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,

It is once again that time of year again where I am starting to run my annual spring pelagics for the third consecutive year. I am happy to announce that to start the spring pelagic season off, I will be leading aMay7thpelagic out of BodegaBayto 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 close to four decades.The goal will be to get offshore as quickly as possiblein order to maximize time for spring specialities such as MURPHY'S, HAWAIIAN, and COOK'S PETRELS all of which we were able to see on the May 8th boat last spring! Among the very appealing petrels should also be a variety of offshorebirdsheadednorthto the Arctic to breed including jaegers, terns and phalaropes as well as species are Leach's Storm-Petrels, Laysan Albatrosses (we had 8 on one boat last May), Parakeet Auklets (a species we were able to see two years), 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 wemaydiscover out there.

If you would like to sign up, please let me know privately at lucascorneliussen04@... . The cost of the trip will be$160per person.

Good Birding,

Lucas Corneliussen

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

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

From: James Holmes

Sent: Sunday, April 17, 2022 7:28 PM

To: [email protected]

Subject: Cruise Ship out of San Francisco

I recently (April 11-16) took a 5 night cruise from San Francisco to San Diego to Ensenada, Mx to San Francisco. Previously, I was not aware that cruise ships were running trips such as this out of San Francisco along the California Coast
(perhaps a new thing with COVID).

This trip had one sea day from San Francisco to San Diego (April 12) and one sea day from Ensenada to San Francisco (April 15). Due to the route, I was not sure how much time the ship would spend far offshore in deep water. Fortunately,
we spent 12 hours both days in deep water, well offshore the California coast. I was also a little worried the trip was too early for Petrels.

On Tuesday, we were at ~35.0190104,-121.9611238 (about 70 miles west of the Point San Luis Lighthouse) at sunrise and headed south along the Santa Lucia Escarpment across the SW end of the Arguello Canyon and across the San Juan Seamount
and then southeast to ~ 32.700323,-120.213155 (when I had to quit for dinner but sunset was coming quickly). On our return Friday, we were at 32.6772726,-120.1837406 at sunrise (50 miles SW of San Nicolas Island) and followed the exact course back towards
San Francisco, ending at 35.424409,-122.166174 (again, just before sunset). Our trip route can basically be seen for Sooty Shearwaters in eBird for April 2022 -

https://ebird.org/map/soosheneg=true&env.minX=&env.minY=&env.maxX=&env.maxY=&zh=false&gp=false&ev=Z&mr=on&bmo=4&emo=4&yr=cur
Of note, the Ruby Princess was coming back from Ensenada prior to us embarking and it took a course inside the channel islands. I am not sure why (gale force winds or perhaps they had to make an emergency stop and drop a passenger off
there was COVID outbreak). I assume that our trip was the normal route (well offshore) for SFO-SAN and Ensenada-SFO.

We were on the Ruby Princess which has a bow (8 th deck) allowing you to be at the very front of the ship (excellent for birding). We had gale force winds on April 12 out of the NW (directly behind the boat). Unfortunately,
we had high winds (20 knots out of the NW) on the way back that closed the bow and forced me to bird from the 7 th deck starboard side.

Highlights on April 12 include the following:

Long-tailed Jaeger (1) Parakeet Auklets (2)
https://ebird.org/checklist/S107238388
Sabines Gull (121) Laysan Albatross (4) Fork-tailed Storm Petrel (2) Murphys Petrel (7) Cooks Petrel (6)

Highlights on April 15 include the following (surprised not to have any Murphys):
Sabines Gull (33) Laysan Albatross (1) Cooks Petrel (19)

There are numerous trips this summer on Carnival Miracle from San Francisco to Ensenada which would allow two days in deep water. Not sure how good that ship is for birding though. It appears that you can not get to the front of the ship
and would be stuck to one of the sides.

Thanks,

Jim Holmes
Sacramento

**CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE** This e-mail communication and any attachments are for the sole use of the intended recipient and may contain information that is confidential and privileged under state and federal privacy laws. If you received this e-mail in error,
be aware that any unauthorized use, disclosure, copying, or distribution is strictly prohibited. If you received this e-mail in error, please contact the sender immediately and destroy/delete all copies of this message.

I recently (April 11-16) took a 5 night cruise from San Francisco to San Diego to Ensenada, Mx to San Francisco. Previously, I was not aware that cruise ships were running trips such as this out of San Francisco along the California Coast
(perhaps a new thing with COVID).

This trip had one sea day from San Francisco to San Diego (April 12) and one sea day from Ensenada to San Francisco (April 15). Due to the route, I was not sure how much time the ship would spend far offshore in deep water. Fortunately,
we spent 12 hours both days in deep water, well offshore the California coast. I was also a little worried the trip was too early for Petrels.

On Tuesday, we were at ~35.0190104,-121.9611238 (about 70 miles west of the Point San Luis Lighthouse) at sunrise and headed south along the Santa Lucia Escarpment across the SW end of the Arguello Canyon and across the San Juan Seamount
and then southeast to ~ 32.700323,-120.213155 (when I had to quit for dinner but sunset was coming quickly). On our return Friday, we were at 32.6772726,-120.1837406 at sunrise (50 miles SW of San Nicolas Island) and followed the exact course back towards
San Francisco, ending at 35.424409,-122.166174 (again, just before sunset). Our trip route can basically be seen for Sooty Shearwaters in eBird for April 2022 -

https://ebird.org/map/soosheneg=true&env.minX=&env.minY=&env.maxX=&env.maxY=&zh=false&gp=false&ev=Z&mr=on&bmo=4&emo=4&yr=cur
Of note, the Ruby Princess was coming back from Ensenada prior to us embarking and it took a course inside the channel islands. I am not sure why (gale force winds or perhaps they had to make an emergency stop and drop a passenger off
there was COVID outbreak). I assume that our trip was the normal route (well offshore) for SFO-SAN and Ensenada-SFO.

We were on the Ruby Princess which has a bow (8 th deck) allowing you to be at the very front of the ship (excellent for birding). We had gale force winds on April 12 out of the NW (directly behind the boat). Unfortunately,
we had high winds (20 knots out of the NW) on the way back that closed the bow and forced me to bird from the 7 th deck starboard side.

Highlights on April 12 include the following:

Long-tailed Jaeger (1) Parakeet Auklets (2)
https://ebird.org/checklist/S107238388
Sabines Gull (121) Laysan Albatross (4) Fork-tailed Storm Petrel (2) Murphys Petrel (7) Cooks Petrel (6)

Highlights on April 15 include the following (surprised not to have any Murphys):
Sabines Gull (33) Laysan Albatross (1) Cooks Petrel (19)

There are numerous trips this summer on Carnival Miracle from San Francisco to Ensenada which would allow two days in deep water. Not sure how good that ship is for birding though. It appears that you can not get to the front of the ship
and would be stuck to one of the sides.

Thanks,

Jim Holmes
Sacramento

**CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE** This e-mail communication and any attachments are for the sole use of the intended recipient and may contain information that is confidential and privileged under state and federal privacy laws. If you received this e-mail in error,
be aware that any unauthorized use, disclosure, copying, or distribution is strictly prohibited. If you received this e-mail in error, please contact the sender immediately and destroy/delete all copies of this message.

Three Buena Vista Audubon sponsored pelagic trips out of San Diego are being offered in April, May, and June 2022. All are aboard the 80-foot "Legacy" out of Seaforth Landing in Mission Bay. Passenger loads are limited to 55, with several leaders.
April 24, 2022 . This is a 6- hour Sunday trip to the local canyons and banks off San Diego. A shorter trip than others but which still allows for coverage of inshore waters frequented by many seabirds and other marine life. Expected species include Scripps's Murrelet, Cassin's and Rhinoceros Auklet, Northern Fulmar, Pink-footed, Sooty, and Black-vented Shearwaters, Black Storm-Petrel, Pomarine and Parasitic Jaegers, Red Phalarope, and Brown Booby.

May 14, 2022. This is a 10-12-hour Saturday trip that will likely extend west to the farthest reaches of San Diego County waters, and we may enter briefly into Los Angeles Co. as well. The "on the water time" here allows for a more thorough coverage of the various banks and deeps, for both the expected and less numerous species also found slightly farther offshore. Expected species include all those from the April trip, plus Ashy Storm-Petrel and Sabine's Gull, and gives us a better chance at possible species such as Black-footed Albatross, Red-billed Tropicbird, and South Polar Skua, with a slight chance for Laysan Albatross.

June 12, 2022. This is a 10-12-hour Sunday trip, with a similar general route as the May trip. Expected species are much the same as for the May trip, with a somewhat lower likelihood of Scipps's Murrelet but the possibilityof picking up the first of several summer species such as Craveri's Murrelet and Leach's Storm-Petrel, and with a slight chance for Cook's Petrel.

For further details and to see the July-October 2022 schedule, go to sandiegopelagics.com

You may book directly online at www.sdwhale.com (be sure you are on the Legacy Whale Watch site). Hit the red "BOOK NOW" button, which leads to the boat's schedule (both whale-watching and birding). Then scroll down to the date you wish to book. Hit "CLICK HERE" then "BOOKING."
You can also call Seaforth Sportfishing Landing during regular business hours: (619) 224-3383.
Thanks, and we hope we will see you onboard!

--Dave Povey, Bruce Rideout, Paul Lehman, San Diego

Hello all, We had a narrow weather window yesterday to get offshore and see a few birds and cetaceans. Wind after the front on Thursday was to decline on Friday and into Saturday, and so were the swells. Swells were big and mean on Friday, but by Saturday they had switched to big but rounded, well-spaced. We went out with an eye to the winds to our north, as we knew the wind shifts would happen north to south. As such, we were able to enjoy a rain free, and very diverse day offshore. The fun began close to shore where we found some foraging shearwaters, pelicans and gulls. In there we were elated to see a Manx Shearwater, and folks on the bow a little later said there were two. One on the right and one on the left of the boat. However, we were able to photograph only one. A bird in molt. Crazy, but it was just beyond the 5 mile distance from my house. Almost in reach for my home patch list. Here are the photos: https://ebird.org/checklist/S96591196 A tad farther out we found some Humpback Whales, more Pink-footed and Sooty shearwaters, then a very nice Bullers Shearwater; Bob Toleno and Chris Hayward saw a Short-tailed Shearwater at this time. After missing them for most of the migration, today all phalaropes out there were Reds. I expect that some will be found on shore tomorrow after the storm passes, I did see one today (Sunday) at Pillar Point marsh. Continuing on our voyage we worked our way out along the Pioneer Canyon, with a short glimpse of Ashy Storm-Petrel, and several Northern Fulmars. These looked fresh, unlike the few remaining over-summering youngsters which are patchy looking. Likely these were migrants. Heading south from the Pioneer, we found an amazing concentration of marine mammals with a big pod of Rissos Dolphins, mixed in with Pacific White-sided Dolphins, and some amazing views (right below the boat) of Northern Right Whale Dolphins. While we were looking here and waiting, a storm petrel flew by in bad light, first thought that it was a Black but the white rump shape clarified it was Leachs! This is a very tough species to see around here, a great find; minutes later a Black Storm-Petrel was seen. Then someone alerted me to a fur seal right by our boat, and amazingly it was the rare Guadalupe Fur Seal! Several folks obtained great photos of the distinctive head shape that separates it from the Northern Fur Seal. It is difficult to confirm this species at sea, they are perhaps more common now than ever as the population has increased. Then all heck broke loose minutes later when a Laysan Albatross flew right by the boat for amazing photos, and cheers from a boat full of happy birders. Several Black-footed Albatross were seen earlier. So much happened during this stretch. We also had one or maybe even two, Short-tailed Shearwaters come through at this time. These birds were all in San Francisco county. In total, we found five species of Shearwater, 3 storm petrels, and 2 albatross Not bad at all. Photos here: https://ebird.org/checklist/S96642277 We began to return to port, often at this time the surprises are done. But this time we stumbled on a South Polar Skua, after thinking we had missed that for the day (Pomarine and Parasitic jaegers were seen as well). Yet it was in the harbor that we found the final amazing bird of the day was the Northern Gannet sitting right on the break wall for the best looks I have ever had of that bird. Just fantastic! The photos of the gannet are outstanding - https://ebird.org/checklist/S96623361 The late season pelagic species showed up. It was a superb pelagic, unfortunately we did not find a Flesh-foot but I think we are saving that one for the next trip. We are doing our final pelagic of the season on November 13. Our hopes for a Laysan Albatross happened for this weekend, and in general late season is good for them. I always hope for Short-tailed Albatross of course, and November has produced them in the past. We shall see what turns up. If you are interested, we have approximately 6 spots left: https://www.alvarosadventures.com/pelagic-dates-2021.html see you out there. This has been an amazing pelagic season so far, and we hope that our last trip of 21 will provide some nice sightings. Alvaro Jaramillo alvaro@... www.alvarosadventures.com

Hello all, It started very slow, thick fog, no birds. It took forever to see our first Sooty Shearwater. But once we were at the Pioneer Canyon, Sabines, Bullers Shearwater, jaegers, Black Storm-Petrel, they all started to show up. It was calm and windless, and the fog lifted giving great visibility. It was an unusual day in many respects, the calm weather was one, but also the fact that there was warm (61F water) that was blue-green. A distant murrelet (likely Scrippss) started our murrelet searches. In the end we saw 16 murrelets including all that we identified as Scrippss or were too distant to identify. Additionally two Guadalupe Murrelets were in the Pioneer Canyon (SF county) https://ebird.org/checklist/S95041081 Guadalupe Murrelet is among the rarest of the worlds alcids. Only 5000 breeding individuals are thought to exist, some put the population at 7500 total. They breed on offshore islands, and keep to warmer and deeper water than Scrippss Murrelets so are much less likely to be found on a pelagic than its close relative. As such, they are perhaps the hardest alcid to find in North America, and certainly worldwide it is not much easier. So we were elated to see two of them offshore. This species is Endangered. All three jaegers were found with an estimate of 8 South Polar Skuas, at one time two were together on the water. That is a lot of bird muscle out there! Hundreds of Sabines Gulls were offshore, basically all over the place. We topped it off with a big Black Storm-Petrel flock of two thousand approximately. Four species of storm-petrel were seen, the others were Ashy, Wilsons and Fork-tailed. Great views of Bullers Shearwaters wowed folks on the boat. We also may have seen at least one Guadalupe Fur Seal. If the warm water feel is what you are getting from this day, you would be right. It was unusual in that the ocean was dominated by a warmer/offshore water component that included many jumping tuna! We photographed a couple poorly, and saw some close by we think these were big Bluefin, not Albacore. Record numbers of offshore murrelets, along with the tuna, this was not a normal situation but a lucky one in water types we usually do not encounter here. To top it off, a Minke Whale was seen on our way back to port. And we started with wonderful views of Marbled Murrelets, and saw three Tufted Puffins on the trip. What a day to be out!!! We are sold out currently on available dates. But when I get a minute we will be adding two dates as the boat is available to do so. Both late season trips which should be good for albatross, Short-tailed and Flesh-footed shearwaters, and perhaps something unusual! The dates will be Oct 23 and Nov 13. We seldom get out there in November, this is a good date for Laysan Albatross and if we are to find an offshore and non-injured Short-tailed Albatross November might be the time. I will send out a message when we have the dates available on the website. You can email me ( alvaro@... ) if you want to be penciled in for either of those dates. Alvaro Alvaro Jaramillo alvaro@... www.alvarosadventures.com

Our string of fantastic Alvaros Adventures pelagics continues!

Saturday, August 28th
We departed Half Moon Bay harbor under sunny skies. A lone MARBLED MURRELET and two PARASITIC JAEGERS showed
before we rounded Mavericks, and we picked-up SOOTY and PINK-FOOTED SHEARWATERS as we headed offshore. Approaching
the continental shelf, we found hundreds of BLACK STORM-PETRELS, dozens of ASHY STORM-PETRELS, and double-digits of
WILSONS STORM-PETRELS. This trip was billed as San Mateo specific, so we did not proceed into the Pioneer Canyon (SF County)
as we had the two previous weeks; instead, we turned southwest and hugged the county line into deeper water. We added several
BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSSES across the next hour, but the action peaked when we encountered several massive rafts of
storm-petrels (500+ birds each). They, like the group we found earlier, was overwhelmingly Black with Ashy, Wilsons, and 1-2
FORK-TAILED. A confiding LAYSAN ALBATROSS circled the boat several times, and we found singles of BULLERS SHEARWATER,
LONG-TAILED JAEGER, POMARINE JAEGER, SABINES GULL, and ARCTIC TERN. Returning inshore, we encountered one
FLESH-FOOTED SHEARWATER and one SHORT-TAILED SHEARWATER over feeding HUMPBACK WHALES about ten miles
from the harbor. Otherwise, RHINOCEROS and CASSINS AUKLETS showed in expected numbers. Among dozens of RED-NECKED
PHALAROPES, 1-2 REDS were welcome. Shearwater and jaeger numbers were very low, but those were offset by huge numbers of
storm-petrels and other, high-quality finds. With minimal swell, this was a pretty perfect trip! Offshore water temp was 59.5 degrees,
and we reached a maximum depth of 1,600 feet. (The shelf falls-off very slowly in San Mateo County compared to the 4,000-foot
Pioneer Canyon in nearby SF waters.)

Sunday, August 29th
Translocating to Monterey, we powered south towards Carmel Canyon amidst overcast and fog. Nothing beyond gulls was flying
around on this windless morning, but we sussed out SOOTY and PINK-FOOTED SHEARWATERS from floating flocks. Occasional
jaegers offered distraction, and our first BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS was encouraging. Diversity remained low through the morning,
but we tacked-on usual suspects like RED-NECKED PHALAROPES and RHINOCEROS and CASSINS AUKLETS. Leaving the canyon,
joining the underwater weenie, and venturing into the deeper Monterey Seavalley, the action increased. Among swelled shearwater
numbers, a lone BULLERS the only new variety, we found ARCTIC and COMMON TERNS, ~30 SABINES GULL, a single RED
PHALAROPE, and 5-6 EXAMPLES OF EACH JAEGER. The highlight, however, was two GUADALUPE MURRELETS, one of which
allowed pants-soiling views as it paddled about the bow for ten minutes; that amazing encounter helped minimize a notable (distressing)
lack of storm-petrels across the day, two ASHIES all that we found. In the un-bird department, we observed several HUMPBACK WHALES,
two NORTHERN FUR SEALS, and a group of LONG-BEAKED COMMON DOLPHINS beyond the expected SEA OTTERS, SEA LIONS, and
HARBOR SEALS. Offshore water temp was 63-64 degrees, and we reached a maximum depth of ~5,500 feet. The first GUMU was at that
depth; the second was at 3,000 and only 7-8 miles from Point Pios. Oh yeah - a putative LEAST TERN went over the boat near the
aquarium, but we'll need to scrutinize photos before we can say for sure. That's a nice MTY County bird if it holds up.

Our remaining boats are selling out fast, so dont delay if youre thinking about joining us in September and October. August has been
incredible, so who knows what well find as fall progresses!!!

https://www.alvarosadventures.com/pelagic-dates-2021.html

Cheers,
Dorian Anderson (on behalf of fellow spotters Malia De Felice, Chris Hayward, Eli Gross, Steve Tucker, Bill Hubick, and Mark Kudrav)

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

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