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

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.

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

Hi All

to start off the Spring pelagic season off, I will be leading a February 13th pelagic out of Bodega Bay, Sonoma County to Bodega Canyon (SON. County) Cordell Bank (MRN County) 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 winter specialities such as Short-tailed Shearwater, Flesh-footed Shearwater and HOPEFULLY a Short-tailed Albatross . Other possibilities are Leach's Storm-Petrel, Parakeet Auklet (a species seen last winter on several Rockfishsurvey boats), Mottled Petrel, Horned Puffin, Thick-billed Murre (recently seen in Mendocino County) and any species of booby. Late-winter is a time of year not often covered by pelagic boats so who knows what we may discover out there.

Compared to last winter, wind has been quite mild this winter 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 $145 per person.

Good Birding,

Lucas Corneliussen

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

Greetings, I was planning to try for the Parakeet Auklet in a few days and had a few questions. Where is the best parking. When is the bird most likely to be present. Any other pertinent details would be appreciated. Thank you! Ed Ed Stonick Pasadena, CA edstonick@... Sent from Mail for Windows 10

Where is the Parakeet Auklet
Jan Leonard

Bird flew in at 8:30. Fed in surf for 20 mins. Current (8:55) chilling on rock on shoreline down and left from lookout.

Thus concludes one of the most epic battles in bike-birding history. 5 individual trips from San Mateo over 3 summers. 230 total miles of riding. IHOP bout to get ripped up......

Cheers
Dorian Anderson
San Mateo

I will be in this area in a couple of weeks and plan to look for the auklet. I was told that there is a serious problem with car break-ins at this location. I was told that there are people watching the parking lot it see where you put your valuables so that they know exactly where to look. Does anyone know if this id a current problem or something that has occurred in the past. Do the police regularly patrol this area.
Dennis Serdehely

      
          

              
                   On Sunday, July 14, 2019, 09:09:07 AM PDT, Leonie Batkin  wrote:
              
              

              

               The Parakeet Auklet was in surf from 8:38am, flew around twice, landed on the right side of the roach at around 9 am for about 5 minutes. It flew again and landed on the back north side of the large rock.
Leonie Batkin
Ron Thorn

The Parakeet Auklet was in surf from 8:38am, flew around twice, landed on the right side of the roach at around 9 am for about 5 minutes. It flew again and landed on the back north side of the large rock.
Leonie Batkin
Ron Thorn

Looking at a PARAKEET AUKLET right now close to shore from the Lands End coastal trail. Found by Dominik Mosur on June 22, this is the fourth year for this bird. To find it, park at the Fort Miley/Lands End parking lot and go down the steps to the Coastal Trail. Walk east until you see the Historic Shipwrecks sign and then check from there.