Sunday August 23, 2009
We
covered a good part of the Monterey Bay on this 12-hour trip. One
hundred and fourteen miles to be exact and we got as far as 40 miles
west of Pt. Pinos. Leaving the dock we headed for "the Hump", an underwater
plateau north of Soquel Canyon and then on toward the series of canyons:
Cabrillo, Ano Nuevo and Ascension which is also known as "the Fingers."
We then took a southwest route that brought us to the north rim of
the Monterey Sea Canyon which we then followed back to Pt. Pinos.
(See Google Earth map linked from below.)
The trip highlight occurred as we passed though the shipping channel
in San Mateo County. Jim Holmes, who was up on the bow, spotted a
COOK'S PETREL as it crossed the bow and paralleled the boat
briefly before flying away toward our five o'clock. Chummer Alex Rinkert
poured some cod liver oil off the stern and the bird came back into
view for a second distant pass. Fortunately nearly everyone managed
to get on the bird and high fives went all around. Remarkably even
our skipper Richard Ternullo got one for a new lifer! Regrettably
no one got very good photos for this trip report.
The other highlight was a LEATHERBACK TURTLE that we saw only briefly
before it dove. Yes, dinosaurs still live in the bay.
And like last week there were jaegers all over the place particularly
numerous were the LONG-TAILED JAEGERS of which Don Roberson
kept a running tally for a new state record of 176!
The 5 ARCTIC TERNS we saw were running the gauntlet to be sure.
Marine mammals included DALL'S PORPOISE, NORTHERN RIGHT-WHALE and
PACIFIC WHITE-SIDED DOLPHINS, HUMPBACK WHALES, CALIFORNIA SEA LION
and HARBOR and ELEPHANT SEALS.
Here is the species list for the day compiled by Don Roberson for
eBird.
Counts are for Monterey/Santa Cruz/San Mateo Counties
| |
Black-footed Albatross |
|
5/30/25 |
| |
Northern Fulmar |
|
10/8/25 |
| |
Cook’s Petrel |
|
0/0/1 |
| |
Pink-footed Shearwater |
|
25/50/50 |
| |
Buller's Shearwater |
|
50/170/75 |
| |
Sooty Shearwater |
|
150/70/25 |
| |
Ashy Storm-Petrel |
|
2/6/25 |
| |
Black Storm-petrel |
|
0/2/1 |
| |
Brown Pelican |
|
2/2/0 |
| |
Red-necked Phalarope |
|
70/40/75 |
| |
Red Phalarope |
|
30/0/25 |
| |
Sabine's Gull |
|
50/70/75 |
| |
Heermann's Gull |
|
25/10/5 |
| |
Western Gull |
|
300/250/250 |
| |
California Gull |
|
80/90/150 |
| |
gull sp. |
|
1/0/0 |
| |
Arctic Tern |
|
2/0/3 |
| |
Elegant Tern |
|
0/1/0 |
| |
South Polar Skua |
|
1/1/4 |
| |
Pomarine Jaeger |
|
30/0/4 |
| |
Parasitic Jaeger |
|
9/7/9 |
| |
Long-tailed Jaeger |
|
69/29/78 |
| |
jaeger sp. |
|
5/2/8 |
| |
Common Murre |
|
20/0/0 |
| |
Cassin's Auklet |
|
15/20/25 |
| |
Rhinoceros Auklet |
|
2/5/2 |
 |
 |
See the Google
Earth image showing locations of points along the track (opens
in new window). |
See Jeff Poklen's photo gallery of this trip at: http://www.pbase.com/jpkln/gallery/23aug2009
Roger Wolfe for Monterey
Seabirds
