copyright 2004 Shearwater Journeys

Hello, Seabirders,
Shearwater Journeys had a very successful, but HOT, day on Monterey Bay yesterday! I cannot remember how long it has been since we were able to be on a boat trip in T-shirts! The day began with bright sunshine at the dock in the morning before our departure which continued throughout the day. Seas were good, with a small swell, no whitecaps, Beaufort 1-2 throughout.

The highligts of the trip included: 1 BLACK-VENTED SHEARWATER, 1 adult TUFTED PUFFIN, ALL THREE SPECIES OF JAEGERS, SOUTH POLAR SKUA, and over 2000 STORM-PETRELS. The red tide continues inside of Monterey Bay, but there were more birds feeding inside the bay, mainly ELEGANT TERNS, BROWN PELICANS, and BRANDT'S CORMORANTS. We immediately encountered flocks of shearwaters sitting on the water, and feeding at the surface off of Point Joe. We also encountered the first of what would be hundreds of dolphins in a mixed school: RISSO'S DOLPHINS, NORTHERN RIGHT WHALE DOLPHINS, and PACIFIC WHITE-SIDED DOLPHINS. There were many young Risso's dolphins in these scattered subgroups.

We headed offshore to about 20 miles off Point Pinos to pick up the first of two SOUTH POLAR SKUAS, a dozen BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSSES, and more shearwaters. Turning north, we found scatterd storm-petrels, and then, several rafts of about 2000. Spending over an hour sifting through the storm-petrel flocks, we picked out many BLACK STORM-PETRELS, one WILSON'S STORM-PETREL, and 1 LEAST STORM-PETREL, amongst the many ASHY STORM-PETRELS. The petrel flocks are still in the general area where we saw them last week. However, thousands of storm-petrels have been reported near Bodega Canyon off of Bodega Bay. It may be that the bulk of the storm-petrels are concentated north of Monterey at this time, as researchers running transects from Bodega Bay have recently recorded 6,000 Ashy Storm-Petrels, along with up to 40 Wilson's, Blacks, and Leasts near Bodega Canyon! Storm-Petrels often prefer the edges of canyons. Twentynine years ago, when I began running trips from Monterey Bay, we could find the petrel flocks on the same location near Soquel Canyon, year after year. But, in the past ten years, the flocks have been more and more difficult to locate. Finally, it began to appear that they were rafting up at Bodega Canyon, at least some of years, or moving back and forth between Bodega and Monterey (and perhaps, Pioneer Canyon). So, storm-petrel flocks may be in one location one week, and gone the next. We shall see, as we have a trip this Friday, September 10th from Bodega Bay.

Most of the marine mammals are continue to be absent from inside Monterey Bay. We did encounter a number of HUMPBACK WHALES, and the usual DALL'S PORPOISES. BLUE SHARKS and OCEAN SUNFISH were found. The leaders for this trip were: Mike Danzenbaker, Clay Kempf, Jennifer Green, Gerry McChesney, and Debi Shearwater. Pro chummer: Matt Brady. The full trip report follows:

BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS-12
NORTHERN FULMAR-5
PINK-FOOTED SHEARWATER-567
BULLER'S SHEARWATER-368
SOOTY SHEARWATER-4540
BLACK-VENTED SHEARWATER-1
ASHY STORM-PETREL-2320
BLACK STORM-PETREL-85
WILSON'S STORM-PETREL-1
LEAST STORM-PETREL-1
BROWN PELICAN-+
BRANDT'S CORMORANT-+
PELAGIC CORMORANT-2
WHIMBREL-5
BLACK TURNSTONE-9
SURFBIRD-1
RED-NECKED PHALAROPE-176
RED PHALAROPE-20
BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER-20
SOUTH POLAR SKUA-2
POMARINE JAEGER-5
POMARINE/PARASITIC JAEGER-2
PARASITIC JAEGER-3
LONG-TAILED JAEGER-2
HEERMANN'S GULL-+
CALIFORNIA GULL-+
HERRING GULL-1
WESTERN GULL-+
SABINE'S GULL-12
ELEGANT TERN-350
COMMON MURRE-81
PIGEON GUILLEMOT-8
RHINOCEROS AUKLET-79
TUFTED PUFFIN-1 ADULT
PEREGRINE FALCON-1


SEA OTTER-4
CALIFORNIA SEA LION-+
NORTHERN FUR SEAL-1
HARBOR SEAL-+
HUMPBACK WHALE-10
NORTHERN RIGHT WHALE DOLPHIN-80
RISSO'S DOLPHIN-427
PACIFIC WHITE-SIDED DOLPHIN-11
DALL'S PORPOISE-11
OCEAN SUNFISH-4
BLUE SHARK-3


UPCOMING TRIPS: Our next trips from Monterey are this Saturday, Sep 11, Sunday Sep 12 which is an offshore trip to the Albacore fishing grounds, and Monday, Sep 13 (Debi's birthday trip!). Spaces are available on all of these trips. We also have space on Monterey trips on Sep 24 and 25; Oct 1, 3, 8, 9, and 15. We have two more Albacore trips from Monterey: Oct 2 and 10. Our Bodega Bay trips that have space available are: this Friday, Sep 10th, Sep 17, and 26; Oct 11. Fort Bragg departures are: Sep 19 and 28, and Oct 13. We welcome you to join us on these trips.

Shearwaters forever,
Debi

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