This is the Buena Vista Audubon/San Diego Pelagics trip report for Sunday, October 13, 2019. Thirty-two passengers and six leaders meet at H & M Landing for a ten-hour trip offshore. Leaders were Matthew Binns, Peter Ginsburg, Gary Nunn, Guy McCaskie, Bruce Rideout, and myself. Sea conditions were exceptionally light, with a one foot swell predicted and winds of less than ten knots. The area inside the Channel Islands and off San Diego is often blessed with nice sea conditions, and today was even better than that. I can safely say we suffered more motion inside San Diego Bay due to boat traffic than we did at sea.

Offshore, we encountered mostly pelicans, cormorants, gulls, and terns until we reached the deep water inside the Nine Mile Bank. This area produced nice numbers of Black-vented Shearwaters, an early Northern Fulmar, a couple of Brown Boobies, a Parasitic Jaeger, and several groups of migrating ducks. This area has produced for us all summer and did again today. The Nine Mile Bank also looked good today, with a solo Pink-footed Shearwater, many more Black-vents, and several Common Terns (never common here). But best of all was a black and white booby over a pod of Common Dolphins as we came to the outer edge of the bank. We chased it, but never really caught up to. Fortunately, some of the photographers on the boat got shots that could be blown up to prove it was a near adult Nazca Booby, with it’s characteristic bright orange/pinkish bill. This species, once considered a subspecies of Masked Booby, was exceedingly rare in California waters prior to 2017. Then their numbers exploded here. Thoughts are that food resources in their normal range off the west coast of Panama, Columbia, and Ecuador collapsed, and that other food sources were utilized, such as flying fish chased up by ships transiting along the eastern Pacific, thus making them ship followers/riders into our area, where food is currently abundant. Two even set up shop on south San Diego Bay during the winter of 2017-18 and were seen by hundreds of birders from around the country. This is the third offshore Nazca Booby for us this fall, with several more seen from shore, and yet three more together on San Diego Bay September 6^th, 2019! This is still a very nice sighting, not quite ho hum yet, but no longer frontpage news. We also got very nice looks at a Pomarine Jaeger chasing a tern in this area, which of course was overshadowed by the chase after the booby.

The San Diego Trough was very quiet today. That’s not unusual. This ten mile wide area is over 3,000 feet deep and featureless, so often is devoid of much life, but sometimes turns up good birds and marine life – quality over quantity. Today it was great looks at a pod of Risso’s Dolphins – maybe 25-30 animals, and cooperative. This species of dolphin is not always boat friendly. These guys were right off the bow, and with fairly clear water, were visible both above and below the surface.

Our only alcids today were several Cassin’s Auklets, and as is often the case, seen only at a great distance. It’s easy to try and make them into something more exciting in the early morning low light, but again, photos often sort things out.

The Thirty Mile Bank was also rather quiet today. This bank is really more of a ridge rising up from over 3,000 feet to 700-800 feet along its crest. Like most banks off Southern California, it slants southeast to northwest and was formed by a major fault line. The south end is the closest to shore, being 22 nautical miles from Point Loma. The northern part is about 32 nm west of La Jolla, but closer to San Clemente Island, putting it in Los Angeles County. Historically we have found storm-petrel rafts right on the county line. This summer, those gatherings of resting storm-petrels had been absent here, though we still would see storm-petrels scattered about this area. So I had no expectation of seeing a raft today. Oops! Today there WAS a raft, but not a huge one. They can sometimes number in the thousands or even tens of thousands. This one was maybe 200 at best and they scattered before we could get everyone on them. This raft, as many or most off San Diego, was made up of primarily of Black Storm-Petrels, but two smaller birds split out of the tangle of wings and tails. Thanks to the quick camera work of Nancy Christensen, they proved to be Least Storm-Petrels based on their tiny, big-winged, and short-tailed (almost tailess) appearance. This species is a San Diego specialty, and is abundant some years, but was absent this summer. They often quickly leave the scene once flushed, so not everyone got on them in time. By the way, all were in San Diego County – the county line is about 26.8 nm offshore at this spot, and the raft was 26 nm out.

Heading back to the east, we came on a big Fin Whale for some excellent looks. We worked our way up into the mouth of the La Jolla Canyon, then back south toward the north end of the Nine Mile Bank. We had good numbers of birds here, adding a Sooty Shearwater, more Northern Fulmars, and several jaegers – about evenly split between Pomarine and Parasitic. We also had an adult Herring Gull come in and join the chummed gull flock, which along with a dozen or so California Gulls, represented the first of the wintering gulls to arrive. As we made our way back to the Bay, we drove right by a lone Red-necked Phalarope over the kelp bed. Phalarope numbers have been low this fall.

So that wraps up 2019. We plan a similar schedule of pelagic trips in 2020, so watch this web page for the upcoming schedule.

Dave Povey

Buena Vista Audubon/San Diego Pelagics

Species Totals:

Surf Scoter 8

Common Loon 2

Eared Grebe   3   S.D.Bay

Northern Fulmar   7

Pink-footed Shearwater   22

Sooty Shearwater   1-2

Black-vented Shearwater    400+

Ashy Storm-Petrel   1

Leach’s Storm-Petrel    1

Black Storm-Petrel    100+

Least Storm-Petrel  1-2

storm-petrel sp.  15-20

Brown Booby  3

Nazca Booby    1

Brandt’s Cormorant  14

Double-crested Cormorant    1

Brown Pelican 30

Red-necked Phalarope  1

Phalarope sp. 7

Pomarine Jaeger   4

Parasitic Jeager     5

Jaeger sp.   5

Cassin’s Auklet  1

Alcid sp.   6

Heermann’s Gull  10

Herring Gull   1

California Gull   13

Western Gull    200+

Common /Arctic Tern   3

Royal Tern    32

Elegant Tern  4

Marine Mammals:

Fin Whale

Minke Whale

Large whale sp.

Risso’s Dolphin   25-30

Common Dolphin  200-300

California Sea Lion

We departed H&M Landing at 7 a.m. aboard the 85 ft. Grande, with fifty-one passengers and six leaders. Leaders were Dave Povey, Tom Blackman, Nancy Christensen, Peter Ginsburg, Bruce Rideout, and Justyn Stahl. We checked the San Diego Bay bait receivers for the now nearly three-week old report of a Nazca Booby. No luck there, but it’s always interesting to see the mass of herons, egrets, gulls, pelicans, and the thousand or so Brandt’s Cormorants roosting around these docks.

We moved on to Ballast Point to check for oystercatchers, but again, no luck. They are uncommon here and Point Loma has several miles of habitat for them to get lost. The cobble beach did have an amazing number of Heermann’s Gulls. This Mexican Gull is not unusually here on the point in large numbers. Proceeding out to sea we found a number of Red-necked Phalaropes gathered along the scum lines of the tidal outflow. Further down the channel we had the first of many inshore Black-vented Shearwaters, several Elegant Terns, and the first Brown Booby for the day. Brown Booby is always nice to see but has become a little bit of a ho-hum species for us. They were rare here prior to about 1999-2000, but increased into 2010-2015, and have now settled into being regular in small numbers on most trips locally. Today we would see five, all juveniles.

The deep water inside the Nine Mile Bank had an increase in life, but overall was somewhat slow. This area has held more bird life recently than we were seeing this morning. Nevertheless, we got nice looks at a fair number of Black-vented Shearwaters and both Pomarine and Parasitic Jaegers. The Nine Mile Bank has been quiet all summer, but again we found a few interesting species, including the first Pink-footed Shearwater and the often abundant Black Storm-Petrels. This summer Black Storm-Petrels have been all but missing, and that was the case again today. I am not sure what has changed; Black Storm-Petrels seemed to be in normal numbers this spring (hundreds or thousands), then they moved out of our area and have only been found small numbers since.

We then moved out over the San Diego Trough, a ten-mile wide deep water area without any seafloor features to create upwelling, so it often has little bird life. But when birds are found here, it’s often one of the sought-after species. So, a well-seen and photographed Ashy Storm-Petrel was a nice bonus for the Trough. The Thirty Mile Bank produced nice looks at Long-tailed Jaeger and Common Tern, neither of which is common here. Also seen here, and a fair bit early, was a south-bound Common Loon. The middle part of the bank got us some good looks at Pink-footed Shearwaters. It’s always nice when they follow the boat for the photographers.

We entered L.A. county briefly then after ensuring that we weren’t missing any large storm-petrel rafts, we moved back out over the San Diego Trough once again.  A call of murrelets on the water stopped the boat. We had accidentally split a pair of Craveri’s Murrelets, and although the one bird we got on wanted to fly off, it would not leave its partner. We could hear the pair calling back and forth, and we got good looks as they swam back together to reunite before flying off together. We had two other pairs of small alcids that were poorly seen prior to these, and my best guess is that they were also Craveri’s Murrelets, although a very small number of Cassin’s Auklets have been in the area.

Next, a short distance east of that was a young Rhinoceros Auklet. This guy was not terribly cooperative, diving each time we got close, but I think all hands got reasonable views. Rhinoceros Auklet is not rare here, but most don’t arrive until late October or into November. We continued on a short distance to the east when we came on an area of Common Terns and Sabine’s Gulls. The beautiful little Sabine’s Gulls are the iconic pelagic birds of spring and fall migration. We usually see a few on the September trip, but today was a bonus with twenty plus. Here we had three Sabine’s Gulls together on the water with a tern that escaped our scrutiny. Photos of the three Sabine’s show a smallish tern with them that had a short neck, small bill, translucent flight feathers, and a narrow black trailing edge to the under wing. The upper wing lacked the dark wedge seen on the Common Tern’s wing. This was an Arctic Tern, which is not rare off southern California in fall but tends to stay much further offshore locally (50-60 nautical miles or more offshore). Out there it often is the only tern seen.

I almost forgot to mention the great jaeger show around that area of terns. Several times from the wheelhouse I could scan the horizon and see several jaegers chasing terns in multiple directions. Parasitic Jaegers seemed to be the most numerous today (15), with Pomarine Jaegers a close second (13). Long-tailed Jaegers (5 total), are not rare locally but like Arctic Terns, are more inclined to be farther offshore, so one juvenile on the north end of the Nine Mile Bank was nice. We also had a number of jaegers that escaped identification, so we had well over thirty of all three species on the day, which was more than we’d expected for these local trips.

Then just as we were getting back to the very north end of the Nine Mile Bank the call went up of Red-billed Tropicbird! The bird was high and circling around another area of terns, this time mostly Elegant Terns. It took us a while to get oriented and give chase. That was a bit of a stretch, as the boat only does about 8.5 knots. We did finally see the Tropicbird on the water, got the boat stopped, and got everyone on it. Unfortunately, it was not quite as close as we’d liked so we tried to maneuver closer, the bird decided enough of that and flew off. Odd for a tropicbird, as they are not boat shy as a rule.

The travel down the Nine Mile Bank was mostly uneventful, with lots of Black-vented Shearwaters, more jaegers, and fun close-up looks at a Humpbacked Whale that stole the show with its breaching, tail slapping, and overall antics. Nice weather and seas provided very pleasant conditions for us today and birding was great.

Species seen in San Diego Bay:

Mallard

Rock Pigeon

Heermann’s Gull

Western Gull

Royal Tern

Elegant Tern

Brandt’s Cormorant

Double-crested Cormorant

Brown Pelican

Great Blue Heron

Great Egret

Snowy Egret

Black-crowned Night-Heron

Osprey

Species seen at sea:

Surf Scoter

Common Loon

Pink-footed Shearwater

Sooty Shearwater

Black-vented Shearwater

Ashy Storm-Petrel

RED-BILLED TROPICBIRD

Brown Booby

Brandt’s Cormorant

Brown Pelican

Red-necked Phalarope

Pomarine Jaeger

Parasitic Jaeger

LONG-TAILED JAEGER

CRAVERI’S MURRELET

Rhinoceros Auklet

Sabine’s Gull

Heermann’s Gull

Western Gull

Common Tern

ARCTIC TERN

Elegant Tern

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Marine Mammals:

Humpback Whale

Common Dolphin

California Sea Lion

Fish:

Hammerhead Shark

Mako Shark

California Flying Fish

Yellowfin Tuna

Dave Povey

San Diego Pelagics

Buena Vista Audubon

This is the report for the Sunday August 18, 2019, pelagic trip aboard the Grande out of H&M Sportfishing Landing on San Diego Bay. Fifty one passengers, with leaders Tom Blackman, Guy McCaskie, Jimmy McMorran, Gary Nunn, Bruce Rideout, Matt Sadowski, and I, met at the top of the dock, where I did a brief orientation to the boat, then we boarded, ready for our adventure at sea. Conditions where very nice, with great visibility, light breezes, and a marine overcast to deaden the glare early. Temperatures were pleasant.

The trip down the bay was uneventful, with numbers of all three large tern species, Caspian, Royal, and most of all, Elegant Terns. We stopped very briefly for a look at Ballast Point, for a mob of loafing Brown Pelicans and Heermann’s Gulls, both of which are regulars there at low tide. Once offshore, the visibility was excellent, with clear views of the Coronado Islands some 12 miles away. We found an exceptionally flat swell and almost no hint of a breeze. Not a lot of birds in this zone, and the water was cold, 63 degrees and dirty, a bit odd for late summer. There must be a fair upwelling along the coast here. A few of the scum lines had Red-necked Phalaropes scattered about.

Further out into the deep water, inside the Nine Mile Bank, the water warmed slightly to about 67, and life seemed to increase a bit, with first sightings of Black-vented Shearwater and a few Black Storm-Petrels. The water here was still off colored. We crossed the Nine Mile Bank and found it unusually quiet, as was the outer edge. We had a scattering of Black-vents, a Sooty Shearwater, and a few Black Storm-Petrels. The water was still off colored and filled with surf grass, bits of kelp, and the like.

In the middle of the San Diego Trough, things had not improved much, and it wasn’t until we approached the far southern end of the Thirty Mile Bank that we saw an improvement in birds, life signs, and water conditions in general. Here we found lots of Sooties, fair numbers of Pink-footed Shearwaters, Black Storm-Petrels, a couple of Leach’s, a few Red Phalaropes, and several distant murrelet sightings. Then came the call that there was a booby… a RED-FOOTED BOOBY. A nice adult dark morph, first seen and called out by Guy McCaskie. This bird came right up the stern, then seeing the gulls had nothing of interest, swung to the right side and headed north.

About the time everyone had gotten on the now distant booby, it was gone.

Then, a short time later, out of no where, it made another pass at the boat, as if to be sure all hands got a look, gliding this time over the bow and down the left side. Great looks and photos for all hands. Red-footed Booby is a rarity in California; it was not even recorded in the state until 1975. Last year was epic. Prior to 2018, there were only nine accepted records of Red-footed Booby for San Diego County. Then, in 2018, eleven were recorded. We had two on this trip last year. Sightings for the species had dropped off this year, with none reported recently recently. It is no longer a mega-rarity, but certainly a very nice sighting.

We continued west right on the border headed to the “corner”, a sharp bend in the U.S. – Mexico border, and as far west as one can go before entering Los Angeles County due to proximity to San Clemente Island. This area was alive with birds, dolphins, an  Elephant Seal, and a Mako Shark. We also got a couple of distant looks at Craveri’s Murrelets, a closer-in Sabine’s Gull, and a Common Tern. Then came the call of another booby sighting. This one was black and white, so clearly an adult or near adult bird. It made a fairly close approach from behind, then flying down the left side of the boat, but this time it was a one-time flyby and then it was gone. The bill color on this bird was hard to determine because of the glare on that side of the boat side, but photos showed the bright orange and pink bill of a NAZCA BOOBY – yet another species we were unlikely to get in years prior to 2017, with only one accepted record for San Diego County. Then in 2017 we had nine, 2018 yielded five more, with some four additional birds left unresolved as Masked/Nazca types. It was amazing that we had already seen two of the four toughest booby species to get, and yet we still had not seen the more or less expected Brown Booby, which, it turned out, we would miss entirely. Go figure.

This area also turned up a number of good storm-petrel sightings. A cluster of eight Ashy Storm-Petrels was sitting on the water, and best of all, a distant TOWNSEND’S STORM-PETREL was photographed by Gary Nunn. This species is now split from the similar Leach’s Storm-Petrel. These white-rumped Townsend’s are more likely to be confused with Wilson’s Storm-Petrel, or even Wedge-rumped Storm-Petrel, than with Leach’s. Townsend’s are compact, dark bodied, and shorter winged than Leach’s. The feet do not extending beyond the tail as in Wilson’s, and the white does not extend to the tip of the tail as in Wedge-rumped. This is a much sought after species, seen regularly in small numbers each fall just to our west, but it is a bit tougher to find them in San Diego County waters.

Traveling west, we seemed to drive out of the area with all the life, so as we were nearing our western limit for the county, I made the decision to turn back to the Thirty Mile Bank, where we planned to work our way north along the bank. That’s when our day’s adventure took a turn.  We often take the boats we charter for these trips for granted. They are well maintained and Coast Guard inspected, they run nearly everyday during the fishing season, and are amazingly reliable. Grande is no exception. But today she reminded us of how complicated the machinery is to move and control an 85ft. boat in this harsh marine environment – we broke the starboard propeller shaft. Both Capt. James and I had heard of it happening, but neither of us had ever experienced it. The problem was that the propeller and shaft had slid back into the now turned rudder, pinning it in a hard turn. The captain and crew quickly checked for water incursion, found none, then assessed the next steps to get us back underway. That required a crewmember to go into the water, tie a rope over the propeller, and those on deck pulled the whole assembly forward and tied it off. After a broken rope, the second try worked. Steering resumed and we were back underway on the port engine – relief. But Captain James felt that a direct return to San Diego Bay was prudent, and that stopping and maneuvering for birds along the way would not be wise. Thank goodness for light seas and a comfortable ride. We did have birds on the way in, and did see a nice selection, but the only new bird was a distant jaeger chasing Elegant Terns. This jaeger’s ability to stay with the tern, no matter how the pursued bird twist and turned, was amazing. The jaeger, once successful in getting it’s victim to cough up it’s catch, went on to the next tern and the next – quite a way to get one’s meals.

We returned to the dock with a nice list for the day, thankful that our adventures turned out well.

Dave Povey

The June 9^th, 2019, Buena Vista Audubon pelagic birding trip on the Grande started off with wild hopes of Cook’s Petrels, given the recent sightings by Dave Povey in nearshore waters off northern Baja California. But the forecast for winds less than 10 knots throughout most of the day would make it much better for alcids.

We headed out of the bay and went straight across the San Diego Trough to the southern end of the 30-mile bank to increase our time in the outer limits of San Diego County waters, where most of the rare birds would be. Although we didn’t get a Cook’s Petrel, this strategy paid off in the end.

On the way out, we had the expected Sooty and Black-vented Shearwaters, as well as unusually good views of Cassin’s Auklets, which are often only distant whirring specks. Scripps’s Murrelet was a target bird for many, and we had good numbers and excellent views of those throughout the day as well.

The big payoff came a few hours into the trip with great views of an adult and apparent juvenile Craveri’s Murrelet. The great views can be attributed to the fact that the juvenile was likely still unable to fly, so the pair would only swim or dive as we approached. We stayed at a distance that afforded excellent views and time for studying the characteristics distinguishing Craveri’s from Scripps’s Murrelets, without unduly stressing the pair. Since this was a target bird for many onboard, an early success set a good tone for the day.

We also had good views of a white-rumped Leach’s Storm-Petrel early on, with several more Leach’s to follow, which allowed for nice comparisons of the structure and flight style with the more abundant Black and Ashy Storm-Petrels. We presume these Leach’s are subspecies chapmani based on the rump-pattern and the fact that it would be early for the more northerly breeding nominate subspecies or the more southerly breeding Townsend’s Storm-Petrel, but we still have a lot to learn about the status and distribution of these storm-petrels.

We had several Least Terns on the 30-mile bank, which is not unusual, but might not be a good sign regarding the availability of appropriately sized baitfish for breeding birds. Normally we would expect birds tending nestlings to forage as close to the nesting grounds as possible, and the 30-mile bank is a fair ways off for such a tiny bird. The biologists monitoring the nesting colonies are always interested in these offshore sightings.

There were some slow periods in the afternoon as we patrolled the 30-mile bank, but a Black-footed Albatross in the mid-afternoon provided a nice bit of excitement. The bird was very cooperative and made several close passes around the boat, affording great views and lots of nice photographs.

The late afternoon provided a nice marine mammal show, with the Common Dolphins doing acrobatics as they approached the boat for some bow riding, and we had good views of Fin and Blue Whales as well – a great end to a very nice day on the water.

Bruce Rideout

Buena Vista Audubon

sandiegopelagics.com

Offshore Species:

Black-footed Albatross: 1 (very good views near the south end of 30-Mile Bank)

Pink-footed Shearwater: 8 (low)

Sooty Shearwater: 180

Black-vented Shearwater: 75

Leach’s Storm-Petrel: 3 (30-Mile Bank)

Ashy Storm-Petrel: 45

Black Storm-Petrel: 450

Pacific Loon: 3 (northbound, basic plumage)

Double-crested Cormorant: 2 (well offshore)

Brandt’s Cormorant: 5

Brown Pelican: 14

Scripps’s Murrelet: 12

CRAVERI’S MURRELET: 2 (an adult and immature bird 30-Mile Bank)

Cassin’s Auklet: 130 (good number for June)

Heermann’s Gull: 2

California Gull: 1

Western Gull: 110

Least Tern: 6 (including several well offshore at 30-Mile Bank)

Elegant Tern: 150

Eurasian Collared-Dove: 1

The first Buena Vista Audubon pelagic birding trip of 2019 departed Sunday on the Grande under cloudy skies, with a relatively light swell and a nice northwesterly breeze – near ideal conditions, particularly for finding alcids, and we found plenty. The highlight for many participants was the excellent views of Scripps’s Murrelets throughout the day, including a pair with two chicks. Although the timing of nesting varies from year to year, probably relating in part to resource availability, this is a fairly early date for fledglings. We also had frequent, though often a bit distant, views of Cassin’s Auklets, so most participants were able to get comfortable with their identification in flight compared to Scripps’s Murrelets. Late in the day, we had one unusual murrelet flush in front of the boat and fly away. Debate ensued as to whether it was an early (by a month!) Craveri’s, or an usual (possibly molting) Scripps’s Murrelet. We are waiting on additional photos of this bird before drawing any final conclusions. Probably the biggest surprise of the day was a Pigeon Guillemot that flew across the bow as we were approaching the Thirty-mile Bank. It’s a bit earlier than expected for a guillemot, and most observations in the County are from sea-watches at Point La Jolla, not from boats that far offshore.

We had all three expected species of shearwaters, with Sooty Shearwaters being the most abundant by far, followed by a dozen or so cooperative Pink-footed Shearwaters, and a few late Black-vented Shearwaters. Black Storm-Petrels were also seen frequently throughout the day, with moderate numbers of Ashy, and a few dark-rumped Leach’s (subspecies chapmani).

The Brown Boobies were not as abundant as they often are, but we had several very cooperative birds that lingered long enough for excellent views and photos – a real treat for many on board.

The whales and dolphins did not disappoint either. We had excellent views of Fin and Blue whales, and the Common Dolphins periodically put on an acrobatic show as they approached the boat for some bow-riding. Unofficial total bird counts for the day are at the end of this post.

Our next trip will be on Sunday, June 9^th. Trip details are on our website, sandiegopelagics.com. We hope to see you on the boat!

Bruce Rideout, San Diego Pelagics and Buena Vista Audubon

Bird Species Totals:

Common Loon                                   2

Pacific Loon                                        30

Double-crested Cormorant              1

Brandt’s Cormorant                          25

Brown Pelican                                   55

Brown Booby                                   2

Red-necked Phalarope                     54

Bonaparte’s Gull                                1

Western Gull                                      209

California Gull                                    5

Heerman’s Gull                                  1

Common Tern                                   3

Caspian Tern                                     4

Royal Tern                                         10

Elegant Tern                                      93

Forster’s Tern                                    1

Least Tern                                          36

Black-vented Shearwater                 6

Pink-footed Shearwater                   11

Sooty Shearwater                              166

Black Storm-Petrel                            121

Leach’s Storm-Petrel                         8

Ashy Storm-Petrel                             48

Scripps’s Murrelet                            90

Scripps’s/Craveri’s Murrelet       1

Cassin’s Auklet                                  117

Pigeon Guillemot                            1

Barn Swallow                                     3

Snowy Egret                                      5

Great Blue Heron                              2

Wilson’s Warbler                              2

Townsend’s Warbler                        1

Marine Mammals

Fin Whale

Blue Whale

Common Dolphin

Possible Guadalupe Fur seal

This is the Buena Vista Audubon and Grande pelagic trip report for October 21, 2018.

Thirty-nine passengers and five leaders meet in front of H & M Landing, in San Diego Bay. We started off the day with a beautiful sunrise. I did the orientation in front of the Point Loma Seafoods Restaurant, and before I could finish, we were enveloped with fog. Where did that come from? The forecast for the day was sunny and warm with very light seas. Fortunately, the second part of that forecast was right. We boarded the Grande and headed out of the commercial basin and into the channel toward a huge glowing ball of sun magnified by the fog. We did have just enough visibility to pick up a few birds as we drove down the channel. Just a very few Elegant Terns were around, with a greater number of Royal Terns. The bait receivers held the usual pelicans, cormorants, gulls, and long-legged waders attracted there for the occasional unintentional handout.

Ballast Point was in particularly thick fog, but our sharp-eyed spotters picked out three Black Oystercatchers. Captain Alex maneuvered us back for a better, though somewhat fuzzy, look. Black Oystercatchers are uncommon but regular rocky shoreline shorebirds farther north. Few make it to Point Loma and they are at best rare here, though oddly more commonly seen on the Coronado Islands just across the Mexican border.

The trip out of the bay was still shrouded in fog but did open up a little. A couple of miles out we had a nice Parasitic Jaeger cross the bow. Oddly this was to be our one and only jaeger on the day.

We also popped some fairly inshore Cassin’s Auklets. This small drab alcid can be rather difficult bird for us to get on some tips – often due to their scarcity, and at times due to their propensity to leave as soon as they see a large boat come over their horizon. Today they would be among the more abundant seabirds we would find, with well over a hundred scattered at all distances.

We also got some good looks at phalaropes. We had both Red Phalaropes and Red-necked Phalaropes; all now in the winter basic plumage and difficult to separate at a distance. Reds turned out to be in the minority for the day, but that will change as fall progresses and the Red-necks retreat farther south.

We were most of the way to the Nine-Mile Bank before we started to get the steady stream of Black-vented Shearwaters. These are our local inshore shearwaters. Small, fast moving, and not usual boat shy, it always seems the first few tantalize us with flash-by looks. Then, as is often the case, we find groups of dozens or even hundreds sitting on the water, or they make multiple passes through the gull flock in the stern for much better looks. Dark above and white below, they remind an east coast birder of their Manx Shearwaters. There was a time in the not too distance past that they were considered the same species. Black-vented Shearwater does have the dark under tail coverts their name implies. We do get a very few Manx Shearwater on the west coast in late winter to early spring. Monterey seems to see them in the fall. We, for whatever reason, do not. Perhaps they pass by us farther offshore or stop above us somewhere then filter south in the winter and into the early spring, when we have a chance to see them. Nevertheless, we look for Manx Shearwaters anytime we get masses of Black-vented Shearwater together.

The Nine-Mile Bank had some life today; in fact it was teeming with life. Our last few trips here this fall had produced little, so I’d planned to shoot on through to the west. The Nine-Mile Bank has been in off-colored water all summer. That off-colored water seemed to hold little sea life. Today the water was clean and clear and full of Black-vented Shearwaters and I could see more building up to our northwest. So, we made a right-hand turn and followed the shearwaters along the bank. They had found a number of spots of anchovy pushed to the surface in defensive balls against the ravenous small tuna attacking them. What a great show. Anchovies in dense masses trying for all their worth to get out of the water, with tuna churning the surface all around them, and the shearwaters feasting on anchovies that escaped the tuna. Just to add to the show, a pod of several dozen Pacific White-sided Dolphina appeared, and at least one Striped Marlin. Not a good day for anchovies. Along with the feeding Black-vented Shearwaters, many more were sitting in groups digesting their meals.

This area had our first Brown Booby of the day; a boldly marked adult female. The western Mexico race of Brown Booby is brewsteri and the adults are separable at a distance as the Males have a white frosted look to the head and neck. Brown Booby has become a locally regular bird since the late 1990’s and we feel slighted if we miss them. Today we had four, and that seems about the expected number.

I would like to say we found all kinds of other interesting seabird species on the Nine-Mile Bank, but the truth is that, except for the regular Western Gulls, a few California Gulls, and a Brandt’s Cormorant or two, this area was mostly a straight on mass of Black-vented Shearwaters. Missing were the Sooty and Pink-footed Shearwaters, and most of all the Elegant Terns. A month or two back, Elegant Terns would have numbered in the hundreds or even thousands. Pink-footed Shearwaters would be in the dozens, if not hundreds. Both those species have mostly now moved out to the south and were seen in only single digit numbers today. Sooty Shearwaters never were in great numbers this summer and fall, perhaps passing well offshore from us s they moved south.

We finally gave in and moved out to the west across the San Diego Trough and to the south end of the Thirty-Mile Bank. This area usually turns up a steady stream of storm-petrels most years, even into late October. Not today; all we could scrape up was a few scattered stormies. One white-rumped bird was a certain Leach’s Storm-Petrel. but most were just too distance to be certain. Several folks thought they had a Black Storm-Petrel. That’s certainly possible as that would be the most likely storm-petrel in this area, but it seems that most have pulled out early this fall. Black Storm-Petrel numbers never were particularly strong this summer. Most of the birds I saw from the wheelhouse, as distant as they were, appeared to be dark-rumped Leach’s Storm-Petrels, though one might have passed as an Ashy Storm-Petrel. Nevertheless, a half dozen storm-petrels is very weak out here on the Thirty-Mile Bank. A few sharp-eyed photographers got a shot of our one land bird as it spun around the boat; a “Myrtle” Yellow-rumped Warbler. That bird was an awfully long way from land.

Fortunately, we did pick up a few birds on the Thirty-Mile Bank: a Northern Fulmar, Pink-footed Shearwaters, and a couple more Red Phalaropes. Oddly, we even had a few more Black-Vented Shearwaters all the way out here. Black-vents typically stay much more inshore.

Overall the Thirty-Mile Bank was a disappointment today, so we swung back toward the beach, aiming towards La Jolla and the extreme upper end of the Coronado Escarpment, and then rode south along that escarpment ridge. We gained little for birds, though adding many more Cassin’s Auklets, until we reached the north end of the Nine-Mile Bank, where we again were back in the birds. We saw much the same mix as before: Black-vented Shearwaters, Western Gulls, and now an occasional Pink-footed Shearwater. We had lots of activity, with many birds resting on the water. We did pick up a couple more Brown Boobies and some early Bonaparte’s Gulls, but little else to brag about. We did have a stop for a phantom rarity that turned out to be a false alarm – easy to do when a long day of birding is not producing. We returned to San Diego Bay and Grande’s dock. We left in the fog and returned home in the dark. A long day with lots of birds, but relatively few species.

 

 

Birds in San Diego Bay:

Mallard

Brandt’s Cormorant

Double-crested Cormorant

Brown Pelican

Great Blue Heron

Great Egret

Snowy Egret

Black-crowned Night-Heron

Black Oystercatcher

Willet

Whimbrel

Heermann’s Gull

Western Gull

California Gull

Royal Tern

Elegant Tern

 

Birds seen offshore:

Surf Scoter

Common Loon

Loon sp.

Northern Fulmar

Pink-footed Shearwater

Black-vented Shearwater

Leach’s Storm-Petrel

Black Storm-Petrel

Storm-petrel (Oceanodroma) sp.

Brown Booby

Brandt’s Cormorant

Brown Pelican

Greater Yellowlegs

Long-billed Dowitcher

Red-necked Phalarope

Red Phalarope

Parasitic Jaeger

Cassin’s Auklet

Bonaparte’s Gull

Heermann’s Gull

Western Gull

California Gull

Hummingbird sp.

Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)

 

Marine Mammals:

Common Dolphin

Pacific White-sided Dolphin

Elephant Seal

California Sea Lion

 

Fish:

Mola mola (Ocean Sunfish)

Skipjack   (tuna)

Broad-billed Swordfish

Striped Marlin

Northern Anchovy

 

Dave Povey

San Diego Pelagics

Buena Vista Audubon

 

This is the Buena Vista Audubon and Grande pelagic trip report for Sunday September 23^rd, 2018. Fifty-seven passengers and six leaders met in front of H&M Landing on San Diego Bay, under overcast skies.

We did a brief orientation then headed down the dock to board Grande. We had a brief delay as two passengers had trouble finding parking. A friendly reminder that late summer and fall parking around the docks at the peak of the fishing season can be challenging. There is plenty of parking further away, but one needs to allow time for the search and the walk. All told the delay affected our departure by a few minutes. We try our best to get off on time each trip. I suggest an ample time cushion to allow for parking and getting checked in. Forty Five minutes at the minimum should do it. A safer and more relaxed hour time cushion is even better.

Captain Alex gave us the safety talk while we were underway, and we headed down the channel for the open ocean. The immediate area of the harbor entrance had some life – mostly Elegant Terns, Brown Pelicans, and a few Brandt’s Cormorants feeding on bait fish here. We did have nice, though somewhat distant, looks at a plunge diving Brown Booby. That species was once only rarely seen here, but is now somewhat expected as they breed on the nearby Coronado Islands. This adult female would be the first of five Brown Boobies seen today.

A call was made about a “V” of waterfowl high up under the overcast. Too distant to call by binoculars, the long lens photographers helped prove them to be a flock of Greater White-fronted Geese. This waterfowl species is an early migrant and these were at the early end of the fall calendar for San Diego County. Digital photography has certainly changed our ability to identify birds at sea, and elsewhere for that matter. Many distant species that would have been written off, or maybe guessed at to family or genus, can now be identified, often with amazing detail. We have now come to rely on these cameras to identify and even add new species to the trip compilations. I often get asked about photography on pelagics and my answer is an emphatic yes. That said, one must recognize the harsh environment and damage salt can do. I do not recommend tripods or the like. I would opt for smaller lenses, which are easier to hold and carry. Shoot first and often, and ask questions later. Always save pictures until you can get them on a bigger screen at home. More than once a mega rarity has been discovered after the trip on the home computer.

We opted to cross the Nine Mile Bank and to head directly to the Thirty-Mile Bank. Inshore areas this year have had warm waters but with a funky color the fishing captains have called “swamp water”. This band of colored water has extended from Central California to Central Baja. This off-colored water has some life in it, but most of the interesting birds have been outside in the slightly cooler cleaner waters.

The approach to the Nine-Mile Bank, the Bank itself, and the drop off on the west side did turn up a few birds. Most notable were multiple Black-vented Shearwaters. These are our local shearwaters; breeders from Mexican Islands some two hundred fifty miles below the border. Most Black-vented Shearwaters nest on one small island called Natividad. Their range at sea is northern Baja and coastal Southern California waters. This small fast moving shearwater, which is dark above and whitish below, is somewhat reminiscent of the east coast’s Manx Shearwater, to which it was once consider conspecific. Black-vented Shearwaters were present in good in numbers, and if we’d stayed inshore, the numbers would have mounted even higher, but we moved west and the Black-vented Shearwater sightings dwindled. Then the first Pink-footed Shearwater was seen. Very similar to the Black vented Shearwater in overall coloration but with a more relaxed fight style, a pink base to the bill, and bright pink feet.

We shortly encountered distant Black Storm-Petrels that let us know we’d reached the outer edge of the bank. We would get greater numbers and better looks at Black Storm-Petrels farther out.

The cry went up that there was a white bird on the water….”TROPICBIRD”! Close in to the starboard bow and still on the water. While we got the boat stopped, the bird got up and crossed the bow then flew down the port side. Lots of photos were taken, along with plenty of oohs and ahs! Rare but somewhat expected in the fall off San Diego, Red-billed Tropicbirds reach their northern limits in the southern Channel Islands. The last two years have been tough for Red-billed Tropicbirds locally. This was the first seen in sometime. Red-billed Tropicbirds are on most Southern California pelagic birders want list, and are always a crowd pleaser. We were happy to get such good looks at this bird and check it off the day’s list.

The 10-mile wide San Diego Trough is usually fairly quiet, and today was no exception, but the excitement of the tropicbird sighting carried us through the sparse areas. Approaching the Thirty-Mile Bank, life suddenly increased notably. A young Sabine’s Gull came up the wake. The majority of these handsome small gulls have already moved through, so it was nice to get this bird. While we were watching the Sabine’s Gull, two adult Long-tailed Jaegers came into the chummed flock. These are dainty buoyant jaegers with neat caps, pale gray uppers, white shafts limited to the outer two primaries, and a long streaming tail, but with no lack of jaeger attitude. They follow the small gulls and terns on the migration to the Southern Hemisphere. We were surprise to have five Long-tailed Jaegers today, as they usually move well offshore to the west of San Diego and are sometimes missed completely by pelagic trips inside the Channel Islands.

The area around the “182”, a high spot at the southern end of the Thirty-Mile Bank, had a little variety, with one of our two Sooty Shearwaters for the day. Three species of storm-petrels were also seen, with Black Storm-Petrel the most abundant. We also had the smaller, paler, Ashy Storm-Petrel, and the bounding erratic Leach’s Storm-Petrels. The Leach’s are the local chapmani subspecies, which often have smudgy white sides to the rump, but are highly variable. It is critical to learn the flight styles of all three species here: Black’s have a big winged look with a deep stroke, short glides, and gentile turns and rises; Ashies have shallow, quick wing strokes and rapid direct flight; and the narrow-winged Leach’s are erratic and nighthawk like, changing speed and direction constantly. Once learned, the otherwise difficult storm-petrel identification challenge can be made a little easier.

North of the “182” we stumbled on our first murrelets of the day. Though we did get the boat stopped, they were directly off the point of the bow, so it was difficult to get many birders on them before they flushed directly away. Photos again proved critical in showing these to be Craveri’s Murrelets. Fortunately, we did get stopped on a second pair in the afternoon and were able to get most everyone on those birds. Craveri’s Murrelets are the most southerly of the murrelets. They are very dark above, white below, and sit low in the water. The dark comes across the face and extends below the longish bill. Often, but not always, they hold their tails up “Ruddy Duck” style. In flight the dusk gray underwings are characteristic, as is the dark shoulder or collar mark at the side of the neck. Both of our other murrelets (Scripps’s and Guadalupe) have bright white wing linings in flight and show more white in the face. Both sit a little higher in the water, looking more like miniature Murres. It was nice to get that often sought-after San Diego specialty nailed down. They have been present in small numbers this summer. Today we had six, and with the light wind chop they are often hard to pick out.

The top of the Thirty-Mile Bank is a series of high spots often locally called the “Ridge”, running for miles northwest to southeast. We often find daytime rafts of storm-petrels along the Ridge, but sometimes nothing, other times a few dozen, once in a while hundreds, and rarely thousands. Today we scored! We got on a raft of perhaps seven or eight hundred storm-petrels. They were mostly Black Storm-Petrels, but with just enough Least Storm-Petrels that they were hard to miss, with maybe 100 – 150 Leasts in total. These tiny Storm-Petrels come off looking for all the world like miniature Black Storm-Petrels. They look all dark, big winged, short tailed, have that deep wing stroke, but unlike Blacks, they do not glide and change wing stroke speed. Least Storm-Petrels have a steady rapid wing beat that has been likened to that of a bat with a straight lined flight. The ocean has a way of distorting size, but once you see a Least Storm-Petrel next to a Black Storm-Petrel there is no question on size. Nice addition to the day’s list, and nice to see enough birds to be confident that all hands saw them.

We explored more of the Ridge to the northwest, without finding any additional gatherings of storm-petrels. After returning to the raft’s original area, we put down an oil slick and did a short drift. We didn’t get much of a response, but we rarely do. I’m not sure why these birds seem slow to pick-up on oil slicks. Perhaps the oil is not a strong enough attractant, or food is too abundant, or maybe it’s that these birds feed mostly at night and rest during the day. We may never know, but it’s clear that our storm-petrels respond differently than they do in other areas of the world.

So, a pretty successful trip! Three of the most sought after fall San Diego specialties were tagged, with all hands seeing them: Least Storm-Petrels, Red-billed Tropicbird, and Craveri’s Murrelets. Add in three species of shearwater, three other species of storm-petrels, multiple Brown Boobies, three species of jaegers, Red and Red-necked Phalaropes, throw in a flock of Greater White-fronted Geese, and what more could we want? Yes, I know, but let’s keep it real.

Well, we did get one more bonus bird – an immature white-bodied booby. Called out as a Masked/Nazca Booby, it came into the chummed gull flock near the Mexican Border on the return to the Nine-Mile Bank. It made a series of passes high and low and around and over the boat. This bird will require review but appears from photos to show the beginning of the bright orange and pink hues in the base of the bill. It also had the immature shading of the head, leaving a broad white collar, and white central the tail feathers, which are more often in Nazca than Masked Boobies. So this bird was likely a Nazca Booby. Crazy!

Great trip, with enough good birds to satisfy most birders.

 

 

Birds seen in San Diego Bay:

 

Mallard

Brandt’s Cormorant

Double-crested Cormorant

Pelagic Cormorant   (seen at the end of the day on the H&M dock)

Brown Pelican

Heermann’s Gull

Western Gull

Caspian Tern

Royal Tern

Elegant Tern

Rock Pigeon

Peregrine Falcon

American Crow

House Finch

 

Birds seen at sea:

 

Greater White-fronted Goose

Northern Fulmar

Pink-footed Shearwater

Sooty Shearwater

Black-vented Shearwater

Leach’s Storm-Petrel chapmani

Ashy Storm-Petrel

Black Storm-Petrel

Least Storm-Petrel

Red-billed Tropicbird

Nazca Booby (subject to review)

Brown Booby

Brandt’s Cormorant

Brown Pelican

Red-necked Phalarope

Red Phalarope

Pomarine Jaeger

Parasitic Jaeger

Long-tailed Jaeger

Craveri’s Murrelet

Sabine’s Gull

Heermann’s Gull

California Gull

Western Gull

Common Tern

Elegant Tern

 

Marine mammals:

 

Small whale sp. (possible Minke Whale)

Common Dolphin

California Sea lion

 

Fish:

 

Mola mola

Flying Fish

Striped Marlin

 

Dave Povey

San Diego Pelagics

Buena Vista Audubon

 

Photos ©Bruce Rideout

This is the Buena Vista Audubon and Grande trip report for Sunday, August 19, 2018.

Fifty-eight passengers and six leaders meet in front of H & M Landing this morning among the crazy busy hubbub of a sportfishing landing in August. We gathered everyone off to one side to clear the way for unloading tuna, fishing tackle, and the like. Paul Lehman gave a boat orientation then we walked down the dock to board the Grande. We depart quickly, got Captain James’ safety talk, and headed out of the boat basin.

Oddly while searching the yacht mast for our somewhat regular Peregrine Falcon, which was not seen, a White–winged Dove was found. Certainly an unusual sighting among the terns, gulls, cormorants, and the like normally found here.

We worked our way down the channel and out to Ballast Point, which was nearly devoid of bird life today. Plenty of Elegant, Caspian, and one each Royal and Forster’s Terns were seen on the way out.

I like to make a quick observation here that each trip seems to have its own unique character. This trip had two completely different characters. All onboard will understand what I mean here. I hope you will to by the end of this narrative.

Offshore we found seas very manageable, though the “roughest” portion of the ride is always just beyond the harbor mouth, were the shallows, the currents, and the winds cross and combine to mix and build the seas to their steepest and shortest interval. Nothing too serious, just the normal process of getting ones “sea legs” as the first few birds are being called out. Once clear of that area life improves immensely. We found mobs of terns working the area, but as we were determined to put some miles under our hull, we pushed on for more distant waters to the west.

The early stretch really had few sightings – a Black-vented Shearwater or two, an OK but somewhat distant look at a Brown Booby, a quick flyby Black Tern, which escaped as we worked out issues with radios and communication to the wheelhouse. Also seen were a number of phalaropes, both Red and Red-necked, then a scattering of Black Storm-Petrels. Frustratingly distant, though we had better looks once well offshore.

Bird life on the outer edge of the Nine-Mile Bank picked up slightly, A Sabine’s Gull and distant jaeger, better looks at Black-vented Shearwaters, and even a few Pink-footed Shearwaters for comparison. Two Ashy Storm-Petrels were mixed in with the Black Storm-Petrels, and we got looks at two more Brown Boobies. Out here we had a few Common Dolphin and a rather large Hammerhead Shark. We also got good looks at a fast moving Blue Whale that passed by our bow. That species of whale always adds to a day’s excitement. Westward for more Storm-Petrels – Black, Ashy, and now a couple of Leach’s – more Red and Red necked Phalaropes, decent looks at a pair of Craveri’s Murrelets; a life bird for some, year bird for many. Always a good find and today not under the best search and viewing conditions.

Once we hit the Thirty-Mile Bank we picked up more Stormies. Blacks were most numerous as always, but we also had a surprising number of Leach’s Storm-Petrels. Leach’s Storm-Petrels are quite common further offshore and out over much deeper waters, but they are not as often seen on our trips out to the Thirty-Mile Bank . We got looks at two more Craveri’s and missed another pair of murrelets as they flushed – like this species often does.

Now to this point in the day, noon, I have to say the trip was just OK. Nothing spectacular. We were looking for the expected storm-petrel rafts we’d scouted out two days earlier. They should be in this area, then the cry went out ALBATROSS. A Black-footed Albatross sailed by. Now this guy is a crowd pleaser but not exactly a show stopping rarity. We had one on the June trip, and although more likely seen in spring than in fall here, they can certainly be expected any day of the year further offshore. Our sighting of that Albatross was like a light switch that was suddenly turned on – CLICK! In short order we had a Long-tailed Jaeger, Craveri’s Murrelets (for the best looks of the day), Sabine’s Gull, South Polar Skua, two Pomarine Jaegers, one of the day ‘s two Sooty Shearwaters, but best of all, a Red-footed Booby! That bird was a first for any of our pelagic trips over almost 20 years. Though this species was seen on the scouting trip two days prior (that one was my personal San Diego County bird), this was clearly a different, much paler bird. Wow! Unexpected, but we now we had two booby species for the day, and the switch was still on! Next up was an immature Masked Booby! Again, we had this species on our scouting trip a few days earlier, but again this was a different bird! Now we had three booby species on the day! What an improvement.

Unfortunately, we did have one species elude us out on the water: Least Storm-Petrel. However, photos of one of the several groups of Black Storm-Petrels we saw included a Least Storm-Petrel that was not noticed at the time. It was only identified later from photographs when we were back on dry land. Least Storm-Petrel was one of the trip’s major target birds, and that lone photographed individual was likely the only one for the day. Though participants called several others out, most proved to be other species, or were not definitively identified.

So the trip had had gone from an OK trip to a stunning trip in the space of just an hour or two. But we weren’t done yet. Back on the Nine-Mile Bank, a sharp-eyed leader picked out an albatross back in the sun. At least 10 miles from the nearest place it should be, we had a Laysan Albatross! This is a species where San Diego records can be counted on one hand. This bird was banded and the number could be seen in photographs. It is likely from Guadalupe Island off western Mexico. We have submitted the band number to the bird banding lab and should have details soon. Now the trip had entered into the record books, and we still weren’t done just yet. The seabirding gods must have been smiling on us. The Fishing boat Liberty called us and sent Captain James a photo of a booby that had ridden the boat for the last 24 hours – ANOTHER Red-footed Booby! We headed off to intercept them as they entered San Diego harbor, and we ended up with great looks at yet another booby on the day. Six different boobies of three different species and two species of albatross. Amazing!

We also picked up two Parasitic Jaegers on the way in for a jaeger grand slam on the day. What a day, and what an amazing change in a single day!

 

Bird species seen in San Diego Bay

Brandt’s Cormorant

Double-crested Cormorant

Brown Pelican

Great Blue Heron

Black-crowned Night-Heron

Osprey

Heermann’s Gull

Western Gull

Caspian Tern

Forster’s Tern

Royal Tern

Elegant Tern

Rock Pigeon

White-winged Dove

Barn Swallow

European Starling

 

Bird species at sea

Laysan Albatross

Black-footed Albatross

Pink-footed Shearwater

Sooty Shearwater

Black-vented Shearwater

Leach’s Storm-Petrel

Ashy Storm-Petrel

Least Storm-Petrel

Masked Booby

Brown Booby

Red-footed Booby

Brandt’s Cormorant

Double-crested Cormorant

Brown Pelican

Marbled Godwit

Red-necked Phalarope

Red Phalarope

South Polar Skua

Pomarine Jaeger

Parasitic Jaeger

Long-tailed Jaeger

Craveri’s Murrelet

Cassin’s Auklet

Sabine’s Gull

Heermann’s Gull

Western Gull

Black Tern

Common Tern

Elegant Tern

 

Marine mammals

Blue Whale

Common Dolphin

California Sea Lion

 

Fish

Hammerhead Shark

California Flying Fish

Mola mola (Ocean Sunfish)

 

Dave Povey

San Diego Pelagics

Buena Vista Audubon

This is the trip report for the Buena Vista Audubon and Grande Sportfishing Pelagic trip Sunday June 10, 2018. Thirty-nine passengers and five leaders meet in front of H & M Landing for the 7 a.m. departure out of San Diego Bay. Skies were mostly overcast with some sun breaking through, and a south breeze at 5 kts. I did a brief orientation to the expected sea conditions, safety, the boat lay out, and the task of birding at sea. We headed down the dock to the Grande where we met up with leaders Todd McGrath, Bruce Rideout, Matthew Binns and Gary Nunn. Once settled in, we departed for our adventure at sea.

The trip down the bay had the expected Western Gulls, Caspian, Royal, and Elegant Terns, and Brandt’s and Double-crested Cormorants, and even a couple of Barn Swallows. Cruising by the bait docks we could see the usually suspects – herons, egrets, pelicans, and the like gathered to steal a wayward baitfish or two. We also picked up two adult breeding-plumaged Heermann’s Gulls following the boat looking for a handout. This Mexican breeding gull has created some concern for the last few years, as adult Heermann’s Gull were arriving back here from their breeding islands in the Sea of Cortez much too early and lacking any juveniles. Seems the sardine populations in the gulf had crashed, or at least were not available to the breeding gulls. Our June trip in 2016 had over 60 Heermann’s Gulls. Last year that trend seemed to be turning around as adult gulls (13 on the 6-11-17 trip) arrived here at the more normal post-breeding dates and juveniles appeared in small numbers. Today these two Heermann’s Gulls and one more offshore would be the more characteristic few expected failed breeders of a “normal’ year. We cruised down the buoy line hoping for a loafing booby but found none. Boy would that change before long!

Offshore we had a flyby Black Oystercatcher. A nice bird for San Diego, where this species reaches close to the southern limits of its range. Black Oystercatchers are rare but somewhat regular in very small numbers along our rocky coast. They are more commonly seen at the Coronado Islands in Baja California, Mexico, just 12 to 15 miles to our south. They are sometimes seen transiting over open ocean to and from those islands. The area south of Point Loma was very active, so we chased the mass of feeding Elegant Terns down to the southeast. Elegant Terns are also a Mexican breeding species. Prior to the 1960s, the only known breeding was on a couple of small islands in the Sea of Cortez. One, La Raza, is the same breeding island where most of the Heermann’s Gulls nest. Recent history has seen a breeding colony established in the Salt Works in the south end of San Diego Bay. That site has grown into a major breeding location for the species, sometimes with birds numbering in the tens of thousands. Today many of these Elegant Terns were taking advantage of so much forage fish so close to home.

This area also held a surprising number of Black-vented Shearwaters. This is our local inshore shearwater and also a Mexican breeder, although on islands from the Pacific side of the Baja peninsula. Most breed on just one island, Natividad. Spring is also their breeding season, so normally we would not expect this many in local waters. There was certainly plenty of food here and that may have been holding them up here if food is scarce closer to their breeding islands. We did see Common Dolphin here but they were fast moving and clearly intent on chasing down breakfast. We never caught up to them.

Then the scream went out “booby on the water”. Not 50 yards away was a near adult Nazca Booby on the water. Prior to last year this would have been a mega rarity. Then 2017 turn out to be the Nazca Booby year with more than a dozen west coast sightings. Several even seemed to be trapped in San Diego Bay and were seen by hundreds of birders. Two stayed into this year and were seen by a boatload of birders at the SDAS Bird Festival in February. All of those photographed in San Diego Bay were adults. This bird, although outwardly appearing a full adult while on the water, showed a small amount of remaining dark subadult feathers in the otherwise white lesser coverts. Photographs in-flight also showed a metal band on the right leg. From the photos we could even make out a few letters and numbers. The band was of some concern because a Nazca Booby was rescued off Oregon, flown to San Diego, rehabbed, banded, and released here, which would have made it uncountable. However, Gary Nunn was able to trace the partial band information to a bird banded as an immature on Isla Espanola, Galapagos Islands, in the first half of 2017. This would make the bird about 1 3/4 years old at time of sighting here in San Diego. BTW this bird was about 6.5 nautical miles south of Point Loma, but only about 5.5 n.miles off Imperial Beach.

 

Nazca Booby was only recently separated from the very similar Masked Booby (which I mistakenly called this bird at first sighting), but the bright orange bill was unmistakable. Nazca are from the northwest coast of South America and famously from the Galapagos Islands. Nazca Boobies may have recently switched to flying fish as a replacement food source for the declining sardines they normally feed on, so this may have set these birds off and out of the normal range. Boobies in general seem to be ship followers and often ride on boats for long distances, which would provide the double benefit of the boat ride and the flying fish kicked up by the boat out in front of them. Whether this bird got a ride or made it here on its own is anybody’s guess. Great bird no matter what.

We turned back north and west to avoid crossing into Mexico and continued toward the Nine Mile Bank. Over the deep water inside the bank we had a mammalian rarity – a Guadalupe Fur Seal. They breed on some of the same Islands as the Black-vented Shearwaters off the west coast of Baja California. They were thought to be extinct at one time, as the sea otter hunters nearly wiped them out. They spend the majority of their lives, and are seen regularly, out in the cold California Current. This fur seal did the typical jug handle pose, lying on its back with fore flippers curving back to meet the raised tail flippers. This is thought to be a thermoregulating mechanism after a deep dive into colder water.

The inner Nine Mile Bank also turned up a pair of Scripps’s Murrelets. These are regular local breeders on the Coronado Islands. The question this year has been why we were seeing so many on the May 20th trip, but none with chicks. Today’s numbers seemed a bit low, though by June, many if not most Scripps’s Murrelets are done breeding and have moved off to sea to our northwest. This could be an indication of a late start to the breeding season. The outer edge of the Nine Mile Bank had good numbers of Sooty Shearwaters, Elegant terns, and more Common Dolphins. We started picking up a few Pink-footed Shearwaters and Black Storm-Petrels – all expected here. Sooties and Pink-foots are Southern Hemisphere breeders. Sooty Shearwaters are mostly from New Zealand and move across the whole Pacific Ocean to feed and molt in the rich waters of our west coast. Pink-footed Shearwaters breed off Chile and do the trip north to these food rich waters. Black Storm-Petrels, on the other hand, are local breeders off the west coast of Mexico and extreme Southern California and are our most abundant storm-petrel. We got some looks at a Fin Whale in this area but our chase proved fruitless. Fin Whales are exceedingly fast and prone to switch directions if they do not wish to be viewed. So that was the case today.

 

The deep water outside the Nine Mile Bank is known as the San Diego Trough. Mostly featureless, it can be rather boring. Once in a while it does turn up a good bird and it did so on our way out today. A call came from midship of an approaching Booby. This bird came right at us from our 8 o’clock position and flew right over the boat – a subadult Masked Booby! Everyone got great looks as it passed by the boat. This bird still had a bit of the 5 o’clock shadow on the head and upper neck, with a nice broad white collar. The upper wing still was mostly dark as was the tail. The bill color on this near adult bird was that off yellow-green color they often have. Two species of Boobies for the day and neither was a Brown Booby. Very nice and very unexpected. We did expect to see Brown Booby for the day, but were wrong on that count. Nazca and Masked Boobies were it for the day. The Masked Booby was about 15 n. miles west of Point Loma.

The Thirty Mile Bank was a bit of a disappointment today. We did have a nice mix of storm-petrels though: the larger all dark Black Storm-Petrels with their deep wing stroke; the smaller paler Ashy Storm-Petrel with a more fluttery flight style; and the mostly dark Chapman’s subspecies of Leach’s Storm-Petrels with their erratic zig-zaggy flight. Most Leach’s here show little or no white on the rump and when they do it well divided in the middle. We did have a little excitement with a “mystery” shearwater. This bird was seen at a great distance after a long dry spell. The feel was something new and different. Unfortunately once back on dry land and the photo enlarged on a computer screen the mystery was over…Pink-footed Shearwater.
The trip back across the San Diego Trough gave us a brief but fairly close look at a Townsend’s Storm-Petrel among a small raft of Leach’s. This is a newly separated species from Leach’s Storm-Petrel. Townsend’s Storm-Petrel breed only at Guadalupe Island and a couple of associated rocks. They are small, very dark, somewhat stubbier winged, and with a blazing white rump patch that wraps around to the under tail. Townsend’s Storm-Petrel is a regular post-breeding visitor to the area west of San Clemente Island, and is a nice bird to get in San Diego waters (inside San Clemente Island).

The remainder of the trip to The Nine Mile Bank and down was uneventful, though we did get good numbers of Sooty Shearwaters, a few more Black-vented Shearwaters, Black Storm-Petrels, and moderately good looks at a Cassin’s Auklet, which is never a guarantee. We got a fairly decent look at a Northern Fulmar, regular most years but now completely out of season.

Birds seen in San Diego Bay:

Western Grebe
Brandt’s Cormorant
Double-crested Cormorant
Brown Pelican
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Osprey
Heermann’s Gull
Western Gull
Caspian tern
Royal Tern
Elegant Tern
Barn Swallow

Birds seen offshore:

Northern Fulmar
Pink-footed Shearwater
Sooty Shearwater
Black-vented Shearwater
Leach’s Storm-Petrel
TOWNSEND’S STORM-PETREL
Ashy Storm-Petrel
Black Storm-Petrel
MASKED BOOBY
NAZCA BOOBY
Brandt’s Cormorant
Double-crested Cormorant
Brown Pelican
Black Oystercatcher
Scripps’s Murrelet
Cassin’s Auklet
Heermann’s Gull
Western Gull
California Gull
Least Tern
Caspian Tern
Forster’s Tern
Royal Tern
Elegant Tern

Marine Mammals:

Fin Whale
Short- beaked and Long-beaked Common Dolphin
Guadalupe Fur Seal
California Sea Lion

Fish:

Mola mola (Ocean Sunfish)
California Yellowtail

Dave Povey
San Diego Pelagics

This is the trip report for the Buena Vista Audubon and Grande Sportfishing Pelagic Birding trip Sunday May 20, 2018. Forty-four passengers and six leaders meet in front of H & M landing for the 7 a.m. departure. H & M is a new landing for us and is a short walk to the right of our previous departure landing in San Diego Bay. H & M even shares the same parking lot. Today’s weather was a dense overcast, with nearly calm winds – excellent conditions for small alcid viewing. We could have done without the drizzle, but that’s often part of a spring pelagic.

Paul Lehman gave an orientation to the boat and it’s layout, a safety talk, and discussion of sea birding and how to locate seabirds once they are called out.
We were lead down the dock by Guy McCaskie, boarded Grande to be greeted by Peter Ginsburg, Justyn Stahl, Bruce Rideout, and Tom Blackman and once settled in, cast off for our adventure at sea.

The cruise down the bay was uneventful, but we did build a small list of the regular pelicans, cormorants, gulls, and all three large terns. We even picked up a few Black Skimmers. These are regular breeders in numbers at the far south end of the bay, but not as often seen here in the deep water of the north end. We drove down the buoy line in hopes of finding a resting Booby. No luck there, but we did get several nice looks a Brown Boobies further offshore. This once rare species locally has now become regular and expected. Brown Booby is a west coast of Mexico breeder and has expanded to the north and now breeds locally on the Coronado Islands and on some (one?) of the Channel Islands to our north. Though they are in somewhat lower numbers now from the peak years of 2014, 2015, and early 2016, we would be disappointed to miss them. Any other species of booby remains locally rare and would be an excellent find, though records of non-Brown Booby sightings seem on the upswing in recent years.

 

The biggest surprise, once away from the inshore waters, was the numbers of Scripps’s Murrelets. We got on several pairs right away. All adults. Scripps’s Murrelets are local breeders on the Coronado Islands and more pass through here on the way to breeding islands to the north. Most of the north bound movement comes here, or goes through here, in March (with a range of mid Feb. to early April). A few birds can have chicks with them by mid April, and most will have chicks by May and June. Seeing a pair of adults and no chicks by May 20th could indicate a late start to breeding or breeding failure by that pair. Today it was dozens and dozens of pairs of adult Scripps’s Murrelets scattered over most of the today’s route with no chicks that we could determine (chicks leave the nest at night 24-48 hours after hatching and go to sea unable to fly, so are attended by one or both adults). Both the chicks and attending adults dive to avoid predation, or large objects such as a boat full of birders. The Scripps’ Murrelets seen today seemed perfectly able to fly to escape. We counted some 120 plus today. Only a very few solo Scripps’s Murrelets were seen. Those might indicate a foraging bird with a mate in the nest burrow (these birds go on and off the islands at night to avoid gull predation) or perhaps a lost mate. So, the question of the day – why so many pairs of adult Scripps’s Murrelets so late in the breeding season with no chicks?? Did these birds fail to breed, did something on the islands cause them to abandon breeding there, is this a response to food sources, weather, sea temperatures, or other factors? I must say this seems concerning. I don’t recall anything like this occurring before. I ran through my notes and back through the 1980’s, the range of Scripps’s Murrelet sightings for the third week of May ranged from 0-47 birds. Mostly less than 15 per trip, but many with downy chicks noted! The June trip may give us additional insight on this subject. Scripps’s Murrelets are a local specialty, with a small population, and relatively few breeding locations, so always of some concern. OK, off my high horse, and back to this report.

We found a nice area of feeding Common Dolphin, Sooty Shearwaters, and Elegant Terns near the Mexican border and the inner Nine Mile Bank. This is so close to the border that we counted all three species in both countries. There was certainly a lot of food here in the form of very small baitfish. We did see a few Common Dolphins elsewhere today, but Sooty Shearwater was the most abundant species of the day (700-750) and scattered everywhere. Sooty Shearwater is a southern hemisphere breeder and world traveler over much of the Pacific Ocean to arrive in the food rich California Current. Most will continue far to our north before returning south to their islands around New Zealand and near the tip of South America. The Elegant Terns (450+) were also seen here and all the way out to thirty miles offshore. Most of these breed and travel to and from the salt works in south San Diego Bay. More breed on a few islands in the Sea of Cortez and those will increase the local population later this summer.

We did get a few other species here, including Black-vented Shearwater. This small white-bellied species is normally pretty regular near shore San Diego and seasonally somewhat regularly seen from the beach. This time of year most retreat to the breeding Islands off the Pacific Coast midway down the Baja Peninsula. The tiny Isla Natividad may have 90% plus of the worlds breeding Black-vented Shearwaters. This can be a tough time of year to count on seeing this species, so 24 today was nice as all observers got a look. The Black-vented Shearwater population seems to be a beneficiary of efforts by the Mexican Government to clear the breeding islands of non-native predators. We did have one other small white-bellied Shearwater seen a distance and passing quickly out on the 30 Mile Bank. Paul picked up on the bird and mentioned it, as its location was away from the normal inshore area. This shearwater seemed to have a brighter white and crisper dark pattern than expected for a Black-vent. Initial photos were inconclusive, but additional photos showed a white-saddled appearance, a little white curling up behind the ear, and perhaps the white under tail coverts of a Manx Shearwater – a common species on east coast pelagics, but decidedly rare here. That turned out to be the best bird of the day. It flashed by in the distance, was seen only by the few alert birders, and only proven later by photos. Pink-footed Shearwater was the other white-bellied shearwater seen today, which is another visitor from the southern hemisphere. These guys breed on islands off of Chile and come up into the California Current in our summer. Today we had less than two-dozen, but those numbers will build as we move into summer. Pink-footed Shearwaters are aggressive and not at all shy about approaching the boat over and over. I find it the most often photographed species on these trips.

Best photos of the day where of a young Black-footed Albatross. Not at all rare along the west coast, but relatively few come inside the islands of the Southern California Bight, so we are always happy to pick up that species on these trips. Black-footed Albatrosses breed on the westward Hawaiian Islands and actually have the smaller population of the two common North Pacific albatrosses. The Laysan Albatross is more abundant by a factor of two, and has a wider geographic spread to its breeding locations. These two albatross species seem to move to differing parts of the Pacific – Laysan more to the northwest, Black-footed Albatross to the northeast. At the other end of the size-scale from the large albatrosses were the numerous Black Storm-Petrels. These little tube-noses are ubiquitous once off the shallows of the Nine Mile Bank and are actually at the larger end of the scale for a storm-petrel. Black Storm-Petrels usually stay well away from the boat, out where size can be hard to judge accurately, sometimes giving one the look
of a shearwater. Their deep wing stroke and bounding flight look almost nighthawk-like. Black Storm-Petrel was likely the third or fourth most numerous species for the day (if Western Gull counted) with 250 or so seen. We did get some better looks as we returned to the Nine Mile Bank late in the afternoon.

The 30 Mile Bank had very few smaller and paler Ashy Storm-Petrels. Far less common but nevertheless regulars out here, they are even less boat friendly than Black Storm-Petrels. It takes a quick and discerning eye to pick up the smaller-winged, longer-tailed look, the shallower wing stroke, and more direct flight. This species is much sought after here, and often missed. We counted seven Ashy Storm-Petrels today. Several other species showed today, all with smaller numbers. We had maybe 20-25 Pacific Loons. These are northbound stragglers, likely young nonbreeding birds following the migration route of the breeding adults that have already passed through. Next, Red-necked Phalaropes, now mostly in alternate plumage, with maybe 70-75 for the day. This is actually a rather low number for this time of year. These are a small “shorebird” that feed by sitting on the water and picking at the surface. Red-necked Phalaropes today were typically in small groups of up to twenty.

Cassin’s Auklets were also in small numbers today. Notoriously hard to get on, not boat friendly, and often seen flying away in the distance. Cassin’s Auklets are close in size to Scripps’ Murrelets, but are mostly dark gray to the waterline, appear to have no neck, and can show a bit of a pale belly in flight. Where murrelets usually spring to the air like a puddle duck, Cassin’s Auklets require a running start from the surface, and if full of food may actually bounce off swells as they depart. Last, and one of the more beautiful seabirds, were Sabine’s Gulls. Not much larger than a tern and well-marked above by white, black, and gray triangles, this species breeds in the high arctic and winters off of South America in the Pacific Ocean.
Our return back to the Nine Mile Bank from the 30 Mile Bank was about as smooth a ride as we had all day. We did scare up a couple of seasonal oddities back in the birdy areas of the Nine. First was a rather washed out looking Northern Fulmar. These are sporadically regular in winter this far south. They breed in the Bering Sea and Aleutians. Usually, only the doomed Northern Fulmars straggle into late spring and early summer. Perhaps even more unusual for the season, though they breed as close as the central California Coast, was an alternate plumaged Common Murre. Most always a good bird off San Diego, this one was getting late. We also came on two different flights of Least Terns on the Nine MIle Bank. I’m always amazed at how far off shore these guys forage. They breed locally on sandy beaches and are believed to winter well offshore of Central America or even farther south. Last but not least (whoops), Paul Lehman mentioned that we might well see land birds once at sea, which is not uncommon on heavily overcast days, as we had today. Sure enough, we had maybe four or five passerine species for the day. Not all made it through the gulls following the boat, but those that did included a Pacific-slope Flycatcher and a couple of Warbling Vireos, Townsend’s Warblers, and Wilson’s Warblers. Lots of folks got photos of these guys on the deck between chairs, on rod holders, other birders heads, and we even had a couple ride in the wheelhouse with Captain James.

The Nine Mile Bank on the return gave us a nice Fin Whale show, with a least two and maybe three seen up close and personal for photos.

Dave Povey

Bird species seen in San Diego Bay:

Mallard
Western Grebe
Brandt’s Cormorant
Double-crested Cormorant
Brown Pelican
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Black-crowned Night- Heron
Heermann’s Gull
Western Gull
California Gull
Caspian Tern
Royal Tern
Elegant Tern
Black Skimmer
Rock Pigeon
Barn Swallow

Bird species seen offshore:

Scoter sp.
Pacific Loon
Black-footed Albatross
Northern Fulmar
Pink-footed Shearwater
Sooty Shearwater
Manx Shearwater
Black-vented Shearwater
Ashy Storm-Petrel
Black Storm-Petrel
Brown Booby
Brandt’s Cormorant
Double-crested Cormorant
Brown Pelican
Red-necked Phalarope
Common Murre
Scripps’s Murrelet
Cassin’s Auklet
Sabine’s Gull
Heermann’s Gull
Western Gull
California Gull
Least tern
Elegant Tern
Pacific-slope Flycatcher
Warbling Vireo
Townsend’s Warbler
Wilson’s Warbler

Marine mammals:

Fin Whale
Common Dolphin
California Sea Lion

Fish:

Mola mola (Ocean Sunfish)
California Flying Fish