Sunday September 29, 2013

On board the Pt Sur Clipper, we had John Mayer as our skipper, Mike Merlo handling deck duties, and Richard Ternullo in the pulpit. For leaders, I was joined by Alex Rinkert, Christian Swartz, Bruce Elliott, and Don Roberson.

We had superb, sunny weather with mild sea conditions for most of the day. We ran SSW and then in towards the Big Sur Coast.

It was very birdy in the early part of the trip when we ran across a good flock of black-vented shearwaters. One small fast-flying bird that gave the impression of "Tree Swallow" flanks and crisp black-and-white contrast turned out to be a Manx Shearwater. A short time later Alex Rinkert called out a flesh-footed shearwater. We finished with 6 species of shearwater. South Polar skua and black-footed albatross rounded out our "must-get" birds of the day. The oddest sighting of the day was a pelagic flock of Marbled Godwits going by 4 miles west of Cypress Pt.

Non-bird sightings were also great. We had lots of jellies, mola mola, blue sharks, and humpback whales. Add an elephant seal, a northern fur seal, and some show-off Risso's Dolphins leaping completely out of the water, and it made for quite an eventful trip.

Birds observed:
	Canada Goose			Black Oystercatcher
	Northern Pintail			Black Turnstone
	Surf Scoter			Surfbird
	Eared Grebe			Marbled Godwit
	Pied-billed Grebe			Red-necked Phalarope
	Pacific Loon			South Polar Skua
	Black-footed Albatross			Pomarine Jaeger
	Pink-footed Shearwater			Parasitic Jaeger
	Flesh-footed Shearwater			Common Murre
	Buller's Shearwater			Pigeon Guillemot
	Sooty Shearwater			Cassin's Auklet
	Manx Shearwater			Rhinocerous Auklet
	Black-vented Shearwater			Heermann's Gull
	Brandt's Cormorant			Western Gull
	Double-crested Cormorant			California Gull
	Pelagic Cormorant			Elegant Tern
	Brown Pelican			Rock Pigeon
	Great Egret			Belted Kingfisher
	Snowy Egret			American Crow
	Black-crowned Night-Heron			Brewer's Blackbird

Tim Amaral for Monterey Seabirds