Sept. 17 trip report

Photo collage by Wendy Naruo copyright by permission only

Text by Don Roberson,  Photos copyright by permission only Martijn Verdoes/www.agami.com

Aboard 'Pt Sur Clipper' with Richard Ternullo, skipper; Roger Wolfe, Martin Verdoes, Matthew Dodder, Blake Matheson, Bruce Elliott and me (D. Roberson), leaders; with Ken Peterson, Peter White, Bill Sweetman and Michigan tour, and many whose names I did not get, including a couple from Texel. Overcast a.m., sunny & bright p.m. Winds light, Beaufort 2 a.m., Beaufort 3 p.m., but with a substantial swell from northwest. Route: Monterey harbor to Pt. Pinos, then W ~10 mi, north into SCZ waters (did Soquel Canyon & 'the fingers' for storm-petrels), then south into MTY waters some 16 nmi NW of Pt. Pinos, continuing S to 14 nmi W of Pt. Pinos, turn east and return.  Lots of egg-yolk jellies still but few cetaceans: a couple of distant Humpbacks plus a bow-riding small pod of Pac White-sided Dolphin.

	Monterey Pelagic/ inshore/ Santa Cruz Pelagic
	Black-footed Albatross 12/0/7 Northern Fulmar 20/1/10 Pink-footed Shearwater 70/0/50 Buller's Shearwater 50/0/30 Sooty Shearwater 150/15/150 Ashy Storm-Petrel 4/0/2000 Black Storm-Petrel 1/0/10 Brandt's Cormorant 5/80 Pelagic Coromorant 0/8/0 Great Blue Heron 0/1/0 Great Egret 1/0/0 Peregrine Falcon 0/1/0 Red-necked Phalarope 40/30/30 Red Phalarope 8/0/0 Sabine's Gull 2/0/4 Heermann's Gull 5/100/10 Western Gull 200/150/150 California Gull 100/100/100 Arctic Tern 3/0/1 Elegant Tern 0/12/0 South Polar Skua 1/0/3 same bird as one in SCZ ~ 16.5 NW of Pt. Pinos, watched as it continued due south and was lost in distance in MTY Pomarine Jaeger 7/0/6 Parasitic Jaeger 2/0/0 jaeger sp. 1/0/0 Common Murre 100/20/50 Pigeon Guillemot 0/3/0 Cassin's Auklet 50/0/10 Rhinoceros Auklet 40/2/30
	Ashy Storm-petrel
	Monterey Seabirders

Northern Fulmar

Pomarine Jaeger kleptoparasitizing

Sabine's Gull

Red-necked Phalaropes