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INSTITUTE FOR FIELD ORNITHOLOGY

2007 IFO West Coast Pelagic Birds Report

Instructors: Debra Shearwater and Peter Pyle • 22-27 October 2007 • Monterey, California

Day 1: Monday, October 22nd 2007. We arrived at the Red Roof Inn, Watsonville, by 1530. There were no problems picking up the two 12-PAX vans or with transportation of any of the participants, and all were on time for our 5pm welcome meeting. As there was no restaurant at the motel we shuttled all participants into Watsonville for dinner (on their own) at a Mexican restaurant. Dinner was jovial and lasted late, and since several of the participants had traveled from the eastern US and Canada we retired early rather than give an introductory lecture following dinner.

Day 2: Tuesday, October 23rd 2007. We spent virtually the entire day at Moss Landing, primarily at the Moss Landing Marine Lab (MLML). To make up for the night before we showed Debi's video on seabirds during breakfast, from 0700-0800. At 8:30 am we drove the 20 minutes to MLML where we birded a bit outside the lab before meeting MLML marine biologists Hannah Nevins and Josh Adams. Hannah gave us a complete tour of the facility after which Josh gave an excellent presentation on his work with migration and conservation of Sooty Shearwaters. We ordered pizza for lunch and ate it on the back deck of MLML overlooking the inlet and ocean. Weather was clear, warm, and spectacular. After lunch Peter spent an hour and a half teaching seabird identification and plumages with specimens, and Hannah gave a presentation on her work with Common Murres. At 1530 we departed MLML to bird the mouth of the inlet and had an excellent seafood dinner at Phil's in Moss Landing (participants on their own). After dinner we were given an excellent presentation at MLML by Jim Harvey on the oceanography, ecology, and food webs in Monterey Bay. We had all participants back to the motel and their rooms by 2030. We did not keep a formal bird list this day but were able to show participants several western specialty species of interest, including White-tailed Kite, Violet-green Swallow, Pigeon Guillemot, Clark's Grebe, and Elegant Tern. We also enjoyed the 1000's of gulls, other seabirds, otters, and pinnipeds at Moss Landing, which gave us a great backdrop for discussing the marine productivity and health of Monterey Bay.

Day 3: Wednesday, October 24th 2007. After breakfast at 0700-0800 we drove the 1 hr to Monterey Bay and boarded our boat skippered by Tinker for the day. Lunches were delivered on time but were skimpy and with way too much plastic packaging. Our lecturer Mark Rauzon and a chummer joined us for the trip. We were out on the water all day, returning to the dock at 1700. We let participants eat on their own on the famous Monterey Pier before shuttling them back to the motel for an excellent presentation by Mark on the conservation of tropical Pacific atolls. After a discussion about the next day's plans (see below) we had all back to their rooms by 2030.

Weather was generally excellent for the pelagic trip, with winds of 5-12 knots and very little swell, although the east winds we have been having tends to push birds farther offshore. These switched to northwest at 11 am, which helped bring in many seabirds. Swell was low all day and despite a bit of chop, no participants got seasick that the leaders were aware of.

There was a dramatic "red tide" that had invaded Monterey Bay. This dinoflagellate bloom creates murky brownish to blood-red water, which seabirds avoid because they cannot see prey while foraging under water or from above. The red tide extended out 6-8 miles from shore, and it was not until we got to the outer edge of it and into bluer water that we began to get pelagic seabirds. We spent the morning transversing the bay to the north, passing over Monterey Canyon and up to Davenport Canyon north of the bay. This proved a good itinerary as we had our most exciting observations including the highlight of 7 Baird's Beaked Whales above Davenport Canyon.

Just after we saw the beaked whales Tinker received a report of a vessel in distress off Davenport so we proceeded in that direction to assist as possible. This gave us the opportunity to demonstrate the altruistic nature of the Monterey Bay fishing and boating community when it comes to boats in distress. Tinker and the Coast Guard established a search pattern and after an hour of finding nothing we continued with our trip.

Without exception all participants were very pleased with the boat trip, getting many lifebirds, including some long-sought species for the birders with >700 on their ABA lists. Views of almost all species were excellent, with a South Polar Skua circling the boat for 5-10 minutes being the highlight for many.

Boat Trip Totals:
Pacific Loon 8, Common Loon 6, Eared Grebe 8, Western Grebe 5, Black-footed Albatross 12, Northern Fulmar 320, Pink-footed Shearwater 60, Flesh-footed Shearwater 2, Buller's Shearwater 12, Sooty Shearwater 25, Short-tailed Shearwater 5, Brown Pelican 30, Brandt's Cormorant 400, Pelagic Cormorant 5, Harlequin Duck - 1 (stakeout), Surf Scoter 50, Black Turnstone 4, Red Phalarope 5, South Polar Skua 1, Pomarine Jaeger 30, Parasitic Jaeger 1, Bonaparte's Gull 4, Heermann's Gull 200, Mew Gull 1, California Gull 150, Herring Gull 1, Western Gull 250, Glaucous-winged Gull 10, Elegant Tern 8, Forster's Tern 1, Common Murre 50, Pigeon Guillemot 1, Cassin's Auklet 6, Rhinoceros Auklet 50, Northern Sea Otter 6, California Sea Lion 300, Northern Fur Seal 1, Harbor Seal 1, Humpback Whale 13, Baird's Beaked Whale 8, Risso's Dolphin 20, Pacific White-sided Dolphin 8, Dall's Porpoise 3, Blue Shark 1.

Day 4: Thursday, October 25th 2007. Because of the red tide there were almost no birds off Point Pinos when we went by on the boat on the 24th. The forecast was for 20-30 knot winds and when we awoke before dawn it was pea-soup fog as well. Due to these conditions we made a decision to take the group inland into better weather to do some birding along Hwy 25 in San Benito County. The group was grateful for this decision by the end of the day. The Junkins decided to sleep in and bird on their own this day, and Clancy Ballenger took his own vehicle because he had an 0630 flight the following morning. He decided to stay up near the airport in San Jose and departed the group mid-day. We were able to show the group many species on their "want lists," including Greater Roadrunner, Lawrence's Goldfinch, Nuttall's Woodpecker, Wrentit, Yellow-billed Magpie, Oak Titmouse, Rock Wren, and Prairie Falcon. We also saw both Bald and Golden Eagles and many interesting shorebirds and ducks at a reservoir near Paicines. We ate a late lunch at Tres Pinos, returned to the motel by 1700, and took those who were interested out to get a quick dinner before 1900. At this time Peter gave a one-hour lecture on trans-Pacific migrations, highlighting albatross and white sharks.

Day 5: Friday, October 26th 2007. As of Wednesday the forecast was for 20-30 knots for both Thursday and today, but when we checked the buoy at 0600 it had diminished to only 8 knots. The fog had cleared and, after a bit of a "lump" from the winds of Thursday had died down, the weather turned out to be calm and beautiful. Several participants felt a bit queasy in the wallowing morning seas but all felt fine after noon.

A Black-legged Kittiwake and Sabine's Gull within the first 30 minutes were great omens (Debi has only seen these two on the same day once before) and we wound up having a spectacular day of seabirding. We retraced some of our steps from Wednesday and had completely different species and numbers, highlighting how the ocean can vary from day to day. The red tide had cleared a bit from Wednesday. We returned to the dock at 1615 and had folks back to the motel by 1700.

We gave all participants and hour and a half to clean up before going to the Green Valley Grill for dinner. The food was excellent and at a fairly reasonable price. All participants had an excellent time at dinner. Almost all participants had various plans for early Saturday morning (birding, visiting friends, or getting to the airport), and most would have missed the wrap-up we had planned for the morning. Thus, after the great dinner we returned to the motel at 2130 for a final wrap-up and run through the workshop bird list.

Boat Trip Totals:
Pacific Loon 150, Common Loon 20, Eared Grebe 1, Western Grebe 6, Black-footed Albatross 7, Northern Fulmar 1000+, Pink-footed Shearwater 150, Flesh-footed Shearwater 5, Buller's Shearwater 100, Sooty Shearwater 50, Short-tailed Shearwater 1, Wilson's Storm-Petrel 2, Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel 1, Ashy Storm-Petrel 18, Brown Pelican 120, Brandt's Cormorant 400, Pelagic Cormorant 2, Surf Scoter 150, Red-breasted Merganser 4, Black Turnstone 1, Red Phalarope 25, South Polar Skua 3, Pomarine Jaeger 8, Parasitic Jaeger 1, Bonaparte's Gull 100, Heermann's Gull 250, Mew Gull 3, California Gull 200, Herring Gull 5, Western Gull 250, Glaucous-winged Gull 15, Sabine's Gull 1, Black-legged Kittiwake 7, Elegant Tern 18, Common Murre 20, Pigeon Guillemot 1, Cassin's Auklet 10, Rhinoceros Auklet 80, Northern Sea Otter 2, California Sea Lion 300, Northern Fur Seal 2, Northern Elephant Seal 1, Humpback Whale 2, Northern Right Whale Dolphin 40, Pacific White-sided Dolphin 20, Dall's Porpoise 5, Ocean Sunfish 6.

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