April 13, 2003 Trip Report
Archive
Sunday April 13, 2003
For the second outing in a row the National Weather Service prediction was for rain and once again they were wrong. As I made the drive from Soquel to Monterey the rain was initially intense but grew less so the closer I got to Monterey. When I pulled into the parking lot there was no rain at all.
The previous day, as the storm raged, I got a few e-mails from folks concerned about conditions after visiting the web page for the Monterey Bay Buoy. Folks, that buoy is 24 miles offshore and does not reflect conditions in the bay itself!
We had a splendid day on the Monterey Bay, conditions were favorable enough that only one person on board ended up chumming at the stern (if you get my drift). The route our skipper Richard Ternullo followed kept us out of the SW winds by taking a N/NW run out to the W side of Soquel Canyon to the E rim about 5 miles from Moss Landing and then back to Pt. Pinos.
Trip highlights were a MANX SHEARWATER spotted by leader Todd Easterla in group of SOOTY SHEARWATERS whose numbers were way up from our March 9 outing with about 120 seen on the day. PINK-FOOTED SHEARWATERS numbered 3. We also saw quite a few BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS (80).
After crossing into Santa Cruz county waters we had a LAYSAN ALBATROSS delight all on board with close passes of the boat in the Soquel Canyon vicinity. In this same area we also had the first SABINE'S GULL of the season. A better look couldn't be had as the bird flew by the boat then landed on the water.
Other birds that were seen this trip and not on our previous trips this year were BONAPARTE'S GULL and 60 RED-NECKED PHALAROPES.
There were still some RHINOCEROS (30) and CASSIN'S AUKLETS (12) and NORTHERN FULMARS (12) around.
Species List 4/13/03
Pacific Loon 75 Common Loon 3 LAYSAN ALBATROSS 1 Black-footed Albatross 80 Northern Fulmar 12 Pink-footed Shearwater 3 Sooty Shearwater 120 MANX SHEARWATER 1 Red-necked Phalarope 60 Brown Pelican 20 Brandt's Cormorant 100 Pelagic Cormorant 30 Surf Scoter 50 Bonaparte's Gull 12 Heerman's Gull California Gull Herring Gull Western Gull Glaucous-winged Gull Sabine's Tern 2 Common Murre 15 Pigeon Guillemot 30 Cassin's Auklet 12 Rhinoceros Auklet 30 Red-breasted Merganser 3 Ruddy Turnstone 1 Black Turnstone 1 Whimbrel 5
Pacific White-sided Dolphin Risso's Dolphin California Sea Lion California Sea Otter
Roger Wolfe for Monterey Seabirds
Species mentioned
Pacific White-sided Dolphin · Black-footed Albatross · Pink-footed Shearwater · Red-breasted Merganser · Red-necked Phalarope · Glaucous-winged Gull · California Sea Otter · California Sea Lion · Brandt's Cormorant · Pelagic Cormorant · Rhinoceros Auklet · Laysan Albatross · Sooty Shearwater · Bonaparte's Gull · Pigeon Guillemot · Northern Fulmar · Manx Shearwater · Ruddy Turnstone · Black Turnstone · California Gull · Cassin's Auklet · Risso's Dolphin · Brown Pelican · Sabine's Gull · Pacific Loon · Herring Gull · Western Gull · Common Murre · Common Loon · Surf Scoter