THE GREAT PTERODROMA HUNT
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173 COOK'S PETRELS
Pterodroma and Tropicbird Weekend
May 15-17, 2010
Sponsored By: The Buena Vista Audubon Society
Deep Water 56-Hour Weekend Pelagic To The San Juan Seamount Aboard Grande
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Trip Photos, Video & Theme Song
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Best viewed full screen by clicking the icon near the lower right hand corner of the video (beneath the "You" in YouTube).
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| Saturday trip track. Thank you Matt Sadowski! |
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More Than A Feeling
By Terry Hunefeld - Todd McGrath and I felt that 2010 could have some good things in store for pelagic treasure hunters when one of our research-ship-riding-friends sailed from San Diego to Monterey tallied 805 Cook's Petrels, at least one Stejneger's Petrel, 15 Murphy's Petrels and 3 Hawaiian Petrels. Then came pterodroma reports from a late April repositioning cruse from Long Beach to Vancouver. Then we were blessed by Mother Ocean with pterodroma wind and 63 Cook's and a very close Murphy's Petrel on Condor Express on May 1. So we were all all on pins and needles anticipating the May 15-17 deep water adventure.
By Paul Lehman - The double-overnight pelagic trip out of San Diego, 15-17 May, aboard GRANDE was a fine success, with good sea and weather conditions and good birds. We departed Saturday AM, headed west past San Clemente Island and then overnighted heading farther west out to water as deep as 2000 fathoms WSW of San Nicolas Island, where we spent a good part of Sunday, then returned east, birding from just se. of San Clemente Is. back to San Diego on Monday. Thus we birded in a combination of San Diego (SD), Los Angeles (LA), and Ventura (VEN) (almost all deepwater) "county" waters.
Highlights included:
173 Cook's Petrels on Sunday-this establishes a new record-high count for one day on a birding charter boat trip off California. These birds were in as shallow as 280-fathom water, to as deep as our trip's limit at 2000 fathoms. The final bird was inside Tanner Bank.
5 Laysan Albatrosses (VEN)-two of which stayed right behind the boat for half a day.
2 Red-billed Tropicbirds (LA)-one bird was only a quarter mile from SD waters
4 South Polar Skuas (3 LA, 1 SD)
1 Long-tailed Jaeger-out in deep, 2000-fathom water (VEN), where regular in migration
1 Arctic Tern-ditto
8 Ashy Storm-Petrels (3 in SD waters) many Leach's Storm-Petrels-mostly in deep water (included ca. 10 dark-rumped, Chapman's types) 2000 Black Storm-Petrels (most in SD and LA)
3 Northern Fulmars-getting late (LA and SD) 30 Xantus's Murrelets-included several chicks, plus 2 adults way offshore in 2000-fathom water (all scripsii)
12 Black-footed Albatrosses (1 in SD) Good numbers of Red Phalaropes well offshore; several Common Terns not so far out Several VERY close Fin Whales
Overnight between midnight and 3AM between Sunday and Monday, several observers watched many hundreds of birds pass through the boats lights between Tanner Bank and San Clemente Island, including flocks totaling over 200 Sabine's Gulls heading north, large numbers of phalaropes and Leach's, a good number of passerines (mostly warblers but including a White-crowned Sparrow), and-rarest of all-2 Least Terns much farther offshore than anyone had ever seen one before (normally 9-Mile Bank is their offshore limit, but these birds were MUCH farther out, being beyond San Clemente).
Also, on Saturday morning as we headed offshore we had more passerines around the boat than anyone remembered seeing on a single trip off California, including many warblers (mostly Wilson's, Yellow, and Townsend's, with a few Hermits).
In the 1000-2000 fathom water we did not see a single shearwater, but there were plenty of "tubenoses" present, given all the Cook's Petrels, albatrosses, and Leach's Storm-Petrels out there.
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| Sunday: The Mother Lode. Trip Track thanks to Matt Sadowski |
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By Todd McGrath - The Buena Vista Audubon 56 hour pelagic May 15-17 out of San Diego was a huge success! Our boat, the mighty Grande took us from San Diego rougly 170 miles away to the edge of the shelf to 2100 fathoms of water.
We had great weather, and on Sunday May 16th, counting 172 Cook's Petrels, all in Ventura County. From the 300 fathom line out we had numbers of Cook's. Early in the day the were flying about in spectacular fashion. When the wind dropped in the afternoon, we flushed them in small groups from the water. The highlight for me was seeing a group of 24 feeding over albacore.
Other highlights of our Sunday in Ventura included Xantus's Murrelets, and 5 Laysan Albatrosses (with two following the boat for hours). In fact at the end of the day on Sunday, we put out a slick and had several Pomarine Jaegers, 2 Laysans, a few Leach's Storm-petrels and a Cook's Petrel over the slick, and many of the passengers were chatting or preparing for dinner, as we had seen these species most of the day!
The next day in LA County water we added a couple of Red-billed Tropicbirds (one just a couple of miles from San Diego waters), plus South Polar Skuas. A full trip report will be on Socalbirding.com, as I have only touched on a few of the many highlights here.
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| Skua Monday |
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By: Brennan Mulrooney - Several folks have reported some highlights of our trip on the Grande. A couple of experiences that will probably be my most memorable include: Yesterday morning at about 0430 I was awaken by the sound of calling Yellow Warblers. Somehow over the drone of twin diesel engines, the repeated "zeet" of several Yellow Warbler woke me and got me out of bed. I'm glad I got up, because the last hour of darkness was quite an experience. There was a constant cloud of warblers circling the boat. It was quite a challenge to ID them as they darted in and out of the light, but many were Yellow Warblers, joined by lesser numbers of Wilson's and at least one Common Yellowthroat and one Townsends or Hermit. There were also at least two Swainson's Thrushes calling, but they never came down low enough to be seen in the lights. There were also flocks of Red-necked Phalaropes swirling around at the edge of the light with the occasional bird barreling in just past our heads. Surprisingly, as it got light, they all disappeared. On Saturday they continued to fly around the boat for hours, but maybe yesterday the could see San Clemente as it got light and headed there. The other thing that I didn't expect from this trip was seeing not one, but two Laysan Albatross flying around the boat, being totally ignored by most folks on board. I guess after a couple of hours even Laysan Albatross get old. It was pretty amazing.
By David Pereksta - We sailed on the Grande out of San Diego and spent Saturday birding the 9-mile and 30-mile banks off San Diego and then moving south and west of San Clemente Island. We woke up Sunday west of San Nicolas Island in Ventura County waters (by birding rules) where we spent the day searching areas up to 2,000 fathoms deep. Monday we birded the 30-mile and 9-mile banks again before returning to San Diego. The trip was filled with many highlights including the following:
173 Cook's Petrels!!! 172 of these were seen on Sunday in Ventura County waters! These were spread throughout the day with many approaching for satisfying views.
5 Laysan Albatrosses (all in Venco) and 12 Black-footed Albatrosses (8 in Venco). Several of these followed the boat for long periods of time.
1 distant Brown Booby off San Diego
2 Red-billed Tropicbirds
4 South Polar Skuas
1 Long-tailed Jaeger (Venco)
1000s of Black Storm-Petrels
100+ Leach's Storm-Petrels including 5 "Chapman's" (nearly all in Venco)
1 Arctic Tern (Venco)
6 species of warblers around and on the boat on Saturday morning off San Diego
In addition to those highlights, we saw a number of more expected species like Sooty and Pink-footed Shearwaters, Northern Fulmars, Ashy Storm-Petrels, Pomarine Jaegers, Cassin's and Rhinoceros Auklets, Xantus's Murrelets (including a few with chicks), Red-necked and Red Phalaropes, Sabine's Gulls, Common Terns, and several species of loons, gulls, and terns.
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Trip List compiled and submitted to eBird by Brennan Mulrooney
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15-May |
16-May |
17-May |
Total |
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| Brant |
-- |
-- |
71 |
71 |
| Mallard |
3 |
-- |
-- |
3 |
| Surf Scoter |
16 |
-- |
15 |
31 |
| Pacific Loon |
120 |
-- |
6 |
126 |
| Common Loon |
1 |
-- |
3 |
4 |
| Laysan Albatross |
-- |
5 |
-- |
5 |
| Black-footed Albatross |
2 |
8 |
1 |
11 |
| Northern Fulmar |
2 |
-- |
1 |
3 |
| Cook's Petrel |
-- |
172 |
1 |
173 |
| Pink-footed Shearwater |
6 |
-- |
17 |
23 |
| Sooty Shearwater |
5 |
1 |
11 |
17 |
| Leach's Storm-Petrel |
1 |
85 |
-- |
86 |
| Ashy Storm-Petrel |
1 |
-- |
4 |
5 |
| Black Storm-Petrel |
2,175 |
4 |
350 |
2,529 |
| Red-billed Tropicbird |
-- |
-- |
2 |
2 |
| Brown Booby |
1 |
-- |
-- |
1 |
| Brown Pelican |
10 |
-- |
35 |
45 |
| Brandt's Cormorant |
100 |
-- |
3 |
103 |
| Double-crested Cormorant |
9 |
-- |
5 |
14 |
| Great Blue Heron |
2 |
-- |
-- |
2 |
| Great Egret |
4 |
-- |
-- |
4 |
| Snowy Egret |
8 |
-- |
5 |
13 |
| Black-crowned Night-Heron |
1 |
-- |
-- |
1 |
| Cooper's Hawk |
1 |
-- |
-- |
1 |
| Killdeer |
1 |
-- |
-- |
1 |
| Long-billed Curlew |
3 |
-- |
-- |
3 |
| Red-necked Phalarope |
83 |
-- |
50 |
133 |
| Red Phalarope |
2 |
80 |
12 |
94 |
| Sabine's Gull |
14 |
5 |
15 |
34 |
| Heermann's Gull |
5 |
-- |
4 |
9 |
| Western Gull |
70 |
-- |
90 |
160 |
| California Gull |
3 |
-- |
-- |
3 |
| Least Tern |
14 |
-- |
40 |
54 |
| Caspian Tern |
-- |
-- |
4 |
4 |
| Common Tern |
2 |
-- |
1 |
3 |
| Arctic Tern |
-- |
1 |
-- |
1 |
| Royal Tern |
2 |
1 |
5 |
8 |
| Elegant Tern |
73 |
-- |
70 |
143 |
| South Polar Skua |
-- |
-- |
3 |
3 |
| Pomarine Jaeger |
-- |
3 |
2 |
5 |
| Long-tailed Jaeger |
-- |
1 |
-- |
1 |
| Xantus's Murrelet |
9 |
2 |
8 |
19 |
| Cassin's Auklet |
37 |
2 |
9 |
48 |
| Rhinoceros Auklet |
-- |
1 |
-- |
1 |
| Rock Pigeon |
20 |
-- |
-- |
20 |
| Mourning Dove |
1 |
-- |
1 |
2 |
| hummingbird sp. |
1 |
-- |
-- |
1 |
| American Crow |
2 |
-- |
-- |
2 |
| Barn Swallow |
1 |
-- |
-- |
1 |
| Swainson's Thrush |
-- |
-- |
2 |
2 |
| Yellow Warbler |
3 |
-- |
10 |
13 |
| Yellow-rumped Warbler |
1 |
-- |
-- |
1 |
| Townsend's Warbler |
1 |
-- |
-- |
1 |
| Hermit Warbler |
1 |
-- |
-- |
1 |
| Common Yellowthroat |
-- |
-- |
1 |
1 |
| Wilson's Warbler |
6 |
1 |
5 |
12 |
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| close Cook's Petrels (c) Todd McGrath |
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Weekend double-overnight trips have but one purpose: to get out beyond the edge of the continental shelf more than 120 nautical miles offshore where rare pterodroma are usually found only by research ships because no day trips venture this far.
We'll depart Saturday morning at 7:00 a.m. from Point Loma Sportsfishing marina, returning Monday afternoon at 3:00 p.m.
Itinerary: We'll head directly west to explore the bird-rich Nine-mile bank, then head west, spending the day looking for birds among the life zones of 'the 182," the 30 mile bank and the 60 mile bank.
By sunset we should be 5 miles south of Pyramid Cove on San Clemente Island where, weather permitting, we turn on a northwesty couse towards the San Juan Seamount. We plan to awaken Sunday morning at the edge of the Continental Shelf and continue northwest over the deep water between the Patton Escarpment to the east and the San Juan Seamount in the deep water where many Cook's Petrels were seen from a research ship in mid-April 2010 and many more seen on 1 May 2010 from the Condor Express.
Murphy's Petrel: One well seen by many from the Condor Express on 1 May 2010 and 15 seen from a research ship in mid-April 2010 just north of Point Conception. There are 19 accepted records for Murphy's Petrel mentioned in "Rare Birds Of California" and eight of them are in these waters during the month of May, all 50 - 200 miles west of San Miguel Island. Murphy's Petrel is known to be a routine visitor mid-April through early June well offshore (Hamilton, et al, 2007). Nearly 100 Murphy's were seen from Searcher on three different expeditions in 2003 and 2005.
Cook's Petrel: We've had good success with Cook's Petrels at the continental shelf edge over the past two seasons. 3 were seen in May 2009 from Grande. On July 25, 2009, 136 were recorded in these waters by the Condor Express. Dozens were seen by Searcher crew on fishing trips June - August 2007 in the deep water off the Baja and San Diego Coast.
Adding 8 hours to the "48-hour weekends" that we did in 2008 and 2009 allow us the luxury of staying from sunup to sundown on Sunday in the area of 2,000 fathom water off the San Juan Seamount - something we've never done before on Grande. The best way to see Murhpy's and Cook's Petrel in California is to be on deep-water trips like this one where we have plenty of time to hunt and chum for pterodromas and chance upon tropicbirds.
We expect to awaken Monday morning about 60 miles offshore with time to explore the 30 mile and Nine Mile banks on our cruise back to San Diego harbor.
Our goal is to spend all day Sunday in the deep waters favored by pterodroma in the area of the San Juan Seamont. Where we will go depends on the weather, the seas, temperature breaks, bird reports and bird sightings. More information on the trip and itinerary.....
Leaders include Todd McGrath, Paul E. Lehman, Big Dave Pereksta, Brennan (eagle-eyes) Mulrooney, Dave Povey and Wes Fritz. Brennan is known for his ability to spot albatrosses 5 miles away. There are still some spots available, but in light of what is out there, we expect it to sell out. Call Point Loma Sportfishing at (619) 223-1627 and tell them you want to book on Grande May 15-17.
The early bird price of $285 is good through 5:00 p. m. May 6. On May 7 the regular price of $325 goes into effect which is still a heck of a deal when you consider the fact that we're at sea for three days in deep water, home of tropicbirds, pterodroma petrels and albatrosses.
Saturday Arrival Time: 6:00 a.m.
Boarding Time: 6:30 a.m.
Departure Time: 7:00 a.m. sharp
Return: 3:00 p.m. Monday afternoon
ADVANCE RESERVATIONS: Reservations are $325. Early Bird discount: $285 until May 6. Tickets are $350 the day of the trip if any spots remain.
RESERVATIONS BY PHONE (Check or Credit Card): Telephone Point Loma Sportfishing (the landing) seven days a week
at (619) 223-1627. Tell them to wish to make a reservation for the May 15-17 birding trip on Grande.
PAY IN FULL: Some fishing trips allow "anglers" to pay 50% at signup and the balance the day of the trip. All birding trips require payment in full (even if thetelephone rep gives you an option to pay 50%).
IMPORTANT DETAILS: Click for IMPORTANT INFORMATION about the boat, the landing, driving directions, maps, lodging, weather, refund and cancellation policies, on-board facilities, meals and snacks,
HOW TO PREPARE: Click for tips on how to prepare, what to wear, what to bring and when to arrive.
LODGING: If you're arriving the night before the trip, here are some economical lodging recommendations.
EXPECTED & POSSIBLE SPECIES: Read the 2010 accounts of Cook's, Hawaiian and Murphy' Petrels. Black-footed and Laysan Albatross are expected. 14 Laysan were seen from Grande in May of 2009. A Hawaiian Petrel was seen from a NOAA research trip off Peacadero 23 May 2007. Dozens of Cook's Petrels were seen by Searcher crew on fishing trips in June 2007 in deep water off the Baja and San Diego Coast, three were seen on May 10, 2009 from Grande. The endemic Ashy Storm-Petrel, one of the rarest storm-petrels in the world, are fairly common this time of year. We will be in Red-billed Tropicbird waters. We expect to see South Polar Skuas, Pomarine Jaegers, Parasitic Jaegers, Arctic Terns, Sabine's Gulls and possibly a Long-tailed Jaeger or two. Xantus's Murrelets will be plentiful. It's a bit like a treasure hunt - we never know what we'll find! Learn more about what species we will probably see and what species might be seen.
CANCELLATION POLICY: Trips on this website are sponsored by different organizations using different boats departing from different landings and harbors. As such, policies vary from trip to trip. Prior to registering, please familiarize yourself with your trip's policies regarding reservations, cancellations, refunds and substitutions as well as reviewing driving directions, check-in times, procedures and equipment allowed on the boats.
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LANDING LOCATION: We will board Grande 30 minutes prior to departure at Point Loma Sportfishing Landing, 1403 Scott Street at the corner of Emerson in San Diego 92106.
GOOGLE MAP OF THE LANDING: Map and driving directions
DRIVING DIRECTIONS TO THE LANDING: http://www.pointlomasportfishing.com/pg/map.php
PARKING: There is a large parking at Point Loma Sportfishing for $5 a day. Enter the lot using the Emerson & Scott entrance and you'll be right at the landing 100 feet inside the parking gate so you can drop off your gear the seek permanent parking. Free parking is available on the residential streets around the harbor (for day trips) but street parking is very limited in summer months. If the landing parking lot is full, you'll be directed to a lighted off-site self-serve pre-pay parking lot about a block away that has always had space (bring $5 per day in folding money for the lockbox).
GEAR UNLOADING: You may pull into the landing parking lot, unload your gear directly in front of Point Loma Sportfishing and then park in the lot or seek on-street parking. You're not charged if you're in the parking lot for under 30 minutes.
START YOUR DAY STRESS-FREE: We recmmend that you arrive at the landing an hour prior to scheduled departure to allow plenty of time to find the landing, unload or transport gear, obtain a boarding pass at the Point Loma Sportfishing Landing ticket window, sign the manifest, use the landing's restroom, get a cup of coffee, visi with friends and board Grande 30 minutes before scheduled departure. All trips depart on-time without waiting for late-comers. Boarding begins 30 minutes prior to scheduled departure. More tips and hints on our trip preparation page.
WINTER LIMITED PARKING UPDATE: All three landings at the fisherman's waterfront are remodeling during this offseason. This will result in a portion of the parking lot being used as storage for the construction and the day to day landing operations being conducted from temporary office trailers set up in the parking lot. We stongly advise a little more time alloted for customers to find parking on all trips through June 1st.
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DEEP WATER LIFE ABOARD GRANDE
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| Murphy's Petrel (c) Matt Sadowski |
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| Cook's Petrel off San Diego May 10 2009 (c) Tom Blackman |
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| Laysan Albatross from Grande - May 10 2009 (c) Tom Blackman |
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| (c) Todd McGrath and Jon Feenstra |
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