Saturday September 26, 2009 - Sacramento Audubon
Group Charter Seabird Cruise
Our
boatload of Sacramento birders scared the morning fog away, making
for a lovely day on the Monterey Bay. This was a charter for Sac Audubon
and participants ended up paying $66 per person. I really enjoy the
charters as everyone is already acquainted with one another from prior
outings in the field and there is a friendly feeling on the boat.
We headed for Soquel Canyon and the area where we saw Killer Whales
last weekend. On the way we found an area thick with birds sitting
on the water. We were thinking kill but the reality was krill. We
got a request from a 7th grade teacher on board for some krill. Our
skipper Mike Johns procured the krill net that we set adrift at our
stern for a few minutes and I brought it up stuffed with krill. Everyone
got to see the little euphausiids that have a biomass twice that of
humans. But what is this weird yellow stuff in the net? That would
be popcorn from our chum being dispensed by Associate Editor of Birding
Magazine Noah Stryker and his friend Natalya from Colombia.
Seabird highlights were a FLESH-FOOTED SHEARWATER and a TUFTED
PUFFIN that circled the boat several times in flight. Todd Easterla
spotted a SHORT-TAILED SHEARWATER and we also had a few sightings
of BLACK-VENTED SHEARWATERS.
Strangest bird was the female GREEN-WINGED TEAL that landed
amongst the gulls. We all told Natalya from Colombia that this was
a really strange place to get her life GWTE!
The Google map below is an approximation
of the route, as I fouled up something with my hand held GPS.
Species totals for
Monterey County/Santa Cruz County |
| |
Northern Pintail |
0/7 |
|
|
| |
Green-winged Teal |
0/1 |
|
|
| |
Peregrine Falcon |
1/0 |
|
harbor |
| |
Merlin |
2/0 |
|
harbor |
| |
Northern Fulmar |
0/2 |
|
|
| |
Surf Scoter |
25/0 |
|
|
| |
Pacific Loon |
3 |
|
|
| |
Black-footed Albatross |
5/5 |
|
|
| |
Northern Fulmar |
3/1 |
|
|
| |
Pink-footed Shearwater |
48/45 |
|
|
| |
Flesh-footed Shearwater |
0/1 |
|
|
| |
Buller's Shearwater |
2/2 |
|
|
| |
Sooty Shearwater |
180/90 |
|
|
| |
Short-tailed Shearwater |
1/0 |
|
|
| |
Ashy Storm-Petrel |
12/40 |
|
|
| |
Black Storm-petrel |
0/1 |
|
|
| |
Brandt's Cormorant |
30/5 |
|
|
| |
Red-necked Phalarope |
60/40 |
|
|
| |
Sabine's Gull |
1/0 |
|
|
| |
Heermann's Gull |
90/40 |
|
|
| |
Western Gull |
325/135 |
|
|
| |
California Gull |
200/55 |
|
|
| |
Common Tern |
1/0 |
|
|
| |
Pomarine Jaeger |
6/4 |
|
|
| |
Parasitic Jaeger |
3/1 |
|
|
| |
Common Murre |
70/400 |
|
|
| |
Cassin's Auklet |
5/5 |
|
|
| |
Rhinoceros Auklet |
60/125 |
|
|
| |
Tufted Puffin |
0/1 |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| Marine Mammals |
| |
Humpback Whale |
|
|
|
| |
Risso's Dolphin |
|
|
|
| |
Long-beaked Common Dolphin |
|
|
|
| |
Harbor Seal |
|
|
|
| |
California Sea Lion |
|
|
|
| |
Elephant Seal |
|
|
|
| |
Sea Otter |
|
|
|
 |
 |
See the Google
Earth image showing approximate locations of points along
the track in red and county boundaries in white (opens in new
window). |
See Dan
Brown's photo gallery of this trip
Roger Wolfe for Monterey
Seabirds
