The second of two back-to-back pelagic trips off San Diego this weekend took place Sunday, August 9, aboard “Legacy” out of Seaforth Landing and sponsored by Buena Vista Audubon Society. Ocean conditions were light to barely moderate. Highlights of the trip included a close Laysan Albatross (30-Mile Bank) and as many as ca. 22 Black-footed Albatrosses (a new record count). A cooperative South Polar Skua was also at the 30-Mile Bank. Single pairs of Craveri’s and Scripps’s Murrelets were both inside the 9-Mile Bank in the early morning when the sea surface was the smoothest. Three or four immature Masked/Nazca Boobies were at the same locations as yesterday: one flew past the boat off of Ocean Beach in both the early morning and late afternoon and two were on buoys 8.5 miles SW of the tip of Point Loma–but those two birds were perhaps partly not the same as the two the day before! We shall see if the many photos obtained might elevate one or more of these birds to full species rank. A total of 5 Cocos Boobies included one pale-headed adult male. At the 30-Mile Bank and San Diego Trough were at least 7 Townsend’s and 16 Leach’s Storm-Petrels.
Totals for the trip once we were over a mile offshore were as follows:
- Red-necked Phalarope 250
- Red Phalarope 3
- SOUTH POLAR SKUA 1
- Pomarine Jaeger 8
- Parasitic Jaeger 2
- jaeger sp. 1
- Scripps’s Murrelet 2
- Craveri’s Murrelet 2
- Cassin’s Auklet 91
- Sabine’s Gull 28
- Heermann’s Gull 4
- Western Gull 160
- Common Tern 2
- Elegant Tern 95
- LAYSAN ALBATROSS 1
- Black-footed Albatross 22+
- Leach’s Storm-Petrel 16
- Townsend’s Storm-Petrel 7
- Leach’s/Townsend’s Storm-Petrel 12
- Black Storm-Petrel 320
- Sooty Shearwater 6
- Pink-footed Shearwater 85
- Black-vented Shearwater 110
- Masked/Nazca Booby 3 or 4
- Cocos Booby 5
- Brandt’s Cormorant 3
- Brown Pelican 28
Paul Lehman, Dan Jehl, Alex Abela, Paul Mulholland, Bridget Spencer, Matt Sadowski, Nancy Christensen, San Diego
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