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Bodega Bay & Monterey Bay

19 & 20 October 2007
by Debi Shearwater

Season Concludes

Hello, Seabirders - Shearwater Journeys last two pelagic trips of the fall were held this past Friday from Bodega Bay and Saturday from Monterey Bay, wrapping up an excellent season. Winter was rounding the corner as over 1000+ NORTHERN FULMARS showed up on the Bodega Bay trip. Flocks of 300-400 fulmars were sitting on the water! Despite some rain, the seas were calm and seabirding was generally quite good. In addition to the fulmars, highlights included a single FORK-TAILED STORM-PETREL which flew past the bow; 5 ASHY STORM-PETRELS; 75 BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSSES; 1 FLESH-FOOTED SHEARWATER; a wonderful SOUTH POLAR SKUA show, with birds circling the boat high overhead, revealing a silver band on the left leg; 19 POMARINE JAEGERS; 2 late SABINE'S GULLS (1 adult, 1 juv.); and 4 fly-away ANCIENT MURRELETS. Saturday's trip from Monterey just barely dodged the high winds and seas following the latest rain. We ducked behind the Santa Cruz mountains after ticking 5 SPECIES OF SHEARWATERS: PINK-FOOTED, FLESH-FOOTED, BULLER'S, SOOTY, and SHORT-TAILED, as well as a few BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSSES. We enjoyed watching the surfers at the Santa Cruz lighthouse riding the big waves. But, our real purpose in visiting the boardwalk was to search for murrelets, which we did find. Five MARBLED MURRELETS were life birds for many of the folks visiting from outside of the area. Three HARLEQUIN DUCKS were in the Monterey harbor, and two PEREGRINE FALCONS were along Cannery Row. A flock of arriving CACKLING GEESE were spotted as well. Eight species of gulls feeding in large flocks more reminiscent of winter trips caught our attention. One "vega" type gull was photographed, following our boat. Finally, BREACHING HUMPBACK WHALES were a treat on both trips! In fact, every one of our fall (August through October) recorded Humpback Whales! Blue Whales were recorded on only one Monterey trip, but on several Bodega Bay trips. The vast majority of the Cassin's Auklets were found on Bodega Bay trips, as well, being virtually absent from Monterey Bay. These tiny auklets are krill feeders, like the Blue Whales, which explains why we saw these two animals together so often off Bodega Bay.

Thanks

Shearwater Journeys thanks all of the participants who came out for these two trips, and all of those wonderful folks who traveled with us this past fall season. Leaders for the October 19th trip were: Jennifer Green, Lisa Hug, Oscar Johnson, David Vander Pluym, Debra Shearwater, and Jukka from Finland. Leaders for the October 20th trip were: Linda Terrill, Scott Terrill, David Vander Pluym, Oscar Johnson, Jennifer Green, and Debra Shearwater. Many thanks to our chummer, Lizbeth Tinajero!

Upcoming Trips

Winter/spring trips planned for 2008 include the following dates: January 13, February 10, March 2, and May 11th. All trips will depart from Monterey. Please see the schedule for more information.

Species List

The complete species list for OCTOBER 19 BODEGA BAY/OCTOBER 20 MONTEREY BAY, 2007 FOLLOWS:

PACIFIC LOON-0/4
COMMON LOON-6/14
RED-NECKED GREBE-1/0
EARED GREBE-0/7
WESTERN GREBE-20/25
CLARK'S GREBE-3/2
WESTERN/CLARK'S-0/40
BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS-75/3
NORTHERN FULMAR-1231/95
PINK-FOOTED SHEARWATER-77/73
FLESH-FOOTED SHEARWATER-1/1
BULLER'S SHEARWATER-40/4
SOOTY SHEARWATER-35/6
SHORT-TAILED SHEARWATER-0/2
FORK-TAILED STORM-PETREL-1/0
ASHY STORM-PETREL-5/0
BROWN PELICAN-18/180
BRANT'S CORMORANT-150/400
DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT-0/2
PELAGIC CORMORANT-3/12
HARLEQUIN DUCK-0/3
SURF SCOTER-22/80
BLACK OYSTERCATCER-9/0
BLACK TURNSTONE-0/11
SURFBIRD-11/0
RED-NECKED PHALAROPE-7/2
RED PHALAROPE-10/30
SOUTH POLAR SKUA-2/0
POMARINE JAEGER-19/22
POMARINE/PARASITIC-0/2
PARASITIC JAEGER-0/2
BONAPARTE'S GULL-0/6
HEERMANN'S GULL-60/75
MEW GULL-0/1
CALIFORNIA GULL-40/60
HERRING GULL-8/6
THAYER'S GULL-3/1
WESTERN GULL-150/350
GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULL-5/1
WESTERN/GLAUCOUS-WINGED-9/4
GLAUCOUS-WINGED/HERRING-3/0
SABINE'S GULL-2 (1adult, 1 juv.)/0
ELEGANT TERN-0/19
COMMON MURRE-45/242
PIGEON GUILLEMOT-0/3
MARBLED MURRELET-0/5
ANCIENT MURRELET-4/0
CASSIN'S AUKLET-580/2
RHINOCEROS AUKLET-40/38


CANADA GOOSE-0/1
CACKLING GOOSE-0/25
LEAST SANDPIPER-0/12
"VEGA" TYPE GULL-0/1
PEREGRINE FALCON-0/2
GREAT EGRET-0/5
SNOWY EGRET-0/6
NORTHERN PINTAIL-0/8


SEA OTTER-0/8
CALIFORNIA SEA LION-+/++
NORTHERN FUR SEAL-2/2
HARBOR SEAL-+/++
HUMPBACK WHALE-13/13
PACIFIC WHITE-SIDED DOLPHIN-0/5
DALL'S PORPOISE-27/0
BLUE SHARK-3/0
MOON JELLIES-+/++

Thank you again,

Debra Shearwater
PO Box 190
Hollister, CA 95024
831.637.8527