My
CA trip was setup for 2 pelagics, one out of Half Moon Bay, and the other out of Monterey Bay.
Sunday September 29th was the first trip out of Half Moon Bay with Shearwater Journeys. I
got to see my most wanted lifer -- South Polar Skua -- so that made the wait all the more worthwhile. We had several Skuas that
day, maybe 6-8, and a couple gave great close looks while the others
were distant flybys.
Here's an image of a Skua that came directly over the boat.
click to enlarge:
credit: Warren Whaley
Here's an image of a Skua that came directly over the boat.
credit: Warren Whaley
I also got the expected species
of Buller's & Short-Tailed Shearwaters (both lifers), and an
unexpected mega (obviously lifer) in the Wedge-Tailed Shearwater !!
The Wedge-Tailed makes up for the miss I had on the Flesh-Footed.
Here is a Buller's Shearwater from the trip.
click to enlarge
credit: Warren Whaley
Here is a Buller's Shearwater from the trip.
credit: Warren Whaley
I
was very happy to see some Tufted Puffins (lifer), even ones with a bit
of the alternate plumage tufts ! This means I do not have to return
for a Farallons Trip...
click to enlarge
credit: Warren Whaley
credit: Warren Whaley
Finally I had two lifers in the Ashy Storm-Petrel and the Black Storm-Petrel.
Here is a Black Storm-Petrel
click to enlarge
credit: Warren Whaley
Here is a Black Storm-Petrel
credit: Warren Whaley
I
did get an upgrade on the Sabine's, but the alternate plumaged ones
were too far away to see that yellow-tip. Oh well, that one will have to
wait, I guess.
click to enlarge
credit: Warren Whaley
I had only seen one LT Jaeger (in NJ) before so seeing a few out there in CA were big upgrades too.
I had only seen one LT Jaeger (in NJ) before so seeing a few out there in CA were big upgrades too.
Surfbird
was also a big upgrade as I had only seen one before, way back in 2004,
and it was far away. Seeing dozens from shore was great !! And I had
seen Black-Footed Albatross on a San Diego pelagic in 2010, so seeing
another half-dozen on this trip was great but did not give me a new tick
!
click to enlarge
credit: Warren Whaley
So, 7 lifers on the first pelagic was worth the costs & the wait.
credit: Warren Whaley
So, 7 lifers on the first pelagic was worth the costs & the wait.
The
following weekend on Saturday, October 5th I went out of Monterey Bay but did not get any lifers.
While I saw many of the same species as Half Moon Bay, I only had better
looks at some species, and worse looks at others. Yet it was still
worth the second pelagic trip.
click to enlarge
credit: Ryan F Mandelbaum
credit: Ryan F Mandelbaum
I
did some brief land birding and got 3 more lifers.
I easily got the Chestnut-Backked Chickadees, and a few Pacific Wrens too. Both of these were expected.
I easily got the Chestnut-Backked Chickadees, and a few Pacific Wrens too. Both of these were expected.
I then put in some early morning efforts to get the Marbled Murrelets so I was very, very happy about that.
credit: Slatremuseum.blogspot.com
My
goal for this trip was 10 lifers, simply because we're at the point now
where there really is no places that we can go and reach double-digit
lifers. Everything now will be onesies or twosies, and a very good trip would yield around four life birds.
So
it was great to reach that goal, and to finally enjoy the results of
all my years of wintertime reading, and research, and dreaming, about
these Northern California pelagics. I guess my next goal is to return
one future day and do a pelagic out of Bodega Bay or other points
farther north to get a few more species I really want (Fork-Tailed
Storm-Petrel, Horned Puffin etc) but that will have to wait awhile. And I
may be better of going really north to places like Oregon or Seattle to
guarantee these species.
Overall
my trip list was just under 115 species, which is good but typically I
would get about 140-150 if I had spent more time land birding.
Recap:
Lifers
South Polar Skua
Buller's SW
Short-Tailed SW
Wedge-Tailed SW
Tufted Puffin
Ashy Storm-Petrel
Black Storm-Petrel
Chestnut-Backed Chickadee
Pacific Wren
Marbled Murrelet
Upgrades and good birds
Surfbird
Sabine's Gull
LT Jaeger plus the other two Jaegers
Black Turnstones & Oystercatchers
both Clarks and Western
Rhino & Cassin's Auklets
Fulmars (I've never seen one in NJ yet !)
Golden-Crowned Sparrows
Band-Tailed Pigeons
Nuttalls WP
Wandering Tattlers
Townsend's Warbler
For the numbers, this trip puts me at 667 for Lower 48/Continental US.
If I include Hawaii , I'm now at 693.
I guess I gotta start thinking about how to get 7 more lifers as my next birding milestone !!
