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

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 had an 11-hour pelagic trip out of Ventura with Island Packers yesterday (Oct 2). It was a beautiful day with low winds and nice seas, and we encountered a lot of birds and other sea life. We went from Ventura to Anacapa Island and then to Santa Barbara Island. The highlights were:
A huge feeding frenzy near Anacapa Island has thousands of birds including big numbers of Black-vented Shearwaters. We had our only Common Murre of the day in the channel before the frenzy.
A large flock of oystercatchers (30+) on Anacapa with three white-bellied birds. We could not get too close due to divers in the water and need to review photos to see if we can determine if any were Americans. The ones we could see well from the boat looked like hybrids and we did not get to see many fieldmarks like spread wings or rumps.
The waters from Anacapa to the Pilgrim Bank in Ventura County had lots of birds and common dolphins. We had a "skua slam" over the course of a few minutes, finding Parasitic, Pomarine, and Long-tailed Jaegers; and South Polar Skua. We also had decent numbers of Pink-footed Shearwaters, a few Sooty Shearwaters, Sabine's Gulls, Rhinoceros Auklets, two Brown Boobies, and an Ashy Storm-Petrel that sat on the water near the boat. However, the highlights of this stretch were 21 Craveri's Murrelets and several large rafts of Black Storm-Petrels that numbered around 1,200 birds or more.
The stretch from Pilgrim to Santa Barbara Island was less eventful, but Sutil Rock provided and incredible Booby show. We had 146 Brown Boobies, two Blue-footed Boobies, and two Red-footed Boobies!! This is the first time we have seen Red-footed Boobies perched on Sutil. Two birds perched together in vegetation makes you wonder what they are thinking. There was another booby that was either a juvenile Blue-footed or the hybrid Blue-footed x Brown from last year. Photo review of that is pending.
We left SBI and checked the Osborn Bank before heading back north on a line over deeper water than our southbound track. We continued to see Craveri's Murrelets and a variety of other species including Red and Red-necked Phalaropes, Sabine's Gulls, shearwaters, and jaegers. The highlight of this stretch was a cow/calf pair of Bryde's Whales that mugged the boat several times and swam along the side with their bellies turned upward. A "life" mammal for most on board. As we continued north back into Ventura County we continued to see a variety of birds and lots of common dolphins. The bird highlights there were our most photogenic Sabine's Gulls and Craveri's Murrelets of the day. We had 40+ Craveri's for the day!
Thanks go out to Island Packers for another great trip and all they do to support pelagic birding in southern California. Captain Joel Barrett, Laurie Van Stee, and Paige Knowles were awesome as always. In addition, the trip was expertly led by Todd McGrath, Ryan Terrill, Deven Kammerichs-Berke, Wes Fritz, and myself. Everyone's efforts led to a great day on the water.
We are also proud to announce that big year birder Tiffany Kersten picked up numbers 699 (Craveri's Murrelet) and 700 (Blue-footed Booby) for her lower 48 big year. Congratulations to her for an amazing milestone!
We have an 8-hour trip out of Ventura on Oct 23. Visit Island Packers website for more details.
Cheers
Dave Pereksta Ventura

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

Hello all, Belated trip report, it has been a busy week. Yes, the season has turned, the late season birds are here. Overall the weather was a bit less amenable than the forecast had suggested, this meant we had to go a bit farther north into the weather to get offshore. It worked, and were able to drive south in a following sea through the Pioneer Canyon and then stayed off the continental shelf until we had to head back to port. We started off nicely with a pair of Marbled Murrelets close to shore as well as a couple of Parasitic Jaegers. Heading offshore I did get a very troubling feeling, there was little to nothing other than Common Murres as we went out, it took a long time to see a shearwater! In fact I saw an Ashy Storm-Petrel before I saw a Sooty Shearwater on this trip. But once we arrived at the continental shelf things began to sort out with Sooty, Pink-footed, and Bullers shearwaters, Black-footed Albatross, as well as Rhinoceros and Cassins Auklets. It was a good day for Rhino Auklets, lots out there. Perhaps associated with these numbers we found two Tufted Puffins, a juvenile and a non-breeding adult; puffins at this time of year are very neat to see, so different from the summer. Heading south we picked up more Ashy Storm-Petrels, many Black Storm-Petrels and a Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel. South Polar Skua, two Long-tailed Jaegers (together) and Pomarine jaegers gave us the skua-jaeger grand slam. We picked up Blue Whales, which have been hard to find in central CA, we were able to share this information with Monterey Bay Whalewatch who are working with a TV/Film crew (BBC) and they have been looking for Blue Whales, fortunately our magic spot worked for them a couple of days later and they were able to get some footage that we may see in a documentary in the future! On our way back more Bullers Shearwaters showed up, and a flock of Sooty Shearwaters had an individual that was flying around with a darker underwing, a Short-tailed Shearwater. As well, about 10 miles offshore our first of the season Black-vented Shearwater showed up and a few more in the next 20 minutes or so. All jaegers and South Polar Skua, three species of storm-petrels and 5 species of shearwater, diversity is up! We have two spots on Oct 18, and a few more on the 24 th remaining. https://www.alvarosadventures.com/pelagic-dates-2020.html Also, I am doing a Big Walk for Rhinoceros Auklets a walking big day next week where I am asking for donations to Oikonos for the Ao Nuevo Island project, restoring habitat and monitoring Rhinoceros and Cassins Auklets on the island. Hopefully I can break 110 species on foot power, and will likely walk about 20 miles assuming I survive!! Please donate more details here: https://secure.givelively.org/donate/oikonos-ecosystem-knowledge/alvaro-jaramillo-1 good birding! Alvaro Alvaro Jaramillo alvaro@... www.alvarosadventures.com

Hello all, Sunday and Monday (Sept 13 and 14), we went out from Pillar Point Harbor, into San Mateo and San Francisco waters. The Sunday trip was the SF country trip, where we maximize time in San Francisco county waters. We went to the Pioneer Canyon that day and had a great surprise, we found storm petrels out there. But first, on this day we did have multiple passerines fly by, Brown-headed Cowbirds, Wilsons Warblers, Audubons (Yellow-rumped) Warbler, Townsends Warbler, Merlin!, and perhaps a rarer warbler. It had pale at the base of the tail, but no good photos could be taken. One cowbird and a Wilsons Warbler eventually rode the boat back to shore. A boat fishing about 8 miles from shore texted us photos of a Magnolia Warbler that had landed on their boat, unfortunately it did not choose our boat. But what was exciting was finding flocks of Ashy Storm-Petrels in Pioneer Canyon, recall that the week before we found Black Storm-Petrels, but well south in San Mateo County. These were mainly Ashy, with a scattering of Black as well as Wilsons Storm-Petrels . On our best hour count, we estimated 600 Ashy Storm-Petrels . We lucked out as well with a San Francisco Flesh-footed Shearwater , our first of the season and we are looking forward to seeing many more. On the next day, we were not limited to San Francisco so we came up with a plan. How about looking for the Pioneer Canyon storm-petrels, and then heading south to where the Black Storm-Petrels had been the week before Our plan worked amazingly well. The big surprise was a super easy to see Minke Whale close to shore, not always a whale that allows for photography. We did not have the passerine fall out today, but a lost Black Turnstone about 10 miles out was trying to land on the boat. Once at the Pioneer Canyon we found the flocks of storm petrels again, this time maxing out with approximately 500 birds. But our diversity went up, finding Ashy, Black, Wilsons and Fork-tailed Storm-Petrels . Bullers Shearwater showed up today. We then went south into San Mateo County, looking for the Black Storm-Petrel flocks, and on our way we found 2-3 Sabines Gulls which have been sparce this year. Early in the afternoon we found the Black Storm-Petrels, approximately 425 mixed with Ashy and a few Wilsons. Amazing, in one day we had gone from a concentration of Ashy to a totally different site with a concentration of Black Storm-Petrels. It was another fantastic study opportunity for storm petrels. We found Black-footed Albatross, Pink-footed and Sooty shearwaters, Northern Fulmar, Rhinoceros and Cassins auklets, Common Murre, Parasitic and Pomarine jaegers. Other critters included Humpback Whale, Salmon Shark, Mola mola, California and Stellers sea lions, Northern Fur Seal and Northern Elephant seal. The weather was good, we are excited about our trip this Saturday but it is sold out. Our next trips to this part of the ocean are on Oct 4, 17, and 24. The last two dates were just added. We have expanded our trips to later dates when numbers of albatross should increase, and we have high probability of finding Short-tailed Shearwater, as well as Flesh-footed Shearwater. Cross your fingers, but these late dates may also be good for Short-tailed Albatross. We will be on the lookout, Laysan Albatross will be a good chance and perhaps Ancient Murrelets may have started to show up by then. You can book and reserve here: https://www.alvarosadventures.com/pelagic-dates-2020.html Good birding Alvaro Jaramillo alvaro@... www.alvarosadventures.com

Hello all, We had an amazing pelagic out of Half Moon Bay yesterday in sunny weather. The storm-petrelpalooza continued, and numbers were even higher than on Saturday. We estimated 1600 Black Storm-Petrels during one hour long transect, with 60 or so Ashy Storm-Petrels, and 7 or so Wilsons Storm-Petrels. This is the highest number we can find for San Mateo county waters, ever. A record haul! What was just fantastic was that we not only found flocks, but the birds were coming very close to the boat when we sat and idled, with opportunities for great photography. I am sure that more fantastic photos will be uploaded to the list: https://ebird.org/checklist/S73349525 Again, it is difficult to put into words how fantastic the experience was. Just non-stop storm-petrels, multiple views. Over and over, and you could really see the flight style differences between Ashy and Black storm-petrels. We are all still going through our photos, as hundreds if not more were taken by each person there with a camera! Some of the Black Storm-Petrels were in San Francisco county, but the big numbers were to the south in San Mateo. We found three Tufted Puffins, many and close Black-footed Albatross, an abundance of Common Murres, Rhinoceros Auklets, Pink-footed and Sooty shearwaters along with other common seabirds. Finally, jaegers were found in larger numbers, and all three species were seen including a fantastic adult Long-tailed right over our boat by Juan Pablo Galvan. Thanks for that spot! We were all looking at storm petrels, great that someone was looking up. The Humpback Whales put on an amazing show once again, with a group of feeding whales foraging right by the boat, putting on quite a show. We are heading out of Monterey on Saturday the 12 th , and return to Half Moon Bay on Monday Sept 14. There are 4 spots remaining for our Monday trip. You can reserve and book directly here: https://www.alvarosadventures.com/pelagic-dates-2020.html Good birding to you either on land or out on the water! Alvaro Alvaro Jaramillo alvaro@... www.alvarosadventures.com

Hello all, I had gone to sleep seeing 17 knot winds offshore on the computer, and wondering what things would be like in the morning. Well, winds were down to 10 knots, the sky was cloudless and suddenly what was an impending poor weather trip was going to be fine. It was better than fine, it was wonderful. As has been the norm recently Common Murres were in the harbor, and masses of Elegant Terns were fishing the anchovy that are trapped in the harbor by the millions. We headed out and the first good sign was that an Ashy Storm-Petrel was seen about 10 miles out, closer than we usually see one. In fact on the way back in, there was one 3 miles from shore, definitely a record for us. Closer to shore than we ever see them. As is typical the line of Sooty Shearwaters was out there a few miles out, and lots of Common Murres with a single remaining (they leave early) Pigeon Guillemot. As we reached greater distances from the coast we found Pink-footed Shearwaters, a few Northern Fulmar and Rhinoceros Auklet. When we arrived near the Half Moon Bay weather buoy, things picked up, more shearwaters, Black-footed albatross and a nice fly by Laysan Albatross! What we assume was the same Laysan came back and gave even better views about 40 minutes later. Wilsons Storm-Petrel caused a thrill, as one came close to the boat. Little did we know that we would see several before the days end. Most storm petrels were Ashy, but eventually we found a Black Storm-Petrel, and from there on in, they took over the show. Progressively more common on each section of the trip as we headed south. Eventually we had an hour period when we tallied over 400! Some coming in for great views. Some photos here: https://ebird.org/checklist/S73241708 The numbers do not do justice to the experience. For hours Black Storm-Petrels were constantly in view, so were many Ashy, and a few Wilsons here and there. Comparison between Ashy and Black was possible repeatedly, the bouncing flight of the long-winged Black Storm-Petrel is something we looked at so intently today, and on so many individuals that we will likely see those images as we fall asleep tonight. It was truly a great trip to really learn this species. Amazing! Another superb experience was spotting the Laysan Albatross, presumably the same one as earlier, and then Dorian Anderson yelling that he had just seen a second! Eventually, the two birds sat together at a distance from us, confirming two Laysan Albatrosses at the same time. To think that at one time it was thought that San Mateo County was not good for pelagics! It is fantastic for pelagics. Return to port surprise was a Tufted Puffin that buzzed the boat. Several Humpback Whales were enjoyed, including some lunge feeding individuals. We hope to replay some of this, with the caveat that things can change on a dime in the ocean, on Monday. Weather is forecast to be pretty calm on Monday and we can assure you that it will be cool out there. So if you want to try your luck with seabirds, and escape the heat, we have 4 spots left: https://www.alvarosadventures.com/pelagic-dates-2020.html take care, Alvaro Alvaro Jaramillo alvaro@... www.alvarosadventures.com

Hello all, The trip started out slowly, with nearly nothing over the continental shelf on our way offshore. I was getting a bit worried, an Ashy Storm-Petrel about 15 miles offshore was a good sign though. Then we got to the continental shelf edge and it was just crazy, thousands of birds, and masses of Humpback Whales. Maybe 40 or so whales within a mile, and perhaps during the day we saw over 5-10% of the population of Pink-footed Shearwaters, thousands! They were at times much more abundant than the Sooty, just the perfect setup for a super rare shearwater to show up in. Our meter (the sonar) wash showing solidly 300-500 feet of solid bait fish below us, can you even imagine how many millions of anchovy that is Black-footed Albatross were a constant sight, and near the Half Moon Bay weather buoy we found a gorgeous juvenile Laysan Albatross in San Mateo county ( https://ebird.org/checklist/S72967622 ), this is the first Laysan of the year for us. Ashy Storm-Petrels were in both San Mateo and San Francisco counties, while Black Storm-Petrel was only in San Mateo, and Fork-tailed was in San Francisco ( https://ebird.org/checklist/S72967503 ). The jaegers, terns and Sabines are still largely missing, we wonder if they have not moved south yet or if they are going well offshore Lots and lots of both Red and Red-necked phalaropes. The numbers of Common Murres were huge, with nice looks at Rhinoceros Auklets and a bonus Tufted Puffin in San Mateo on the way back. Big surprise was a Lucys Warbler that flew around the boat and did not land. In the gray skies offshore it was tough to get a good handle of the ID, particularly since the bird had a dark looking throat from wet feathers there. But eventually when looking at the photos in the cabin it became clear that it was a Lucys, in San Francisco county, and this explained why it looked so tiny https://ebird.org/checklist/S72967568 . It was flying with a Brown-headed Cowbird which weirdly enough would go and fly to it when the warbler became more distant, like it was trying to flock with it. Blue Sharks, and Mola mola were enjoyed along with the bird and whales. But definitely the super abundance of shearwaters and murres out there was what will be remembered. We have a few spots open still for the trip on Saturday. Monterey Albacore grounds on the 12 th is also open still. https://www.alvarosadventures.com/pelagic-dates-2020.html Alvaro Alvaro Jaramillo alvaro@... www.alvarosadventures.com

Hello all, We did three trips to the Farallon Islands earlier in the month Aug 8, 9 and 11. As well on the 15 th we went SW offshore from Half Moon Bay, to waters just north of Santa Cruz county. The Farallon Is. Trips were great and we saw that the major final fledge of Common Murres happened between the 9 th and the 11 th given that on the later date there were fewer around. Brown Boobies varied from 1 on the 8 th , and 9 th , to three on the 11 th . They were all females and underwing features looked fine for the Brewsters subspecies, the expected one here. Tufted Puffins are always stars of the show on the Farallons, with up to 40 seen, and multiples were also found away from the islands. We could not find the Horned Puffin which was seen by Farallon Is. biologists, oh well. We experienced amazing views of Cassins Auklets, and a few Rhinos (their numbers have been low recently), while a juvenile Cassins in Pillar Point Harbor on the 8 th was a complete surprise! Bullers Shearwaters were represented by only one on the 8 th , but then the next day approximately 100 birds gave amazing views (photographed birds were adults, not juveniles); both Sooty and Pink-footed shearwaters were in abundance. All days included many Black-footed Albatross. Northern Fulmars were in low numbers near shore, and then a few offshore but few in-between; as expected most are first cycle, patchy looking as they are in heavy molt. Storm petrels which we rarely see on Farallon trips included multiple Ashy and Black on the 8 th , and a few Ashy on the 9 th . Red and Red-necked phalaropes were common, and we found some nice rip currents where they allowed super close approach for photos. As is expected the first lost passerine offshore of the season was a Brown-headed Cowbird, they are nearly always the first to show up in August. Overall it was an amazing Farallon Island season, the July Nazca Booby of course a highlight. Another highlight was an awesome Leatherback Sea Turtle on the 9 th . Our offshore trip was incredible for weather, super calm, it was the calm before the storm as that night we had our spellbinding once in a decade thunderstorm in the Bay Area. Unfortunately many fires were stared by the storm, some of them making the news now. We found four species of storm-petrels, many Ashy, a few Black, 1-2 Wilsons and a Fork-tailed. A bird that Lucas Stephenson spotted could have been a Least due to the small apparent size, but we could not confirm with a photo or a great close fly by unfortunately. We will be watching for this species this season! Lots of shearwaters, including a few Bullers, and many Black-footed Albatross. We had a great whale show with Blue, Fin and Humpback as well as Rissos Dolphin. It seemed like the farther south we went, the better it got. Unfortunately time ran out and we had to make our way back to port before we could finish exploring this area. But I am looking forward to this Saturday when we are going to try to get to this region from the south, from Monterey. Overall, some weird stuff is going on. I saw tuna jumping on the 15 th , there were albacore caught in Marin, and a Swordfish seen near the Cordell Bank. Water reached 63F on the 15 th , a local record since we have been going out of Half Moon Bay. Multiple Blue Sharks were in the warm water. This seems like a year to be on the lookout for unusual southern storm-petrels, throughout CA we should be on watch for Least and Wedge-rump. Sea Surface Temperatures are not only abnormally high here, they are also high to our south, perhaps allowing for a northbound push of these rarities. On the other hand we have been seeing very few jaegers and Sabines Gull, although in July we had a day with all three jaegers and South Polar Skua. My guess is that their migration is somewhat backed up, and the flow will resume soon. There have been more south winds offshore than we normally see, that may be delaying southbound migration perhaps It seems like now that we are in late August, the jaeger and tern show will kick in to full gear. Masses of Sooty Shearwaters show up off an on in Half Moon Bay, for example there were 50,000 this morning! Marbled Murrelets have returned after an absence due to red tide. We are doing back to back trips out of Monterey this weekend, a longer one on Saturday (heading towards the hotspot noted above), shorter on Sunday. Weather forecasts look good thus far. Covid-19 procedures are in effect, masks, low number of people on the boats, and routine disinfectant use. Here is the upcoming schedule:
https://www.alvarosadventures.com/pelagic-dates-2020.html Here is a page on how to pick a pelagic: https://www.alvarosadventures.com/how-to-pick-a-pelagic-trip.html Looking forward to exploring the ocean this weekend out of Monterey. Come and escape from the real world, and see the marine world instead! Alvaro Alvaro Jaramillo alvaro@... www.alvarosadventures.com

Howdy, Birders,
Shearwater Journeys October 5, 2019 pelagic trip had several highlights, including a NAZCA BOOBY (photos), spotted by out-of-state birders, Dave and Tammy McQuade. This booby was in Santa Cruz County! It didnt stick around at all, just flying up the side of the boat, and straight on to wherever it was headed!
We saw most of the regular fall seabirds: Black-footed Albatross; Northern Fulmar; Pink-footed, Bullers, and Sooty Shearwaters; South Polar Skua and Pomarine Jaeger; Sabines Gull; Common Murre; Pigeon Guillemot; Cassins and Rhinoceros Auklets and the Peregrine Falcon on the radio tower along Cannery Row.
A BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKE and TUFTED PUFFIN were surprises, both in Santa Cruz County. No storm-petrels at all were found.
Marine mammals were pretty exciting with an albino Rissos dolphin just outside of the harbor; one blue whale, and about a dozen humpback whales were found. Northern right whale dolphins and Pacific white-sided dolphins rounded out the cetaceans for the day.
We still have a couple spaces open on our next Monterey trip, Friday, October 11. Also, two birders have had an emergency and had to cancel the last trip of the season, Sunday, October 20. If you are interested in either trip, please email me: debi@... .
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

Hello, CAL Birders,
After blowing at gale force all day and into the evening of September 28th (forcing us to cancel our Half Moon Bay departure that day), it was hard to believe that the seas would actually lay down enough for us to get out the next day.
Much to our delight, the seas laid down nicely, and we had a beautiful day, September 29, 2019 on the Shearwater Journeys pelagic trip from Half Moon Bay.
Id like to say that the light morph WEDGE-TAILED SHEARWATER was the highlight of the day, but sadly it was only seen by two birders on the boat. Perhaps, it will be found on another trip this fall. Its possible because weve done it before. Im unsure whether this shearwater was in San Mateo or San Francisco County. We are working on that.
Nevertheless, Shearwater Journeys had a fantastic pelagic trip with nearly 100 BULLERS SHEARWATERS, one SHORT-TAILED SHEARWATER, 18 WILSONS STORM-PETRELS, 49 ASHY STORM-PETRELS, and 26 BLACK STORM-PETRELS. The storm-petrels, shearwaters, jaegers, and SOUTH POLAR SKUAS showed well in the stern where many folks obtained good images. SABINES GULLS were scarce with only 3 recorded. Only one ARCTIC TERN was recorded. BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSSES showed well and NORTHERN/PACIFIC FULMAR numbers increased to 22.
A few CASSINS AUKLETS, plenty of RHINOCEROS AUKLETS, 2 TUFTED PUFFINS and nearly 2000 COMMON MURRES rounded out the alcids.
Numbers of phalaropes were low with only 1 RED-NECKED and 3 REDS.
The cetacean show was dominated by as many as 8 BLUE WHALES and 25 HUMPBACK WHALES, although one very friendly humpback whale stole the show popping up and looking at us repeatedly from one side of the boat to the other. I havent seen such a friendly humpback in a few years.
Even though the sea surface temperatures at Monterey Bay averaged 60-62 F all day on Friday, September 27th, the SSTs at Half Moon Bay only two days later were much cooler, averaging 53-55 F. Lots of mixing going on! We birded in both San Mateo and San Francisco Counties.
Shearwater Journeys next trip with space available is Friday, October 11 departing from Monterey. Email me for a reservation: debi@... .
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