The San Diego pelagic trip on 30 September aboard “Legacy” and sponsored by Buena Vista Audubon Society ventured out to the Nine-Mile and 30-Mile Banks. Weather was generally fine, despite some forecasts to the contrary, with fairly low swell, light chop, and dry skies. The slight chop, however, did make it difficult to spot alcids on the water, so all murrelets and auklets were seen only in flight. Highlights included a well-seen one-year-old Masked/Nazca Booby at the Nine-Mile Bank, a young age which is typically difficult to identify to species, but we’ll work on photos, just in case. Good numbers of storm-petrels on the 30-Mile Bank included approx. 300 Leasts, an Ashy, a briefly seen dark-rumped Townsend’s, and good numbers of Blacks.
Totals for the day once offshore were:
- Red-necked Phalarope 26
- Red Phalarope 2
- Pomarine Jaeger 5
- Parasitic Jaeger 5
- jaeger sp. 2
- Craveri’s Murrelet 2
- murrelet sp. 8
- Cassin’s Auklet 8
- Sabine’s Gull 3
- Heermann’s Gull 11
- Western Gull 250
- California Gull 1
- Common Tern 20
- Forster’s Tern 1 (7-1/4 mi off Ocean Beach, farther offshore than usual)
- Elegant Tern 20
- Common Loon 1
- Townsend’s Storm-Petrel 1 (dark rumped; 30-Mile)
- Leach’s/Townsend’s Storm-Petrel 1 (white-rumped; 30-Mile)
- Ashy Storm-Petrel 1 (30-Mile; scarce in fall)
- Black Storm-Petrel 1400 (including several rafts)
- Least Storm-Petrel 300 (30-Mile; good count)
- Pink-footed Shearwater 35
- Black-vented Shearwater 250
- Masked/Nazca Booby 1 (upper Nine-Mile Bank; one-year old)
- Brown Booby 2
- Brown Pelican 90
- Brandt’s Cormorant 9
- Also: Surfbird 26 (jetties)
–Paul Lehman, Dave Povey, Bruce Rideout, Dan King, Matt Sadowski, Justyn Stahl, San Diego
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