copyright 2003 Shearwater Journeys

Hello, Seabirders,

Peter Pyle, Don Doolittle, and I led a pelagic trip on Monterey Bay as part of the West Coast Seabird IFO (Institute for Field Ornithology) Workshop, sponsored by the ABA (American Birding Association).

The highlight of this trip was a LITTLE SHEARWATER, about 3 nautical miles west of Point Joe, Monterey County. We spotted this tiny shearwater at 2:07 pm, as it flew at the 9 o'clock position from our boat. Don followed it to the 2 o'clock position, where we lost it. This initial view was very brief amounting to about 10-20 seconds. However, Peter and I felt certain that we had just seen a Little Shearwater. I believe that I had seen one in the mid-1980's in Monterey Bay, but never had enough details to support it. Peter and I were lamenting that yet another southern hemisphere rarity had escaped us: like Markham's Storm-Petrel and Parkinson's Petrels!

We were returning to an area that had a huge concentration of gulls, fulmars, and shearwaters in the morning. After the Little Shearwater flew away, we asked our captain, Tinker, to just ride around in circles. Peter continued searching from the bow, and I chummed at the stern. About 3:05 pm, with my arms up to my elbows in squid juices, Peter said that he thought that he had refound the Little Shearwater, sitting amongst some gulls. So, I grabbed my camera and ran to the bow.

Sure enough, there was the little bugger! Oh, so cute. Soon, we figured out that its M.O. was to try to stick with one of the gulls, as it would fly a short distance, and find a gull for a buddy. Each time that it would sit, Tinker brought the boat gently up to the shearwater. By now, we had full sun behind us, and we were carefully studying each of its features; gleaming bright white underparts, including the tail coverts, dark upperparts, white in the lower half of the face, and finally, the steely, blue legs and feet. It was an extremely small shearwater, just about the size of the nearby Bonaparte's Gull. While Peter was carefully pointing out the finer features to study, I shot 4 rolls of film! One of the workshop participants got a few videotape shots. At 3:45 pm, we left the Little Shearwater.

It was an exhilarating day on Monterey Bay. We tallied 6 species of shearwaters: SOOTY (about 8), SHORT-TAILED (1), PINK-FOOTED (1800), FLESH-FOOTED (3), BULLER'S (about 15), and the LITTLE! ((The only day that has topped this was the one when I saw 8 species of shearwaters a fourth of a mile off Point Pinos! I'll let you guess what they were!). A SOUTH POLAR SKUA made an appearance, along with 7 or 8 POMARINE JAEGERS. About 15 BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSSES were around, and one ASHY STORM-PETREL was found. All in all, it was a dynamite day for the tubenoses. Oh, I forgot the 4000 NORTHERN FULMARS. There were a few other sorted goodies, but nothing could top the LITTLE.

I believe that this is the first documented record of a LITTLE SHEARWATER for California, and possibly the first for the North Pacific. I think that it might be the 4th record for North America. I would appreciate any enlightenment from folks out there on this information.

Well, the weather was great, we saw a few cetaceans, tons o' tubenoses, and one little one. It was a terrific opportunity to study the seabirds.

Happy seabirding,
Debi Shearwater

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