Paul and Calbirders:
I just want to get the record straight as Paul did not quote me correctly in his post. I did not say I had no desire to look at petrels through a scope 4 stories up, I said that I didn't think I would get the same thrill from that. Pretty easy to check what I said, it's a couple of messages down.
When I lived in CA, I spent fair bit of time seawatching, often from a bluff a few stories up. I enjoyed it immensely, and I'm sure the views from a cruise ship are far better than from a bluff. My point is that at least for me, birding is not just about seeing the bird, but also about the process, the adventure. I can still remember my first Monterey Bay trip with Debi in 1987. That trip literally changed my life, seeing albatrosses, shearwaters, storm-petrels, puffins, and auklets all close to the boat remains one of the great thrills of my life.
I remember my first Murphy's Petrel as it appeared 10m from the boat near the Rodriquez Dome on the first multi-day Searcher trip. My first Cook's Petrel was in nearly the same place a couple of years later on that same boat. I recall seeing groups of 10 to 50 Cook's Petrels sitting on the water on a beautifully calm day from the bow of the Condor Express. We edged the boat up quite close before they flew.
I'm not sure that a cruise ship view through a scope would give me that same sense of wonder. Having said that, not everyone has the luxury (or inner-ear) to do a large number of single day trips. If I were advising someone prone to motion sickness, or a lister who wanted the best chance to see Murphy's Hawaiian, or Cook's Petrels, or a county lister, I would tell them to go on one of these cruises, no doubt.
I agree with Alvaro that sooner or later a really mega bird will be seen from one of these ships.
I may even go on one myself sometime, but I am quite confident that these trips will not generate the sense of wonder and awe that I get on a pelagic adventure. Having said that, I still need Mottled Petrel for CA......
As for the next seabird, both Christmas Island Shearwater and Tahiti Petrel have been recorded off Baja.
Townsend's Shearwater is on the list, but it was a "Newell's" type rather than one of the Mexican birds, but given the rarity of that species now,if they are split, the nominate is probably not likely. Given that Ringed Storm-Petrel and Swallow-tailed Gull are both on the list, Debi's vote for Waved Albatross seems good. I also think that Swinhoe's Storm-petrel is a good (although challenging ID problem). The winter-breeding race of Leach's storm-petrel from Guadalupe Island (Ainley's Storm-Petrel) should also make it So Cal, so if that split goes through, we will have that to sort out. But if past history is a guide, the next new seabird will be some southern hemisphere thing we didn't expect.
Todd McGrath
skua@...
The Woodlands, TX
---In [email protected], <lehman.paul1@...> wrote :The latest SINGLE day on a cruise ship (this one on Princess heading
north the first day of a San Francisco to se. Alaska and back 10-day
cruise) recorded 120 Murphy's, 3 Hawaiian, and 1 Cook's Petrel, and 8
Laysan Albatrosses. Before giving brief details, I would like too
interject a comment as a follow-up to comments made in posts yesterday,
in particular one post from someone whom has never taken such a cruise
ship pelagic, that they'd rather not search for pterodromas "from four
stories up with a scope." Obviously everyone has their personal
preferences, but clearly the way to see spring pterodromas off CA is
from cruise ships, from which one stays all day (typically two full
days) in appropriate deep water, in comfort, and at a perfectly fine
height above water level, and where one can easily use a scope if
desired, rather than beating one's self up spending much of the day
getting out to and back from deep water--and in which one only spends
perhaps a few hours during a one-day trip--barfing or spray-drenched as
you go on a pitching small boat. And while Cook's Petrels usually (but
not always) keep some distance from these very large cruise ships so
most are at moderate or farther distance (but you can easily use a
scope) so better views are typically gotten from the smaller boats, some
Murphy's and Hawaiians come very close to the ship, providing excellent
views even with just binoculars (better than the views of those two
species I've had from smaller boats)-- though like all pelagic trips,
some trips do better on numbers and quality of views than do others.
Such cruise pelagics also get you to well offshore waters and off
counties where smaller, typical one-day trips simply can't get. But,
these cruises are hardly "replacements" for single-day trips on small
boats, some of which unfortunately can't even chum anymore, which was
one of the advantages of the small-boat trips. Rather, they provide
additional opportunities in spring, summer, and fall, especially in
getting to shelf-edge waters in comfort.
Anyway, back to May 13th:
Dawn found us 104 km off Eureka, heading NW, for a few hours in Humboldt
and Del Norte CA waters before entering Oregon waters for the remainder
of the day (where we ended the day 320 km west of Newport). Here's a
partial list for the day:
LAYSAN ALBATROSS: 8 (good count; all OR)
Black-footed Albatross: 27
Northern Fulmar: 4 (low)
MURPHY'S PETREL: 120 (record high one-day count for Pacific Coast;
10 HUM, 15 DN, 95 OR; excellent photos)
HAWAIIAN PETREL: 3 (1 DN, 2 OR; very good photos)
COOK'S PETREL: 1 (DN; the larger numbers this year have been from
Monterey Co. southwards)
Fork-tailed Storm-Perel: 11 (low)
Leach's Storm-Petrel: 900
Red Phalarope: 1650
LONG-TAILED JAEGER: 49 (high; included a single flock of 24 off OR)
SCRIPP'S MURRELET: 2 (pair off OR; where well north, especially in May)
--Paul Lehman, San Diego (currently in Juneau) |