbird        Oct. 5 (1), Oct. 13 (1).

Brown Booby     Apr 13 (2), Jun. 16 (1), Oct.5 (3), Nov. 9 (1)

Red-necked Phalarope    Apr. 13 (6), May 4 (250), Oct. 5 (650), Oct. 13 (180), Nov.9 (20).

Red Phalarope    May 4 (3), Oct. 5 (1), Oct. 13 (1), Nov. 9 (2).

Sabine's Gull      May 4 (4), Oct. 16 (1).

Bonaparte's Gull      May 4 (1), Oct. 13 (1), Nov. 9 (500).

Black Tern      Oct. 5 (1).

Common Tern       May 4 (1),  Jun. 16 (2), Oct. 5 (190), Oct. 13 (15).

Least Tern     May 4 (120), Jun. 16 (8).

Elegant Tern     Apr. 13 (40),  May 4 (18),  Jun. 16 (10), Oct. 5  (4),  Oct. 13 (11).

South Polar Skua       Oct. 5 (1), Oct. 13 (2).

Pomarine Jaeger       May 4 (2), Jun. 16 (1), Oct. 5 (70), Oct. 13 (62), Nov. 9 (4).

Parasitic Jaeger     Apr. 13 (1), Oct. 5 (4), Oct. 13 (5), Nov. 9 (1).

Common Murre    Apr. 13 (1), Jun. 16 (1), Nov. 9 (1).

Scripps's Murrelet    Apr. 13 (45), May 4 (6), Jun. 16 (3).

Craveri's Murrelet     Oct. 5 (2).

Cassin's Auklets      Apr. 13 (42), May 4 (40), Jun. 16 (20), Oct. 5 (9), Oct. 13 (115), Nov. 9 (300).

Rhinoceros Auklet    Apr. 13 (2), May 4 (1).

Marine Mammals seen:

California Sea Lion

Harbor Seal

Elephant Seal

Risso's Dolphin

Common Dolphin

Bottle-nosed Dolphin

Gray Whale

Humpbacked Whale

Minke Whale

Fin Whale

Blue Whale

Dave Povey

13 October 2013

Trip report for Oct. 13, 2013. with record of a new Southern California species!

As is sometimes the case with pelagic trips, things change! This morning 50 passengers and 7 leaders boarded the very nice Sea Adventure 80. She is owned and captained by Scott McDaniels, father of James McDaniels, our normal skipper, and owner of the Grande.  Scott and the Sea Adventure 80 do a great job on whale watching trips in the winter months. I recommend them highly.

Today's weather was also different in that we experienced overcast skies during the morning and a southwest breeze, affectionately known locally as a Catalina Eddy. Last weekend we'd had a Santa Ana condition with clear skies and a east wind. Each condition has its benefits and detractions. Fortunately both conditions were mild, and the ocean was most pleasant. Offshore we also found the bird life to have changed slightly. Although Black-vented Shearwater, Red-necked Phalarope, and Cassin's Auklets  were abundant near shore as was the case last weekend, there were no big feeding concentrations this morning, to gather interesting species.

Proceeding west to the middle of the Nine Mile Bank, we added Northern Fulmar and Sooty Shearwater, numbers of Parasitic and Pomarine Jaegers.  Fulmar, and Sooty numbers were both up, Pom  numbers were down today. Pink-footed Shearwater became the dominant shearwater by the outer edge of the "Nine". The early-morning numbers not impressive. We drove northwest along the bank for a decent look at a South Polar Skua. We got looks at a second S.P.Skua near the 30 Mile Bank. These southern hemisphere birds are rare but somewhat regular spring and fall migrants. For whatever reason they've been tough to get this year.  Crossing the San Diego Trough was, as billed, dull. We didn't even have the benefit of the usual Common Dolphin pods to break up the monotony. The water over this featureless deep plain can sometimes pleasantly surprise us. Not today.  Approaching the 30 Mile Bank, we expected to start seeing a little more life. That really did happen, and that had the leaders worried.  A Red-billed Tropicbird saved us momentarily, with a nice show ahead of the boat. Then as it tried to escape the attentions of a jaeger, it flew right over the length of the boat.  Red-b. Tropicbird is usually highly pelagic and is rare but regular well offshore late summer and fall here. The 30 Mile Bank and San Diego Trough are usually the northeastern edge of their expected range. We've had a very good summer for them locally, only missing them on one trip offshore since Aug. 1st. We also found a first of season Bonaparte's Gull here on the 30 Mile. This unfortunate bird also being chased by a jaeger.

 The storm-petrels rafts eluded us today, but a decent consolation was a moderate-sized feeding group of Black and Least Storm-Petrels around a piece of fat or bubbler. We got some nice comparison looks at those quite different species.  Least Storm-Petrel is another San Diego specialty. A central Baja breeder it was once considered an irregular visitor here. The discovery of these massive storm-petrel rafts (daytime roost) centered between San Clemente Is. and the San Diego coast may prove them more regular here than we once expected. This year for instance, no Least, and very few Blacks Storm-Petrels were seen far from this area. Had we only birded the Nine Mile Bank, the southern portion of the 30 Mile Bank, or La Jolla this year, we would have deemed Least Storm-Petrel absent.

This piece of fat/bubbler also had a group of a dozen or so Northern Fulmars of several color morphs.

The trip down the 30 Mile Bank and out into the S.D. Trough was quiet with no hint of a murrelet of any type. A disappointment, but not completely unexpected. Half way across the San Diego Trough we got a mid afternoon wakeup call with a flyby Black-footed Albatross. Certainly not a rare bird well offshore, but never a regular in these waters, and much less so in fall than in spring.

Our return to the Nine Mile Bank was greeted by a mass of feeding Common Dolphin, and swirl of Pink-footed Shearwaters.  We moved around the melee to find several N. Fulmar, Sooty, and Black-vented Shearwaters, and then a Flesh-footed Shearwater. As with last week's Flesh-foot, some chase was required and sorting through other dark-bellied species, but we got this rare visitor from the New Zealand area in everyone's view.

Interestingly this was in the exact same area as last week's Flesh-foot. Same bird? I think that's a good possibility, lots of food here, and many Common Dolphin to push the food up to the surface. Why leave!

To this point in the trip we'd done pretty well. We'd gotten the hoped-for San Diego specialties Least Storm-Petrels, Red-billed Tropicbird. We had nice looks at a rare for us Flesh-footed Shearwater.   Black-footed Albatross, and South Polar Skua were certainly nice birds for our list. Those and a good mix of expected species. We were all feeling pretty good. Sure we'd had a few misses, almost every trip does.

Then in the category of saving the best for last, as we moved away from the feeding mass  I along with all the passengers heard from the P.A. "WHAT THE…….WHAT…..IS…THAT.. A ….A…… GREAT SHEARWATER !!!!"

This bird was sitting on the water with a couple of Pink-foots, got up and came right over to the boat and landed. Took off again circled and landed in the gull flock 25 ft. from the stern! Tons of photos! Lots of ooohs and aaahhs!

Now I know you east coasters will be unimpressed, and there were a few on the boat. Imagine a Pink-footed Shearwater being seen off Hatteras.. now you're getting closer. Although Great Shearwater is   VERY rare, seen a few times off the West Coast. This is we believe to be the first Great Shearwater seen off Southern California, and certainly the first off San Diego.

What a moment of pure joy! One of those fun moments that comes with birding, made extra special with the great unknowns of the oceans.

The rest of our trip back to the harbor was uneventful in comparison. Though we passed through group after group of Black-vented Shearwaters, Red-necked Phalaropes, and even had a few of well seen Cassin's Auklets.

I think many cell phones were working overtime in San Diego Bay. I saw one i-phone being used to take a picture of a SLR viewing screen. I hope I don't cause anyone problems by telling the story of a onboard birder calling his wife to report seeing a Great Shearwater. I gather the response was.. "That's nice honey…what kind was it?"  visions of Abbott & and Costello’s “Who's on first" there.

So forgive my ………What kind of trip was it?     …A GREAT trip!

Dave Povey

Trip Track

Trip Totals

Common Loon: 3
Eared Grebe: 3
BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS: 1 (15 miles off Pt Loma; very,very rare in fall)
Northern Fulmar: 50 (large numbers; continue to increase)
Pink-footed Shearwater: 500 (especially common on outer edge of 9-Mile)
FLESH-FOOTED SHEARWATER: 1 (excellent views; likely same individual as seen on 5 Oct at the same spot on the northwest 9-Mile)
GREAT SHEARWATER: 1 (12.3 nm W of Point Loma on NW 9-Mile Bank, with lots of Pink-foots; sitting next to boat; first record for San Diego County and all of Southern Calif.)
Sooty Shearwater: 26 (a lot more than last week)
Black-vented Shearwater: 260
Black Storm-Petrel: 130 (mostly in L.A. Co. waters)
LEAST STORM-PETREL: 30 (all but 2 in L.A. Co. waters)
RED-BILLED TROPICBIRD: 1 (good views in L.A. Co. waters)
Brown Pelican: 1
Red-necked Phalarope: 180
Red Phalarope: 1
Bonaparte's Gull: 1
Herring Gull: 4
SOUTH POLAR SKUA: 2 (good views; both SD Co. waters)
Pomarine Jaeger: 62
Parasitic Jaeger: 4
jaeger sp.: 5
Elegant Tern: 11
Common Tern: 15
Cassin's Auklet: 115 (lots flying south only a few miles offshore)

The next scheduled trip is:

 9 November 2013

See www.socalbirding.com

12 October 2013

Following is a quick trip report for the 12-hour pelagic with Island Packers out of the Ventura Harbor on Oct 12.  Our path from the Ventura Harbor took us south to Anacapa Island, then through the Anacapa Passage to the area south of the northern Channel islands where we then traveled west-southwest to the waters north and west of San Nicolas Island.  From there we went around the south side of San Nicolas, then east to the Osborne Bank and Santa Barbara Island, and then back to Ventura.

The day started off with a bang when we found the recent resident Brown Booby on the channel marker on the outer breakwater of the Ventura Harbor.  This would only be the start of our booby experiences for the day.  The trip to Anacapa had us passing through sizable flocks of Black-vented Shearwaters in the Santa Barbara Channel where we also encountered Sooty and Pink-footed Shearwaters, and Parasitic and Pomarine Jaegers.  East Anacapa Island produced eight Blue-footed Boobies on the cliffs below the lighthouse!  Captain Anthony skillfully navigated this area to get us close to the island for great views and photo ops of this rare species.  Several boobies flew right by the boat providing great flight shots for many of the photographers on board.  While it was tough to leave the boobies, we cruised west along the northern shore of Anacapa where we were treated to two American Oystercatchers.  Unlike the hybrids in the Ventura Harbor, these birds
would pass the Jehl Scale as Americans.

Leaving Anacapa, we went south through the Anacapa Passage and then (due to a live-fire military closure) headed west to get beyond the military's activities and head south towards San Nicolas Island. The seas got rough and birds were sparse except for the occasional Northern Fulmar, but we were rewarded with a Buller's Shearwater, South Polar Skua, a late Long-tailed Jaeger, and an Arctic Tern.  These are all difficult to find on southern California trips so we were fortunate to encounter all of them on this leg of the trip.  The return trip turned up the occasional shearwater, fulmar, and phalarope until we started back north from Santa Barbara Island where we encountered several Black Storm-Petrels to cap off our day at sea.

I would like to thank the leaders that worked hard all day searching for birds (Todd McGrath, Jon Feenstra, Adam Searcy, Peter Gaede, Don DesJardin, and Wes Fritz) as well as the Island Packers Crew (Captain Anthony Lombardi, Joel Barrett, and DeeDee Anderson) who did an outstanding job as usual.  I am always amazed that three people could do so much to handle the needs of 65 birders.

Species summary by County: Ventura/Santa Barbara

Pacific Loon - 1/0

Western Grebe - 50/0
Northern Fulmar - 17/19
Pink-footed Shearwater - 19/25
Buller's Shearwater - 0/1
Sooty Shearwater - 8/1
Black-vented Shearwater- 700/
Black Storm-Petrel - 3/3
BLUE-FOOTED BOOBY - 8/0
BROWN BOOBY- 1/0   
Brandt's Cormorant - 875/175
Pelagic Cormorant - 16/7
Brown Pelican - 410/0
Great Blue Heron - 1/0
Snowy Egret - 1/0
AMERICAN OYSTERCATCHER - 2/0
Black Oystercatcher - 4/0
Black-bellied Plover - 2/0
Long-billed Curlew - 3/0
Marbled Godwit - 1/0
Red-necked Phalarope - 25/0
Red Phalarope - 6/0
Cassin's Auklet - 4/2
South Polar Skua - 1/0
Pomarine Jaeger - 5/3
Parasitic Jaeger - 9/0
Long-tailed Jaeger - 0/1
Heermann's Gull - 80/0
Western Gull - 1183/162
California Gull - 7/0
Arctic Tern - 1/0
Royal Tern - 0/50
Elegant Tern - 27/
Peregrine Falcon - 2/0

We intend to schedule more trips out of Ventura and Santa Barbara in the upcoming year and hope to see you at sea!

Cheers

Dave Pereksta

5 October 2013

The Trip Report for the BVAS/Grande Pelagic Oct. 5, 2013

Leaders: Paul Lehman, Guy McCaskie, Gary Nunn, Peter Ginsburg, Matt Sadowski, and Dave Povey.


The Grande left the dock about 6:30 a.m. with a full complement of eager birders. We did the usual drive by of the bait docks for the abundant pelicans, cormorants, herons, egrets, and sea lions, found there.

We also did a quick check of Ballast Point, then cut across the channel to Zuniga Jetty. Though the lighting was poor looking directly into a bright clear Santa Ana wind sunrise, we could make out the silhouettes of several Surfbirds. Four oystercatchers flew past us headed back up the channel, which caused us a quick turn about to follow. Three birds were Black Oystercatchers, but one was white-bellied.

Black Oystercatchers are always a good bird for San Diego as this is near the southern limit of their range. An American Oystercatcher is very rare here.  Often these white-bellied oystercatchers are hybrids. After careful study our experts determined that this was the case with this bird. (see Paul Lehman's post to SDBirds "mixed oystercatchers" Oct. 6, 2013).

Offshore we had action right away, with a feeding flock just over the kelp bed. Common Dolphin had pushed up a good amount of bait fish and the pelicans, cormorants, gulls, and good numbers of Black-vented Shearwaters had joined the feast.

The first shout of the day came when a Brown Booby was spotted over the melee. The next was a Peregrine Falcon attacking Black-vented Shearwaters.  The Black-vent's defense was to dive into the water, so on at least two attempt the Peregrine came away empty. To make the Peregrine's life more difficult the gulls started to mob it as their defense.

Next up was a second Brown Booby this one a bit closer to the boat and differentiated by the dark marking on the breast as a younger bird than the last. A short distance later we had a third Brown Booby this bird with a wholly dark breasted and the closest of the three to the boat.

Brown Booby once a unusual sighting here, has now become somewhat regular. The breeding colony on the nearby Islas Los Coronados continues to grow, and may now number 80-90 birds.

We proceed west to the Nine Mile Bank, with Black-vented Shearwaters and Red-necked Phalaropes the dominate species.

Near the Bank we did pick up a jaeger, or two.  Jaegers were a prominent for the rest of the trip. There was rarely a time that there was not a jaeger in sight, and often multiple birds. Most of these jaegers were rather scraggly looking molting Pomarine Jaegers.  Some exceptions were a few nice adults Poms with full tail spoons, and a small number of Parasitic Jaegers with nice tail points.

The outer edge of The Nine Mile Bank had a few Pink-footed Shearwaters, and Northern Fulmars. The latter somewhat early and in better numbers than would be expected for early October.  Compared to the earlier birding this area was somewhat quiet.

We drove to the north end of the Coronado Escarpment that forms the outer edge of The Nine Mile bank and extends north for another 10-12 n.m.  This area and to the west over The San Diego Trough is where the Craveri's Murrelets  have been seen in the last few weeks. We hoped for the slick smooth sea state to make the search for small alcids easier. What we got was very manageable, but the low numbers of birds, the wide area to search, and their total skittishness at the sight of a boat, make these guys a challenge. We did get on a pair in flight at a distance. Best said we got very poor looks.

Craveri's Murrelets is one of the Mexican species that disperses northward some years and is absent in others. The trend in recent years has been negative.   Interestingly we did get fair looks at Cassin’s Auklets,  another species that can be difficult to see well.

The San Diego Trough turned up a number of feeding flocks of Common Terns, a rare Back Tern, more jaegers, a few Pink-footed Shearwaters, and a Swordfish.

The escarpment for the 30 Mile Bank had a few storm-petrels, mostly Black Storm-Petrels, with at least one Ashy Strom-Petrel. Further south and slightly west the storm-petrel numbers increased. a Least storm-Petrel or two was seen.  Then a distance raft was picked out, then another, then a third. We'd found the "Mother Ship" About 7500 stormies. 4000 Blacks and 3500 Least. No white-rumped species (Wlison's, Wedge-rumped, or Leach's) was found but a dark-rumped Leach's Storm-Petrel (chapmani) was seen. Leach's are common to abundant further offshore and seem to rarely associate with these rafts. We did have a additional Ashy seen here and others may have been overlooked.

These masses of storm-petrels always amaze all hands. The boat was nearly silent with binoculars point in every direction, as storm-petrel swirled around us.

We moved down the bank into the glare for a not terribly satisfying look at a distant South Polar Skua. We made up for it with a great look at a long tailed adult  Red- billed Tropicbird sitting on the water. This bird was kind enough to wait until everyone had their photo before taking off parallel to the boat for nice side on flight photos. Don't we all wished it work like that ever time!

Our return to the outside edge of the Nine Mile Bank was met with a very large Common Dolphin pod in full feeding mode.

We could see a swirl of Pink-foots, and one dark bellied bird. The skipper Charlie with direction from Paul, and a lot of maneuvering got another shout out , a  Flesh-footed Shearwater .  Unfortunately few got a look as it blew by the boat so it was off to the races to chase the bird down. One thing you have to understand about Grande. She is big, she is roomy, she is stable…..she is S-L-O-W!  We did actully catch up…yes!!…and re-found the bird and with more zigs and zags. Actually got the bird on the water for more photos. Our trip score improved immensely, as we'd had a two-person sighting and photo of a Flesh-footed earlier in the trip that the rest of us whiffed on.

The last big feeding congregation was again over Common Dolphin, on the inner edge of the Nine.  This time most Black-vented Shearwaters, with a lone Sooty Shearwater. The only one seen today!

Overall a nice mix of birds, though we missed some things, and didn't get the looks at others we'd have liked. We did great looks at Flesh-footed Shearwater, Least Storm-Petrels, Brown Boobies, the storm-petrel rafts and a very cooperative Red-billed Tropicbird. We had unexpectedly good number on N. FulmarS, Pomarine Jaegers, Black-vented Shearwaters, Red-necked Phalaropes, and others.

There were a few oddities as the American Coot, Great Egret, N. Pintail, Cinnamon Teal, and Peregrine Falcon, not normal expected at sea.

Marine mammals were slim with the exception of Common Dolphin. We had a small number of Bottle-nosed Dolphin at the jetty. California Sea Lion (bait docks, channel buoys, and offshore), Harbor Sea, and Elephant Seal (offshore).

Weather was near perfect, visibility good and sea state very manageable. Temps for us were warm, almost hot midday.

Dave Povey


Trip Track

21 September 2013

Report for  September 21, 2013 Pelagic out of Orange County

On Saturday, September 21, Sea & Sage Audubon held its annual fall pelagic trip on board the Ocean Institute's R/V Sea Explorer out of Dana Point. We began by checking the jetty for shorebirds and Blue-footed Boobies, then upon exiting the harbor we headed south toward San Mateo Point, where we turned around and began traveling northwest along the escarpment. When we reached the Headlands, we turned west out toward Lausen Sea Mount, traveled north over the top of the mount, and then headed in toward Newport, and then ended by returning back along the escarpment to Dana Point.

In general, bird numbers and diversity were rather low. The exception was two large flocks of Black-vented Shearwaters, both numbering over a thousand birds; both were along the escarpment with the first off of the Headlands and the second off of Newport. As mentioned in my previous post, the highlight was a juvenile Sabine's Gull at the north east edge of the Lausen Sea Mount that was seen well by everybody on board. Other pelagic species encountered included Pink-footed Shearwater (5), Red-necked Phalarope (25-30), Pomarine Jaeger (5), Parasitic Jaeger (1), and two pairs of small alcids. On the jetty we saw Black Oystercatcher (2), Black Turnstone (2), Surfbird (1), and Wandering Tattler (1). Despite the recent influx, we did not encounter any Blue-footed Boobies during our trip. Also notable was the complete absence of Sooty Shearwaters.

Tom Benson

16 June 2013

Report for the 12-hour trip on Grande June 16, 2013

Trip Leaders: Paul Lehman, Guy McCaskie, Gary Nunn, Matt Sadowski, Peter Ginsburg, Tom Blackman, Bruce Rideout, BJ Stacey, and Dave Povey

Forty-seven passengers sailed on Grande from Point Loma Sportfishing Landing, in near-shirtsleeve weather. Hardcore sea birders might have wished for more wind and overcast conditions, but for fair-weather beginning sea birders and birders from the heartland, this was as close to perfect weather as we see in early summer.

A Bottle-nosed Dolphin greeted us as we exited the Commercial Basin into the main bay. We did a quick check of the bait receivers for usual close looks at pelicans, cormorants, gulls, long-legged waders, and sea lions. Heermann's Gulls have started filtering back into San Diego over the last week from their breeding grounds in Baja. We found a range of age classes on the bait docks, including a brown juvenile and a couple of white-headed adults. We did a drive-by of both Ballast Point and Zuniga Jetty and, as has been the case all winter and spring, found no oystercatchers. In addition, the rocky shorebirds such as Surfbirds and Black Turnstones that are often regularly seen at these spots had all departed. Outside the bay entrance we saw another small group of Bottle-nosed Dolphin (4-6).  We continued southwest to near the Mexican Border where we found a pod of Common Dolphin (25+), with a fair number of Sooty Shearwaters. We followed them for a short distance but they were leading us into Mexican waters so reluctantly we turned west, toward the Nine Mile Bank. The outer edge of the bank seemed to have a little more life, with an increase in Sooties and the first showing of Pink-footed Shearwaters.  The surprise for the day was 

Photo by Matt Sadowski

the unexpected showing of a Buller's Shearwater. This species is never regular near San Diego. Buller's Shearwater can be abundant north of Point Conception, where it is considered a regular fall visitor. The bird seen at 14 n. miles from the tip of Point Loma was clearly the best bird of the day, giving many passengers a tick off their Life, State, County, and/or Year lists.

We also flushed a pair of Scripps's Murrelets (formerly Xantus's Murrelet), confirmed after a study of photos. Scripps's Murrelets are a local breeder, on the nearby Coronado Islands, and are nearing the end of their breeding season. Most Scripps's have moved off to the north and west by mid-June. A single Scripps's Murrelet was also seen today, which might indicate a bird feeding at sea during the daytime and attending a nest mate on the islands at night. We have seen very few downy chicks, with adults, at sea into early July. Photo confirmation of the Scripps’s was necessary because we were closing in on the arrival off Southern California of the "southern Xantus's," now Guadalupe Murrelets, usually seen well offshore from mid-July into early October.

Further west we got our next "surprise," the now almost-expected Brown Booby, this bird being an immature nearing adult plumage. I guessed it was a female, as the males of the Brewster's race of Brown Booby start to show the classic frosted head even at this age. This Brown Booby was seen at 19 n. miles in the same general area where we had this species on scouting trips May 12th (1-2 adult females, 1 juv.), and June 1st. (1 juv.).

The San Diego Trough gave us our only look at a distant Pomarine Jaeger. Jaeger sightings have been sparse locally this spring, with about one every other trip.  The Nine Mile Bank, San Diego Trough, and 30 Mile Bank, all had a few Cassin's Auklets, mostly seen by the few birders who hung out on the bow. Small nondescript alcids, the Cassin’s were difficult to get on as they usually flushed well ahead of the boat, frustrating our attempts to get good views. Today’s count of 20 was low. The scouting trip on June 1st had 100; itself not particularly high number. 

Photo by Bruce Rideout

A distant flyby Common Murre was likely a remnant of a 2012-13 winter incursion off San Diego. The species is notable since it is not seen every year and even absent for multiple years at time. Common Murres do seem to straggle into spring and early summer after those incursions. We did see a few Black-Storm Petrels in the distance as we crossed the San Diego Trough, but most were found on the 30 Mile Bank. Ashy- Storm Petrels.  We got a flyby one-year-old Common Tern - definitely not a common species here. Eight Least Terns were seen today. They are seen regularly offshore and often seen on the Nine Mile Bank but two on the 30 Mile Bank today were likely at their western limit locally.

We got some nice comparison looks at the smaller brown/gray

The oooh-aahhh award went to a Blue Whale, which approached the boat on its own, surfaced on the port bow, then slowly cruised under the bow to spout again on the starboard. Satisfied with its look at us, it moved off at a relaxed pace and went back to its business. We got a wonderful full-length look in the clear (at least for S. Calif.) water. What an amazing animal! 

We traveled back down the 30 Mile Bank, and back across the deep water of the San Diego Trough, to do a box search pattern around the Nine Mile Bank. This turned into the kind of afternoon that can make trip leaders go a little crazy - warm air, bright sunshine, nice seas, and very few birds. Easy to yield to the body's call for a nap and many passengers did just that, but Paul Lehman stayed at the job. Near the border inside the Nine Mile Bank he found a number of spots of resting Sooty Shearwaters, making them the most abundant seabird for the day (550+).  Sharp eyes on the bow picked up a Black-vented Shearwater among the sooties, and with a little maneuvering by Capt. James and Paul’s direction, we got almost everyone who was interested on the bird. Of course there was a little mumbling among some of the local birders, "What's the big deal?" Locals know this species as the common and sometimes abundant shearwater seen inshore late summer, fall, and winter. They forget that this is a local specialty seen in few other places, and May and June are marginal months since most Black-vents are on, or near, their breeding islands down the west coast of Baja at this time of year. 

Unfortunately, a Pacific Loon on the water – one of two seen on the day - was given short shrift while the leaders attempted to get everyone on the Black-vented Shearwater. The other was seen well ahead of the boat in the morning. We checked Ballast Point on the way in and got late Surf Scoters (2) along North Island as well a flyby Peregrine Falcon. 

The next scheduled trips are:

July 13 (6 hours) Dana Point

August 12-14 (56 hours): Grande

See www.socalbirding.com

Dave Povey

Photos from the trip can be seen by visiting our Flickr page

Trip Track

Full Species List

San Diego Bay list

Surf Scoter

Western Grebe

Brown Pelican

Double-crested Cormorant

Brandt's Cormorant

Great Blue Heron

Great Egret

Snowy Egret

Black-crowned Night Heron

Peregrine Falcon

Heermann's Gull

Western Gull

Caspian Tern

Rock Pigeon

Aratringa Parakeet

Amazona Parrot

Barn Swallow

European Starling

Ocean

Pacific Loon

Sooty Shearwater

Pink-footed Shearwater

Buller's Shearwater

Black Storm-Petrel

Ashy Storm-Petrel

Brown Booby

Brown Pelican

Double-crested Cormorant

Heermann's Gull

Western Gull

Elegant Tern

Royal Tern

Caspian Tern

Least Tern

Common Tern

Pomarine Jaeger

Common Murre

Scripps's Murrelet

Cassin's Auklet

Marine Mammals

Common Dolphin

Bottle-nosed Dolphin

Blue Whale

N. Elephant Seal

California Sea Lion

Fish

Shark sp.

Mola mola