Hello, Seabirders,

By any stretch of the imagination, today's Shearwater Journey's pelagic trip from Bodega Bay was spectacular, exceeding all expectations with excellent sea conditions, tens of thousands of migrating seabirds, including 12 species of tubenoses, and a magnificent whale show!

Highlights

A light morph WEDGE- TAILED SHEARWATER, a LAYSAN ALBATROSS, thousands of storm-petrels, including; 4000 ASHY STORM-PETRELS, the first BLACK STORM-PETRELS of the season (6), FORK-TAILED STORM-PETRELS (4), and amazingly, at least 20 WILSON'S STORM-PETRELS. Other highlights included 2 or 3 FLESH-FOOTED SHEARWATERS, nearly 2000 PINK-FOOTED SHEARWATERS, 700 SOOTY SHEARWATERS, and 40 BULLER'S SHEARWATERS.

The alcid show was no less spectacular, with 3 adult TUFTED PUFFINS (1 in Sonoma County and 2 in Marin County). CASSIN'S AUKLETS were found in good numbers - with many sitting on the water, offering great views of an alcid that has been scarce the past two years. The jaeger show was fantastic, with multiple SOUTH POLAR SKUAS overhead. In fact, POMARINE, PARASITIC, and LONG-TAILED JAEGERS, and SOUTH POLAR SKUAS were in view all at the same time! Over 3500 RED-NECKED PHALAROPES were tallied, and the first of the season RED PHALAROPES were found.

Cetaceans

HUMPBACK WHALES were in view throughout the day, sometimes being detected by the smelly blows, or constant breaching, or pectoral flipper slapping. DALL'S PORPOISES joined our wake for a ride. NORTHERN FUR SEALS were extremely abundant. The crowning jewel of the cetacean display was a BLUE WHALE spotted by Jennifer Green off the bow of our boat! It even raised its tail flukes as it sounded! It was a show of marine life o that few birders ever experience!
We enjoyed uniformly high overcast skies throughout the day - perfect conditions, with relatively low swells, and no whitecaps at all. By 9:30 am, I had already exclaimed that the day was a success, as we had tallied so many birds, including a beautiful Tufted Puffin.

Wedge-tailed Shearwater

About 10:00 am, Steve Howell spotted the Wedge-tailed Shearwater off the stern of the boat. Both Steve and Brian Sullivan managed to snap a "record" image of the bird as is was flying away. It did not stay long, and many of the birders on board missed this mega-rarity. Few were disappointed, though. We soon encountered thousands of storm- petrels, rafted up on the water, as they do. We could even smell their musky odor. After sifting through these flocks, we easily picked out many Wilson's, and a few blacks and fork-tails.

While we were in the process of studying the storm-petrel flocks, a single Laysan Albatross made repeated passes. Finally, after everyone on board had satisfactory views, we moved on to other birds. Soon, we found the first of many Cassin's Auklets, the Blue Whales, and several Blue Sharks. All three of these animals feed on krill. So, we must be having a krill bloom near the Cordell Bank! There has been precious little krill along the nearshore of central California for the past two fall seasons. We can only hope that this krill bloom continues.

Leaders

We thank all of the participants and the leaders: Steve Howell, Brian Sullivan, Lisa Hug, Jennifer Green, Luke Cole, John Luther, & Debra Shearwater. The complete species list follows.

We still have spaces open on the following trips from Bodega Bay: SEP 14 & 30; OCT 19. The September 14th trip can be combined with a trip from Fort Bragg on SEP 16th, with coastal land birding on September 15th along Highway 1.

Trips from Monterey with spaces available are: SEP 22, 23, 24; OCT 5, 7, 12, 13, & 20.

Spaces are still available on our Albacore trips from Monterey on SEP 29 & OCT 6. For reservations, please contact Debra Shearwater (below).

SEPTEMBER 7, 2007 BODEGA BAY PELAGIC TRIP:

PACIFIC LOON-1
WESTERN GREBE-1
LAYSAN ALBATROSS-1
BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS-70
NORTHERN FULMAR-85
PINK-FOOTED SHEARWATER-1980
FLESH-FOOTED SHEARWATER- 2 or 3
*WEDGE-TAILED SHEARWATER-1 light morph
BULLER'S SHEARWATER-40
SOOTY SHEARWATER-700
WILSON'S STORM-PETREL-20+
FORK-TAILED STORM-PETREL-4
ASHY STORM-PETREL-4000
BLACK STORM-PETREL-6
BROWN PELICAN-2
BRANDT'S CORMORANT-1000+
RED-NECKED PHALAROPE-3500
RED PHALAROPE-500
SOUTH POLAR SKUA-6
POMARINE JAEGER-22
PARASITIC JAEGER-8
LONG-TAILED JAEGER-16
JAEGER sp.-4
BONAPARTE'S GULL-1 juv.
HEERMANN'S GULL-40
MEW GULL-1 in harbor
CALIFORNIA GULL-120
WESTERN GULL-300
SABINE'S GULL-160
COMMON/ARCTIC TERN-2
ARCTIC TERN-1
COMMON MURRE-500
PIGEON GUILLEMOT-10
CASSIN'S AUKLET-80
RHINOCEROS AUKLET-62
TUFTED PUFFIN-3
CALIFORNIA SEA LION-150
STELLER'S SEA LION-1
NORTHERN FUR SEAL-33
*BLUE WHALE-1
HUMPBACK WHALE-27
DALL'S PORPOISE-33
OCEAN SUNFISH-1
BLUE SHARK-7
MOON JELLIES-++
WESTERN SANDPIPER-1
SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHER-8
BLACK OYSTERCATCHER-1
SANDERLING-8

What a day!
Shearwaters forever,

Debra Shearwater
PO Box 190
Hollister, CA 95024
831/637-8527