The San Diego pelagic trip on 19 September, sponsored by Buena Vista Audubon Society, was aboard "Legacy" out of Mission Bay. We went out to

the 9-Mile and 30-Mile Banks, as usual. Sea conditions were a bit bumpy and choppy when traveling west and northwest, but fine when going all other directions. The sea conditions made spotting some storm-petrels and all alcids difficult. Highlights included a cafe-au-lait Red-footed

Booby just shy of the 30-Mile Bank, a Buller's Shearwater only 2 miles off the beach, a juvenile Long-tailed Jaeger, and some 6 Least Storm-Petrels, mostly on the 9-Mile Bank. Photos of all of these will appear in upcoming eBird lists. As has been the case now for a solid year, overall numbers for most species are fairly low and there are appreciable stretches with very low numbers of birds. Species seen offshore (beyond 2 miles) were:
Red-necked Phalarope 30
Red Phalarope 1
Pomarine Jaeger 7
Parasitic Jaeger 2
LONG-TAILED JAEGER 1 juv. (21 mi. WSW of Point Loma)
jaeger sp. 2
Sabine's Gull 1
California Gull 7
Western Gull 240
Common Tern 7
Elegant Tern 35
Leach's Storm-Petrel 5
Black Storm-Petrel 48
LEAST STORM-PETREL 6 (5 along outer edge of 9-Mile Bank, 1 'only' ca. 8.5 mi. W of Sunset Cliffs)
Pink-footed Shearwater 28
BULLER'S SHEARWATER 1 (only 2 mi. off Ocean Beach)
Sooty Shearwater 1
Black-vented Shearwater 1150
Brown Booby 1
RED-FOOTED BOOBY 1 (26.3 mi WSW La Jolla, near inside edge of 30-Mile Bank)
Brown Pelican 1
Brandt's Cormorant 1
The next (and last trip for 2020) pelagic trip is again aboard "Legacy" out of Seaforth Sportfishing and is scheduled for 4 October. Ten hours, and presumably we will return to the 9-Mile and 30-Mile Bank areas. Details at sandiegopelagics.com.

--Paul Lehman, Dave Povey, Nancy Christensen, et al., San Diego