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

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

Calbirds et al.

Thanks for sending out the info Don. We are heading out tomorrow out of Monterey and the plan is to go to the area where the Short-tailed was last seen.
https://www.alvarosadventures.com/pelagic-dates-2022.html

As a belated trip report, last Friday (19th) was superbly good out of Monterey. We were able to see a lot of diversity, as well as rarities - Hawaiian Petrel, Nazca Booby (adult), and Baird's Beaked Whales for the cetacean enthusiasts.
As well, more Ashy and Black storm-petrels than we have had for years in Monterey Bay, Tufted Puffin, lots of Black-footed Albatross, great views of many Buller's Shearwaters in with the more common species, all three jaegers and a nice assortment of the expected alcids. A super day out, one of the best Monterey days in years for us. So we hope that tomorrow is another good day offshore.

As well, we have a research permit now that allows us to use fish/squid chum in limited circumstances in the marine sanctuaries. This has taken some time for us to secure and will be helpful in trying to find storm-petrel concentrations (one of the key aims), and certainly unusual shearwaters and other tubenoses. But note that the rules are clear that we cannot chum near a Short-tailed Albatross (Endangered Species).

Alvaro

Alvaro Jaramillo
alvaro@...
www.alvarosadventures.com

Hi All,

To start the Fall pelagic season off, I will be leading an August 21st pelagic out of Bodega Bay to Bodega Canyon, Cordell Bank and possibly the Continental Shelf (assuming weather permits). The trip will be on the New Sea Angler (65 ft. Coast Guard approved vessel) with Captain Rick Powers, a 40+ year veteran of the open ocean and someone who has been running pelagic trips for over three decades. The goal will be to get offshore as quickly as possible in order to maximize time for late summer specialities such as Cooks Petrels, various Storm-petrels and migrating seabirds such as Arctic Terns and Long-tailed Jaegers. Other possibilities are Leach's Storm-Petrel, Laysan Albatross, Hawaiian Petrel, Scripps Murrelet, any species of booby and of course we always hope to find any Australasian seabirds. During this week of August, in years past, species such as Gray-faced Petrel, Wedge-rumped Storm-Petrels and Streaked Shearwaters have all shown up, so you never know what you might find out there.

ONLY THREE SPOTS REMAIN!

The cost of the trip will be $150 per person.Please email me directly if you are interested. My email is lucascorneliussen04@...

Good Birding,
Lucas Corneliussen

Paul and Calbirds I was helping on the ACCESS research cruises last week, and had a Hawaiian Petrel just off the continental shelf in San Mateo county. This was not a day with much wind, but Hawaiians seem to be much less wind dependent than Murphys. We saw four different Laysan Albatrosses. We only dipped past the shelf edge, were never super far out. Photos here https://ebird.org/checklist/S109628226 More on the partners involved, and what type of data is gathered on ACCESS cruises here: http://www.accessoceans.org/ Alvaro Alvaro Jaramillo alvaro@... www.alvarosadventures.com

The northbound Holland America ("Eurodam") cruise-ship pelagic from San Diego to Vancouver, April 25-29, produced some 500+ Murphy's Petrels, 7 Hawaiian Petrels, 140 Cook's Petrels, and 20 Laysan Albatrosses. Very windy on April 26, but light winds on April 27, but still crazy numbers of Murphy's both days. These are record high totals for Murphy's, Hawaiians, and Laysans for a single trip. April 26 daylight ran from western Santa Barbara County to southern Marin County (brief). April 27 from northern Humboldt County (brief) and Del Norte County through much of Oregon. This trip, like most of them, runs about 42-53 miles offshore of CA, and slightly less off Oregon, most of the time right along the shelf edge. Photos taken of many of these birds will appear in eBird reports at some point soon. Here is the county breakdown of the (approximate) totals:

26 APRIL
SANTA BARBARA COUNTY: 2 Hawaiians, 2 Murphy's, 1 Laysan
SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY: 1 Hawaiian (continuing), 4 Murphy's, 35 Cook's, 2 Laysans
MONTEREY COUNTY: 5 Murphy's, 45 Cook's, 6 Laysans, 2 Tufted Puffins
SAN MATEO COUNTY: 2 Hawaiians, 45 Murphy's, 70 Cook's
SAN FRANCISCO COUNTY: 2 Hawaiians, 125 Murphy's, 3 Laysans
MARIN COUNTY: 10 Murphy's, 1 Laysan

27 APRIL
HUMBOLDT COUNTY: 1 Hawaiian, 10 Murphy's
DEL NORTE COUNTY: 22 Murphy's, 1 Laysan
OREGON: 260 Murphy's, 6 Laysans

--Paul Lehman (San Diego) and 25 birders (mostly from out-of-state)

Twenty-five birders aboard the Holland America Eurodam departed San Diego late afternoon on the 25th and spent the 26th between waters off w. Santa Barbara County and extreme southern Marin, and then just a couple hours the morning of the 27th off northern Humboldt and Del Norte. The 26th was characterized by strong North winds up to 30 knots right on the bow which clearly was a factor in the incredible number of pterodromas seen during the day in every county covered. And the boat just cut through the nasty waves like a knife through butter and so was a very comfortable ride.
Six Hawaiian petrels was a record for one day, as were the 210 Murphy's petrels, with a good total of 140 cooks and 13 laysans. Then additional 20 or so Murphy's and a one Hawaiian and a laysan in Del Norte and Humboldt the next morning. A detailed county by county breakdown of numbers of the better birds will appear in the next couple days.
Paul Lehman and 25 others, San Diego

Sent from the all new AOL app for Android

To add a bit to the information provided by Jim Holmes, his round-trip from San Francisco to Ensenada and back is a good new twist on the many "repositioning cruises" that birders have taken off the CA coast now for over 10 years. Jim's trip was not a repositioning cruise, but rather just a regular mini-cruise, but the spring repo cruises are primarily from San Diego (Holland America) or Los Angeles (Princess) up to Vancouver. Similar trips departing San Francisco get very little daylight in CA waters. And in no case do you want trips that add unwanted ports-of-call (other than Victoria), as that cuts down on daylight well offshore. These spring trips (mid-April to mid-May) are very good for Murphy's and Cook's Petrels and Laysan Albatrosses, good for Hawaiian Petrels, and great for lots of Black-footed Albatrosses, Fork-tailed and Leach's Storm-Petrels, Tufted Puffins, etc. Fall (September) trips, southbound, are good for all the standard fall pelagic species. Very rare trips in Nov/Dec are good for Mottled Petrel. Some Princess ships have the wrap-around bow deck that Jim's ship had, and which is great for observation AND PHOTOGRAPHY if it is not too windy and that deck is thus closed. If so, one birds one deck lower and just slightly back on one side or the other, depending on lighting, which is the only deck configuration available on the Holland America ships. One advantage of Jim's route is that you start and end at the same port, so no flight(s) needed if you live near the embarkation port. There are also 10-12 day round-trip cruises from San Francisco or L.A. up to Alaska and back on Princess between May-Sep that are excellent for deep-water and other pelagics, but much of that, of course, is north of CA.

For those interested in CA waters, the Holland America trips in spring get daylight in Santa Barbara north to San Francisco Counties and then the following morning in northern Humboldt and Del Norte. The Princess trips from L.A. get s. Monterey to s. Mendocino, but the next morning you are already in Oregon waters. (Nothing is wrong with OR and WA waters, mind you, as you get many of the desired species there as well.)

One uses a scope a bunch, but binoculars alone DO work for a bunch of the birds, and a lot of folks scan with binoculars but then zoom in with a scope for better views. But plenty of birds are quite close to the ship and provide for GOOD photography opportunities. The stability of these huge ships really helps!

After a two-year covid hiatus, a bunch of us are taking a Holland America cruise next week from San Diego to Vancouver from April 25-29. There is also a Princess trip with birders on board leaving L.A. on the 29th. And a couple other offerings in May.
--Paul Lehman, San Diego

Date: 4/19/22 3:17 pm
From: Jim Holmes via groups.io
Subject: Re: [CALBIRDS] Cruise Ship out of San Francisco

I got a few questions/suggestions regarding this trip, so some additional information....

This is basically a seawatch and you will need a scope. I would not
recommend just using binoculars. Basically, you find a spot out of the
wind with good light near the front of the ship and spend the day
scoping. It is not good for photography. Birds generally do not get
close to the massive ship.

As for price, we got 2 rooms (a balcony for me and my wife and an
indoor room across the hall for our two kids). For our 5 night trip,
our balcony was $533/person ($1,066 total). Our kids indoor room was
$429/person ($858 total). That includes everything (room, food,
entertainment, taxes, fees, port expenses, etc) but alcohol and tip
($15/day/person). I always get a balcony on these trips but I have
never done my seawatches from my room.

My eBird trip reports are here (you can see our route and the areas
where no reports are logged were when I took lunch with my family):

April 12: https://ebird.org/tripreport/48456

April 15: https://ebird.org/tripreport/48457

Happy to answer any other questions.

Thanks,

Jim Holmes

Sacramento, CA

Hi All,

To start the Spring pelagic season off, I will be leading a May 8th pelagic out of Bodega Bay to Bodega Canyon, Cordell Bank and possibly the Continental Shelf (assuming weather permits). Thetrip will be on the New Sea Angler (65 ft. Coast Guard approved vessel) with Captain Rick Powers,a 40+ year veteran of the open ocean and someone who has been runningpelagic trips for over three decades. The goal will be to get offshore as quickly as possiblein order to maximize time for spring specialities such as Hawaiian Petrel, Cook's Petrel and a variety of offshore birdsheaded north to the Arctic to breed. Other possibilities are Leach's Storm-Petrel, Parakeet Auklet (a species we were able to see last year around this time), Murphy's Petrel (another species we saw this time last year), any species of booby and of course we always hope to find a Short-tailed Albatross. Spring is a time of year not often covered by pelagic boats so who knows what we may discover out there.

Compared to last spring, wind has been quite mild this year so Rick and I are much more hopeful of running these boats than we were last year andwe think that this trip could be quite calm. That said, if you are interested, please let me know ASAP. The cost of the trip will be $150 per person.

Good Birding,

Lucas Corneliussen

Hello all, There are Cooks Petrels being reported from Bodega down to San Diego, so this is definitely an incursion year for this species. Dan Nelson had 7-8 Cooks, and a Hawaiian Petrel on Sunday 30 miles from Bodega Head. We saw three Cooks and a Hawaiian Petrel on Saturday in the Pioneer Canyon, also about 30 miles offshore. The Sea Surface Temperature charts show that this warmer water where the petrels were continues in our area, and we will be heading back out there on Friday to look for these conditions and these birds, weather forecast looks good as well. To book a spot: https://www.alvarosadventures.com/pelagic-dates-2021.html On Saturday our Hawaiian Petrel and the first two Cooks Petrels were in San Francisco water. This is also where the thousands of Ashy Storm-Petrels were, along with a sprinkling of Black and Wilsons storm-petrels. We found three South Polar Skuas (both counties), all three jaegers and the elevated number of Sabines Gulls continues. Our first Arctic Terns showed up, and two very close Scrippss Murrelets were in San Mateo county. Without any rarity, Saturday would have been a great and birdy day, lots to see throughout the day. But the petrels put it over the top! A superb day. I think that if we get into the right area, chances are good that we may find other Cooks Petrels, but obviously it is not a guarantee by any means. Here are some photos from Saturday: First Cooks Hawaiian Petrel (distant) https://ebird.org/checklist/S93315940 Second Cooks https://ebird.org/checklist/S93316011 San Mateo County Cooks Scrippss Murrelet https://ebird.org/checklist/S93316166 Good birding. Alvaro Jaramillo alvaro@... www.alvarosadventures.com

Report by Gene Hunn

Cordell Banks and the Continental Shelf Pelagic from Bodega Bay aboard the New Sea Angler with Captain Rick Powers. April 25, 2021.

Lucas Corneliussen has emerged as the young empresario of pelagic birding out of Bodega Harbor. He put this spring trip together and filled the boat to its Covid capacity in face of stiff odds for fair weather. This was the first spring season pelagic trip in many years, as the spring season is well known to be the windy season on the Northern California coast and spring offshore trips always problematic. The forecast for this Sunday was dicey, but we persevered and were well rewarded for our faith in the pelagic gods.

For the first few hours, birds were scarce beyond the zone of gulls, loons, grebes, cormorants, and murres, though hundreds of migrating loons and bright Red-necked Grebes were a treat as we left the harbor. We did enjoy a nice variety of Northern Fulmars, spotted a few Sooty and Pink-footed Shearwaters, Rhinoceros and Cassins Auklets, distant Pomarine Jaegers and Sabines Gulls, will-o-the-wisp Ashy Storm-Petrels, shy flocks of Northern/Red-necked Phalaropes (some in nice breeding plumage, and a very few Reds), and our first Black-footed Albatrosses. A visitation by a troop of Dalls Porpoises livened up the early hours.

Blue sky broke through as we reached the continental shelf on the outside edge of Cordell Banks. The Captain announced that we had crossed a temperature threshold from chilly a 49 degrees to 51 degrees. At that precise moment a shout arose from the stern, Pterodroma!! Pterodroma!! HAWAIIAN PETREL!!! This high value target rarity glided to the boat, banked past the stern, toyed with us briefly off the bow before vanishing in the distance, but not before the big lenses had captured the moment.

Lucass gamble on targeting the outer shelf was richly rewarded and birders were screaming with joy, as only birders can do when in the presence of a super rarity, as if we had caught the worlds biggest fish. The Captain proceeded due west just beyond the shelf and the albatross numbers climbed, with 21 surrounding the boat at one time, of perhaps 100 in all for the day. Then another scream, LAYSAN ALBATROSS, as this pied monster cruised in from our wake to circle close in for ample photo ops. We also enjoyed an intimate encounter with a pristine spoon-tailed Pomarine Jaeger, a few Black-legged Kittiwakes, and close views of passing SABINES GULL flocks, eventually numbering in the hundreds.

At the head of Bodega Canyon, the Captain turned toward home, still 35 miles distant. The fine weather and calm seas had induced a somnolent air about the boat, but we awoke once more to excited shouts, this time of auklet!! Auklet!! PARAKEET AUKLET!!! This Alaskan vagrant cooperated most amiably for the next 20 minutes, allowing everyone (and every camera) to examine every detail. (This bird represents Sonoma Countys second Parakeet Auklet record with the first being a flock of 6 on a Repo Cruise in 2010.) But the day was not yet done. A large pod of Rissos Dolphins was spotted ahead, and we mingled with these striking cetaceans -- as did a Northern Fur seal -- as we headed to port. Finally, a lone, small dark shearwater with a flock of gulls proved on examination of the photos to be a SHORT-TAILED SHEARWATER, always difficult to pin down. The captain slid the big boat neatly into the dock and we all debarked smiling.
Thank you Gene for the complete summary of the trip. I (Lucas Corneliussen) will likely be leading another trip in May from Bodega Bay so keep your eyes peeled!

Good Birding
Lucas Corneliussen

Hi All
Day 1 of crazy late May weather wasn't a disappointment at Pt. Pinos. I suspect we might see more of this over the next week or so. Let's hope the real NW winds materialize, which might actually push birds into the Bay. Today they were just skirting the outside fringe of the Bay:
https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S56351561
Thanks
Brian

--
------------------------------
Brian L. Sullivan

Digital Publications Lead
Cornell Lab of Ornithology
-------------------------------

Bill Shelmerdine and I coincidentally met up on the Oosterdam between San Diego and Vancouver. We birdied both individually and together probably averaging about 6 hours a day. The rest of the time dedicated to winged, eating, relaxing etc
All by birds were unfortunately not seen by both of us
An adult Brown Nooby coming out of San Diego
3 Hawaiian Petrels a couple of other Pterodroma sp
About 10Laysans the second day
A Parakeet Auklet In Washington waters (Bill)
Notes eventually in eBird

Dave. Sonneborn

Calbirders A late report of our double header to the Farallon Islands this weekend, out of Half Moon Bay. Saturday was sunny, Sunday foggy and a bit choppier. On Saturday we happened to luck out on the arrival day of a female Brown Booby, the first which has been on the Farallons this season, this bird was also there on Sunday. The Northern Gannet was seen on both days as we moved north along the coast, on Egg Rock (Devils Slide). The big highlight on Saturday was youth birder Jonah Benningfield spotting an adult Horned Puffin, which we were able to see flying around and then swimming. We were able to communicate the sighting to the biologists on the island, and they were real happy as it was a lifer for some of the team. The bird was not there on Sunday, and I have heard of no positive reports since then. On Sunday a Scrippss Murrelet was the 8 th alcid species for us this weekend, Marbled Murrelets near shore have been reliable this year. Interestingly, yesterday we spotted a Scrippss Murrelet in Pillar Point Harbor, the first anyone can recall around here from land. Given how reliable this species has been here this season thus far, and this land based observation, I do wonder if they are being pushed in higher numbers out our way this year, and if some food issue may be happening Ashy Storm-Petrels were found in a nice concentration near the island, with a couple of Fork-tailed Storm-Petrels. Good numbers of shearwaters, phalaropes, and Black-footed Albatross on both trips. The Northern Fulmar numbers continue to be higher than usual. All three jaegers were found during the weekend, as well as a nice South Polar Skua on the Sunday. Note that Farallon biologists saw a Hawaiian Petrel on Friday flying by the island. Humpback Whales were off the hook on Saturday, an awesome display of lunge feeding. Photos of puffin and booby here: https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S47791646 So a great couple of island trips, and we are looking forward to our offshore pelagics (Saturday out of Half Moon Bay has spaces) this weekend which will allow us to sample more deep water than in the Farallon trips. http://alvarosadventures.com/boat-trips/pelagics/ . For southern Californians, on Sept 22 we have a trip heading out of Avila Beach (Morro Bay). Good birding. Alvaro Alvaro Jaramillo alvaro@... www.alvarosadventures.com

Birders,

I have organized a pelagic trip to the Cortez and Tanner Banks at the end of this month. The basic details are: departure from Dana Point aboard the R/V Sea Explorer, leaving at 1 AM and returning at 9 PM on Saturday, August 25 (20 hours); there are NO bunks or full galley on board, but possibly enough room to sleep on the floor or benches inside (plenty of room outside). The per person cost is $200, and there are only TWO spaces remaining.

This should be an excellent opportunity to see species like Black-footed Albatross, Leach's Storm-Petrel, Red-billed Tropicbird, Craveri's Murrelet, Arctic Tern, South Polar Skua, and Long-tailed Jaeger. It is also a good opportunity to look for rare species such as Cook's and Hawaiian Petrels, Townsend's Storm-Petrel, Least Storm-Petrel, and Guadalupe Murrelet. On July 15 a trip from Ventura to nearby waters recorded nearly 100 Cook's Petrels, Tristram's Storm-Petrel, Wedge-rumped Storm-Petrel, two Nazca Boobies, Long-tailed Jaeger, South Polar Skua, Sabine's Gull, and Black, Ashy, and Leach's Storm-Petrels. Additionally, t hree Townsend's Storm-Petrels were photographed on a trip out of San Diego on July 29. <
/div>

If you are interested in going or have any questions, please email me back (off list) and I will send you additional details and/or payment information.

Tom Benson

San Bernardino, CA

thomasabenson AT aol.com