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| Black Storm-Petrels (c) Thomas A Blackman |
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San Diego to the Nine Mile Bank
and Los Coronados Islands
June 16, 2009
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| Storm-Petrel in San Diego Harbor |
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By Terry Hunefeld
(San Diego) Dave Povey, Tom Blackman and Terry Hunefeld went to sea to see what we could see on Tuesday, June 16, 2009. At 6:00 a.m. at the dock, four Least Terns were foraging. We motored out of the harbor accompanied by two more Least Terns and ten Elegant Terns.
At the harbor mouth we came upon a storm-petrel on the water. This is not a species found near shore, and we speculated it possibly rode a fishing boat into port overnight as it looked a little ragged. A Western Gull dove for the bird, but our close approach seemed to startle the gull. At the time, we thought it to be an Ashy Storm-Petrel, but examination of Tom Blackman's photos (color, bill size and shape) coupled with the extreme unlikleyhood of finding an Ashy instead of a Black Storm-Petrel in the harbor, has led some authorities to lean towards Black Storm-Petel and that's where we will leave it. Let the record show that we saw a "spsp" (storm-petrel species).
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We motored west-northwest out to the Nine Mile Bank (NMB).
3.5 miles out: We came upon our first four Sooty Shearwaters. Water temp was 65.5 degrees.
Four miles offshore: We came across a pod of perhaps 100 Common Dolphin and about 30 more Sooties.
Five miles offshore: We encountered a line of perhaps 150 Elegant Terns working their way west. Sooty Shearwaters were becoming more common.
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Six miles offshore: First 2 Black Storm-Petrels. As we neared the 178 spot at the north end of the NMB (about 12 miles offshore) Black Storm-Petrels became more common, 2 here, three there, flying in their long-winged, deep wing-beat loping style. Sooties also began to increase, another 15 were seen 6 – 12 miles offshore.
Seven miles offshore: First of 10 Cassin’s Auklets for the day were seen.
We rounded the 178 spot (a high-spot on the bank about 600 feet deep and motored out over the drop-off where depth rapidly increases to 3300 feet (visualize the El Cajon Mountain escarpment under water). The California current pushing up against this half-mile high cliff face brings nutrient-rich water to the surface –much like the wind can blow newspapers up the sides of office buildings – creating a life-zone of protoplankton, zooplantona, fish, birds and marine mammals.
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It was over this submarine “cliff” that we found an abundance of life. Our two-for-the-day Xantus’s Murrelets were seen here, eight of our ten Cassin’s Auklets; our first Pink-footed Shearwaters and lots more Sooties.
We spent nearly two hours meandering over the submarine drop-off, motoring slowly south, counting seabirds. 40 of our 71 Pink-foots were seen in this zone, as were 160 of our 300+ Sooties. We saw the first two our 14 deep-water Least Terns of the day here.
As we motored southward, we turned slightly east, back “up the cliff” on to the bank into shallower water, a flock of 40 Western and 15 Heermann’s Gulls in tow, fighing over our popcorn chum, their activity bringing in the tubenoses. Pink-foots were fairly common, with one/two or three coming by every few minutes for a closer look at what all the gull fuss was about.
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Above video: Fin Whale with Point Loma and Cabrillo National Monument in the background.
About two miles north of the Mexican border, in about 600 feet of water near the cliff edge, we began to encounter rafts of Black Storm-Petrels. 100 here, 150 there, 250 over there and 700 there, totaling well over a thousand for the day.
It was here that we found a Fin Whale making big loops near the surface, evidently enjoying lunch.
After we left the storm-petrels, we cut a path for the Coronados Islands, finding very little along the way but a few shearwaters and Black Storm-Petrels here and there.
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| Pink Flamingo (c) Thomas A Blackman |
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We found a two Black Oystercatchers and a PINK FLAMINGO sp on North Island - possibly Phoenicopterus ruber plasticus although Stan Walens feels that it may be Phoenicopterus floridianus hortus. We hope this photo proves diagnostic after submission to the California Bird Record Committee.
At “Booby Rock” we found 22 Brown Boobies including two all-brown immatures, one downy white chick on the very tip-top of the rock with a parent and another set of parents lower down the cliff edge on a nest. Middle Islands was missing it winter hordes of Harbor Seals. One Elephant Seal was found beach-loafing with some California Sea Lions.
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Totals:
Pacific Loon 1 U.S., 1 Mex
Pink-footed Shearwater 71 U.S. 2 Mex.
Sooty Shearwater 321 U.S. 25 Mex
storm-petrel species 1 S.D. Bay channel
Black Storm-Petrel 1350 U.S. 20 Mex
Brown Booby 22 ( 1 downy chick, 1 adult on nest)
Pelagic Cormorant 1 Mex on Middle(Booby) Rock
Least Tern 4 S.D. Bay, 12 U.S. along NMB, 2 Mex
Elegant Tern 20 S.D. Bay, 245 U.S., 35 Mex
Royal Tern 2 Mex at the islands
Caspian Tern 8 S.D.Bay
Xantus’s' Murrelet 2 U.S.
Cassin's Auklet 10 U.S.
Black Oystercatcher 3 Mex
Flamingo sp. Believed to be the wide spread Phoenicopterus ruber plasticus although Stan Walens feels that it may be Phoenicopterus floridianus hortus. We hope that Tom’s photo proves to be diagnostic after submission.
Marine Mammals
Fin Whale 1
Bottle-nosed Dolphin 4 pods 25 animals
Common Dolphin 2 pods 150
California Sea Lion
Harbor Seal
Elephant Seal (1)
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