With at least two or three of the several northbound "repositioning" cruises having now taken place this spring between s. California and Vancouver, I thought I might share some info I have on potential future cruises and on the current situation. I have been taking these cruises now for well over 10 years and have logged 20+ of them during spring and summer, although I did not go on any of this year's trips.

Clearly there were plenty of Murphy's Petrels and a moderate number of Hawaiian Petrels offshore this year. With perhaps average numbers of Laysan Albatrosses. But very few Cook's Petrels. Cook's is often a "feast or famine" species, with large numbers some years in late April and early May, and then very few/virtually none during others. The numbers of the other pterodromas also vary from year to year, but not seemingly with as wild the swings, and they often vary due more to how many sharp observers are on board and, especially, on how much wind there is on a given a cruise (typically the more wind the better for all three species!). One windy cruise this spring had a total of 550 Murphy's, a new single-cruise record, beating last year's new record of ca. 350.

I also heard that the trip with all the Murphy's (and ca. 15 Hawaiians) also had as many as 80 birders on board. These numbers can get unwieldy, especially if there is limited good railing space due to wind and lighting making some sites unusable at times. Trying to get everyone corralled, not having them block the passage of all the non-birding cruise guests wishing to use the same deck for walking/jogging, and trying to coordinate list totals, photos, and details via shared eBird lists just gets more and more difficult. With the increasing popularity of these trips for a good chance at comfortably seeing numbers of Hawaiian, Murphy's, and Cook's Petrels, Laysan Albatross, Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel, Tufted Puffin, etc. etc., such crowds have steadily been increasing on some of the sailings for a number of years. And these birder crowds are likely to get even WORSE in the near future for the following reason: Some or all of the cruise lines seem to be reducing the number of such cruises that go non-stop between SanDiego/Los Angeles and Victoria/Vancouver, and are adding stops along the way, which reduces time spent well offshore during daylight and also adds days and cost to these trips. Not a good trend!

So, I would suggest that folks look at the VARIETY of April and May offerings from a variety of cruise lines from either Los Angeles or San Diego. If you care about exactly which counties' waters you pass through during daylight, then the port of choice may well be important. Otherwise, either one is equally likely to produce those desired species mentioned above, and other factors such as the weather conditions during the trip, having some sharp-eyed observers on board, or simple luck are all going to be more important factors. Almost all birders to date have taken either Princess from Los Angeles or Holland America from San Diego (where one also sees Black Storm-Petrel and Scripps's Murrelet the first afternoon), but one might also wish to look into any offerings from (mostly Los Angeles) on Celebrity, Norweigan, or Disney cruise lines--and in that case you will have the railings mostly to yourself. I would also suggest, for those with a few more days available, looking into the 10-day or 12-day round-trip cruises on Princess from either Los Angeles or San Francisco up to southeast Alaska and back--doing so in May or early June for these same species--which go northbound even much farther offshore (up to 150+ miles out off n. OR to s. BC, where Mottled Petrel is possible in May), and come back southbound along the same repositioning route, in reverse, that the shorter, one-way trips do. So, you get almost double the amount of offshore time.

One other issue I'd like to mention on these cruises is the somewhat distressing amount of mis-called, mis-identified species (and numbers), or mis-plotted locations, that get reported on an all-too-often basis. This makes the situation really tough for regional editors, eBird reviewers, etc., who have to wade through the masses of reports after the trips are completed. With so many birders on board, theres no way to share
checklists across so many folks, and honestly thats not appropriate
anyway, given the fact that people
come and go, move from one side to the other, etc. Many sub-groups on the boat are basically separate sampling units
with their own biases and skill levels. But even without those issues, there seems to be a high level of "pressure" to see these desired birds, and on a regular basis it is fairly easy to see folks cutting corners and pulling the trigger too quickly on some distant and incompletely seen species that should be left unidentified. Too much "conventional wisdom" applied to species which "should" occur in those waters but which may be rare or absent some years (e.g., Cook's Petrel). We've also seen visiting first-timers on these West Coast cruises who are not accustomed to cruise-ship birding and/or who are skilled in another part of North America or the offshore World and assume they are therefore skilled here and then make regular mistakes--especially if they do not appreciate, at the time of the sighting, the proper STATUS & DISTRIBUTION of these species at the various seasons and along the various stretches of these routes. And the conditions can be challenging at times, depending on the weather and how close or far the birds are away from the ship, which varies a lot from day to day and trip to trip. Some of the most regularly mis-identified species are distant arcing Pink-footed Shearwaters being called Hawaiian Petrels, distant arcing or just plain poorly seen Sooty Shearwaters being called Murphy's Petrels, distant Bonaparte's/Sabine's Gulls or even Red-necked Phalaropes being called Cook's Petrels, Cassin's Auklets with plenty of pale on the belly being called Parakeet Auklets, and poorly/incompletely seen Rhinoceros Auklets being called Tufted Puffins.

The situation is made even worse by some observers writing somewhat "canned" descriptions of what they think they have seen. I have read too many reports of distant Cook's Petrels in April-May which include details such as "arcing very high in the sky as this species does" and "bold dark 'M' across the upperwing." Well, very, very few of the Cook's in spring do these things on these trips!! They are almost all in substantial molt here in spring, and they look very messy (mottled) above, with some brownish tones and NOT showing a bold M; and even under windy conditions they mostly stay fairly low to the water and in a rapid, somewhat twisty flight. If one sees Cook's later in summer, once they have completed molt, then they do look fresh and with bold dark 'M's" across the upperside, and they do tend to arc up more.

These trips are great social fun and a great opportunity to see species that are difficult to see comfortably, or at all, elsewhere. But some of these trips could be too popular, so observers are encouraged to try to "spread the wealth." And please make extra efforts to report one's sightings with care.

--Paul Lehman, San Diego

Hi all
Island Packers has spots left on an Island Scrub-Jay pelagic trip on the Vanguard out of the Channel Islands Harbor in Oxnard on Saturday March 4. The trip leaves at 8:00 am and returns at 5:00 pm. We will run from Oxnard to Santa Cruz Island where we will disembark at Prisoners Harbor and spend approximately an hour looking for the endemic Island Scrub-Jay. On the way to the island and back, we will be looking for pelagic birds and other marine wildlife. Late winter trips can be good for alcids, shearwaters, Red Phalaropes, and a variety of other species. I have been out of San Diego and Orange County in recent weeks and there are numbers of alcids around. We normally see Scripps's Murrelets, Cassin's Auklets, Rhinoceros Auklets, and Common Murres on this trip. A trip out of San Diego a few weeks ago had a Tufted Puffin and a recent passage to the islands from Ventura had a pair of Marbled Murrelets so you never know what will turn up. We are also planning to cruise along Anacapa Island where we may get lucky and find a booby roosting among the cormorants and pelicans.

The trip costs $125 and leaves from the Channel Islands Harbor in Oxnard (not the Ventura Harbor in Ventura). You can register at: https://islandpackers.com/trips/whales-and-wildlife-cruises/birding-excursions/
Hope to see you there
Dave Pereksta Ventura

On Saturday Oct 1, we ran our annual fall pelagic trip with Island Packers from the Ventura Harbor. We had a great forecast and a nice setup of sea conditions so we left the harbor with a game plan and a sense of optimism. That didn't last very long after we heard radio chatter that the Navy was firing a missile at some point during the morning, which closed off most of the waters south of the Channel Islands. Our hopes that this exercise would be done by 0930 dragged on through the morning and we had to adjust our route with the severe limitations imposed upon us. It is tough to stay focused when the radio in the wheel house is blowing up with constant communication between the Navy and the fishing fleet; the latter of which was violating the boundaries of the closure so frequently that the launch had to be delayed again and again. With our hopes of visiting Santa Barbara Island and it's booby colony becoming more unrealistic by the minute, we adjusted and here is how the day went...
After leaving the harbor we started the trip with an unusual surprise when we found rafts of thousands of Black-vented Shearwaters sitting on the water right past the breakwaters. The birds must have been feeding all night as they were piled up on the water and not as skittish as they might normally be. We had great looks, which included several leucistic birds, and then moved on to Anacapa Island. The crossing was slow bird wise, but Anacapa provided our first thrill of the day after we found a Brown Booby and then a Masked Booby perched below the lighthouse on the east end of Anacapa. These two birds just sat there giving everyone on board great views.
Our original intention from here was to run west-southwest before eventually turning towards Santa Barbara Island. With the missile launch still pending the Navy told us we couldn't go south and we had to stay with a few miles of the islands. We adjusted and moved west on the south side of Anacapa and Santa Cruz. We were rewarded with nearly 30 Craveri's Murrelets behind Anacapa and as we headed west into Santa Barbara County waters we had great looks at a few close Ashy Storm-Petrels. This run was slow but we did have a few jaegers of all three species and the three expected species of shearwaters (Black-vented, Pink-footed, and Sooty) among other birds. We had hoped we would be cleared to move south somewhere along this route but it did not happen so we continued to the Santa Rosa Passage where we checked Bird Rock and found a Peregrine Falcon and a pair of Bald Eagles sitting on a midden on the adjacent part of Santa Cruz Island.
Moving into the Santa Cruz Canyon, we encountered some small flocks of Pink-footed Shearwaters that had other birds feeding with them and then somewhere off the east end of Santa Rosa Island, the day went haywire. Not long after finding Curtis Marantz his long-awaited Santa Barbara County Craveri's Murrelet, we had a few shearwaters in front of the boat when one of our sharp-eyed passengers said, "there is a white-headed Pink-footed in this flock." Linda Terrill said that I leapt off the deck at this point, but among a series of expletives flowing from my mouth were the two words I have only ever yelled once before in unison from a boat...STREAKED SHEARWATER!!!!!! Among a ton of out-of-control emotions and ensuing panic of birders, we just stopped the boat, started getting everyone on the bird, carefully evaluated our ID to make sure we weren't looking at a white-headed Pink-footed Shearwater, and then spent an extensive amount of time with this bird. Finding rare seabirds is often tricky business as some birds fly by the boat quickly or a bird flushes, never to be seen again. Many times only a few people on board see the very rare ones. However...Captain Joel Barrett managed the boat impeccably and everyone had incredible views of this mega rarity (Only the 20th for the state and the second off southern California). Although it flushed a few times, the low winds had the shearwaters settling back on the water so we had repeated looks at it. We quickly forgot about the travel restrictions imposed by the Navy which had ultimately and serendipitously led us to this bird. There it is...rare bird found, a boat full of satisfied birders, day is done...hardly!
The Navy pulled their restrictions, but we would not have time to head to SBI. We followed the shearwaters south along the eastern part of the Santa Rosa Flats and the number of birds increased ultimately revealing a few Buller's Shearwaters. A few birders got their life Streaked before their life Buller's...life is not fair. While still working the Streaked we found a Nazca Booby sitting on the water; our third booby of the day. We also had another interesting bird flash by that may have been a Wedge-tailed Shearwater. The winds were increasing so the birds were becoming more mobile. We did gather some photos of distant flocks on the water where we believed this bird briefly settled so we will see if we can find it after-the-fact. They were not very cooperative.
Our run south and then east into the deep waters of the Santa Cruz Basin continued to produce birds and we started finding storm-petrels including Black, Ashy, and Least. Our jaeger numbers were increasing and as we traversed the basin we had impressive numbers of Long-tailed Jaegers with decent numbers of Pomarines and a few Parasitics. Here and elsewhere starting at the Santa Rosa Passage, we also found a few South Polar Skuas. Along our run east we continued to encounter Craveri's Murrelets which were often clumped by pairs in loose groups of as many as 10-12 birds in view at a time. We will see what our eBird reveals, but we certainly had somewhere in the ballpark of 50-100 for the day. They were the most abundant alcid by far, but we did have a few Cassin's Auklets and Rhinoceros Auklets. The jaeger show continued with a few flocks chasing groups of Common Terns and Sabine's Gulls. Careful inspection of the tern flocks found us a few Arctic and Black Terns as well. The number of birds in the Santa Cruz Basin was awesome and our ride back was filled with jaegers, terns, shearwaters, murrelets, and phalaropes.

I joked that when life gives you lemons, you spike the lemonade with tequila and have the kind of day we ultimately had at sea. While we reflected that the day would have been great even without the Streaked Shearwater, we are not trading that one in. We will remember this one for a long time. Many thanks to Joel Barrett and Island Packers for supporting our pelagic trips and working with us to consistently provide great pelagic experiences. I also want to give a shout-out to our leaders who busted their butts all day...many thanks to Jon Feenstra, Peter Gaede, Hugh Ranson, Bob Schallmann, and Wes Fritz. Among the kind words I received as we wrapped up was sentiments from one very seasoned pelagic birder and dear friend who said she was impressed at how well people worked together and that there was a pleasant vibe on the boat throughout the day. One for the ages...
Dave Pereksta Ventura

The 4 day Searcher Pelagic left San Diego Monday a little before noon on it's annual swing through the Southern California Bight and beyond. The trips spent Monday at the 9 and 30. mile banks off San Diego. We started Tuesday at Santa Barbara Island and the Sutil Rock booby colony and then moved NW across the Santa Cruz Basin hitting a variety of featured before anchoring behind San Miguel Island at dark. Day 3 we left San Miguel Island at 4AM and were just east of Rodriguez Dome at dawn. We crossed the Dome and proceeded south to the San Juan Seamount, then southeast to a deep 2100 fathom canyon located there. the fourth day found us near the Tanner Bank moving Southeast to the San Clemente basin. We started a bit east of our usual location as we needed to be back to shore about 7 hours early to avoid the hihi winds offshore predicted due to Kay. We were still able to bird until dark, so no impact on the trip, and in fact one of the best birds of the trip was found late in the day in an area we typically don't bird. We were back at the dock by midnight, where we all slept on the boat and had a hardy breakfast before departing at our usual morning time.

I've been fortunate to participate in 18 of the 19 fall Searcher trips, and this was one of if not the best for diversity of species, weather, and the great looks we got at the vast majority of birds and mammals. A big thanks to my co-leaders Dave Pereksta, Dave Povey and Jon Feenstra. Also a big thanks to Art Taylor, Celia Condit, and the the crew of Searcher who took great care of us as they always do.

We keep bird checklists and haven't added everything up yet, so the numbers are approximate where given

Black-footed Albatross (Seen everyday)
Pink-footed Shearwater
Sooty Shearwater
Manx Shearwater 2 (one in SD and one in SB counties)
Black-vented Shearwater
Buller's Shearwater (about 500 most on the San Juan Seamount)
Ashy Storm-Petrel
Black Storm-petrel
Leach's Storm-Petrel (most the dark or dusky-rumped Mexico breeders)
Least Storm-Petrels (40 or so, seen in SD, LA, SB, and VEN) more widespread and numerous than typical
Townsend's Storm-Petrel (seen more inshore than in some years and seen every day)
Wedge-rumped Storm-Petrel (1 at a slick near in the late afternoon on Thursday in LA county about 7 miles west of the "corner"
Cook's Petrels (40 or so, mostly south of Rodriguez Dome)
Hawaiian Petrel 1 (South of Rodriguez Dome)
Craveri's Murrelet (about 60 mostly near Santa Cruz Basin)
Scripp's Murrelet 4
Guadalupe Murrelet 7 (some incredible looks)
Cassin's Auklet 2
Common Murre 1
Brown Booby
Red-footed Booby 2
Blue-footed Booby 2.5 (2 adults and the continuing Brown X Blue-footed hybrid) all on Sutil
2 Nazca Boobies
Red Phalarope
Red-necked Phalarope
Red-billed Tropicbird 5 (with two different birds on the water allowing close approach)
Sabine's Gulls
Arctic Terns
Parasitic, Pomarine, and Long-tailed Jaegers

Marine Mammals included
Humpback, Blue, and Fin Whales
Baird's Beaked-Whales
10-12 ETP Orcas
Short-beaked Common Dolphin
Bottle-Nosed Dolphin
California Sea-Lions
Elephant Seals
Gudalupe Fur-Seals

Quite a haul for 4 days.......

The trip is already sold out for 2023, but you can go to bajawhale.com for info about the trips. a more detailed trip report with some photos will be prepared and all these sightings will be placed in ebird with photos over the next month.
Todd McGrath
skua@...
The Woodlands, TX

Hi all
We had a productive pelagic trip today with Island Packers from the Ventura Harbor. Our 12-hour trip had us going out to the east end of Anacapa Island and then traveling south across and around the Santa Cruz Basin before stopping at Santa Barbara Island and the Pilgrim Bank. I do not have precise numbers yet, but here is a summary of the highlights.
* Over 50 Brown Boobies, 2 Blue-footed Boobies, and the now 2-year old Blue-footed x Brown Booby hybrid on Sutil Rock near Santa Barbara Island * 5-10 Cook's Petrels on the west side of the Santa Cruz Basin with one bird allowing close approach on the water * A pair of Craveri's Murrelets south of Santa Cruz Island * Several pair of Scripps's Murrelets (one with a older chick). Getting late in the season for them * A Black-footed Albatross in the Santa Cruz Basin where we rarely ever see them
* Three South Polar Skuas * An early Sabine's Gull * Fair numbers of Black, Ashy, and Leach's Storm-Petrels * 1000's of Sooty Shearwaters, 100ish Pink-footed Shearwaters, a few early returning Black-vented Shearwaters, and a few summering Northern Fulmars
* Small numbers of Rhinoceros and Cassin's Auklets, Pigeon Guillemots, and a few Common Murres near Anacapa (trying to breed there)
* A White-bellied Oystercatcher on Anacapa Island that will need to be evaluated further. Likely a hybrid
A great trip with birds in sight most of the day over our 200-mile route. Special thanks to Island Packers, especially Captain Joel Barrett who helps make these trips happen and brings an impressive amount of birding expertise to the captain's chair. Thanks also to leaders Todd McGrath, Peter Gaede, Dan Maxwell, and Wes Fritz for tirelessly sharing their expertise and finding birds over a long day at sea.

Cheers
Dave Pereksta

Hi all.

We did not find any mega rarities on our eight-hour pelagictrip aboard the Pt. Sur Clipper last Sunday (9/12) but we again had a steady stream of birds throughout the day, great looks at most species, and favorable weather conditions and sea state.
Buller's Shearwaters have been a bit erratic this year, the five-day Searcher trip didn't find any last week and neither did we on our previous two trips, but this time we hit the mother lode, over 150 birds. We also had at least one, but likelythree, Short-tailed Shearwaters, a species that appearsto be making its way down from the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska earlythis year. We had Sooty and Pink-footedShearwaters in good numbers and several cooperative Black-footed Albatrosses. Our only three storm-petrels were Ashys and we had a few NorthernFulmars.
The jaeger show was spectacular, especially Pomarine and Long-tailed Jaegers of which we had over a dozen aroundthe boat several times. The victims were mostly Sabine's Gulls this time as numbers of both Artic and Common Terns were lower than during previous trips. Numbers of California Gulls continue to increase. We found a few Cassin's Auklets, including a very cooperative one, as well as high numbers of the expected Rhinoceros Auklets and Common Murres. All phalaropes were Red-necked. And one pelagicTownsend'sWarbler was running the gauntlet of Western Gulls.
Thank you to co-leader Bill Hubick. In my last report, I forgot to thank co-leaders Eli Gross, Don Roberson, Mark Kudrav, and Joshua Stacy.
We have a couple of spots open on our eight-hour trip this coming Sunday and we have three more trips coming up in October, https://www.montereyseabirds.com/ . The Short-tailed Albatross was in the Bay on Wednesday, will it stick around
Take care,
Bernardo
--
Bernardo Alps
Wildlife Biologist California Whales & Wildlife www.photocetus.com
whalephoto@...
310.597.0449
P.O. Box 1667
San Pedro, CA 90733

Hi all.
Thebest bird of our Monterey Seabirds 8-hour pelagic birding trip on the Monterey Bay last Sunday was again a Manx Shearwater; unfortunately not as cooperative as the one on our previous trip and not seen by everyone. We had a good jaeger show with all three species well represented and seen well. The victims of the jaegers, Arctic and Common Terns as well as Sabine's Gulls were also present in good numbers. A handfulof Red Phalaropes were seen in addition to numerous Red-necked Phalaropes. And again several Black-footed Albatrosses put on a good show. Sooty and Pink-footed Shearwaters were present in large numbers. A single Pigeon Guillemont, a handful of Cassin's Auklets, and a couple of dozen Rhinoceros Auklets rounded out the alcid show with the abundant Common Murres.
Mammals were represented by a small pod of Baird's Beaked Whales and many HumpbackWhales, a couple of which called attention to their presence close to the Pt. Sur Clipper with a spectaculardouble breach.
A quick not on sea surface temperature. Unlike on our previous trip, on Sunday we couldn't identify any areas of warm water within reach. And while we covered very similar tracks on both trips, the difference in temperatureshowedin some of the species observed. For one, after the storm-petrel bonanza two weeks ago, we had none on Sunday. Two weeks ago, we had eight fur seals, three of which for sure and probably all were Guadalupe Fur Seals. Last Sunday, we saw approximately 25 fur seals, six of which for sure and probably all were Northern Fur Seals.
Next Sunday's trip is sold out, but we have space on our upcoming trips on September 19, and October 3, 10, and 17, https://www.montereyseabirds.com/ .
Take care,
Bernardo
--
Bernardo Alps
Wildlife Biologist California Whales & Wildlife www.photocetus.com
Whalephoto@...
310.597.0449
P.O. Box 1667
San Pedro, CA 90733

Hi all.
This is a belated report for Monterey Seabirds' August 22 pelagic birding trip, with apologies.
Highlights were a Manx Shearwater in a flock of Sooty Shearwaters that spent a few minutes within view, long enough to be seen by everyone on board, and a Tufted Puffin that circledthe Pt. Sur Clipper several times at close range allowing for great views and photos.
A few more species were unusually cooperative, including a Scripps's Murrelet that spent a considerable amount of time not only close to the boat on the water, but in a perpendicular orientation allowing for great side-on views. One of a handful of Cassin's Auklets also allowed closer-than-usual approaches, and a few of the Black-footed Albatrosses made close passes.
The weather and sea conditions were favorable and there were good numbers of birds in sight at all times. Our only jaegers were a couple of Parasitic Jaegers, but we had good numbers of Sabine's Gulls and Arctic Terns, with a handful of common terns. We had over 100 Ashy Storm-petrels, some in rafts of about a dozen each, and a couple of dozen Black Storm-petrels. Other species seen in good numbers include Red-necked Phalaropes, Sooty and Pink-footedShearwaters, Rhinoceros Auklets, and Common Murres. We also had three Northern Fulmars.
The mammal show was also spectacular. We had multiple humpback and blue whales, a couple of minke whales, multiple groups of Pacific white-sided and Risso's dolphins, as well as bow-riding Dall'sporpoises. We also had killer looks at three different Guadalupe fur seals.
There are still spots available on our upcoming 8-hour trips, including this Sunday, September 5. More info at https://www.montereyseabirds.com/ .
Take care,
Bernardo
--
Bernardo Alps
Wildlife Biologist California Whales & Wildlife www.photocetus.com
whalephoto@...
310.597.0449
P.O. Box 1667
San Pedro, CA 90733

Today, Saturday the 27th, Dave Povey, Nancy Christensen, and I
     went offshore, the main purpose being to visit the waters in the
     extreme southwest corner of the county, about 25-29 nautical miles
     from the tip of Point Loma and immediately bordering both Los
     Angeles County and Mexican waters. The waters offshore between the
     mainland and the inside edge of the 30-Mile Bank are currently
     amazingly dead, with very, very small numbers and an incredibly
     low diversity of birds. Once up on the 30-Mile Bank, just north of
     the international border, we starting finding a number of small-
     to medium-sized rafts of Black Storm-Petrels, Then, in the deeper
     water (2200-2400 feet; 67.7 F) beyond the shallowest section of
     the bank--right near where the international boundary makes an
     obvious 90-degree jog to the south, we starting seeing COOK'S
     PETRELS, many feeding with storm-petrels or just sitting in small
     groups on the water. We totaled at least 24 Cook's in San Diego
     County waters and at least 16 in L. A. County and 5 in Baja
     waters, with a bit of duplication as birds moved across the
     boundaries (as calculated by us!). Despite our working cameras
     only including a single super-zoom and a couple cell-phones,
     reasonable photos were obtained. We also had a pair of CRAVERI'S
     MURRELETS, an unseasonal Sabine's Gull, a one-year-old Common
     Tern, and 4 well-offshore Least Terns, all just inside L. A.
     County waters. There are only several previous sightings of Cook's
     Petrels inside San Diego County waters, and these involved just
     single birds.

    

     Before I list the day's totals, if there is enough interest in
     chartering a fishing/whalewatching boat for a "chase-trip" at some
     point sooner rather than later (the next regularly scheduled San
     Diego pelagic trip is not until mid-August), then Dave Povey is
     willing to inquire of the local boat landings to see if any boat
     is available. The cost would depend on what the charter costs
     divided by the number of people going. Let Dave know if you are
     potentially interested and whether any day of the week will work
     for you or if only weekends are do-able. Conditions can change
     rapidly offshore, so there is certainly no guarantee of success!
     This is now the beginning of the very busy fishing season, and
     whale sightings have just recently increased, so this all may be a
     moot point--but it's worth a try if there is enough interest out
     there. Dave's e-mail address is

    

     Today's list:

    

     Cook's Petrel: 32+

    

     Pink-footed Shearwater: 6

    

     Sooty Shearwater: 20

    

     Black-vented Shearwater: 4

    

     Ashy Storm-Petrel: 18

    

     Black Storm-Petrel: ca. 700

    

     Craveri's Murrelet: 2

    

     Cassin's Auklet: 4

    

     Sabine's Gull: 1

    

     Heermann's Gull: 1

    

     Western Gull: 8

    

     Least Tern: 6

    

     Common Tern: 1

    

     Elegant Tern: 80

    

     Brown Pelican: 25

    

    

     --Paul Lehman, San Diego

Tired after a full day on the ocean so here is a quick trip report for our pelagic trip today with Island Packers out of Ventura. Low winds, mild seas, and clear skies made for a great day on the water that was characterized by impressive seabird numbers and diversity. Our trip took us from the Ventura Harbor to Anacapa Island, the waters south of the northern Channel Islands west to the Santa Cruz Canyon, across the Santa Cruz Basin to the Pilgrim Bank, and then back to Ventura. Other than a few slow spots we had numbers of birds spread throughout the day with the following highlights:
Brown Booby on the Anacapa Arch - our only booby of the day Craveri's Murrelets - 32 plus a number of "sps" that were likely Craveri's Scripps's Murrelet - 1 very unseasonal bird that gave extended views near the boat
Cassin's Auklets - several including at least one cooperative bird near the boat South Polar Skua - at least 7; most giving great views Parasitic, Pomarine, and Long-tailed Jaegers Buller's Shearwaters - two elusive individuals among the larger Pink-footed flocks Pink-footed Shearwater - 500+ including several sizable flocks south of the islands Sooty Shearwater - scattered individuals among the Pink-footed flocks Black-vented Shearwater - 600+ in the Santa Barbara Channel
Black Storm-Petrel - 500+ including several large flocks Ashy Storm-Petrel - scattered individuals Leach's Storm-Petrel - one bird seen by only a few people Northern Fulmar - only one all day Sabine's Gull - only one all day Red-necked Phalarope - modest numbers; surprisingly no Reds
One odd looking shearwater passed the boat that may have been a Wedge-tailed Shearwater, but it was gone quickly and not refound. Had to let that one go.
Thanks to Island Packers for another great trip...we hope to have more scheduled in 2020.
Dave Pereksta Ventura

Hi all.
We had a fun and successful 12-hour trip aboard the Point Sur Clipper on Saturday. It was a gorgeoussunny day and the wind never became an issue. There were some large swells and some chop, but they never preventedus from going where we wanted to. We headed west to deep water where the warm water plume met the colder water of the bay, then crisscrossed the outer canyon before returning along the area where the humpbacks are feeding.
We found no mega rarities but had most of the expected species and got superb looks at many of them. There were many Common Murres, almost all in basic plumage already, and many Rhinoceros Auklets; the only other alcid species was a single Pigeon Guillemot near the aquarium. Not a single Cassin's Auklet was found. We had hundreds of Sooty and dozens of Pink-footed Shearwaters and had nice looks at four Buller's Shearwaters. We had several dozen each Sabine's Gulls and Arctic Terns (I have to brush up on my comic terns, I thought we had several Commons but my photos show only Arctic). Western, California, and Heermann's Gulls were quite numerous. We had all three jaeger species with Parasitic being the most numerous.
We had good looks at a Black-footed Albatross and less than desirable looks at a single Ashy Storm-petrel. Red-necked Phalaropes were scattered throughout the trip but most were along and in the kelp close to shore. There were four Great Egrets fishing from the kelp fronds.
The mammal show was spectacular; several humpback whales scattered throughout the trip treated us to a breach, a couple of surface lunges, and a series of tail slaps. We also had a nice pod of Pacific white-sided dolphins and a small pod of Risso's dolphins, and a very cooperative Northern fur seal. The highlight was a tie between Casper, the albino baby Risso's, and a fluking blue whale.
Monterey Seabirds has two more 12-hour and two more 8-hour trips scheduled in the next four weeks, for more info please go to https://www.montereyseabirds.com/ . We hope to see you aboard!
Take care,
Bernardo

--
Bernardo Alps
Wildlife Biologist California Whales & Wildlife www.photocetus.com
bernardo.alps@...
310.597.0449
P.O. Box 1667
San Pedro, CA 90733

Hi all.

We
went to Santa Barbara and Catalina Islands over the weekend aboard the Magician
out of 22nd Street Landing in San Pedro. The trip left late Friday night and we
awoke at anchor at Santa Barbara Island. Normally we would have stayed a second
night, but an increasing groundswell generated by tropical storm Ivo made us
relocate to Parson's Landing on the northwest side of Catalina Island.

During
a Saturday morning island hike, we surveyed Sutil Rock from Signal Peak. Mark
Stacy spotted a near-adult Masked (possibly Nazca) Booby among the roughly two
dozen Brown Boobies visible perched on the cliffs. The Magician got close to
the rock after circumnavigating the island during our late afternoon departure.
We were able to count approximately 70 Brown Boobies and got better looks at
the Masked Booby. My photos show a greenish-yellow bill but I would have liked
slightly better quality to be absolutely sure.

On
our return trip from Catalina Island Sunday afternoon, we had an adult Masked
Booby fly by at about 125 meters from the boat. We came away with the
impression of a yellow rather than orange bill but were not willing to rule out
Nazca. Later, a post on Facebook by Gregg Gentry showed a pair of nice close-up
photos of what must have been the same bird since we saw the whale watching
boat nearby just before we spotted the booby coming from its direction.

In
conclusion, both birds are almost certainly Masked Boobies but I am reluctant
to make it an absolute.

The
Horned Larks seem to have had a very good nesting season; there were flocks
flying all over the island. We saw only a couple of straggler Pigeon
Guillemots. The only two possible migrants were a Common Yellowthroat and an
American Kestrel. The canyon above Parsons Landing was very birdy but there
was nothing unexpected.

We
encountered very few seabirds during the crossings. Between Santa Barabara and
Catalina Islands, we had 1 Cassin's Auklet, 1 Ashy Storm-petrel, 10 Pink-footed
Shearwaters, 4 Sooty Shearwaters, and 3 Black-vented Shearwaters, in addition
to a few dozen Western Gulls and a couple each of Double-crested Cormorants and
Brown Pelicans.

On
the crossing from Catalina to the mainland, we had 4 Pink-footed Shearwaters, 7
Black-vented Shearwaters, 2 Red-necked Phalaropes, 1 Pomarine Jaeger, and 1
California Gull, in addition to a few Western Gulls and Elegant Terns, plus 1
Royal Tern and 1 Barn Swallow.

The
next two-day Santa Barbara Island excursion is scheduled for September 25 and
26. More information can be found at http://catalinaexplorer.com/island-expeditions.html .

Take care,

Bernardo

--

Bernardo
Alps

Wildlife Biologist

California
Whales & Wildlife

www.photocetus.com

bernardo.alps@...

310.597.0449

P.O. Box 1667

San Pedro, CA 90733

San Bernardino Valley Audubon Society sponsored a 17-hour pelagic trip today, August 17. We departed Dana Point at 5 AM aboard the Ocean Institute's R/V Sea Explorer, and returned about 10 PM. We explored the waters mostly south and east of San Clemente Island, visiting 30 Mile Bank, 40 Mile Bank, Butterfly Bank, the San Clemente Basin, and the 277 Bank off Catalina Island. Highlights from the trip included 3 Cook's Petrels (40 Mile Bank), 2 Black-footed Albatrosses, several Townsend's Storm-Petrels, Blue-footed Booby (30 Mile Bank/SD Co.), Brown Booby, a couple Arctic Terns, a few Long-tailed Jaegers, and several dozen Craveri's Murrelets. Other species included Common Tern, Red and Red-necked Phalaropes, Sabine's Gull, Pomarine Jaeger, Black and Leach's Storm-Petrels, Cassin's Auklet, and Pink-footed, Sooty, and Black-vented Shearwaters. Of local interest in Orange County, we had several Leach's Storm-Petrels in the extreme southeastern corner of Orange County waters (depending on how one draws the boundary with SD), and then on our return trip saw half a dozen or so small storm-petrels south of Lausen Sea Mount that were likely Leach's or Least Storm-Petrels. Non-bird marine life included Elephant Seal, California Sea Lion, Common Dolphin, Minke Whale, Fin Whale, Green Sea Turtle, Hammerhead Shark, Mola mola, and flying fish.
Tom Benson San Bernardino Valley Audubon Society

Hi all,

After the Island Packers Scrub-Jay Pelagic sold out last month we added a second trip in April with space available. It is next weekend on Saturday,
April 6th . The focus of this trip is to get good looks at our local nesting pelagic species such as Scripps's Murrelet, Cassin's Auklet, Rhinoceros Auklet, Common Murre, Pigeon Guillemot, and others. We still have some Black-vented Shearwaters around,
and the first few Sooty and Pink-footed Shearwaters have been seen lately. Also as the name implies we get off the boat on Santa Cruz Island to view the endemic Island Scrub-Jay.

It is an 8 am to 5 pm trip aboard the Vanguard out of Channel Islands Harbor in Oxnard, Ca. Reasonably price at $80

Leaders will be: David Pereksta, Ryan Terrill, Hugh Ranson, and myself Joel Barrett

More information can be found at
www.islandpackers.com or on my personal website
www.thesaltybird.com

Pelagic Birding and the Channel Islands National Park California

Pelagic birding in and around the Channel Islands National Park and the Santa Barbara Channel. www.thesaltybird.com Information and trips.

www.thesaltybird.com

We also have two more full day pelagic trips running with Island Packers on July 14th and
October 5th. Last year these trips sold out so don't wait too long to get your spot if you are interested. Again you can learn more about the scope of these trips over at
www.thesaltybird.com

All trips can be booked online at
www.islandpackers.com or over the phone 805-642-1393.

I hope everyone is enjoying the spring birding,

Joel Barrett

Port Hueneme, Ca