Pelagic birdng

August/September is all about Pelagic birding in So. Cal:

1. Two back to back Farallons trips LINK
   DATE: Aug 12, 2017 @ 7:26pm, 12 day(s) ago
   FROM: Alvaro Jaramillo

   Hello all,     Just a quick note after two back to back trips to the Farallon Islands on Friday and today. It was a bit choppy getting out there, but slow and steady did it and we arrived eager to see some birds and wildlife. On both days the Island was fantastic, with many Tufted Puffins, really great numbers of Cassin’s Auklets, Pigeon Guillemots and a few Rhinoceros Auklets amongst the larger numbers of Common Murres. The Blue-footed Booby was there on both days, and today we also saw a Brown Booby – Fantastic. Northern Fur Seals are going like gangbusters, I gather the best season they have had there. California Sea Lions, Steller’s Sea Lions, Harbor Seals and a couple of Grey Whales. The islands do not disappoint.     We are able to get out to deep water on the way back to port (Half Moon Bay) and it was fantastic on both days. Surrounded by Blue Whales and Humpback Whales! Yesterday apart from the Sooty and Pink-footed shearwaters, and Black-footed Shearwaters yesterday a group of 4 Wilson’s Storm-Petrels along with several Ashy Storm-Petrels were great to see. Today a real highlight was a super close fly by from a Laysan Albatross. It was close enough that the photos show a red color band which we will send in to determine where this albatross came from. Ashy Storm-Petrel showed up today, Northern Fulmars etc. Both were superb days, really, really fun birding. The Laysan was in SF County, Wilson’s SP in San Mateo County.    And as Alan Hopkins reported yesterday on SFBirds, he was able to get on a Cook’s Petrel which unfortunately none of us were able to see. It was choppy and difficult that that time. Pheew, I am tired, but happy tired! Lots more trips are happening this season, see you out there. Alvaro   Alvaro Jaramillo alvaro@... www.alvarosadventures.com

1. Really birdy pelagic today in San Mateo County LINK
   DATE: Aug 19, 2017 @ 7:31pm, 5 day(s) ago
   FROM: Alvaro Jaramillo

   Hello all,      We had some big but rounded swells out today, relatively calm winds and a superb day out from Half Moon Bay. There has been a complete change over in the birds from last weekend, and water has warmed up quite a bit both inshore and offshore. Rare birds for us today were two BROWN BOOBIES, one adult female on the Half Moon Bay weather Buoy, and another subadult on a floating log about 27 miles offshore. There were hundreds of Buller’s Shearwaters out there today, with amazing views. Farther offshore they outnumbered the other shearwaters, we have not seen Buller’s in numbers like this for a few years now. It is great to have them back. Three Scripps’s Murrelets were seen, as well as non-stop storm petrels. Inshore there were many, Wilson’s in with Ashy and a few Fork-tails. Farther out it was mainly Ashy. All three jaegers were found, Sabine’s Gulls, and both Common and Arctic Tern. We had a poorly seen all dark shearwater, that photos may confirm is a Flesh-foot, but unfortunately it was not seen well in the field. It was non-stop birds all day, one of those superb pelagics. Photos here - https://www.facebook.com/Alvaros-Adventures-201287513297811/pnref=lhc     So it looks very interesting out there. I am frankly surprised that a Hawaiian or Cook’s petrel did not show up, as the situation looked pretty nice. We shall see what happens tomorrow out of Bodega. http://alvarosadventures.com/boat-trips/pelagics/ Good birding, Alvaro   Alvaro Jaramillo alvaro@... www.alvarosadventures.com

1. AUG 4 & AUG 6 PELAGIC TRIP REPORTS LINK
   DATE: Aug 7, 2017 @ 2:16pm, 17 day(s) ago
   FROM: DEBRA SHEARWATER

   Howdy, Birders, Shearwater Journeys’ trips departing from Monterey Bay, August 4th and Sausalito to the Farallon Islands, August 6th, encountered extraordinary numbers and variety of seabirds and marine mammals. And, yes, “it’s all about food”— my favorite saying. Monterey Bay is teaming with bait fish and some krill. The area surrounding the Farallon Islands, out to the edge of the Continental Shelf was floor to ceiling in krill. The marine life associated with the prey items was divided accordingly! Both trips enjoyed flat, calm seas with visibility up to 10 miles. Highlights of our August 4 Monterey Bay pelagic trip included: BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS (8, excellent views), SOOTY (30,000+) and, PINK-FOOTED SHEARWATERS (34), ASHY STORM-PETREL (2, distant views), RED-NECKED (121) and RED (19) PHALAROPES, LONG-TAILED JAEGER (1, distant view), SABINE’S GULL (including 2 early juveniles, sitting on the water, excellent views), COMMON MURRE (1,025, many dads with chicks), and RHINOCEROS AUKLETS (62, good views). All birds were in Monterey County. Marine mammals included: BLUE (2), FIN (1), HUMPBACK (12) WHALES; RISSO’S (30) and PACIFIC WHITE-SIDED (100) DOLPHINS, DALL’S PORPOISE ( 8, bow-riding on the head of a blue whale). Other highlights included: MAKO (1, excellent views) and BLUE (4, great views) SHARKS. We retrieved 6 mylar balloons, but could not pick up the floating refrigerator (future potential booby habitat!) Highlights of our August 6 Farallon Islands pelagic trip included: MASKED (thought to be a sub-adult, hundreds of images), BLUE-FOOTED (1 on Sugar Loaf), and BROWN (1 sitting next to the Blue-footed) BOOBIES , BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS (2); NORTHERN FULMAR (1), SOOTY (10) and PINK-FOOTED (24) SHEARWATERS; RED-NECKED PHALAROPE (2700), and TUFTED PUFFIN (25), CASSIN’S (7000) and RHINOCEROS (10) AUKLETS, COMMON MURRE (18,000). Most birds were in San Francisco County, including the Masked Booby. We looked for the Parakeet Auklet, but did not find it. The Masked Booby flew across our bow shortly after leaving that location. Our excellent captain chased the booby and we had a chance to see it plunge-diving. Hundreds of images were made. A Common Murre was very vocal about this booby’s presence! Marine mammals included: GRAY (2), BLUE (4) and HUMPBACK (44) WHALES, HARBOR PORPOISE. We stopped the boat and were surrounded by tail-slapping, head-slapping and breaching humpback whales for 360 degrees. The fish finder showed krill from top to bottom along the shelf break. The albatrosses, shearwaters and fulmar flew in while we were sitting around taking photographs. The rather tattered fulmar swam right up to the gunwales. It was a magical marine scene that few will ever encounter. The weather was so good that we headed up to the north islands of the Farallon Island group— something I’ve only done once before. Spaces are available on the following trips: (leaders may be added to many of these trips) MONTEREY BAY: Aug 25 with Alex Rinkert, Jim Holmes, Debi Shearwater Sep 1 with Nick Levendosky, Mary Gustafson, Debi Shearwater Sep 7 with Nick Levendosky, Alex Rinkert, Jim Holmes, Mary Gustafson, Debi Shearwater Sep 8 with Mary Gustafson, Jim Holmes, Debi Shearwater Sep 10 with Mary Gustafson, Debi Shearwater Sep 14 with Debi Shearwater, TBA Sep 22 with Christian Schwarz, Hannah Nevins, Debi Shearwater Sep 23 with Nick Levendosky, Alex Rinkert, Jim Holmes, Steve Tucker, Debi Shearwater Sep 24 with Nick Levendosky, Jim Holmes, Debi Shearwater Sep 30 with Nick Levendosky, Alex Rinkert, Scott & Linda Terrill Oct 8 with Nick Levendosky, Alex Rinkert, Scott & Linda Terrill HALF MOON BAY: Sep 2 with Mary Gustafson, Debi Shearwater Sep 3 with Peter Pyle, Steve Tucker, Mary Gustafson, Debi Shearwater Sep 15 with Christian Schwarz, Dave Pereksta, Debi Shearwater Sep 16 with Steve Hampton, Debi Shearwater Oct 7 with Nick Levendosky, Alex Rinkert, Steve Hampton Many thanks to the wonderful folks, birders and birders-to-be, who joined us on these two fine pelagic trips. The leaders on August 4 included: Nick Levendosky, Abe Borker, Scott Terrill, Will Brooks, John Garrett, Debi Shearwater. The leaders on August 6 included: Gerry McChesney, Alex Rinkert, Christian Schwarz, John Garrett, Will Brooks, and Debi Shearwater. It IS all about food! Shearwaters Forever, Debi Shearwater DEBRA SHEARWATER Shearwater Journeys, Inc. PO Box 190 Hollister, CA 95024 831.637.8527 debi@... www.shearwaterjourneys.com www.shearwaterjourneys.blogspot.com Celebrating 42 Years of Seabirding with Shearwater Journeys