All, A fantastic day out at sea yesterday with calm weather and a great set of folks on board. Thanks to RROS and Gene Hunn in particular for these codeshare pelagics, it is a great partnership! Also thanks to spotters Mario Balitbit, Lisa Hug, Dan Singer and Steve Howell. Overall, the offshore and warmer waters were slow, but the hotspots near Cordell Bank and Bodega Canyon were nice and productive which gave us a heck of a list with some nice rarities! Close to shore we also caught the start of the Greater Scaup migration several flocks of birds were moving south, all high up off the water which often is the case in actively migrating sea ducks. Our first goodies were in a mixed flock of shearwaters on our way out to Bodega Canyon, perhaps 2-3 Short-tailed Shearwaters were in there with the Sooty, Pink-footed and Bullers Shearwaters. One individual stayed on the water after most Sooty had flown, and we were able to point this one out more easily to folks. As is often the case, these birds are tough to get on due to their annoying similarity to Sooty Shearwaters. Poor photos of one are on the eBird checklist, showing the small and short bill, steep forehead and generally cuter look of this species, as compared to the Sooty https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S60416544 As we reached the start of deepening waters north of Bodega Canyon, Steve Howell casually noted a Brown Booby on our left. I thought he was joking then realized there was a Brown Booby there. We were able to get the back of the boat on the bird as well, and although a brief fly by, this young booby was nice to see and I think most on board were able to get on it before it left us in the dust. I think this is the first Brown Booby in Sonoma County since 2017. Photos here: https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S60416549 Continuing to the deep water it did get to 59F out there, a bit more blue in color, and we heard that folks did catch albacore about 10 miles to our west but bird wise this area was not so good. We found a few Black-footed Albatross, and Cassins Auklets were around during the start of this part of the day, but overall it was sparse. A couple of Ashy Storm-Petrels showed up, but no storm petrel flocks. As we returned closer to the continental shelf edge things began to get good again. There was a concentration of albatross and Northern Fulmar which suggested some bigtime scavenging had been going on. Right in with the Black-footed Albatross was a Flesh-footed Shearwater, which we were able to re-find on a couple of occasions, and eventually gave nice view for all on board. The myriad of fulmar morphs was also nice to see, they have been largely absent during the season and I had nearly forgotten how amazingly variable they are. A bit closer in to shore, right at the top end of the Cordell Bank, another awesome find a juvenile Laysan Albatross that cruised by the bow and then made an exit towards the stern, giving all a nice view. Photos here: https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S60416569 https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S60416575 The last goodies were two different South Polar skuas, the second a very blond individual. Both were half way to shore from the shelf edge. We did see all three jaegers and the skua for the skua grand slam, 5 species of shearwater, two species of albatross, many alcids, Sabines Gull, and Brown Booby heck of a day out! Mammals included some nice Blue Whales, Humpback Whales, Northern Right Whale Dolphin, Dalls Porpoise and a great find which was a Guadalupe Fur Seal! We have a trip next weekend out of Half Moon Bay with special guests Liz and Jeff Gordon from the ABA. This is prime time for Short-tail and Flesh-footed shearwaters, we have a great chance for both next weekend. http://alvarosadventures.com/boat-trips/pelagics/ Alvaro Alvaro Jaramillo alvaro@... www.alvarosadventures.com

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