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)