Good Morning, Birders,
Shearwater Journeys recently completed our first pelagic trips of the fall season.
On August 4 we departed from Sausalito, heading to the Farallon Islands. It was a beautiful ride out to the islands with a few sooty shearwaters and common murres along the way. The islands were fog-free and looked stunning in the light. The NORTHERN GANNET was sitting on Sugarloaf almost surrounded by TUFTED PUFFINS! What a sight! Loads of PIGEON GUILLEMOTS were calling back and forth, along with more common murres and a single RHINOCEROS AUKLET. All of the usual breeding seabirds were present. Heading off the edge of the Continental Shelf, we had good views of BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS and PINK-FOOTED SHEARWATERS, more Rhinoceros Auklets and a few Cassins Auklets. Several HUMPBACK WHALES were feeding along the shelf break. On the return to Sausalito, we had splendid views of the iconic San Francisco skyline and, of course, the Golden Gate Bridge (from underneath it)!
Were returning to the Farallon Islands this Sunday, August 11, departing from Sausalito at 7 a.m. Two spaces have opened up on this previously sold out trip. If you are interested, please email me directly: debi@... .
On August 2 we headed out on Monterey Bay which turned out to be chock-a-block with schools of anchovies, sometimes at least 17 stories deep in the water column. We encountered huge rafts of SOOTY SHEARWATERS sitting on the sea. Estimates were up to at least 50,000. No less than 50 HUMPBACK WHALES were breaching, head-slapping, and lunge-feeding on the huge schools of anchovies. One BLUE WHALE gave us excellent views. Lots of PIGEON GUILLEMOTS present in the harbor and along Cannery Row. The first BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS showed up at 9:05 a.m., five minutes late. A total of 35 albatrosses made the day with folks shooting images with their cell phones! PINK-FOOTED SHEARWATERS and a few POMARINE JAEGERS and various other seabids were around. The food source, though, was just so spectacular.
Our next Monterey trip with spaces available is Friday, August 30.
Weve moved up to a larger vessel, the Star of Monterey, for the Monterey Albacore trip on Sunday, September 8 and for the Thursday, September 12 trip. Spaces are available on those trips.
You can view our complete fall schedule here: http://www.shearwaterjourneys.com/schedule.html
Its all about food! Living the Salt Life, Debi Shearwater

DEBRA SHEARWATER Shearwater Journeys, Inc. PO Box 190 Hollister, CA 95024 831.637.8527 debi@... www.shearwaterjourneys.com www.shearwaterjourneys.blogspot.com
Celebrating 44 Years of Seabirding with Shearwater Journeys