copyright 2002 Shearwater Journeys

Hello, Seabirders,
Shearwater Journeys just completed three more tremendously successful pelagic trips. A trip checklist is here. The highlight was another STREAKED SHEARWATER! Trips were run on three consecutive days from three different ports along the central California coast: September 27 from Monterey Bay, September 28 from Santa Cruz on the north side of Monterey Bay, and September 29 from Bodega Bay to the Cordell Bank and beyond. Many birders from out-of-state travelled on all three trips, and they were not disappointed! Those who did so recorded over 40 species of pelagic birds and fourteen species of marine mammals in addition to seeing the mega-rarity, a STREAKED SHEARWATER! Weather and sea conditions were excellent on all three days, averaging a Beaufort 1-2.5 and no fog.

The STREAKED SHEARWATER was found in the late afternoon by world-class seabirder, Steve Howell, on the September 29 trip from Bodega Bay. This is the first record of a Streaked Shearwater for Marin County, California. Some Pink-footed Shearwaters were flying nearby. Steve has seen 90% of the world's tubenoses, however, the Streaked Shearwater was a life bird for him! Few birders in the world have his seabirding experience. (He recently completed a trip during which he saw 57 species of tubenoses! Steve is a professional leader for the tour company, WINGS.) He instantly called the shearwater's identification for all on board. Todd McGrath, a regular Shearwater Journeys leader, was second on the bird. Unfortunately, the shearwater did not remain for all on board to have excellent views, but flew off to destinations unknown. I tried to get a shot off with my camera, but I think the image of the bird will prove to be too distant. Todd dumped out the remainder of our cod liver oil, and we waited as long as we could, but the bird never returned. There are less than a dozen records of Streaked Shearwater for North America, and until now, never more than one record in one year. But at this rate, who knows??

This is the second STREAKED SHEARWATER found on a Shearwater Journeys trip in the past 6 weeks, and the third in a little less than 12 months! Six weeks ago, Jon Dunn found a Streaked Shearwater on the August 17th trip from Fort Bragg. That individual stayed around our boat for 45 minutes. (See trip report on the web site for photos). This record, combined with a report of a Streaked Shearwater off of southern California a few weeks later, led us to believe that we had a good chance of finding another one this season. And, we correctly predicted so! I dare say we could still turn up yet another Streaked this fall. On October 6, 2001, Jim Danzenbaker turned up a Streaked Shearwater on an albacore trip from Monterey Bay. Interestingly, all three records were found between 2-3:30 pm, a time when many of the mega-rarities have occurred, just when everyone is thinking of dozing off! Another thing that we have noted is that Pink-footed Shearwaters have been in abundance when all of the Streaked Shearwaters have been found.

BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSSES were found on 2 of 3 days, while 2 LAYSAN ALBATROSSES were found on only the Bodega Bay trip. The first BLACK-VENTED SHEARWATERS of the fall season from a boat trip were spotted on the Monterey trip. As they make their way north along the coast, we might expect increasing numbers of these coastal shearwaters. One FLESH-FOOTED SHEARWATER was found only on the Santa Cruz trip, while 4 SHORT-TAILED SHEARWATERS were found only on the Monterey trip. As usual, SOOTY, PINK-FOOTED, and a sprinkling of BULLER'S SHEARWATERS were found on all three days. PINK-FOOTED SHEARWATERS numbered between 200 and 417 on any one day. Eighty ASHY STORM-PETRELS and one WILSON'S STORM-PETREL made an excellent show at a cod liver oil slick on the Bodega Bay trip.

RED PHALAROPES increased in numbers this past weekend, with 1460 recorded on the Bodega Bay trip. All three days had a grand slam on the jaegers and SOUTH POLAR SKUA. LONG-TAILED JAEGERS were in the double digits every day, as were SOUTH POLAR SKUAS on 2 of the days. Eight species of gulls were recorded on the Bodega Bay trip: HEERMANN'S, MEW, CALIFORNIA, HERRING, WESTERN, GLAUCOUS-WINGED, BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKE, and SABINE'S GULLS. The juvenile kittiwake, spotted by Steve Howell, was a surprise amidst the thousands of SABINE'S GULLS. Perhaps the most spectacular event of the entire set of trips was the migration of over 3,500 SABINE'S GULLS just outside of the Cordell Bank. We passed through 6 miles of non-stop, streaming-by-our-boat SABINE'S GULLS. Accompanying the gulls were approximately 630 ARCTIC TERNS. A few COMMON TERNS were found, as well.

Alcids put in a show with seven species recorded. As usual, MARBLED MURRELETS were found on only the Santa Cruz trip. Excellent views were had of XANTUS' MURRELETS sitting on the water and calling back and forth to each on the on the Bodega Bay trip. The call is the best "field mark" for distinguishing this species from the similar Craveri's Murrelet. Five TUFTED PUFFINS were found on the Bodega Bay trip, while one was found on the Santa Cruz trip.

The usual BLUE and HUMPBACK WHALES were found, with up to 47 Humps on the Bodega trip and 16 Blues on the Santa Cruz trip. FIN WHALES (9) on the Monterey trip were a rare find. An assortment of dolphins added to the trips, but one BOTTLENOSE DOLPHIN at Santa Cruz was unusual. BLUE SHARKS and OCEAN SUNFISH rounded out the day.

The leader/birder ratios were: 1/5 on the Sep 27 trip, 1/7 on the Sep 28 trip, and 1/5 on the Sep 29 trip.

Our next trips with spaces available are: Oct 4 from Monterey (leaders: Steve Howell, Jennifer Green, Jim Danzenbaker, & Debra Shearwater)
Oct 5 albacore trip from Monterey-2 spaces recently opened up on this previously sold out trip (leaders: Steve Howell, Alan Hopkins, Jim Danzenbaker, & Debra Shearwater)
Oct 6 from Monterey (leaders: Steve Howell, Clay Kempf, Jim Danzenbaker, John Sorensen, & Debi Shearwater)
Oct 12 from Monterey (leaders: Todd McGrath, Clay Kempf, Denise Wight, Linda Terrill, & Debra Shearwater)
Oct 13 from Santa Cruz (leaders: Todd McGrath, Clay Kempf, Scott Terrill, Jennifer Green, Ted Chandik, & Debra Shearwater)
Oct 14 from Bodega Bay, only 2 spaces open (leaders: Todd McGrath, Alan Hopkins, Alvaro Jaramillo, Luke Cole, & Debra Shearwater)
Oct 19 from Monterey (leaders: Clay Kempf, Mike Rogers, Linda Terrill, Scott Terrill, & Debra Shearwater)
Dec 16 from Monterey, pelagic Christmas Bird Count (leaders: Steve Howell, Alan Hopkins, Luke Cole, Alvaro Jaramillo, & Debra Shearwater).

For reservations, contact Debra Shearwater as soon as possible.
Wishing you great seabirding,
Debra Shearwater

Click on the murrelet to find out how to reserve a trip.