Wednesday, September 19, 2012

September 16, 2012 Trip Report

Laysan Albatross


eBird report by Don Roberson  Mike Merlo photos

Monterey Seavalley pelagic (MTY Co.), Monterey, US-CA
Sep 16, 2012 8:10 AM - 1:40 PM
Protocol: Traveling
45.0 mile(s)
Comments:     aboard 'Pt Sur Clipper' on Monterey Seabirds trip, with Mike Johns, skipper; Mike Merlo, deck;
 leaders Roger Wolfe, Dan Singer, Matthew Dodder, Todd Easterla, Fritz Steurer, Matthew Dodder, Blake Matheson, and this reporter (D. Roberson), Alex Rinkert, chum; with Esta Lee Albright, many others from out-of-state. Cold & foggy early, fog lifting by 9 a.m., sun by noon, but still quite cold. Seas very nice, mixed low chop, Beaufort 2 most of day, with some long swells. Route from harbor to Pt. Pinos (see separate checklist) then WNW to mid-Bay at 17 nmi from Pt. Pinos, then west to 22 nmi W of Pt. Pinos, but then N into SCZ waters (1.5 hours from 12:15-1:45, see sep checklist), and then running back with the swells to Pt. Pinos until 3:15 p.m. (and inshore after that). This checklist offshore MTY only, but placed at the Monterey Seavalley hot spot since we got 22 nmi offshore where the water temp was up to 58.5 and were in warmer offshore waters a good chunk of this trip (where birds fewer, but better, e.g., Skua). Only whale was a distant Blue in MTY, also a Blue Shark. We set out a slick at 17 nmi W of Pt. Pinos that attracted (mostly) jaegers. [Todd Easterla had a Tufted Puffin in flight at long distance, so he should add that here.]
 
 23 species

Laysan Albatross  1     banded bird came to stern on route back toward Pt. Pinos, many photos
Black-footed Albatross  15
Pink-footed Shearwater  300
Buller's Shearwater  95
Sooty Shearwater  1500
Ashy Storm-Petrel  1     missed by many
Brown Pelican  3     over a mile offshore, but dropped out by 5 mi offshore
Red-necked Phalarope  25
Sabine's Gull  1     juv
Heermann's Gull  30
Western Gull  150
California Gull  40     including some impressive juvs (phs)
Common Tern  2
Arctic Tern  3     adults at rather far distances
Elegant Tern  3
South Polar Skua  2     one photo'd extenstively
Pomarine Jaeger  12     many photo'd
Parasitic Jaeger  1     within 3 mi of the Point
Long-tailed Jaeger  1     like adult but without tail, maybe 20 nmi offshore
Common Murre  100
Scripps's Murrelet  4     1-2 nmi off the Point; poor views (mostly flying away) and missed by most; only Todd Easterla saw all 4 (so all but Todd should delete this species or reduce their number)
Cassin's Auklet  15
Rhinoceros Auklet  100
 
South Polar Skua
 
 
Inshore Mty Harbor to Pt. Pinos (MTY Co.), Monterey, US-CA
 
19 species

Common Loon  1     in flight in p.m., high overhead, heading S
Eared Grebe  1     seen by some
Sooty Shearwater  25
Brandt's Cormorant  150
Pelagic Cormorant  2
Brown Pelican  15
Great Blue Heron  1     in harbor
Great Egret  2
Snowy Egret  1
Black Turnstone  1
Surfbird  2
Red-necked Phalarope  15
Heermann's Gull  40
Western Gull  100
California Gull  30
Elegant Tern  50
Parasitic Jaeger  1
Common Murre  25
Rhinoceros Auklet  65     large numbers inshore, in 'packs' of a dozen or more 
 
What the hell was that?
 


Santa Cruz County waters:


13 species (+1 other taxa)

Black-footed Albatross  3
Pink-footed Shearwater  30
Buller's Shearwater  3
Sooty Shearwater  80
Red-necked Phalarope  5
Red Phalarope  1
Common Tern  3
Common/Arctic Tern  2     not seen well enough to be sure of species... well offshore
Elegant Tern  1     well offshore
Pomarine Jaeger  3
Long-tailed Jaeger  1     dark juv seen by many, but not by all (like this reporter)
Common Murre  10
Cassin's Auklet  2
Rhinoceros Auklet  15
 
 
 Route map for Sept. 16 counter clockwise

Monday, September 10, 2012

Sept. 9 LITTLE GULL trip report

To cut to the chase our Sept. 9 outing had to deal with some fierce northwest winds and to be honest things were looking pretty slow until all hell broke loose when a small gull flew up the wake and Matthew Dodder got everyone on it. Fortunately the bird flew around the boat a few times and everyone on the boat got a look or a photo of it. Then we all started scratching our heads and chimping over the digital cameras. All of us leaders were in different camps as to whether the bird was a Black-legged Kittiwake or aberrant Sabine's but Martijn Verdoes did think right away that it was a Little Gull. We were discussing it when the bird returned for a second look thanks to Alex Rinkert's diligent chumming. Subsequent review of some photos and perusing of references by Dan Singer and Don Roberson concluded that this was indeed a juv. LITTLE GULL. The fifth record for Monterey county and as far as I can tell the only fall record in California. ( I only have access to CBRC records that are online)

Here is a nice shot by Jim Holmes that shows the collar and partial cap:
juv. Little Gull

And here is a collage of pics by Martijn Verdoes:

juv. Little Gull

We have 8 spaces that are open for our next outing on Sunday, September 16 for anyone interested.
Go to the Monterey Seabirds website to register or call the shop at 831 375 4658. $130 pp.


Here are some more shots by Martijn from the day and Don's eBird reports:


Long-beaked Common Dolphins

Monterey Bay pelagic (MTY Co.), Monterey, US-CA
Sep 9, 2012 7:50 AM - 12:05 PM
Protocol: Traveling
25.0 mile(s)
Comments:     aboard 'Pt Sur Clipper' with Mike Johns, skipper; Mark Merlow, deck; leaders Roger Wolfe, Martjin Verdoes, Dan Singer, Matthew Dodder, Blake Matheson, Rod Norden, and me (D. Roberson); chum Alex Rinkert; with Bill Bousman, Don Glasco, Rick Bern, John Brown, Jeff Poklen, Elinor Gates, and more. A sunny but very windy, cool day. Route from Monterey harbor towards Pt. Pinos, then across Mty Bay to Soquel Cyn and into SCZ waters (for 2.5 hrs; see separate checklist) over 'the fingers', then NW into swell & wind until we turned and rode the waves back to Monterey (but in sun glare). This checklist MTY waters offshore, both outboard (2.5 hours) and inbound (2 more hours). Winds started at Beaufort 4 but up to Beaufort 6 (=20 knots or so) by afternoon. No whales but two large pods of Long-beaked Common Dolphin (1 in MTY, 1 in SCZ, each pod ~200 beasts), plus some Dall's Porpose, a N. Fur-Seal, several molas. All checklist offshore (>1 nmi) only, except for the "inshore" checklist (separate) that includes harbor area & along Cannery Row.
23 species (+1 other taxa)

Black-footed Albatross  6
Pink-footed Shearwater  150
Buller's Shearwater  1
Sooty Shearwater  500
Ashy Storm-Petrel  2
Brandt's Cormorant  3
Red-necked Phalarope  50
Red Phalarope  1
Sabine's Gull  1
Little Gull  1     juv briefly following boat ~8 nmi NW of Pt. Pinos, and then briefly returning 5 minutes later for another pass, caused much excitement and confusion. It was plumage with which most of us were completely unfamiliar, and issues of kittiwake & Sabine's Gull were raised. Fortunately good photos were obtained by several, this is my only shot.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/74649846@N08/7967331272/" title="LIGU-j9Sep12MtyBay_3379ww by Rita Carratello, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8452/7967331272_ee3466fdce.jpg" alt="LIGU-j9Sep12MtyBay_3379ww"></a>
Heermann's Gull  5
Western Gull  100
California Gull  50
Common Tern  1
Elegant Tern  3
Pomarine Jaeger  9
Parasitic Jaeger  4
jaeger sp.  1
Common Murre  100
Scripps's Murrelet  4     Seen in flight flying away
Cassin's Auklet  8
Rhinoceros Auklet  20
Tufted Puffin  1     full adult plumage, flying right at & past us, at 3.5 nmi NW of Pt. Pinos
Merlin  1     about 2 mi off Pt. Pinos, flying past us and heading toward Point

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org)
 
Black-footed Albatross

 Santa Cruz County waters
Common Loon  1
Black-footed Albatross  5
Pink-footed Shearwater  50
Sooty Shearwater  50
Ashy Storm-Petrel  1
Brandt's Cormorant  1
Osprey  1     over the boat about 7 miles offshore, the bird seemed to be flying towards the Mty Pen
Red-necked Phalarope  20
Red Phalarope  2
Heermann's Gull  3
Western Gull  75
California Gull  40
Arctic Tern  1
Common/Arctic Tern  1
Elegant Tern  1
Pomarine Jaeger  6
Common Murre  30
Cassin's Auklet  10
Rhinoceros Auklet  4

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org)
 
Pink-footed Shearwater
Monterey Harbor inshore that includes harbor area & along Cannery Row.
15 species

Pacific Loon  4     early arrivals?
Brandt's Cormorant  100
Pelagic Cormorant  1
Brown Pelican  20
Great Egret  2
Black Oystercatcher  1     looked like it could be a short-billed juv
Black Turnstone  10
Surfbird  3
Red-necked Phalarope  3
Heermann's Gull  25
Western Gull  150
California Gull  25
Elegant Tern  15
Common Murre  4
Peregrine Falcon  1     atop Aquarium tower

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org)


  

Monday, September 3, 2012

August 26 Trip Report

 By Tim Amaral trip leader  and spotter Photo copyrights by Martijn Verdoes by permission only

We had a great day out on the bay without any megas.  We had all the expected birds except black storm-petrel.  Bird of the day was fork-tailed stormies on both sides of the county line.  Marine mammals gave us a great show:  5 blue, 5 fin, 2 humpback, 1 mystery (beaked?), 6 Dall's, 200+ Pacific white-side, 1 harbor porpoise, 1 northern fur seal, 1 elephant seal.   Perfect conditions, no problems of any kind, and a very happy crowd of passengers.  Dan will be posting to eBird, so everyone can see the trip list.  Thanks for the support everyone;  you all helped make for a great day.

Fork-tailed Storm-petre
Fin Whale



And spotter Matthew Dodder:


Tim managed quite well as our leader today. Despite an out-of-our-control lull-zone, we had many close encounters with Sabine's Gulls, Pomarine Jaegers, both Phalaropes and enough Buller's Shearwaters to choke a horse! There was nothing rare for west-coaters, but there was plenty to keep the out-of-staters happy, especially those with cameras! All around I heard nothing but praise for today's trip. Tim, you did an awesome job of keeping things going and fielding requests.

Buller's Shearwaters


Thanks everyone for another great day on M-bay!

Matthew
Spotter Dan Singer's eBird Report:

Santa Cruz County waters:
Black-footed Albatross  1
Pink-footed Shearwater  20
Buller's Shearwater  33     This species just arriving in Central CA waters. Only a couple birds out of Half Moon Bay on 25 August and one there on 19 Aug. Also had 75 in MTY waters during today's trip. Most were sitting on the water in flocks - 2, 19, 6, 6 in SCZ. Immaculate below with contrasting blackish crown, mostly gray upperparts with striking blackish "M" pattern across wings/back.
Sooty Shearwater  15
Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel  2
Ashy Storm-Petrel  5
Red-necked Phalarope  4
Western Gull  X
California Gull  1
Arctic Tern  5
Pomarine Jaeger  1
Rhinoceros Auklet  10
 
Pacific White-sided Dolphins
 


Monterey County inshore/harbor:
Brandt's Cormorant  250
Brown Pelican  150
Great Egret  1     standing on kelp bed
Black Turnstone  5
Red-necked Phalarope  45
Heermann's Gull  100
Western Gull  200
Elegant Tern  25
Common Murre  15
Pigeon Guillemot  10
Rhinoceros Auklet  5
Peregrine Falcon (North American)  1     perched on radio tower along Cannery Row




Monterey County offshore:

Black-footed Albatross  11
Pink-footed Shearwater  72
Buller's Shearwater  75
Sooty Shearwater  84
Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel  3     These were in the vicinity of a slick we put down. Not everyone saw these birds. Larger and bulkier than Ashy Storm-Petrel; medium gray storm-petrels with black underwing coverts and mask.
Ashy Storm-Petrel  13
Red-necked Phalarope  15
Red Phalarope  12
Sabine's Gull  17
Western Gull  X
California Gull  3
Common Tern  3
Arctic Tern  10
Common/Arctic Tern  5
Pomarine Jaeger  7     One second-summer bird (third-cycle type) stayed with the boat for awhile and provided many photo-ops and great study.
Parasitic Jaeger  2
Long-tailed Jaeger  1
Common Murre  55
Cassin's Auklet  3
Rhinoceros Auklet  49