Hello Seabirders.

This is the trip report for Saturday, October 4, 2014.

We met at Point Loma Sportfishing Landing under a bright moon and the wispy high clouds left behind by Hurricane Rachel. This has been an unusual hurricane season in the Eastern Pacific. Major tropical storms and hurricanes usually form well down in southern Mexico and track out to the west, or fall apart below the tip of Baja California. This year most of these storms have formed into hurricanes, and have tracked up the Baja Coast. Three have stuck Baja Sur. One, Hurricane Odile, made a direct hit on Cabo San Lucas, as a category 3, on Sept. 21, 2014. This did major damage to the Cape District, stranding many tourists, closing down the airport, cut roads, and left residents without shelter and services. We all wish our southern neighbors the best in these difficult times.

None of the hurricanes have reached San Diego with anything more than an elevated swell, some thunderheads in our mountains, and the occasional day or two of wind. Fishermen here believe these storms push warmer than normal water into the Southern California Bight. Climatologist may argue than the warmer than normal waters are why the hurricanes are more frequent, and track so far north. So the “Chicken and the egg” argument may apply. Regardless, the sea surface temperatures here are unusually warm and that has had an effect on the birds we see offshore. I would love to say that the warm water as brought us all kinds of southern rarities, but the result seems to be more along the lines of depressing the normal south bound migration, and push some of our regular fall birds further north. That said, the waters locally have cooled somewhat, though another Hurricane this one named Simon is currently pushing up the Baja Coast!

Ok, on to the report. We departed the dock, after Paul Lehman gave his orientation. Leaders were Peter Ginsburg, Paul Leman, Guy McCaskie, Jimmy McMorran, Gary Nunn, Dave Povey, and Justyn Stahl. We had two captains onboard with Charlie and Jimmy sharing wheelhouse duties.

We did the quick version drive by of the bait docks. Now with a much increased number of BRANDT’S CORMORANTS. Then did a brief scan of Ballast Point, for the group of five BLACK OYSTERCATCHERS, and one AMERICAN X BLACK OYSTERCATCHER (see the Sept. 21st. trip report for details), we also had a couple of WHIMBRELS there.

We followed the same track south that worked so well on the September trip for drawing in Brown Booby. We had three then, so why not a repeat now? Well, under the category of never count your chickens, or…boobies until… We saw none! We did get lots of looks at RED-NECKED PHALAROPES, many close-in. They seem to gather in this area where the tide flow stirs the water. Notably the water temps were only about 68 degrees there, most 71-74 elsewhere. We saw had an EARED GREBE here, actually a regular winter bird near shore.

We follow the Mexican Border west, actually WNW at this point, for more phalaropes, and a sprinkling of BLACK-VENTED SHEARWATERS, we even had one BLACK STORM-PETREL before the Nine Mile Bank. The “Bank” was not especially productive and we continued west to the south end of the Thirty Mile Bank. We picked up a few CASSIN’S AUKLETS along the way.

The chummed gull flock that we took along with us, changed from mostly HEERMANN’S GULLS in shore, to mostly WESTERN GULLS offshore, with the occasional CALIFORNIA GULL. Next month California Gull’s numbers will overtake Westerns and become the most abundant species out there.

In the way of non-bird sightings along the way, we found an area of whale activity, which included a couple of HUMPBACK WHALES, a distant very tall spout, perhaps a Blue or Fin Whale, and maybe 20-30 SHORT-FINNED PILOT WHALES. Pilot Whales here are somewhat rare here, though much more regularly seen just to our south. Pilot Whales like Orcas are large dolphin. Pilot Whale groups are matriarchal, but may have one or two large male traveling with them.

One large animal gave us nice looks as it swam parallel, and close in for some distance before giving us a tail lob, and a dive.

By the way the Short-finned moniker refers to the pictorial fins, not the rather large bulky dorsal fin seen well each time the animal surfaces. Nice show and hopefully some good photos

The numbers of storm-petrels has increased slightly over the Sept. trip. These birds were not particularly cooperative, but a slim few did manage to get close enough for a brief looks. I did see one LEAST STORM-PETREL without binoculars.

All four expected dark storm-petrels were seen today. A few Black Storm-Petrels gave us some satisfying looks.

BLACK STORM-PETREL is the largest, and most numerous here. They have deep wing stroked, fairly steady straight flight, short glides. They appear dark black, somewhat short tailed, and large winged. Note a pale carpel bar. They nest in numbers on the nearby Los Coronados Islands.

ASHY STORM-PETRELS appear gray/brown, have a long tail look, a shallow wing beat. They appear somewhat shorter winged. Can show a lighter gray/brown rump. Fluttery flight with lots of glides. A small number nest on the Coronado Is.

LEACH’S STORM-PETREL (dark-rumped). Commonest storm-petrel well offshore (50 n.m. or more). Bounding flight, sudden and erratic changes to flight direction, and speed. Bold carpal bars. Deeply fork tailed. May have traces of white, or light gray on the edges of the rump. A fair number of the chapmani ssp. nest on the Coronado Is.

LEAST STORM-PETREL An irruptive species here. Can be in very large numbers in fall, or nearly absent. Very small size, easiest to separate when seen with a nearby Black Storm-Petrel. Almost a “no tail look” when first seen. Steady quick wing beats, somewhat bat like. Very brief or no glides. Uniformly dark in appearance. Nest on islands off central and southern Baja.

We did extend our trip up the bank into the areas where rafts have been regularly found in past seasons. Today if anything they seemed even quieter than areas we’d come through to the south and east.
I am often asked why we don’t chum or spread an oil slick for our storm-petrels. Most folks have seen the masses of Wilson’s and other storm-petrel species off the east coast. Oil slicks can work here with some limited success, particularly Black Storm-Petrels, but nothing like what is seen on the east coast. That may have something to do with the ever present hoards of offshore gulls . Storm-petrels are preyed upon by them on the local breeding islands. Then some species seem to be downright boat shy as with Ashy and Least Storm-Petrel. We always drag a bag of tuna or other fish parts in hopes that something will follow the scent trail. Interestingly Wilson’s Storm-Petrel, seen here very rarely, do seem to be attracted to oil trails.

The return southeast gave us a quick look at two CRAVERI’S MURRELETS at medium range, but they were up and gone before we could get more than just a very few alert bow riding birders on them. I believe that is another species that may have pushed past us from the south to areas north of us. Always a tough bird to get onto in less the conditions are perfect. Most flush and fly long ahead of normal spotting range.

Back over the San Diego Trough we got great looks at another non-bird species, the seldom seen STRIPED MARLIN. This 6 ft. long billfish preformed a dozen or so leaps just a few hundred feet from the boat. A number of good photos were taken there.

We did get looks at a number of POMARINE JAEGERS today. I recall only one with the classic large tail spoons. Likely most are young or in molt.

A single juvenile SABINE’S GULL came into the stern, and stayed just long enough for most of the boat to have a look.

An ARCTIC TERN was seen well ahead of the boat. All three species Pomarine Jaeger, Sabine’s Gull, and Arctic Tern are Arctic breeders, and migrate past us to points south. The Arctic tern famously so, to waters around Antarctica; Sabine’s Gulls to the waters off South America. A few Pomarine Jaegers will stay locally, but many will continue on down the West Coast of Mexico.

Getting a PINK-FOOTED SHEARWATER took us until early afternoon to tick off our list. Once that was done several made runs at the gull flock from the front and rear of the boat. Getting a Pink-footed Shearwater is not usually an issue here. Though a breeder from islands off of Chile. They are headquartered off the west coast of Baja, and Southern California, in the Southern Hemisphere’s winter, our summer. This maybe another species that pushed well passed us, in this warm water year.

I took a look at notes from comparable dates last year, Oct. 5, 2013 when 120 were counted, then on Oct. 13, 2013 for 500. Today’s total was 10, and that is actually an improvement over the Sept. 21, 2014 trip where we had 1 !

Sooty Shearwater was missed altogether today. That species is not expected in any numbers this time of year, but we usually pick up a few.

We did some zigzags down the Nine Mile Bank for better looks at some of the common species, and a nice pod of COMMON DOLPHIN that came to the bow.

The last interesting bird of the day was an odd nearly all white gull – likely a luecistic (lacking normal pigment) juvenile Western Gull. This bird was seen just outside the bay mid channel.

List of Bird Species

dabbling duck sp.
Eared Grebe
Pink-footed Shearwater
Black-vented Shearwater
Leach’s Storm-Petrel
Ashy Storm-Petrel
Black Strom-Petrel
Least Storm-Petrel
Brandt’s Cormorant
Double-crested Cormorant
Brown Pelican
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret.
Black-crowned Night-Heron
American X Black Oystercatcher
Black Oystercatcher
Whimbrel
Red-necked Phalarope
Red Phalarope
Pomarine Jaeger
Craveri’s Murrelet
Cassin’s Auklet
Sabine’s Gull
Heermann’s Gull
Western Gull
California Gull
Common Tern ( reported later by a few observers )
Arctic Tern
Royal Tern
Elegant Tern
Rock Pigeon

List of Marine mammals

Humpback Whale
Common Dolphin
Short-finned Pilot Whale
Northern Elephant Seal
California Sea Lion

List of Fish

Blue Shark
Mola mola (Ocean Sunfish)
California Flying Fish
Striped Marlin

Invertebrates

Velella velella (By the Wind Sailors)

Hello Seabirders, this is the report for the Grande Buena Vista Audubon Society Pelagic trip out of San Diego, Sept. 21, 2014.

We gathered in the dark hours of the morning, in shirtsleeve weather and under partly cloudy skies. We loaded promptly, as boats and fisherman were coming and going at a hectic pace. Another boat was waiting for us to clear the dock for their arrival. Fishing has been nothing short of amazing this year – maybe the best in twenty or more years. The craziness around the docks is a result. Dave Povey gave a quick orientation, Capt. Jimmy a safety talk, and we were away from the docks and all the hustle and bustle, to the world of magic, mystery, and a timeless pace.

Leaders for this trip were Tom Blackman, Jon Feenstra, Greg Gillson, Brennan Mulrooney, Dave Povey, Bruce Rideout, and BJ Stacey. Our first stop the bait docks for photo ops of pelicans, cormorants, herons, egrets, gulls, and a large group of loafing California Sea Lions. We then moved down the channel to Ballast Point. The outer edge of the Point was loaded with hundreds of Heermann’s Gulls. We were about to pull away when a sharp-eyed spotter picked up on the bright scarlet bills of oystercatchers. We turned back to view eight BLACK OYSTERCATCHERS, and a white-bellied AMERICAN “type” OYSTERCATCHER (a hybrid between an American and a Black). BLACK OYSTERCATCHERS are near the southern end of their range here in San Diego, while AMERICAN OYSTERCATCHERS are at the northern end of theirs. So any oystercatcher is a good bird here, but a “pure” American would have been a real prize.

After leaving Ballast Point we moved down the channel, and immediately had a PARASITIC JAEGER in a high twisting chase of an ELEGANT TERN right off the bow. These aerial displays always amaze all hands. We varied our usual course to proceed southeast towards Imperial Beach and the border with hopes of a booby sighting. Sometimes things work as planned. We got looks at three different BROWN BOOBIES in a variety of plumages. We saw a dark juvenile, a female, and a very cooperative adult male BROWN BOOBY that flew right over the stern of the boat. The males of this Western Mexico subspecies of BROWN BOOBY (brewsteri) have a frosted white head. I saw a number of nice photos taken of this bird.

The sea conditions were very nice, and birds were cooperating early, so we turned north. Next on the cruise plan was a look for CRAVERI’S MURRELETS. They have been fairly reliable around the 100-200 fathom area inside the top of the Nine Mile Bank. We managed to spring a pair of murrelets heading up there, then found a number of CASSIN’S AUKLETS as well.

We then moved off to the west and on to the Nine Mile Bank. Our hope was that we’d pick up more murrelets here, but it turned out we had better success on the way home. Our consolation prize on the Bank was a nice look at a BLUE WHALE. We usually don’t chase whales, but never ignore them when they are close in. This whale gave us several blows off the bow then waved goodbye with nicely raised flukes.

We had now left most of the inshore birds behind. RED-NECKED PHALAROPES had been the most abundant on the way out, with groups from a few birds up to 50 or more scattered all around the outflow plume from San Diego Bay’s tide changes. Whatever planktonic food items they pick from the surface must be abundant here. We also left behind most of the BLACK-VENTED SHEARWATERS. Normally this is an inshore species often seen from the beach, sometimes as close as the surf line. They are rarely seen beyond the Nine Mile Bank, but this summer they have been seen in the thousands well west of their normal haunts, some all the way out to the Cortez and Tanner Banks, 125 n.m. offshore. Today our numbers of BLACK-VENTED SHEARWATER were lower, but some were seen all the way out on the Thirty Mile Bank, and all participants got great views of this regional specialty.

We did drag along a good size group of gulls that we had been chumming for in order to create excitement and draw in other seabirds. We also had a sack of tuna parts hanging on the stern for the odors and oil that attract seabirds. This turned up the first of several PINK-FOOTED SHEARWATERS. This southern hemisphere breeder is normally our most abundant shearwater offshore, and a good indicator of active seabird feeding. So having only three PINK-FOOTED SHEARWATERS for the day was surprising, but they were very cooperative and everyone got great views. We did chase a very distant pod of COMMON DOLPHIN that had a flock of birds with it, but after 15 minutes it was clear we were not making headway on the fast moving dolphin, so we returned to course. The San Diego Trough is a featureless deep area between the Nine Mile and Thirty Mile Banks that is notorious for causing a long dry stretch in the day’s ride. Today was no different, but we did have a few BLACK STORM-PETRELS, a POMARINE JAEGER, and a few COMMON and ELEGANT TERNS along the way. The apparent breeze was nice, as the day was actually starting to get a little warmer than we West Coasters are use to.

The cruise up the inner portion of the Thirty Mile Bank did not yield the large storm-petrel rafts we get most years, possibly because they were staying further north due to our exceptionally warm water this year. Today’s sea surface temps ran from 71 to near 76 degrees F. The normal range here would be around 68-70 F for this time of year.

We then turned the boat southeast to head towards home, and immediately heard a cry go up from the bow – we had stumbled on a pair of CRAVERI’S MURRELETS, and a few sharp-eyed observers got excellent photos as they flew off. As we lost our cooling breeze heading through the Trough, most birders found the shade of the Grande superstructure to offer the best relief from the sun. It also turned out to be the best side of the boat for our last few highlights. Two SABINE’S GULLS caught up to our gull flock – one a very nice alternate plumage adult, and the other a juvenile, and the outer edge of the Nine Mile Bank turned up the only SOOTY SHEARWATER of the trip. Sooties can be abundant in the spring and remain in some numbers all summer, but not this year. A recent 5 day pelagic through the whole southern California Bight recorded only five!

The Bank also produced a couple more BLUE WHALES, though more distant than the one seen this morning. One result of the very warm waters was multiple sightings of large HAMMERHEAD SHARKS over the course of the day, some very close to the boat, along with dozens of FLYING FISH. The Vella vella, the small jellyfish known as “BY THE WIND SAILORS” that have been so abundant this summer were nearly absent today.

Just as we were approaching Point Loma we had a couple more brushes with CRAVERI’S MURRELETS, including a bird that was on the water close in to the shady side of the boat where a good number of observers finally got a decent look at that species.

List of bird species seen (* seen in San Diego Bay only);
Cinnamon Teal
Eared Grebe
Pink-footed Shearwater
Sooty Shearwater
Black-vented Shearwater
Black Storm-Petrel
Brown Booby
Brandt’s Cormorant
Double-crested Cormorant
Brown Pelican
Great Blue Heron*
Great Egret*
Snowy Egret*
Black-crowned Night-Heron*
American X Black Oystercatcher*
Black Oystercatcher*
Marbled Godwit
Red-necked Phalarope
Pomarine Jaeger
Parasitic Jaeger
Common Murre (4 seen by a couple of observers)
Craveri’s Murrelet
Cassin’s Auklet
Sabine’s Gull
Heermann’s Gull
Western Gull
California Gull
Common Tern
Elegant Tern

List of Marine mammals;
Blue Whale
Common Dolphin
Harbor Seal
California Sea Lion

Fish sp.:
Scalloped Hammerhead Shark
Mola mola (Ocean Sunfish)
California Flying Fish

Dave Povey
www.socalbirding.com

We gathered at the Point Loma Sport Fishing Landing docks for check- in and were lead down to the Grande by Guy McCaskie. Paul Lehman ran us through an orientation to the boat and sea birding in general.

This morning was overcast, as is the norm for this time of year. Lovingly called the “June Gloom” by locals. Easier on the eyes than bright sun. Winds were light, but the last few days have had some rather strong winds out to the west. Grande has been in major yard and dockside maintenance and this is our first trip since January aboard her. She still has more work to be done and fishing season is now on.

The trip was sold out with all 48 spots filled, and we had 8 leaders onboard. Peter Ginsburg, Paul Lehman, Guy McCaskie, Gary Nunn, Dave Povey, Bruce Rideout, Matt Sadowski, and B J Stacey. The run down the bay was uneventful, though we did get a look at the Bait Docks as they are now back in their normal moorings, just inside Ballast Point. Lots of the usual pelicans, cormorants, herons, egrets, and gulls, plus a pile of California Sea Lions.

We did a quick cruise by Ballast Point, and were escorted to sea by a couple of Black Skimmers, dozens of the newly arrived Elegant Terns, and Heermann’s Gulls. We got looks at a few Bottle-nosed Dolphin just at the harbor entrance, which seems a regular area for them when they are not actually up in the bay’s inner channel.

Once at sea the life dropped off. The May 17th trip had hundreds of Sooty Shearwaters as close as two miles out. Today nothing one would consider pelagic. We did eventually find a fair number of Sooties along the inner edge of the Nine Mile Bank. There were also a number of Cassin’s Auklets there. Both feed on krill, so that may indicate that the small shrimp-like creature is available there. We also had the day’s only Black-vented Shearwater give us a decent look flying across the bow. That species is a local specialty, and can be very abundant in the late fall and winter months. In the spring they withdraw to their few breeding islands some 250 miles below the border. About 90% of Black-vented Shearwaters breed on just one island, Natividad.

Crossing the Nine Mile Bank we found things again on the quiet side. This bank can have amazing amounts of life, but for whatever reason this year’s results here have been off. Perhaps it’s warmer than normal water, a change of food source, or any of a dozen other factors. Fortunately the San Diego Trough, which is best known for our attempt to get across it as quickly as possible, has had a fair amount of life this spring, and that was the case today – all our good sightings coming here.

First, a distant immature Brown Booby. That bird, although seen by all, was just not very satisfying. I thought our chummed gull flock had turned the bird, but in the end it flew off and away from us. Next good sighting was a flushed, and seen by only a few, murrelet species. Photos later suggested this was a Scripps’s Murrelet. Now to have that happen with two of the hoped for species of the day was not what we leaders wanted! We may get a Brown Booby once every second or third trip, and Scripps’s Murrelet, although common on late winter and early spring trips, is nearing its departure date for parts further north. Paul had already sighted two pairs off Humboldt County – that being much further north than one would expect! Well, we got redemption on both species. First a close in sitting on the water adult female Brown Booby, which then put on a plunge dive display for the whole right side of the boat. Later we eased alongside a pair of –Scripps’s Murrelets — which allowed a prolonged look, even though sea conditions were not ideal. Sometimes you do get a second chance. Turns out that our sure Scripps’s Murrelets were not! Photos later showed that we had actually seen two Craveri’s Murrelets. These birds were so much earlier than any of us expected for Craveri’s that they just slipped by us!! I know I’m thoroughly embarrassed as I’d seen more than 40 of them last summer and should have picked up on them. Scripps’s normally depart about now, but we can have stragglers through the summer months. Guadalupe Murrelets are next with that species seen from July into the fall. Craveri’s Murrelets have been recorded in July but I wouldn’t expect them until August. Well these two Craveri’s Murrelets didn’t read the book. Thanks to digital photography, and sharp-eyed passengers, we got things corrected. My (our) sincere apologies for the missed call at the time. Lesson learned!

Forgive me a brief editorial. Something is clearly going on with Baja California seabirds. I think most folks are thinking El Niño, which is predicted, but has not yet actually occurred (as of June 5th. NOAA report, “El Nino watch”). The above early Craveri’s Murrelets are only the latest in several events, starting with the Blue-footed Booby invasion along the west coast last fall. This year we have seen Red-billed Tropicbirds off San Diego in April and May. Cruise ship observers have had them north to Monterey, and Scripps’s Murrelets have be seen off Humboldt Co. (Paul Lehman, et. al.). Those again well north of their expected post breeding range. Next, the recent explosion of Elegant Terns in San Diego Bay. These terns are believed to have abandoned their breeding sites in the Sea of Cortez and are now nesting here. The large and early influx of Heermann’s Gulls is likely due to them following the Elegant Terns north. The local Southern California waters have been warmer than normal (sea-surface temperature inside the Channel Islands). Reports from the fishing community in the Sea of Cortez say those waters are ahead of expected summer warming.

The Pacific Sardine population here has been in decline. Fishermen in the Sea of Cortez have described it as a complete collapse. The Northern Anchovy locally has replaced the sardines, and seems on the upswing, so forage fish here remain good. That is not the case in the Sea of Cortez. So the simple answer is…. I have no answer. Clearly we are seeing a dramatic change. The next months well gave us more clues. What birds will show up in the mean time??? That will be interesting to see!

Back to the trip report

The San Diego Trough also gave us our best looks at a number of storm-petrels. Black Storm-Petrels are the common and occasional abundant storm-petrel species off San Diego. We really had no great numbers today, but enough that all hands got decent looks at them. They are the largest storm-petrel here, very dark with a brownish carpal bar. They have a direct flight, with deep even wing strokes, and appear long winged.

We also had a fair number of Ashy Storm-Petrels, including six together in a group. Maybe 13 for the day. A very good number for San Diego waters. Ashies are a smaller browner storm-petrel, with a shorter winged look, shallower wing stroke, less direct flight, a longer tailed look, and can show paler brown rump and gray wing lining if seen in the right lighting and angle.

Last, we had a Leach’s Storm-Petrel. Many of our local Leach’s are the chapmani subspecies and may show a good bit of white, some white, very little white, or no white at all, on the rump. This bird actually showed a rump patch at the all white end of the spectrum. Leach’s are best told by the small size, long winged look, bounding fight and crazy directional changes. This was one of the better San Diego birds of the day. Although common well offshore, they can be a difficult storm-petrel to find inshore. The San Diego Co. line lies half-way to San Clemente Is., and that cuts San Diego Co. waters off from most of Leach’s Storm-Petrel’s normal habitat.

We came up with two very worn looking Northern Fulmar for the day. That species is not expected this time of year, but a few seem to get “stranded” in the Southern California Bight each spring, and may survive into early summer. Also somewhat late was a rather pale alternate plumage or incomplete molt Red Phalarope. Perhaps a male, as they have the more subdued breeding plumage. The bird flew and settle nearby for several good views, and photos.

While we were maneuvering to stay out of the way of an operating navy ship and looking at various storm-petrels, we came on a Black-footed Albatross sitting on the water. This species is also regular well west of San Diego waters, and can be somewhat tough to get locally. May and June seem to be among the more reliable months here, but they can be missed on many trips inside the Thirty Mile Bank, so that was a good bird to get checked off.

The south end of the Thirty Mile Bank and the Mexican border has been a “go to spot” recently. Today that area let us down. Interestingly, we did see a Least Tern there. I am always amazed at how far these guys forage from shore. Elegant Terns also regularly forage at these distances but one could imagine much less energy expended on their part. Least Terns must find an abundance of food, less competition, or other factors to travel all that distance (20-30 n.m. from the beach).

Speaking of terns, we got an amazing show just two or three miles off the tip of Point Loma on the return. We found a large number of Elegants, and at least one each Royal and Forster’s Terns diving among the pelicans, cormorants, and gulls. Loads of small bait fish there.

Last, we took a look at Zuniga Jetty on the way in with no real expectation of anything other than the usual pelicans, cormorants and gull. So we were pleasantly surprised by a Black Oystercatcher there.

Dave Povey
www.socalbirding.com

Hello Sea birders,

This is the BVAS/Grande Pelagic Trip report for May 17, 2014.

We started off the morning in the typical overcast condition we San Diegans lovingly call “May Gray”. This condition may look ominous to folks from other areas of the country, but is usually quite benign. I think it actually makes pelagic birding a bit easier – without the harsh glare off the water. We did have a little southeast wind early, and I confess that is not my favored direction. No danger – it just seems to make the conditions “off”. Fisherman don’t care for that wind direction either, so there must be something to that. Fortunately, the wind changed to south, then to a more westerly direction as the day went along.

We started off with a quick onboard orientation, introductions of leaders, and safety talk. Today we were onboard the substitute, roomy, 85 ft. Pacific Queen, owned and captained by Drew Card. Birding Leaders were Tom Blackman, Jon Feenstra, Peter Ginsburg, Guy McCaskie, Gary Nunn, Dave Povey, Bruce Rideout, and Matt Sadowski.

We headed out of the commercial basin into the main channel of San Diego Bay, collecting an assortment of birds as we went. Two Red-crowned Parrots seemed a bit unusual over water, but a couple of pairs nest in nearby palm trees. Although all parrots here are introduced species, Red-crowned parrots are established and “countable” for you listers.

We skipped the Bait Barges (docks), as they have been moved “up ” the bay while the navy is doing demolition and reconstruction of some piers inside Ballast Point. That puts the bait docks off our track on our way out to sea. I had debated (no pun intended) a side trip there, as an immature Brown Booby had been seen there last weekend (the bait dock is easily viewed from the east end of Harbor Island). However, no new reports had come in after the 13th, despite multiple checks there.

Just as we approached open water in the middle of the channel, two Black Skimmers gave us a nice flyby. The chummed gull flock gave us looks at several sub-adult Heermann’s Gulls and one white-headed adult with faint white wrist patches. That white wrist patch, though unusual, is seen occasionally, and when present on a young all dark bird, has caused more than one of us to call out jaeger. Most Heermann’s gulls are on their breeding islands in the Sea of Cortez at this time of year.

We found an impressive (by San Diego standards) northbound movement of Sooty Shearwaters just offshore, starting inside the # 3 (Bell) Buoy and continuing out for another couple of miles. It’s always hard to estimate numbers, but maybe 5-10 per minute, with a burst here and there of 20 or so. We did see a very few scattered Sooties all day, but it wasn’t until returning to this area in the late afternoon that we found those kind of numbers again.

We also picked up a few quick looks at Black-vented Shearwaters, with the one in the afternoon having the better lighting. This is another Mexican species now breeding on islands mid-way down the Pacific side of Baja California.

A Scripps’s Murrelet on the water came as a semi-cooperative solo bird and allowed us a fairly close approach, though viewing conditions were tough with the light wind chop. Most all got a reasonable looks. This species is a recent split of the Xantus’s complex, and a local Southern California specialty. Most field guides show Xantus’s Murrelets as a complex of hypoleucus, the southern race, and scrippsi, the northern race. Now hypoleucus is Guadalupe Murrelet and scrippsi is Scripps’s Murrelet. The combined Xantus’s complex population is thought to be rather small, perhaps 7,000 to 10,000 birds. I have not seen any estimates of how that breaks down with the Guadalupe/Scripps’s split, but is certainly a small population for each.

The Nine Mile Bank was exceedingly slow, as was the first portion of the 12 mile-wide San Diego Trough. I had several people ask if that was normal. I tried to make things sound “not terrible”, but the best I could say was it was pretty slow.

Mid San Diego Trough we did get a bit of a surprise with a 2nd year Laughing Gull that came into the chummed gull flock. Though Laughing Gull is not a very sexy bird for most East and Gulf coast birders, it’s actually fairly rare here, despite being commonly seen at the Salton Sea just a short distance to our east. Laughing Gulls on the ocean are even rarer. I have two in my notes, both off La Jolla: one Mar. 10, 1980, and one June 1, 1993 – both much closer to shore. This bird was 16-17 miles out – certainly making it the bird of the day, albeit not a very glamorous one.

Our first South Polar Skua arrived a short time later, slowly coming in from a distance, so everyone got to the left side of the boat for a nice view, at which time the Skua made a turn to cross over to the right side. Who says birds don’t have a sense of humor. Lots of moving legs as everyone switched sides of the boat.

May seems to be a very good month for South Polar Skua here, with most of the north bound birds concentrated between mid May and early June. Fall south-bound Skuas seem spread over a longer time frame (Aug – Oct) and are less reliably seen.

As we approached the Thirty Mile Bank we stumbled on a small group of Storm-Petrels on the water. By the numbers of stormies milling around, it would seem a larger group was attempting to form. These were Black Storm-Petrels, but there was one smaller, browner, bird with a shallow wing beat, longer-tailed look, and a lighter brown rump. This was an Ashy Storm-Petrel. There was also a report from the bow of a dark or intermediate-rumped Leach’s Storm-Petrel (also called Chapman’s Storm-Petrel). We could not confirm that bird, and are still hoping the photographers onboard might have some photos.

Once we left the storm-petrels and turned south we again endured a long dry spell, where even the gull flock left us. Lots of heads tipped back in the warm partial sun, catching a siesta. The only new bird was a fleeting view of a Northern Fulmar, and we got better looks at a few Red-necked and Red Phalaropes.

At the south end of the Thirty Mile Bank, the wheelhouse had a call from the stern saying a distant Black-footed Albatross was behind us, but could no longer be seen. We made the decision to go back, but we needn’t have worried, as the bird was indeed following our scent trail and as soon as we got turned around it came shooting by, made a circle or two, then landed. Each time we moved up on the bird it would take off and spin around us again.

Needless to say this action got all hands up and moving. Siestas over. This bird gave us a fair number of passes as we moved east. About that time a report came in of a distant high arching bird off the port side of the boat, and with all glasses working, a few things were picked out, but no high arching bird was seen. We did see a very distant interesting white bird with a stiff wing beat that seemed to disappear. So the chase was on again. This one took a little longer to reach – maybe as much as two miles were covered – but sure enough, there was a white bird on the water. We held our collective breaths as we closed the distance. Clearly we had something, then not just something but a good something. Then a for-sure tropicbird, then a Red-billed Tropicbird. Again the wait seemed long as we approached with the sun at our backs, trying to get close without pushing the bird off the water. We got all hands on the right side and slowed to a stop at maybe 50 yards, with a wind drift pushing us towards the bird. Lots of photos. Everyone up and many smiles. This was the SEXY bird for the trip! Despite our attention being elsewhere, we did notice that we’d picked up a new Black-footed Albatross. Now everyone’s blood was up – we were ready to chase every sighting no matter how distant or tenuous. We were no longer napping, but fully alive. By the way, we never did figure out what the high arching bird was!

Near the Nine Mile Bank we had a little more life, with both a South Polar Skua and a Pomarine Jaeger called out. I assumed someone had made the common mistake of confusing a dark jaeger for a Skua, but I was wrong – we had both. Then a second Pomarine, and eventually a third. It took us all day to get a Jaeger, but these guys made up for it by showing off nicely. The Skua had no interest in us and continued north.

On the Nine Mile Bank we got the report of a distant Sabine’s Gull – the only one of the day for this otherwise expected species. We even got a few Black Storm-Petrels to come in to the boat wake here.

The Sooty Shearwater movement was still strong along the coast, and had even increased slightly. We’d been at sea for 10 hours plus and I’m sure that if what we saw on the relatively short passages through that zone was an all day occurrence, many thousands of Sooties had been moving up the coast!

Our slow start and long spells with few birds turned into a fairly impressive list for the day. Below I’ve attempted to list all the birds seen on this trip. Birds with an * were seen only in San Diego Bay; ** designates birds seen both offshore and in San Diego Bay. Underlined birds are of interest.

List:
Brant
Duck sp.
Pacific Loon
Western Grebe *
Black-footed Albatross
Northern Fulmar
Pink-footed Shearwater
Sooty Shearwater
Black-vented Shearwater
Ashy Storm-Petrel
Black-Storm-Petrel
Red-billed Tropicbird
Brandt’s Cormorant **
Double-crested Cormorant **
Brown Pelican **
Great Blue Heron *
Snowy Egret *
Black-crowned Night Heron *
Osprey *
Black Skimmer *
Red-necked Phalarope
Red Phalarope
South Polar Skua
Pomarine Jaeger
Scripps’s Murrelet
Cassin’s Auklet
Sabine’s Gull
Laughing Gull
Heermann’s Gull **
Western Gull **
Least Tern **
Forster’s Tern *
Elegant Tern **
Rock Pigeon *
Red-crowned Parrot *
Barn Swallow *
European Starling *

Dave Povey
BVAS/Grande
www.socalbirding.com

9 November 2013

This is the Buena Vista Audubon and Grande Sportfishing Pelagic Trip report for Saturday Nov. 9, 2013.

This trip was planned as an easy, inexpensive, short day of pelagic birding locally. Our hope was that beginning, or infrequent sea birders would find this trip attractive. We of course hoped we’d find a few interesting birds, and catch some nice weather. I think we hit the bonafide “right” day. We’d seen dense fog overnight, but it broke nicely after dawn, and wind conditions were near zero.

We left the dock at 8 a.m. and due to the short nature of this trip , made a beeline offshore, with a very brief look at Zuniga Jetty. We found a small number of Black Turnstones, and a lone Surfbird., among the many pelicans,cormorants, and gulls there. The bay and channel held a few Surf Scoters, a couple of Common Loons, Eared and Western Grebes, all newly arrived and still in small numbers. A couple of Royal Terns, a Forster’s Tern, a local Osprey, a distant Peregrine Falcon, and tons of Heermann’s Gulls escorted us south.

Offshore the life picked up immediately, and stay with us most of the trip. One complaint I hear about pelagic birding are the long dry spells of searching. We had hoped to avoid that today, and with a little planning, good wheel house direction and a good dose of luck, we had action most of the trip.

The near shore areas held the usual Black-vented Shearwaters, Brandt’s Cormorants, Brown Pelicans, and Heermann’s, California, and Western Gulls, but within a short distance we also started to add Cassin’s Auklets, Bonaparte’s Gulls, a few Red-necked Phalaropes, all zooplankton feeders. The Bonaparte’s Gulls likely the most abundant species for the day with 500 or so, followed closely by Cassin’s Auklets estimated at 300 plus. Red-necked Phalaropes numbers were well down from recent trips as expected this late in fall. The small number of Red Phalaropes ( 2 ) was low for the time of year.

The Nine Mile Bank had a few Northern Fulmars though many less than recent trips further offshore. Near the outer edge of the Nine Mile Bank we had a flyby Common Murre. The last few years this species has been plentiful locally. Common Murres were nearly absent in the warm-water years. The” NINE” also produced a few jaegers, including one Pomarine on the water that let us drive up before it took off, a nearly black Pomarine doing it’s best to look skua-like, and a flyby Parasitic Jaeger.

Pink-footed Shearwater were in good numbers and seen at all but the most inshore areas. We often had a half dozen following or around the boat much of the time on the Nine Mile Bank. The surprise of the day was a Flesh-footed Shearwater along with the Pink-foots, in the same general area as that species was seen on the Oct. 5th. and 13th. trips. Always a good bird in Southern California, and better yet in San Diego waters. This makes one wonder if this is a single bird that hung out locally , or if there were multiple birds involved here? Niether seems likely, but Oct.-Nov. is a good month historically for the species in So. Cal. so…who knows? I did heard a number of folks mention this Flesh-footed Shearwater as their Life, ABA, State, or County BIRD! Success for one trip goal!

Our next surprise was a Brown Booby, an immature, that snuck in while we were congratulating ourselves over the Flesh-foot. The Booby colony just south of the border on Islas Los Coronados, sends us a bird from time to time. Somewhat regular off San Diego now, we still can’t count on them ever trip. Brown Booby seem to follow the Common Dolphin pods, but the majority stay close to home below the border.

Moving back to the east we encountered the same area of Bonaparte’s Gulls, Cassin’s Auklets, and Red-n. Phalaropes. We saw a few flyby Common and Pacific Loons. We now also had a good stream of north bound Black-vented Shearwaters which included a white bodied, mostly dark winged bird. These “pied” or partially leucistic Black-vents are actually somewhat common and often can be I’d. to individuals. I know I’ve seen this bird before. Still any bright white shearwater gives one pause!

The extra added threat for the day, as we return home, was the sailing of the Star of India. She still sails every year. Making her one of the oldest functioning sailing vessels in the world. This year is her 150th anniversary of her Nov. 14, 1863 launch at the Isle of Man. She didn’t have much of a breeze to work with, but still looked great. She was accompanied by two other San Diego Maritime Museum ships The California, and The America both working replicas of 1800’s sailing ships. The hazy air and muted background gave the scene a bit of a dreamy look. If you could block out the modern yachts it was a scene fromanother time. Nice punctuation to the day.

I think we hit all our goals for this trip! Short, nice weather, good birds.
Really nice finish to what turn out to be a very nice year of pelagic birding off San Diego.

Our sincere thanks to Buena Vista Audubon for their sponsorship and support. Thanks also James McDaniels owner and operator of Grande Sportfishing for providing his boat at a very reasonable price, and his willingness to adapt to our constant suggestions,demands and directions. Thank you to James’s crew Charlie, Oscar, and others. Thanks to our volunteer leaders for their hours of searching and explaining what we were seeing. Peter Ginsburg, Bruce Rideout, B J Stacey, Gary Nunn, Tom Blackman, Guy McCaskie, Matt Sadowski, and a special thanks to Paul Lehman who took charge of leader organization, gave birders directions and orientation both shore side and aboard, spent hours in the cramped wheelhouse, searching for, finding and directing us to seabirds, mammals, and other points of interest. This is never an easy task. All the while he give interesting context ,and insight about those things we would see.

Last our thanks to you. We wouldn’t be able to do any trips without you. We sincerely hope you had the some great experiences. We always hope to have you see the bird, or birds you wanted. That’s not always in our control, but we feel satisfied if we’ve pulled back the curtain to this amazing world just off our shores. We hope you will join us for trips now in planning for 2014!

Some of the Birds seen 2013:

Black-footed Albatross May 4 (1), Oct. 13 (1)
Northern Fulmar Apr. 13 (6), Oct. 5 (12), Oct. 13 (50), Nov. 9 (10)
Great Shearwater Oct. 13 (1)
Buller’s Shearwater June 16 (1)
Flesh-footed Shearwater Oct. 5, Oct. 13, Nov. 9
Pink-footed Shearwater Apr 13 (4), May 4 (13), Jun. 16 (60), Oct. 5 (120), Oct. 13 (500), Nov. 9 (140).
Sooty Shearwater Apr. 13 (20), May 4 (26), Jun. 16 (550), Oct. 5 (1), Oct 13 (26), Nov. 9 (4).
Black-vented Shearwater Apr. 13 (3), May 4 (1), Jun. 16 (1), Oct. 5 (720), Oct. 13 (260), Nov. (150).
Black Storm-Petrel Apr. 13 (4), May 4 (150), Jun. 16 (70), Oct. 5 (4000), Oct. 13 (130).
Ashy Storm-Petrel Jun. 16 (4), Oct. 5 (2).
Leach’s Storm-Petrel Oct. 5 (1).
Least Storm-Petrel Oct. 5 (3500), Oct. 13 (5500).
Red-billed Tropicbird Oct. 5 (1), Oct. 13 (1).
Brown Booby Apr 13 (2), Jun. 16 (1), Oct.5 (3), Nov. 9 (1)
Red-necked Phalarope Apr. 13 (6), May 4 (250), Oct. 5 (650), Oct. 13 (180), Nov.9 (20).
Red Phalarope May 4 (3), Oct. 5 (1), Oct. 13 (1), Nov. 9 (2).
Sabine’s Gull May 4 (4), Oct. 16 (1).
Bonaparte’s Gull May 4 (1), Oct. 13 (1), Nov. 9 (500).
Black Tern Oct. 5 (1).
Common Tern May 4 (1), Jun. 16 (2), Oct. 5 (190), Oct. 13 (15).
Least Tern May 4 (120), Jun. 16 (8).
Elegant Tern Apr. 13 (40), May 4 (18), Jun. 16 (10), Oct. 5 (4), Oct. 13 (11).
South Polar Skua Oct. 5 (1), Oct. 13 (2).
Pomarine Jaeger May 4 (2), Jun. 16 (1), Oct. 5 (70), Oct. 13 (62), Nov. 9 (4).
Parasitic Jaeger Apr. 13 (1), Oct. 5 (4), Oct. 13 (5), Nov. 9 (1).
Common Murre Apr. 13 (1), Jun. 16 (1), Nov. 9 (1).
Scripps’s Murrelet Apr. 13 (45), May 4 (6), Jun. 16 (3).
Craveri’s Murrelet Oct. 5 (2).
Cassin’s Auklets Apr. 13 (42), May 4 (40), Jun. 16 (20), Oct. 5 (9), Oct. 13 (115), Nov. 9 (300).
Rhinoceros Auklet Apr. 13 (2), May 4 (1).

Marine Mammals seen:
California Sea Lion
Harbor Seal
Elephant Seal
Risso’s Dolphin
Common Dolphin
Bottle-nosed Dolphin
Gray Whale
Humpbacked Whale
Minke Whale
Fin Whale
Blue Whale

Dave Povey

Trip report for Oct. 13, 2013. with record of a new Southern California species!

As is sometimes the case with pelagic trips, things change! This morning 50 passengers and 7 leaders boarded the very nice Sea Adventure 80. She is owned and captained by Scott McDaniels, father of James McDaniels, our normal skipper, and owner of the Grande. Scott and the Sea Adventure 80 do a great job on whale watching trips in the winter months. I recommend them highly.

Today’s weather was also different in that we experienced overcast skies during the morning and a southwest breeze, affectionately known locally as a Catalina Eddy. Last weekend we’d had a Santa Ana condition with clear skies and a east wind. Each condition has its benefits and detractions. Fortunately both conditions were mild, and the ocean was most pleasant. Offshore we also found the bird life to have changed slightly. Although Black-vented Shearwater, Red-necked Phalarope, and Cassin’s Auklets were abundant near shore as was the case last weekend, there were no big feeding concentrations this morning, to gather interesting species.

Proceeding west to the middle of the Nine Mile Bank, we added Northern Fulmar and Sooty Shearwater, numbers of Parasitic and Pomarine Jaegers. Fulmar, and Sooty numbers were both up, Pom numbers were down today. Pink-footed Shearwater became the dominant shearwater by the outer edge of the “Nine”. The early-morning numbers not impressive. We drove northwest along the bank for a decent look at a South Polar Skua. We got looks at a second S.P.Skua near the 30 Mile Bank. These southern hemisphere birds are rare but somewhat regular spring and fall migrants. For whatever reason they’ve been tough to get this year. Crossing the San Diego Trough was, as billed, dull. We didn’t even have the benefit of the usual Common Dolphin pods to break up the monotony. The water over this featureless deep plain can sometimes pleasantly surprise us. Not today. Approaching the 30 Mile Bank, we expected to start seeing a little more life. That really did happen, and that had the leaders worried. A Red-billed Tropicbird saved us momentarily, with a nice show ahead of the boat. Then as it tried to escape the attentions of a jaeger, it flew right over the length of the boat. Red-b. Tropicbird is usually highly pelagic and is rare but regular well offshore late summer and fall here. The 30 Mile Bank and San Diego Trough are usually the northeastern edge of their expected range. We’ve had a very good summer for them locally, only missing them on one trip offshore since Aug. 1st. We also found a first of season Bonaparte’s Gull here on the 30 Mile. This unfortunate bird also being chased by a jaeger.

The storm-petrels rafts eluded us today, but a decent consolation was a moderate-sized feeding group of Black and Least Storm-Petrels around a piece of fat or bubbler. We got some nice comparison looks at those quite different species. Least Storm-Petrel is another San Diego specialty. A central Baja breeder it was once considered an irregular visitor here. The discovery of these massive storm-petrel rafts (daytime roost) centered between San Clemente Is. and the San Diego coast may prove them more regular here than we once expected. This year for instance, no Least, and very few Blacks Storm-Petrels were seen far from this area. Had we only birded the Nine Mile Bank, the southern portion of the 30 Mile Bank, or La Jolla this year, we would have deemed Least Storm-Petrel absent.

The trip down the 30 Mile Bank and out into the S.D. Trough was quiet with no hint of a murrelet of any type. A disappointment, but not completely unexpected. Half way across the San Diego Trough we got a mid afternoon wakeup call with a flyby Black-footed Albatross. Certainly not a rare bird well offshore, but never a regular in these waters, and much less so in fall than in spring.

Our return to the Nine Mile Bank was greeted by a mass of feeding Common Dolphin, and swirl of Pink-footed Shearwaters. We moved around the melee to find several N. Fulmar, Sooty, and Black-vented Shearwaters, and then a Flesh-footed Shearwater. As with last week’s Flesh-foot, some chase was required and sorting through other dark-bellied species, but we got this rare visitor from the New Zealand area in everyone’s view.

Interestingly this was in the exact same area as last week’s Flesh-foot. Same bird? I think that’s a good possibility, lots of food here, and many Common Dolphin to push the food up to the surface. Why leave!

To this point in the trip we’d done pretty well. We’d gotten the hoped-for San Diego specialties Least Storm-Petrels, Red-billed Tropicbird. We had nice looks at a rare for us Flesh-footed Shearwater. Black-footed Albatross, and South Polar Skua were certainly nice birds for our list. Those and a good mix of expected species. We were all feeling pretty good. Sure we’d had a few misses, almost every trip does.

Then in the category of saving the best for last, as we moved away from the feeding mass I along with all the passengers heard from the P.A. “WHAT THE…….WHAT…..IS…THAT.. A ….A…… GREAT SHEARWATER !!!!”

This bird was sitting on the water with a couple of Pink-foots, got up and came right over to the boat and landed. Took off again circled and landed in the gull flock 25 ft. from the stern! Tons of photos! Lots of ooohs and aaahhs!

Now I know you east coasters will be unimpressed, and there were a few on the boat. Imagine a Pink-footed Shearwater being seen off Hatteras.. now you’re getting closer. Although Great Shearwater is VERY rare, seen a few times off the West Coast. This is we believe to be the first Great Shearwater seen off Southern California, and certainly the first off San Diego.

What a moment of pure joy! One of those fun moments that comes with birding, made extra special with the great unknowns of the oceans.

The rest of our trip back to the harbor was uneventful in comparison. Though we passed through group after group of Black-vented Shearwaters, Red-necked Phalaropes, and even had a few of well seen Cassin’s Auklets.

I think many cell phones were working overtime in San Diego Bay. I saw one i-phone being used to take a picture of a SLR viewing screen. I hope I don’t cause anyone problems by telling the story of a onboard birder calling his wife to report seeing a Great Shearwater. I gather the response was.. “That’s nice honey…what kind was it?” visions of Abbott & and Costello’s “Who’s on first” there.

So forgive my ………What kind of trip was it? …A GREAT trip!

Dave Povey

Trip Totals

Common Loon: 3
Eared Grebe: 3
BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS: 1 (15 miles off Pt Loma; very,very rare in fall)
Northern Fulmar: 50 (large numbers; continue to increase)
Pink-footed Shearwater: 500 (especially common on outer edge of 9-Mile)
FLESH-FOOTED SHEARWATER: 1 (excellent views; likely same individual as seen on 5 Oct at the same spot on the northwest 9-Mile)
GREAT SHEARWATER: 1 (12.3 nm W of Point Loma on NW 9-Mile Bank, with lots of Pink-foots; sitting next to boat; first record for San Diego County and all of Southern Calif.)
Sooty Shearwater: 26 (a lot more than last week)
Black-vented Shearwater: 260
Black Storm-Petrel: 130 (mostly in L.A. Co. waters)
LEAST STORM-PETREL: 30 (all but 2 in L.A. Co. waters)
RED-BILLED TROPICBIRD: 1 (good views in L.A. Co. waters)
Brown Pelican: 1
Red-necked Phalarope: 180
Red Phalarope: 1
Bonaparte’s Gull: 1
Herring Gull: 4
SOUTH POLAR SKUA: 2 (good views; both SD Co. waters)
Pomarine Jaeger: 62
Parasitic Jaeger: 4
jaeger sp.: 5
Elegant Tern: 11
Common Tern: 15
Cassin’s Auklet: 115 (lots flying south only a few miles offshore)

The Trip Report for the BVAS/Grande Pelagic Oct. 5, 2013

Leaders: Paul Lehman, Guy McCaskie, Gary Nunn, Peter Ginsburg, Matt Sadowski, and Dave Povey.

The Grande left the dock about 6:30 a.m. with a full complement of eager birders. We did the usual drive by of the bait docks for the abundant pelicans, cormorants, herons, egrets, and sea lions, found there.

We also did a quick check of Ballast Point, then cut across the channel to Zuniga Jetty. Though the lighting was poor looking directly into a bright clear Santa Ana wind sunrise, we could make out the silhouettes of several Surfbirds. Four oystercatchers flew past us headed back up the channel, which caused us a quick turn about to follow. Three birds were Black Oystercatchers, but one was white-bellied.

Black Oystercatchers are always a good bird for San Diego as this is near the southern limit of their range. An American Oystercatcher is very rare here. Often these white-bellied oystercatchers are hybrids. After careful study our experts determined that this was the case with this bird. (see Paul Lehman’s post to SDBirds “mixed oystercatchers” Oct. 6, 2013).

Offshore we had action right away, with a feeding flock just over the kelp bed. Common Dolphin had pushed up a good amount of bait fish and the pelicans, cormorants, gulls, and good numbers of Black-vented Shearwaters had joined the feast.

The first shout of the day came when a Brown Booby was spotted over the melee. The next was a Peregrine Falcon attacking Black-vented Shearwaters. The Black-vent’s defense was to dive into the water, so on at least two attempt the Peregrine came away empty. To make the Peregrine’s life more difficult the gulls started to mob it as their defense.

Next up was a second Brown Booby this one a bit closer to the boat and differentiated by the dark marking on the breast as a younger bird than the last. A short distance later we had a third Brown Booby this bird with a wholly dark breasted and the closest of the three to the boat.

Brown Booby once a unusual sighting here, has now become somewhat regular. The breeding colony on the nearby Islas Los Coronados continues to grow, and may now number 80-90 birds.

We proceed west to the Nine Mile Bank, with Black-vented Shearwaters and Red-necked Phalaropes the dominate species.

Near the Bank we did pick up a jaeger, or two. Jaegers were a prominent for the rest of the trip. There was rarely a time that there was not a jaeger in sight, and often multiple birds. Most of these jaegers were rather scraggly looking molting Pomarine Jaegers. Some exceptions were a few nice adults Poms with full tail spoons, and a small number of Parasitic Jaegers with nice tail points.

The outer edge of The Nine Mile Bank had a few Pink-footed Shearwaters, and Northern Fulmars. The latter somewhat early and in better numbers than would be expected for early October. Compared to the earlier birding this area was somewhat quiet.

We drove to the north end of the Coronado Escarpment that forms the outer edge of The Nine Mile bank and extends north for another 10-12 n.m. This area and to the west over The San Diego Trough is where the Craveri’s Murrelets have been seen in the last few weeks. We hoped for the slick smooth sea state to make the search for small alcids easier. What we got was very manageable, but the low numbers of birds, the wide area to search, and their total skittishness at the sight of a boat, make these guys a challenge. We did get on a pair in flight at a distance. Best said we got very poor looks.

Craveri’s Murrelets is one of the Mexican species that disperses northward some years and is absent in others. The trend in recent years has been negative. Interestingly we did get fair looks at Cassin’s Auklets, another species that can be difficult to see well.

The San Diego Trough turned up a number of feeding flocks of Common Terns, a rare Back Tern, more jaegers, a few Pink-footed Shearwaters, and a Swordfish.

The escarpment for the 30 Mile Bank had a few storm-petrels, mostly Black Storm-Petrels, with at least one Ashy Strom-Petrel. Further south and slightly west the storm-petrel numbers increased. a Least storm-Petrel or two was seen. Then a distance raft was picked out, then another, then a third. We’d found the “Mother Ship” About 7500 stormies. 4000 Blacks and 3500 Least. No white-rumped species (Wlison’s, Wedge-rumped, or Leach’s) was found but a dark-rumped Leach’s Storm-Petrel (chapmani) was seen. Leach’s are common to abundant further offshore and seem to rarely associate with these rafts. We did have a additional Ashy seen here and others may have been overlooked.

These masses of storm-petrels always amaze all hands. The boat was nearly silent with binoculars point in every direction, as storm-petrel swirled around us.

We moved down the bank into the glare for a not terribly satisfying look at a distant South Polar Skua. We made up for it with a great look at a long tailed adult Red- billed Tropicbird sitting on the water. This bird was kind enough to wait until everyone had their photo before taking off parallel to the boat for nice side on flight photos. Don’t we all wished it work like that ever time!

Our return to the outside edge of the Nine Mile Bank was met with a very large Common Dolphin pod in full feeding mode.

We could see a swirl of Pink-foots, and one dark bellied bird. The skipper Charlie with direction from Paul, and a lot of maneuvering got another shout out , a Flesh-footed Shearwater . Unfortunately few got a look as it blew by the boat so it was off to the races to chase the bird down. One thing you have to understand about Grande. She is big, she is roomy, she is stable…..she is S-L-O-W! We did actully catch up…yes!!…and re-found the bird and with more zigs and zags. Actually got the bird on the water for more photos. Our trip score improved immensely, as we’d had a two-person sighting and photo of a Flesh-footed earlier in the trip that the rest of us whiffed on.

The last big feeding congregation was again over Common Dolphin, on the inner edge of the Nine. This time most Black-vented Shearwaters, with a lone Sooty Shearwater. The only one seen today!

Overall a nice mix of birds, though we missed some things, and didn’t get the looks at others we’d have liked. We did great looks at Flesh-footed Shearwater, Least Storm-Petrels, Brown Boobies, the storm-petrel rafts and a very cooperative Red-billed Tropicbird. We had unexpectedly good number on N. FulmarS, Pomarine Jaegers, Black-vented Shearwaters, Red-necked Phalaropes, and others.

There were a few oddities as the American Coot, Great Egret, N. Pintail, Cinnamon Teal, and Peregrine Falcon, not normal expected at sea.

Marine mammals were slim with the exception of Common Dolphin. We had a small number of Bottle-nosed Dolphin at the jetty. California Sea Lion (bait docks, channel buoys, and offshore), Harbor Sea, and Elephant Seal (offshore).

Weather was near perfect, visibility good and sea state very manageable. Temps for us were warm, almost hot midday.

Dave Povey

Report for the 12-hour trip on Grande June 16, 2013

Trip Leaders: Paul Lehman, Guy McCaskie, Gary Nunn, Matt Sadowski, Peter Ginsburg, Tom Blackman, Bruce Rideout, BJ Stacey, and Dave Povey

Forty-seven passengers sailed on Grande from Point Loma Sportfishing Landing, in near-shirtsleeve weather. Hardcore sea birders might have wished for more wind and overcast conditions, but for fair-weather beginning sea birders and birders from the heartland, this was as close to perfect weather as we see in early summer.

A Bottle-nosed Dolphin greeted us as we exited the Commercial Basin into the main bay. We did a quick check of the bait receivers for usual close looks at pelicans, cormorants, gulls, long-legged waders, and sea lions. Heermann’s Gulls have started filtering back into San Diego over the last week from their breeding grounds in Baja. We found a range of age classes on the bait docks, including a brown juvenile and a couple of white-headed adults. We did a drive-by of both Ballast Point and Zuniga Jetty and, as has been the case all winter and spring, found no oystercatchers. In addition, the rocky shorebirds such as Surfbirds and Black Turnstones that are often regularly seen at these spots had all departed. Outside the bay entrance we saw another small group of Bottle-nosed Dolphin (4-6). We continued southwest to near the Mexican Border where we found a pod of Common Dolphin (25+), with a fair number of Sooty Shearwaters. We followed them for a short distance but they were leading us into Mexican waters so reluctantly we turned west, toward the Nine Mile Bank. The outer edge of the bank seemed to have a little more life, with an increase in Sooties and the first showing of Pink-footed Shearwaters. The surprise for the day was the unexpected showing of a Buller’s Shearwater. This species is never regular near San Diego. Buller’s Shearwater can be abundant north of Point Conception, where it is considered a regular fall visitor. The bird seen at 14 n. miles from the tip of Point Loma was clearly the best bird of the day, giving many passengers a tick off their Life, State, County, and/or Year lists.

We also flushed a pair of Scripps’s Murrelets (formerly Xantus’s Murrelet), confirmed after a study of photos. Scripps’s Murrelets are a local breeder, on the nearby Coronado Islands, and are nearing the end of their breeding season. Most Scripps’s have moved off to the north and west by mid-June. A single Scripps’s Murrelet was also seen today, which might indicate a bird feeding at sea during the daytime and attending a nest mate on the islands at night. We have seen very few downy chicks, with adults, at sea into early July. Photo confirmation of the Scripps’s was necessary because we were closing in on the arrival off Southern California of the “southern Xantus’s,” now Guadalupe Murrelets, usually seen well offshore from mid-July into early October.

Further west we got our next “surprise,” the now almost-expected Brown Booby, this bird being an immature nearing adult plumage. I guessed it was a female, as the males of the Brewster’s race of Brown Booby start to show the classic frosted head even at this age. This Brown Booby was seen at 19 n. miles in the same general area where we had this species on scouting trips May 12th (1-2 adult females, 1 juv.), and June 1st. (1 juv.).

The San Diego Trough gave us our only look at a distant Pomarine Jaeger. Jaeger sightings have been sparse locally this spring, with about one every other trip. The Nine Mile Bank, San Diego Trough, and 30 Mile Bank, all had a few Cassin’s Auklets, mostly seen by the few birders who hung out on the bow. Small nondescript alcids, the Cassin’s were difficult to get on as they usually flushed well ahead of the boat, frustrating our attempts to get good views. Today’s count of 20 was low. The scouting trip on June 1st had 100; itself not particularly high number.

A distant flyby Common Murre was likely a remnant of a 2012-13 winter incursion off San Diego. The species is notable since it is not seen every year and even absent for multiple years at time. Common Murres do seem to straggle into spring and early summer after those incursions. We did see a few Black-Storm Petrels in the distance as we crossed the San Diego Trough, but most were found on the 30 Mile Bank. Ashy- Storm Petrels. We got a flyby one-year-old Common Tern – definitely not a common species here. Eight Least Terns were seen today. They are seen regularly offshore and often seen on the Nine Mile Bank but two on the 30 Mile Bank today were likely at their western limit locally.

The oooh-aahhh award went to a Blue Whale, which approached the boat on its own, surfaced on the port bow, then slowly cruised under the bow to spout again on the starboard. Satisfied with its look at us, it moved off at a relaxed pace and went back to its business. We got a wonderful full-length look in the clear (at least for S. Calif.) water. What an amazing animal!

We traveled back down the 30 Mile Bank, and back across the deep water of the San Diego Trough, to do a box search pattern around the Nine Mile Bank. This turned into the kind of afternoon that can make trip leaders go a little crazy – warm air, bright sunshine, nice seas, and very few birds. Easy to yield to the body’s call for a nap and many passengers did just that, but Paul Lehman stayed at the job. Near the border inside the Nine Mile Bank he found a number of spots of resting Sooty Shearwaters, making them the most abundant seabird for the day (550+). Sharp eyes on the bow picked up a Black-vented Shearwater among the sooties, and with a little maneuvering by Capt. James and Paul’s direction, we got almost everyone who was interested on the bird. Of course there was a little mumbling among some of the local birders, “What’s the big deal?” Locals know this species as the common and sometimes abundant shearwater seen inshore late summer, fall, and winter. They forget that this is a local specialty seen in few other places, and May and June are marginal months since most Black-vents are on, or near, their breeding islands down the west coast of Baja at this time of year.

Unfortunately, a Pacific Loon on the water – one of two seen on the day – was given short shrift while the leaders attempted to get everyone on the Black-vented Shearwater. The other was seen well ahead of the boat in the morning. We checked Ballast Point on the way in and got late Surf Scoters (2) along North Island as well a flyby Peregrine Falcon.

Full Species List

San Diego Bay

Surf Scoter
Western Grebe
Brown Pelican
Double-crested Cormorant
Brandt’s Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Black-crowned Night Heron
Peregrine Falcon
Heermann’s Gull
Western Gull
Caspian Tern
Rock Pigeon
Aratringa Parakeet
Amazona Parrot
Barn Swallow
European Starling

Ocean

Pacific Loon
Sooty Shearwater
Pink-footed Shearwater
Buller’s Shearwater
Black Storm-Petrel
Ashy Storm-Petrel
Brown Booby
Brown Pelican
Double-crested Cormorant
Heermann’s Gull
Western Gull
Elegant Tern
Royal Tern
Caspian Tern
Least Tern
Common Tern
Pomarine Jaeger
Common Murre
Scripps’s Murrelet
Cassin’s Auklet

Marine Mammals
Common Dolphin
Bottle-nosed Dolphin
Blue Whale
N. Elephant Seal
California Sea Lion

Fish
Shark sp.
Mola mola

Report for the 12-hour trip on Grande May 4, 2013

Trip Leaders: Todd McGrath, Gary Nunn, Tom Blackman, BJ Stacey, Peter Ginsburg, Dave Povey

Hello Seabird Enthusiast,

Fifty-five birders set off at 6 a.m. on the Grande for a 12-hour pelagic adventure to the Nine and Thirty Mile Banks. We cruised around the bait docks for the usual suspects (pelicans, cormorants, gulls, herons and egrets) then set off to sea. We followed much the same route taken on the April 13th trip. The big difference from the April trip was a stout south wind, which caused more boat motion than expected in the outer channel of the bay. Grande is a big solid boat, so we motored on.

An indication of how the wind was affecting seabirds, Pink-footed Shearwater is usually seen beyond ten miles but one of the first shearwaters of the day was a Pink-foot not far offshore. Next up was an unusually large flock of Least Terns. Least Terns frequently feed in the area off the tip of Point Loma, all the way out to the Nine Mile Bank. The estimated 100-plus birds seen five miles from “the Point” were a fair percentage of the breeding birds from around San Diego Bay. We saw several other small groups or pairs out to 18 miles. Next up, a pair of Scripps’s Murrelets chased into flight ahead of the boat. We expected to see more of this species but the sea surface was much too rough for easy sightings, and birds that did not fly were very tough to get on. Six for the day was a very poor number but not surprising considering the conditions. We turned north on the Nine Mile Bank for a little easier ride, but found things a bit sparse: Sooty and Pink-footed Shearwaters in small numbers, a few small high flights of Pacific Loon, a scattering of Red-necked Phalaropes, Cassin’s Auklets and even a couple of lagging Surf Scoters. We caught sight of a few offshore Bottle Nosed Dolphin and a few lucky folks caught a brief glimpse of a Minke Whale.

Near the north end of The Coronado Escarpment (of which the Nine Mile Bank is part), we started to see a few distant Black Storm-Petrels. One little cluster appeared to be feeding so we turned on them to see if we could get a closer look. Unfortunately, they scattered rather quickly. A late report of a smaller all-dark storm-petrel came from this location. Both Ashy and Leach’s (Chapman’s) are possible here. The strong winds made the normally distinctive characteristic flight patterns of these species moot. Everything was zipping about erratically.

We first had a distant look at an adult Pomarine Jaeger, followed by a much closer look as our chummed gull flock finally pulled it in. Should be some nice photos out there. We made a sharp left turn and headed for the Thirty Mile Bank. Often the San Diego Trough can be a very quiet zone. We found it so today. We did get some looks at Short-beaked Common Dolphin here, but many fewer than recent trips.
The Thirty Mile Bank is always an enigma. Rarely any big number of birds here (except for the storm-petrel rafts), sometimes nothing at all, then once in a while, that once-in-a-lifetime rarity. Today we had no rarities. Not many birds as expected, but our only Red Phalaropes, Sabine’s Gulls, and a Common Tern for the day. All were nice birds for the trip.

The Common Tern is misnamed for San Diego as they have been seen only in small numbers in recent years. We spent more time zigging and zagging around the bank hoping to put together enough storm-petrels to warrant a chum slick and drift. No luck there.

We finally headed east with the goal of getting a better look at Scripps’s Murrelets. We finally found a pair and as we turned around to have a look, a surprise Black-footed Albatross caught up to us. I’m sure it had followed our dripped fish oil trail from further offshore. We spent the next half hour drifting, watching the bird circle, land, take off again. The bird put on a great show for lots of photos. We’d quickly forgotten about the Murrelets. We also picked up a late immature Bonaparte’s Gull here, before we set off toward the bay. We made a little jog up the inside of the Nine Mile Bank in a last-ditch hope for views of Scripps’s Murrelets, without success.

We did have a last-minute Black-vented Shearwater that created some discussion about a possible Manx due to the lower light angle with a little sun breaking through. Leveler heads corrected the rest of us to the more likely Black-vent, most now well south at their breeding islands.

Our last stops were the Zuniga Jetty, which was buried with the high tide, and Ballast Point. The former had a number of Caspian Terns. The latter was quiet, except for an Osprey on a light-pole nest.

Cool air temperature (mid-60’s), winds from the south (12-20 knots), heavy overcast to partly cloudy, sea surface temperatures of 63.4-64.5 F.

Full Species List

San Diego Bay

Brant
Surf Scoter
Common Loon
Western Grebe
Eared Grebe
Brandt’s Cormorant
Double-cr. Cormorant
Brown Pelican
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Black-crowned Night Heron
Osprey
Whimbrel
Ruddy Turnstone
Heermann’s Gull
Western Gull
Caspian Tern
Royal Tern
Rock Pigeon
Barn Swallow
European Starling

Ocean

Brant
Surf Scoter
Pacific Loon
Black-footed Albatross
Pink-footed Shearwater
Sooty Shearwater
Black-vented Shearwater
Black Storm-Petrel
Double-crested Cormorant
Brandt’s Cormorant
Pelagic Cormorant
Short-billed Dowitcher
Red-necked Phalarope
Red Phalarope
Bonaparte’s Gull
Sabine’s Gull
California Gull
Western Gull
Common Tern
Least Tern
Caspain Tern
Royal Tern
Elegant Tern
Pomarine Jaeger
Scripps’s Murrelet
Cassin’s Auklet
Rhinoceros Auklet
Barn Swallow

Report for the six-hour Pelagic Trip on the Grande on April 13, 2013

Trip leaders: Paul Lehman, Guy McCaskie, Gary Nunn, Matt Sadowski , and others.

Hello Seabird Enthusiast,

After forty-five eager sea birders boarded the roomy Grande at Point Loma Sportfishing Landing, Paul gave a boat and sea birding orientation prior to departure, ending with a caveat that this trip was early in the migration so numbers and species might not be what we’d expect later on. He also noted that the ocean often serves up surprises at any season. To quote a good friend, we had a “Blank Canvas” with no way of knowing what might be painted on it by the end of the trip. True, how true! At 7:00 a.m., the Grande was underway with owner James McDaniels at the captain’s wheel.

Our first stop was at the bait docks for the usual California Sea Lions, pelicans, cormorants, long legged waders, and gulls. We also got a look at a lone Black Turnstone.

Heading down the channel we picked up a mix of Common Loons nicely decked out in breeding plumage; Elegant and Royal Terns; Brant; Surf Scoters; Peregrine Falcon; Osprey, and others. We also had a small pod of Inshore Bottlenose Dolphin in the channel near Shelter Island.

Once offshore we immediately noticed a big movement of loons. Clearly this was a major event. Most were Pacific Loons, with a sprinkling of Red-throated Loons. Although we saw 4000-plus loons throughout the day, the vast majority were within the first 3 miles of Point Loma, where we spent the least amount of time. Once or twice the ocean seemed to have a seemingly crawling effect from the masses of moving birds.
We picked up three Black-vented Shearwaters in their normal inshore zone, even though most have returned to their breeding islands along the central Baja coast.

The next surprise was a pair Scripps’s Murrelets, a newly-split species from the “old” Xantus’s Murrelet. The pair itself was not the surprise; in fact, the trip was billed as the best chance for seeing them given it was peak season for their breeding on the local Coronado Islands and we saw about 45 for the day. The surprise was this pair had newly-minted downy chick tucked safely between them, at the earlier end of calendar dates for chicks at sea. We did have another trio (adults w/chick?) seen at a distance near the end of the day. Scripps’s chicks go to sea with one or both parents around 48 hours after hatching, and start swimming to the northwest away from their home island. Since the chick is unable to fly, these adult/chick combos give the best close-in looks at this species.

The ocean wasn’t done with surprises; our next was a boat-length flyover by an immature male Brown Booby. This bird aimed to please with multiple passes, once coming in so close I saw birders duck to avoid its kamikaze-like approach to the stern. Lots of photos taken as folks ran from one side of the boat to the other.

Just inside the Nine Mile Bank we spotted a number of whale spouts. I believe our total was one, two or three Fin Whales; a Minke Whale; and two Blue Whales, with the last one coming right by the bow, giving us a close-up look at this massive animal and its impressive-sounding exhale/inhale. While looking at this whale, we had the only Rhinoceros Auklets (2) of the day plus a pod of Offshore Bottlenose Dolphin. All in all, one of those great moments when everyone was excited at what to look at next, and next, and so on!

Our trip to this point had also produced a Pink-footed Shearwater, a few Sooty Shearwater, a Northern Fulmar or two, some distant low-flying Least Terns, a scattering of Scripps’s Murrelets, Cassin’s Auklets, more Bottlenose Dolphin, and a pod of Common Dolphin, as well as any number of California Sea Lions and a lone Harbor Seal. We had a constant stream of small numbers of loons, a couple of flights of Surf Scoters, one flock of 150 Brant, a high flyby of a Peregrine Falcon (8.8 nautical miles from shore), a group of dowitcher-sized shorebirds, an “Audubon’s” Yellow-rumped Warbler and at least one Rufous Hummingbird added to the mix.

Driving up the Bank, things got quiet but we picked up our first distant Black Storm-Petrels, a couple more Pink-footed Shearwaters and another Northern Fulmar that stayed with us for most of the rest of the trip.

A quick check of Zuniga Jetty turned up a nice mix of rocky shoreline birds, with a Wandering Tattler, Surfbirds, and many Black Turnstones. The base of the jetty had a large group of cormorants, pelicans, as well as Elegant, Caspian, and Royal Terns. As we pulled away, a shout caused us to turn the boat back around to look for a well-hidden immature Brown Booby among the cormorants. Although some speculated that this bird may be the same immature specimen seen early in the day, photos proved it to be a different bird.

Well, not bad…not bad at all! Hey Terry, we filled our (your) canvas up today!

Full Species List

San Diego Bay

Brant
Mallard
Wandering Tattler
Surf Scoter
Spotted Sandpiper
Bufflehead
Black Turnstone
Red-breasted Merganser
Surfbird
Common Loon
Heermann’s Gull
Eared Grebe
Ring-billed Gull
Western Grebe
Western Gull
Brown Booby
Caspian Tern
Brandt’s Cormorant
Royal Tern
Double-crested Cormorant
Elegant Tern
Brown Pelican
Rock Pigeon
Great Blue Heron
Amazona Parrot sp.
Great Egret
Belted Kingfisher
Snowy Egret
Barn Swallow
Black-crowned Night Heron
European Starling
Osprey
House Finch
Peregrine Falcon

Ocean

Brant
Surf Scoter
Red-throated Loon
dowitcher sp.
Pacific Loon
Red-necked Phalarope
Common Loon
Heermann’s Gull
Eared Grebe
California Gull
Northern Fulmar
Western Gull
Pink-footed Shearwater
Bonaparte’s Gull
Sooty Shearwater
Least Tern
Black-vented Shearwater
Royal Tern
Black Storm-Petrel
Elegant Tern
Brown Booby
Parasitic Jaeger
Brandt’s Cormorant
Common Murre
Double-crested Cormorant
Scripps’s Murrelet
Pelagic Cormorant
Cassin’s Auklet
Brown Pelican
Rhinoceros Auklet
Peregrine Falcon
Rufous Hummingbird
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon’s)