The San Diego pelagic trip on 18 May sponsored by Buena Vista Audubon Society aboard “Legacy” out of Mission Bay went out to the 9-Mile Bank, San Diego Trough, 30-Mile Bank, and “The Corner.” Ocean conditions were excellent, with light seas and a high marine overcast all morning. Large numbers of several species were noted in the waters from about 4 miles offshore out to the 9-Mile, with smaller numbers farther out. Especially impressive totals included the 20 Blue Whales, 115 Scripps’s Murrelets, 3000 Sooty Shearwaters (including one bird with a fully white head and neck), and 6 Brown Boobies. The two Common Murres were scarce and getting late.
Offshore totals for the day (once a couple miles offshore) were:
- Surf Scoter 4
- Eared Grebe 1
- Red-necked Phalarope 35
- jaeger sp. 1
- Common Murre 2 (off Mission Bay)
- Scripps’s Murrelet 115 (high count)
- Cassin’s Auklet 65
- Rhinoceros Auklet 1
- Bonaparte’s Gull 2
- Heermann’s Gull 2
- Western Gull 175
- California Gull 50
- Least Tern 3
- Elegant Tern 1300
- Common Loon 4
- Pacific Loon 12
- Ashy Storm-Petrel 2
- Black Storm-Petrel 160
- Pink-footed Shearwater 80
- Sooty Shearwater 3000
- Black-vented Shearwater 4
- Brown Booby 6
- Brown Pelican 70
- Double-crested Cormorant 1
- Brandt’s Cormorant 3
- hummingbird sp. 1
- warbler sp. 1
- Black Oystercatcher 2, hybrid American X Black Oystercatcher 1 (Mission Bay jetties)
- Blue Whale 20 (very high count)
- Fin Whale 5
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Paul Lehman, Dave Povey, Bruce Rideout, Dan King, Jimmy McMorran
San Diego
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