copyright 2006 Shearwater Journeys

Hello, Seabirders,

Shearwater Journey's second fall pelagic trip from Bodega Bay to Bodega Canyon and the Cordell Bank was held on Monday, August 28, 2006. This trip was nothing short of astounding. Highlights included thousands and thousands of feeding SOOTY, PINK-FOOTED, and BULLER'S SHEARWATERS; over 400 ASHY STORM-PETRELS, also feeding, 1 WILSON'S STORM-PETREL, 1 BLACK STORM-PETREL (first of the season), 1 FORK-TAILED STORM-PETREL (first of the season); all three species of JAEGERS; SOUTH POLAR SKUAS; 1000+ ELEGANT TERNS sitting on the jetty; 1500+ COMMON MURRES; 60 PIGEON GUILLEMOTS; 5 ORCAS making a spectacular kill; more than 40 HUMPBACK WHALES lunge-feeding and flipper-slapping; and hundreds of feeding PACIFIC WHITE-SIDED DOLPHINS and NORTHERN RIGHT WHALE DOLPHINS and CALIFORNIA SEA LIONS. It was a feast - not only for the eyes, but also the soul of the sea.

We departed Bodega Bay and headed straight for Bodega Canyon, then to Cordell Bank, and beyond to the 1000 fathom line, managing to get over 30 miles offshore. The sea surface temperature ranged from 54-57 F, perfect temperatures for the storm-petrels. The seas were flat-calm, Beaufort 1 for the entire day, and there was very little swell. Skies were uniformly high overcast—excellent conditions. It was cold! Few people could believe that this was summer in California, and all were very bundled up with warm clothes and gloves. (I wished I had my long johns). The colder the sea surface temperature, the cooler the air feels. We encountered many mixed species flocks of shearwaters, some consisting almost entirely of pink-footed and Buller's shearwaters. The storm-petrels were feeding along the edges of the slicks, which is why we did not find any flocks on the water. It is somewhat unusual to see the storm-petrels actively feeding, since they are thought to feed mostly at night. But, the heavy overcast conditions and no sun may have made conditions right for this. While we were watching the storm-petrels, leader David Vander Pluym spotted the dorsal fins of a pod of ORCAS.

We followed the orcas for a short time. We had seen a California Sea Lion about five minutes before the orcas were sighted. I was pretty sure that their behavior suggested that they were hunting something, but wasn't sure what it was. Our skipper shut the engine down, while we drifted. Suddenly, the orcas made a bee-line for our vessel coming in from the 10 o'clock position! They went right under the boat, and exited at the 5 o'clock position. Only later, were we able to piece the sea lion together with this behavior. Although I cannot conclusively prove it, I believe that they were chasing the sea lion, as it was trying to save its life by hiding under our boat. Back at the bow, the orcas headed off at the 12 o'clock position, and we all noticed an extremely rancid smell. It was the bite that killed the sea lion! When the orcas next surfaced, a large pool of blood was all around them. Some of the photographs show this. Having seen so many kills over the years, I urged people to be ready with their cameras—and, sure enough, a great spyhop or two by one of the orcas was captured on digital cameras! This was quite a show and we hated to leave, but we did move on.

Somewhere off the 1000 fathom line, we encountered the most incredible scene of ocean feeding that I have ever seen in thirty-one years of ocean trips—humpback whales were blowing in nearly 360 degrees around the boat, shearwaters and gulls were carrying fish in their bills, white-sided and right whale dolphins were feeding on the fish that poured out of the gulping whales' mouths, sea lions were rushing in on every front to pick up fish, and storm-petrels were flitting about in all directions. The skipper cut the engine again, and all we could hear was the belching and blowing sounds of the whales' breath, pink-footed shearwaters' "beep" calls, and dolphins breaking the surface of the calm seas. Jaegers would suddenly course in and pound on a Buller's shearwater to give up its fish. Every living creature around us was engaged in a feeding frenzy. It was both dreamy and surrealistic at the same time. In the end, this was a journey that engaged our sense of sight and sound, as well as smell!

Our August 15th trip from Bodega Bay also had great amount of wildlife. It seems that this might be just about one of the best places along the coast right now for feeding seabirds and marine mammals. I don't believe that I have ever seen Northern Right Whale Dolphins feeding with Humpbacks, ever, before. I'm not sure that this has been recorded.

If you are just itching to get out there and enjoy a trip from Bodega Bay, we do have spaces open on our next trip, September 8th, limited spaces open on September 15 and 24. Please email me, if you are interested in the trips with limited spaces before sending a check. We also have trips from Bodega Bay on October 9 and 13th. The Fort Bragg trip on September 17th can be combined with the Bodega trip on September 15th for a nice weekend. Our Monterey program of trips is about to swing in to full with this Sunday's trip, September 3rd. Spaces are still open on this trip, and the following trips: September 11, 23, 29; October 1, 6, 7, 8, 15, 22, and 28. The following trips have very limited spaces, so please email me prior to sending a check: September 9, 10, 22.

The leaders for the August 28th Bodega Bay trip were: Lisa Hug, Steve Howell, David Vander Pluym, and Debra Shearwater. Many thanks to all those folks who joined us for this memorable day, and especially for those who flew in for the trips.

The complete species list follows.

COMMON LOON-1
BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS-23
NORTHERN FULMAR-16
PINK-FOOTED SHEARWATER-2000+
BULLER'S SHEARWATER-377
SOOTY SHEARWATER-2500+
WILSON'S STORM-PETREL-1
FORK-TAILED STORM-PETREL-1
ASHY STORM-PETREL-430
BLACK STORM-PETREL-1
BROWN PELICAN-40 offshore
BRANDT'S CORMORANT-25 offshore
DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT-1 offshore
PELAGIC CORMORANT-4
RED KNOT-2
WANDERING TATTLER-1
WHIMBREL-1
MARBLED GODWIT-4
BLACK TURNSTONE-20
SURFBIRD-12
LEAST SANDPIPER-1 offshore
RED-NECKED PHALAROPE-100
RED PHALAROPE-10
SOUTH POLAR SKUA-3
POMARINE JAEGER-7
POMARINE/PARASITIC JAEGER-3
LONG-TAILED JAEGER-4
JAEGER SP.-1
HEERMANN'S GULL-100 on the breakwater
CALIFORNIA GULL-70
WESTERN GULL-200
SABINE'S GULL-15
ELEGANT TERN-1000+ on the breakwater
COMMON TERN-3
COMMON/ARCTIC TERN-6
COMMON MURRE-1500+
PIGEON GUILLEMOT-60
CASSIN'S AUKLET-1
RHINOCEROS AUKLET-50
CALIFORNIA SEA LION-50 offshore
STELLER'S SEA LION-4
NORTHERN FUR SEAL-2
NORTHERN ELEPHANT SEAL-2
HARBOR SEAL-30
HUMPBACK WHALE-40+
ORCA (KILLER WHALE)-5 (1 adult male)
NORTHERN RIGHT WHALE DOLPHIN-400+
PACIFIC WHITE-SIDED DOLPHIN-500+
DALL'S PORPOISE-18
OCEAN SUNFISH-6
BLUE SHARK-2
Pelagia jellies-6


Shearwaters forever,
Debi