STORM-PETREL AND ALBATROSS EXTRAVAGANZA
Sponsored By:  Buena Vista Audubon Society
From San Diego aboard Grande
48 Hours On The Ocean
Monday August 24 @ 4:00 p.m.
to Wednesday Aug 26 at 4:00 p.m.

The Zen of deep water seabirding.  We took what the ocean gave us, gentle rolling swells, tropical breezes, warm sunshine, great friends and a wonderful experience.  Video best viewed by clicking the "full screen" icon under the "u" in YouTube in the lower right of the video picture.  "These changes in latitudes, changes in attitudes, nothing remains quite the same."

By Terry Hunefeld

44 birders departed San Diego’s Point Loma Landing aboard Grande at 4:30 p.m. August 24 to spend 48 hours heading out 150 miles to the edge of the Continental Shelf to see just what birds might be out there.  On the way out of the harbor, while still south of Shelter Island, we all saw an extraordinarily “up harbor” Black Storm-petrel.  Dave Povey has never seen a Black Storm-petrel this far up San Diego bay in his 40 years of regularly taking boats from Shelter Island.

We headed out to the Nine Mile Bank, seeing 3 Pom Jaegers en route.  At the bank we watched a Parasitic Jaeger chasing terns, saw 3 Ashy Storm-Petrels and counted more than 100 Black Storm-Petrels supplemented by Sooty and Pink-footed Shearwaters and more Pom Jaegers. 

After sunset Grande continued on a course straight southwest from Point Loma.  Tuesday morning we awoke 115 n. miles offshore, 20 n. miles due south of the Cortez Bank.  We continued southwest another 45 miles for the rest of the morning, out over the drop off of the Continental Shelf, ocean depths going from 500 fathoms (a half mile), to 1000 fathoms (a mile) to 2,000 fathoms (12,000 feet, 2+ miles deep!). 

Black-footed Albatross.  Buller’s Shearwaters.  Leaches Storm-Petrels. Arctic Terns.  Long-tailed Jaegers.  The morning was a veritable birder’s candy store.  We didn’t find any pterodromas in the really deep water, so Todd McGrath turned Grande and headed southeast back “up” the cliff-face two miles below us into shallower (only one mile deep) waters where everybody on-board got a good look at a Los Angeles County Brown Booby fly-by.  Just before dusk we laid a big chum slick and many aboard got a look at a Wilson’s Storm-Petrel with the other storm-petrels. 

Overnight we motored northeast to awaken Wednesday morning to a beautiful rising sun at the Sixty Mile Bank.  We cut through Mexican waters on the way home, catching albacore and mahi-mahi, watching the storm-petrels, shearwaters and albatrosses and being treated to Blue Whale antics.  While we didn’t bag any pterodromas on this trip, as you can see from the videos, we had an awesome, relaxing, fantastic 48 hours.  

If the YouTube video above runs into copyright issues with Jimmy's song, scroll down to under the booby photo to see the video on another server.  Thanks to Tom Blackman, Todd McGrath and Steve N.G. Howell for photos.  Thanks to Matt Sadowski for the trip track.  Thanks to Jon Feenstra for entering the data into eBird.  Thanks to Wes Fritz and Dave Povey for chumming. 

Grande Species List By Sector   August 24 – 26, 2009

By Jon Feenstra, PhD

Monday 8/24/09  4:30 p.m.  San Diego County all day

San Diego Harbor - Shelter Island to harbor mouth
Black Storm-Petrel - Oceanodroma melania     1
Brandt's Cormorant - Phalacrocorax penicillatus     10
Snowy Egret - Egretta thula     1
Heermann's Gull - Larus heermanni     100
Western Gull - Larus occidentalis     35
Caspian Tern - Hydroprogne caspia     3
Royal Tern - Thalasseus maximus     1
Elegant Tern - Thalasseus elegans     5

Transit from SD Harbor to the 9 Mile Bank
Pink-footed Shearwater - Puffinus creatopus     3
Sooty Shearwater - Puffinus griseus     1
Black Storm-Petrel - Oceanodroma melania     7
Double-crested Cormorant - Phalacrocorax auritus     3
Red-necked Phalarope - Phalaropus lobatus     18
Heermann's Gull - Larus heermanni     50
Western Gull - Larus occidentalis     20
Royal Tern - Thalasseus maximus     19
Elegant Tern - Thalasseus elegans     58
Pomarine Jaeger - Stercorarius pomarinus     3
Pomarine/Parasitic Jaeger - Stercorarius pomarinus/parasiticus     1

Nine Mile Bank – San Diego US waters
Pink-footed Shearwater - Puffinus creatopus     14
Sooty Shearwater - Puffinus griseus     3
Ashy Storm-Petrel - Oceanodroma homochroa     3
Black Storm-Petrel - Oceanodroma melania     135
Red-necked Phalarope - Phalaropus lobatus     8
Heermann's Gull - Larus heermanni     10
Western Gull - Larus occidentalis     20
Common Tern - Sterna hirundo     1
Royal Tern - Thalasseus maximus     4
Elegant Tern - Thalasseus elegans     65
Pomarine Jaeger - Stercorarius pomarinus     2
Parasitic Jaeger - Stercorarius parasiticus     1
Parasitic/Long-tailed Jaeger - Stercorarius parasiticus/longicaudus     1

Tuesday 8/25/09  Dawn – Los Angeles County all day

Shelf edge - SW ABA limit Transit from 1000fn water due west of Ensenada SW to 2000fn water, then SE along edge toward Bell Bank.
Black-footed Albatross - Phoebastria nigripes     4
Pink-footed Shearwater - Puffinus creatopus     15
Buller's Shearwater - Puffinus bulleri     14
Sooty Shearwater - Puffinus griseus     2
Leach's Storm-Petrel - Oceanodroma leucorhoa     44     28 dark-rumped, 33 white-rumped, 1 intermediate (or questionable). 2 probable dark-rumped Townsend's.
Black Storm-Petrel - Oceanodroma melania     3
Marbled Godwit - Limosa fedoa     2
Red Phalarope - Phalaropus fulicarius     20
Western Gull - Larus occidentalis     5
Arctic Tern - Sterna paradisaea     2
Common/Arctic Tern - Sterna hirundo/paradisaea     2
Long-tailed Jaeger - Stercorarius longicaudus     3
Cassin's Auklet - Ptychoramphus aleuticus     1
Mourning Dove - Zenaida macroura     1

Bell Bank - US waters: Transit across length of Bell Bank with an extended stop on a slick at dusk. A  Wilson's SP came into to slick and was seen briefly. A Brown Booby flew by.
Black-footed Albatross - Phoebastria nigripes     3
Buller's Shearwater - Puffinus bulleri     1
Wilson's Storm-Petrel - Oceanites oceanicus     1
Leach's Storm-Petrel - Oceanodroma leucorhoa     42     23 white-rumped, 18 dark-rumped + 1 probable dark-rumped Townsend's
Black Storm-Petrel - Oceanodroma melania     3
Brown Booby - Sula leucogaster     1
Red Phalarope - Phalaropus fulicarius     3

Butterfly Bank  (Los Angeles) Transit north to the Butterfly Bank then due east across it into Mexico.
Black-footed Albatross - Phoebastria nigripes     1
Pink-footed Shearwater - Puffinus creatopus     2
Sooty Shearwater - Puffinus griseus     1
Leach's Storm-Petrel - Oceanodroma leucorhoa     9     2 white-rumped, 7 dark-rumped
Black Storm-Petrel - Oceanodroma melania     20
Red Phalarope - Phalaropus fulicarius     6
Western Gull - Larus occidentalis     2
Common Tern - Sterna hirundo     29
Common/Arctic Tern - Sterna hirundo/paradisaea     29
Elegant Tern - Thalasseus elegans     3

Mexican Waters – Northern Baja California - Transit across Mexico from the Butterfly Bank to the 9 Mile Bank.
Pink-footed Shearwater - Puffinus creatopus     60
Sooty Shearwater - Puffinus griseus     75
Leach's Storm-Petrel - Oceanodroma leucorhoa     6     3 dark-rumped, 3 white-rumped
Black Storm-Petrel - Oceanodroma melania     20
Brown Booby - Sula leucogaster     1
Red-necked Phalarope - Phalaropus lobatus     1
Western Gull - Larus occidentalis     3
Common Tern - Sterna hirundo     55
Common/Arctic Tern - Sterna hirundo/paradisaea     25
Elegant Tern - Thalasseus elegans     65
Pomarine Jaeger - Stercorarius pomarinus     1
Parasitic Jaeger - Stercorarius parasiticus     1
Pomarine/Parasitic Jaeger - Stercorarius pomarinus/parasiticus     1

Nine Mile Bank – Mexico - Transit along Nine Mile Bank en route to San Diego.
Pink-footed Shearwater - Puffinus creatopus     16
Sooty Shearwater - Puffinus griseus     20
Black Storm-Petrel - Oceanodroma melania     13
Red Phalarope - Phalaropus fulicarius     1
Western Gull - Larus occidentalis     10
Common Tern - Sterna hirundo     5
Elegant Tern - Thalasseus elegans     50
Rhinoceros Auklet - Cerorhinca monocerata     1

San Diego Harbor - Shelter Island to harbor mouth. Returning to dock.
Brown Booby - Sula leucogaster     1     Perched on buoy near Shelter Island.