copyright 2003 Shearwater Journeys

Hello, Seabirders,

Just arrived home from a wonderful day of seabirding on Monterey Bay. We left the dock at our usual 7:30 am. and found 8 BLACK TURNSTONES and 1 SURFBIRD along the Coast Guard jetty. Five PIGEON GUILLEMOTS were along Cannery Row, along with 1 WESTERN GREBE and several EARED GREBES. ELEGANT TERNS were sitting on the kelp beds along the row. The usual alcids made their appearance: COMMON MURRE, RHINOCEROS and CASSIN'S AUKLETS.

We barely made it past Point Pinos and the shearwaters came in a flurry: BLACK-VENTED, SOOTY, PINK-FOOTED, and BULLER'S! We continued to motor offshore, leaving behind the vast majority of the shearwaters, only to run into over 2,000 ASHY STORM-PETRELS. Although, we scanned the flocks repeatedly, we could only turn up about 50 BLACK STORM-PETRELS. One oddity was the same leucistic Ashy Storm-Petrel that I saw on the September 1, 2002 trip.

Two whales blew next to our vessel just as we were leaving the storm-petrels! We did not have great views at first, so we waited around in the area for them to come up again. While waiting, our only BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS of the day flew by the boat. The whales resurfaced, and proved to be BAIRD'S BEAKED WHALES. Amazingly, they made a direct turn for our bow, allowing us to see their distinctive beaks very well! Then, Jennifer Green yelled, KILLER WHALES! Yes, 4-6 ORCAS were just off of our stern. It was the usual "pandemonium all at once" situation! NORTHERN FULMARS have begun to show up in very fresh plumage, probably blown down by the recent strong winds earlier this week.

As we headed back to the harbor, we slammed on the brakes for knock-out views of our third SOUTH POLAR SKUA of the day, overhead. (Complaints of "too close to focus"). A TUFTED PUFFIN spun through the wake, and kept on going. Upon arriving back at the dock, several birders spotted a HARLEQUIN DUCK that we had missed earlier. All in all, it was a delightful day, calm seas, sunshine, terrific seabirds, and marine mammals.

Our next trips are:
Oct 6 from Monterey
Oct 12 from Monterey
Oct 13 from Santa Cruz
Oct 14 from Bodega Bay (only 2 spaces open)
Oct 19 from Monterey
and the entirely pelagic Christmas Bird Count on Dec. 16 from Monterey.

Call 1-831-637-8527 or email for reservations.

Debra Shearwater

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