Saturday October 2, 2010
Here is the eBird report
for the October 2 trip, compiled by Don Roberson:
| Location: Monterey
Bay pelagic -- inshore Mty Harbor to Pt. Pinos (MTY Co.) |
| Observation date: 10/2/10 |
| Notes: Monterey Seabirds trip aboard 'Pt Sur Clipper'
with John Mayer, skipper; Roger Wolfe; leaders D. Roberson, Kenneth
Peterson, Martijn Verdoes; with Blake Matheson, Peter White, Tom
Grey, et al. This is the outbound inshore checklist only (<1 nmi
offshore); see separate checklists for offshore
MTY and SCZ. We had a large male
sea lion on the jetty that had characters of Steller, we think,
but it was dark, not blonde. Hopefully the photos will sort it
out. Overcast & cool |
Number of species:
|
|
14
|
 |
|
| |
Surf Scoter |
|
4 |
|
small flock flying S |
| |
Pacific Loon |
|
4 |
|
all in flight, arrivals |
| |
Brown Pelican |
|
25 |
|
|
| |
Brandt's Cormorant |
|
200 |
|
|
| |
Double-crested Cormorant |
|
1 |
|
|
| |
Pelagic Cormorant |
|
2 |
|
|
| |
Great Egret |
|
1 |
|
on kelp |
| |
Black Turnstone |
|
4 |
|
|
| |
Heermann's Gull |
|
50 |
|
|
| |
Western Gull |
|
100 |
|
|
| |
Western x Glaucous-winged Gull (hybrid) |
|
1 |
|
first-cycle |
| |
California Gull |
|
150 |
|
|
| |
Elegant Tern |
|
8 |
|
|
| |
Common Murre |
|
7 |
|
|
| |
Pigeon Guillemot |
|
2 |
|
both in juv plumage; all adults appear to be gone |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
| Location: Monterey
Bay pelagic (MTY Co.) |
| Observation date: 10/2/10 |
| Notes: Monterey Seabirds trip aboard 'Pt Sur Clipper'
with John Mayer, skipper; Roger Wolfe; leaders D. Roberson, Kenneth
Peterson, Martijn Verdoes; with Blake Matheson, Peter White, Tom
Grey, et al. This is the offshore MTY checklist only (>1 nmi offshore);
see separate checklists for inshore MTY
and offshore SCZ. Cold, foggy day,
and quite windy (Bft 4-5) offshore, fog persisted until 10 a.m.
when we went north, and fog still present on afternoon return
but clearing by mid-afternoon. Was rough running into wind but
otherwise okay. Route was to Pt. Pinos, then NW to 8.5 nmi off,
then ESE back towards Moss Landing at midBay, then N into SCZ
for 1 hr 15 min, then S to 7 nmi W of Cypress Pt., and return
to Pt. Pinos, One Grampus on way out; in afternoon ~7 nmi off
Cypress Pt. was lots of krill, 25+ Humpback, and a Blue Whale
(lots of photos). Blue Whale was lunge feeding, and some Humpbacks
were as well |
Number of species:
|
|
24
|
|
|
| |
Surf Scoter |
|
3 |
|
migrants |
| |
Pacific Loon |
|
1 |
|
~4 mi off, migrant |
| |
Black-footed Albatross |
|
8 |
|
|
| |
Northern Fulmar |
|
3 |
|
|
| |
Pink-footed Shearwater |
|
200 |
|
|
| |
Sooty Shearwater |
|
150 |
|
|
| |
Sooty/Short-tailed Shearwater |
|
1 |
|
felt to be STSH in the field; a crisp fresh-plumaged dark shearwater
came up behind the boat at midBay, fed in the wake, and circled
several times (photos). My feeling was that it was both short-billed
and slim-billed; that it had a steep forehead; and that it looked
small and compact, like STSH. It may be one. However, it had much
white in underwing coverts and my photos show a longer bill than
is typical (although it still looks slim). It is actually quite
similar to one photo'd off Morro Bay last winter that half the
boat thought Short-tailed (included Lehman, McCaskie et al.) and
the other half of the boat thought Sooty (including J. Dunn et
al., if I am recalling right). That bird, and this one, seem to
be in an intermediate zone. The photo does show steep forehead
and a small whitish throat, good for STSH, but much white on underwings
(too much?). More info/study is needed on these problematic birds,
so I put as a slash-species for now. I suspect these intermediates
are STs, though. |
| |
Ashy Storm-Petrel |
|
8 |
|
scattered widely |
| |
Black Storm-Petrel |
|
1 |
|
~7 nmi NW of Pt. Pinos |
| |
Brandt's Cormorant |
|
1 |
|
~4 mi offshore |
| |
Dunlin |
|
4 |
|
small tight flock lost in fog |
| |
peep sp. |
|
1 |
|
seen by others; Dunlin or similar size (not Least/Western) |
| |
Red-necked Phalarope |
|
80 |
|
|
| |
Red Phalarope |
|
40 |
|
|
| |
Sabine's Gull |
|
110 |
|
largest flocks ~4-5 nmi off Pt Pinos in afternoon,
including perhaps 20 juvs |
| |
Heermann's Gull |
|
15 |
|
most were inshore |
| |
Mew Gull (American) |
|
1 |
|
juv following boat ~5 nmi W of Pt Pinos (photos) |
| |
Western Gull |
|
100 |
|
|
| |
California Gull |
|
250 |
|
|
| |
Common Tern |
|
6 |
|
|
| |
Arctic Tern |
|
2 |
|
one adult photo'd as it crossed bow |
| |
Pomarine Jaeger |
|
4 |
|
|
| |
Parasitic Jaeger |
|
1 |
|
|
| |
jaeger sp. |
|
2 |
|
Pom/Parasitic types |
| |
Common Murre |
|
40 |
|
|
| |
Cassin's Auklet |
|
75 |
|
in dense patches over krill near whales |
| |
Rhinoceros Auklet |
|
150 |
|
widely scattered |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
| Location: Monterey
Bay pelagic (SCZ Co.) |
| Observation date: 10/2/10 |
| Notes: Monterey Seabirds trip aboard 'Pt Sur Clipper'
with John Mayer, skipper; Roger Wolfe; leaders D. Roberson, Kenneth
Peterson, Martijn Verdoes; with Blake Matheson, Peter White, Tom
Grey, et al. This is the offshore SCZ checklist only (we never
got close to SCZ shore); see separate checklists for inshore
MTY and offshore MTY. Cold, foggy
day, and quite windy (Bft 4-5) offshore, fog persisted until 10
a.m. when we went north into SCZ, where sunny. Route was to Pt.
Pinos, then NW to 8.5 nmi off, then ESE back towards Moss Landing
at midBay, then N into SCZ for 1 hr 15 min (this checklist), then
S to 7 nmi W of Cypress Pt., and return to Pt. Pinos. Within SCZ,
up to Soquel Cyn and back. Roger put out an oil slick for 30 minutes
over N rim of Mty Canyon that eventually attracted the FFSH |
Number of species:
|
|
15
|
|
|
| |
Black-footed Albatross |
|
5 |
|
|
| |
Northern Fulmar |
|
3 |
|
|
| |
Pink-footed Shearwater |
|
50 |
|
|
| |
Flesh-footed Shearwater |
|
1 |
|
came into oil slick and then followed boat for a bit (photos) |
| |
Sooty Shearwater |
|
15 |
|
|
| |
Ashy Storm-Petrel |
|
3 |
|
|
| |
Red Phalarope |
|
8 |
|
|
| |
Sabine's Gull |
|
15 |
|
|
| |
Western Gull |
|
50 |
|
|
| |
California Gull |
|
150 |
|
|
| |
Common Tern |
|
1 |
|
|
| |
Common/Arctic Tern |
|
1 |
|
|
| |
Pomarine Jaeger |
|
2 |
|
|
| |
jaeger sp. |
|
1 |
|
|
| |
Common Murre |
|
15 |
|
|
| |
Cassin's Auklet |
|
10 |
|
|
| |
Rhinoceros Auklet |
|
40 |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
The above reports were generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)
Tom Grey's thoughts about the trip:
I can pass on my own happy experience of the Monterey Seabirds pelagic
trip last Saturday, 10/2, though photography (at least mine) was handicapped
by fog/overcast most of the time. We had views of at least one and perhaps
two Blue Whales, including a couple of instances of surface lunge feeding,
and saw many Humpback Whales, including a startling surfacing of one
RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE BOAT. I happened to be sitting in the bow seat
when this happened, and let me tell you, it was an awesome sight. I
feebly tried to photograph it, came away with a couple of blurred images
of what looks like a big gray wall. My one whale photo worth posting
shows the impressive spout of a Blue looming a large ocean swell.
Birdwise, there was a possible SHORT-TAILED SHEARWATER and a very good
sighting of a FLESH-FOOTED SHEARWATER that circled the boat providing
good views; I failed to get a decent photo of either one. Many SABINE'S
GULLS flew by, and I have one so-so photo showing an adult and a juvenile
flying together. I also have photos of an adult POMARINE JAEGER and
an ARCTIC TERN.
As usual, the best photo-ops were supplied by BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS,
with at least two distinct birds, and probably more. I have photos of
a Blackfoot with its left foot missing, a bird I first photographed
in September 2008 and then again in May of this year, at least I think
it's the same bird. See http://www.pbase.com/tgrey/montereypelagic_oct10
for my photos from this trip, and the four photos at the bottom of http://www.pbase.com/tgrey/albatrosses_blackfooted
for the series showing the albatross with the missing foot. (The one
from this trip may appear ambiguous as to whether the foot is missing
or just obscured by foam, but I have another less-good photo from Saturday
that clearly shows the left leg without a foot.)
-- Tom Grey
www.pbase.com/tgrey
Roger Wolfe for Monterey Seabirds
|
