By Terry Hunefeld
A bobbing Spotted Sandpiper greeted participants as they boarded Grande Saturday morning. Common Loons and Bottlenose Dolphin were seen in the harbor as Grande made its way past the back bait docks and Ballast Point. A young Herring Gull put in a appearance.
As we departed the harbor mouth, a line of five Buffleheads flew overhead. As we studied them, a Peregrine Falcon exploded into our binocular fields of view and took the last Bufflehead in line and flew away. A young Western Gull harassed the falcon all the way back to Point Loma. The photographers with big lenses did a good job of capturing the moment and the theft (see the video).
It was a perfect day: 68 degrees and 60 mile visibility, evidenced by being able to see the dome of Palomar Observatory easily with binoculars and by naked eye once you knew where to look for it. It looked for all the world like an enormous gleaming white marble on top of Palomar Mountain!
Within a few miles off shore we passed a Mola Mola (Ocean Sunfish) as a hundred Common Dolphin came frolicking to the bow to explore Grande and "ride the bow." Pomarine and Parasitic Jaegers were up to mischief. Bonaparte's Gulls performed their choreographed ballets. Pacific and Common Loons flew overhead. One Red-throated Loon was seen and we saw our first of three Pink-footed Shearwaters of the day.
Participants enjoyed the leaders pointing out the different gull species and how to identify them: Bonaparte's, Herring, Glaucous-winged, Heermann's, California and Western.
Well short of the Nine Mile Bank we saw our first of 41 Common Murres and our first of 300+ Cassin's Auklets. The first 3 of 12 Northern Fulmars for the day flew by the stern while investigating the raucous gull flock.
As we sailed up and "on to" the Nine Mile Bank we found 31 more Common Murres. More than 250 Bonaparte's Gulls and 40 Cassin's Auklets foraged on the seemingly plentiful krill.
We followed the Nine Mile down across the Mexican Border where we saw our first SHORT-TAILED SHEARWATER of the day (lots of photos by multiple photographers in the video). Over the deep Coronado Canyon trench we counted 185 Cassin's Auklets and spotted a Rhinoceros Auklet as a half-dozen Pacific White-sided Dolphins cavorted. Throughout the day over the canyon and Nine Mile Bank, several murrelets were spotted at great distances, too far away to accurately identify with any confidence.
Nearing the Coronados Islands a Brown Booby flew by - we counted 39 BROWN BOOBIES on the islands including 2 downy white chicks. We also found 5 Black Oystercatchers on the rocky shores and counted 10 Elephant Seals hauled up on the beach on the "backside" of Middle Island.
As we departed the islands on our return trip to San Diego via the Coronado Canyon and Nine Mile Bank, a female HARLEQUIN DUCK (3rd Baja record, perhaps the sixth Mexican record) blasted by, seen by 2 leaders and one participant. A SAN DIEGO SHORT-TAILED SHEARWATER came up behind Grande when we were heading in to San Diego from the Nine Mile Bank.
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