This is the trip report for Saturday, 19 September 2020. Forty-two passengers and two leaders met at Seaforth Sportfishing Landing in Mission Bay and boarded the 80-foot Legacy. Our weather forecast was dicey. The wind prediction was west at 10 kts increasing to 15 during the day, but winds in the bay this morning were near calm. The offshore swell, though not large, was a mixed direction and short interval. We made the decision to push as far offshore as quickly as possible, then work our way inshore with the weather and seas at our back. The Legacy is a bit quicker boat than the usual, so we made a beeline west. This was not the most comfortable ride, but we traded the shortest distance out for a much better ride in the afternoon when the winds did in fact match the forecast. We did not tarry on the many Black-vented Shearwaters we found just out of the bay. These are our local shearwater, typically seen inshore and by far the most numerous species for the day. We had much better looks in the afternoon on our return.
We did see a few Pink-footed Shearwaters and distant Black Storm-Petrels on the way out, but stuck with the plan to get offshore before the winds arrived. Fortunately, an adult female Brown Booby came in near the bow and circled around the right side as we passed. The bird even made a pursuit plunge while we watched. She missed breakfast on that dive. Sexes of Brown Booby in our local subspecies brewsteri are easily separable: the adult females have an all brown head and neck with a yellow bill and facial skin, while the males have a frosted gray head and bluish facial skin. The frosted white head can be discerned at great distance even with the naked eye. The danger there, in the excitement of a flyby adult male Brown Booby, is that it might get called a Blue-footed Booby. That species is far more rare here. Now that Booby sightings are somewhat regular on pelagic trips off southern California, study of booby differences prior to a trip is a must. Today this female was the trip’s only Brown Booby.
We made it most of the way across the San Diego Trough with not a lot to show but were now confident that we could make the Thirty Mile Bank before the wind made travel farther west difficult if not impossible. The call went out that a Red-footed Booby was coming up the wake, then high along the right side of the boat, and finally over the bow and off to our front. Nice looks at a great bird for San Diego, or anywhere in California. This bird was an immature with an all “coffee with cream” colored body and a pinkish bill base. No red feet at this age. Red-footed Booby is smaller billed, rounder headed, and daintier-looking than our other booby species. Red-footed Booby has a widespread distribution in the tropics. There are several subspecies, several color morphs, and different plumages at different ages. Any adult booby with red feet should not be a difficult identification, though the feet are not always seen when the bird is in flight. Subadults can be more challenging, but the pink base of the bill is a great help here. This Red- footed Booby was the best bird for the day. Like all species of boobies, they have been on the increase in recent years with warming waters.
The Thirty Mile Bank turned out to be a bit of a dud today. We circled north along the ridge, where on past trips we’ve had rafts of storm-petrels. Today a few scattered Black and Leach’s Storm-Petrels were the best we could do. Moving south we picked up a few more birds, including a few more Pink-footed Shearwaters and a couple of Pomarine Jaegers,but overall it was fairly quiet. We did try a brief run to the west to the area we call the “Corner”. We had no particular target species there, and as the wind was now approaching the forecasted speeds, we gave that up and moved east. That direction had a more comfortable ride. Almost immediately we had a smallish jaeger come racing down the left side of the boat and into the stern, and was gone. Good thing Jimmy McMorran was fast on the camera. The two white outer primary shafts, the stubby thick bill, and scaly under-tail coverts and belly revealed that it was an immature Long-tailed Jaeger. This can be another tough species to find inside the Southern California Bight. Most migrate well to the west of us, often following along with the Arctic Tern migration. We did pick up a few terns today, but all were identified as Common Terns. They are favorite target with pirating jaegers. After a couple more Pomarine Jaegers, we picked up our first all dark Parasitic Jaeger, with the standard short, pointed, central tail feathers. Not a bad day for jaegers, with all three species and maybe a dozen or so individuals, though not all close enough to identify.
Paul Lehman was sharp-eyed as we approached the outer edge of the Nine Mile Bank. First he picked up on a number of Black Storm-Petrels, then on a few smaller Least Storm-Petrels. Black Storm-Petrels are our default storm-petrel. We see them around all the deep-water escarpments and canyons, sometimes in the thousands, and at times close enough to shore to be seen by the coast watch folks with scopes. They are large and dark brown or black as the name implies. They have a steady bounding nighthawk like flight and can sail and glide with the wind to almost mimic a small shearwater. They look big winged and short tailed.
Least Storm-Petrels are in some ways like a miniature version of a Black Storm-Petrel, appearing big winged, short tailed (often looking almost tailless), but if seen well, the tail is actually wedge-shaped, unlike our other species here, which have a notched tail. Least Storm-Petrel’s flight style is a deep steady wing stroke, like that of a small bat. Their tiny size is pretty unmistakable when seen together with Black Storm-Petrels. Both Black and Least Storm-Petrels are primarily Mexican breeders. Black Storm-Petrels breed on the Coronado Islands just to our south, but a few breed north of the border to Santa Barbara Island. Least Storm-Petrels nest on islands well down the western Baja California coast and into the Sea of Cortez, where they can be seen in very large numbers at times. Here off San Diego they can be somewhat regular in small numbers in the fall, but are sporadic from year to year: in some yearsthey show up in big numbers, while in others years they are absent completely. It was nice to count about six on the outer Nine Mile Bank today.
We moved up the bank to the northwest, picking up a solo Sooty Shearwater, which was odd as they were present in good numbers in the spring and early summer. They move north through our waters and then return to the southern hemisphere by another route, but it is not at all unusual to get a handful in the fall. We also got our only Sabine’s Gull for the day. This bird was a juvenile. Sabine’s Gulls are arctic breeders, and September is usually a prime month to see them here. This year many adults were seen moving through in early August. Not sure what that means for their breeding this year, but at least this young one was a product of the season. Speaking of lone birds, only had one Red Phalarope today! That’s just odd. We had plenty of Red-necked Phalaropes but only having a single Red Phalarope in September is just strange. Maybe all this smoke we’ve suffered through has botched up their movements this fall. Any way, having only one Red Phalarope, one Sooty Shearwater, and one Sabine’s Gull was just odd.
We did have one more ONE! This species is always hoped for and when seen is usually well offshore and rarely as a solo bird. We certainly did not expect a Buller’s Shearwater two and a half miles off Sunset Cliffs while on our way back into Mission Bay. It was startling to see this beautiful shearwater away from its more usual open ocean haunt. Buller’s Shearwaters are another southern hemisphere breeder and used to be called New Zealand Shearwater. They are a brilliant white below, blue gray above, have a classic dark gray M pattern to the upper wing, and a capped head. They are slim, with a buoyant and easy flight style. It was a great bird to end the day on and it cooperated by allowing photos on the water and in the air.
So today might have lacked in quantity but we certainly made up for it in quality, with a Red-footed Booby, Long-tailed Jaeger, Least Storm-Petrels, and a Buller’s Shearwater. NOT A BAD LIST! The ocean made us pay with rough seas but gave back with some very nice birds. We did look at the south Mission Bay Jetty on the way in and spotted a Black Oystercatcher and a Black Turnstone.
Dave Povey
Species Lists
Birds seen in Mission Bay
Black Oystercatcher
Black Turnstone
Least Sandpiper
Spotted Sandpiper
Willet
Heermann’s Gull
Western Gull
Forster’s Tern
Royal tern
Elegant Tern
Brandt’s Cormorant
Double-crested Cormorant
Brown Pelican
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Little Blue Heron
Birds seen offshore
Red-necked Phalarope
Red Phalarope
Pomarine Jaeger
Parasitic Jaeger
Long-tailed Jaeger
Sabine’s Gull
Heermann’s Gull
Western Gull
California Gull
Common Tern
Elegant Tern
Leach’s Storm-Petrel
Black Storm-Petrel
Least Storm-Petrel
Buller’s Shearwater
Sooty Shearwater
Pink-footed Shearwater
Black-vented Shearwater
Brown Booby
Red-footed Booby
Brandt’s Cormorant
Brown Pelican
Marine mammals
Minke Whale
Common Dolphin
California Sea Lion
Fish
Shark sp.
Mola mola (Ocean Sunfish)
California Flying Fish
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