La Jolla Canyon, Nine Mile & Thirty Mile Banks
20 March 2009 |
Dave Povey, Todd McGrath, Lt Commander Peter Ginsburg and Terry Hunefeld went to sea to see seabirds on 20 March 2009 off San Diego. We departed Mission Bay, explored the waters of La Jolla Canyon, putted north of the Nine Mile Bank out over the San Diego Trough, past the 182 Point and up and onto the Thirty Mile Bank on Friday 20 March 2009. Water temps remained still cool but were warming slightly from last week, now 59 degrees. The day was overcast with light and variable winds. The Pacific Ocean was flat calm like Golden Pond, suitable for waterskiing all the way to the Thirty Mile Bank. .
Coming out of the Mission Bay channel we immediately encountered two
Parasitic Jaegers tormenting Elegant Terns. We saw eleven more jaegers
throughout the day, nine identified as Pomarine.
We began seeing Rhinoceros Auklets just a few miles offshore. They were most abundant over the Nine Mile and Thirty Mile Banks, but were seen throughout the trip in unusually high numbers, even in this winter of plentiful alcids. We tallied 242 Rhinos for the day plus 98 Cassin’s Auklets. Many of the auklets could barely get off the water to fly - bait fish and krill appeared to be abundant over La Jolla Canyon, the Nine Mile Bank and the Thirty Mile Bank as we encountered several large feeding flocks.
2.5 miles off La Jolla we encountered our first Xantus’s’ Murrelets unusually close to shore. Their numbers continue to build as they return from their more northerly wintering grounds to their breeding grounds on the Coronados Islands. We counted 74 during the trip, the flat calm seas helping increase our ability to spot these tiny seabirds up to half a kilometer away.
The California Gull flock we saw on Sunday about 3 miles west of La Jolla was still very much in evidence consisting of approx 2500 seemingly well fed birds. We also saw 1200 Bonaparte’s Gulls throughout the day from offshore La Jolla all the way out to over the Thirty Mile Bank.
Tubenose-wise, our wintering Black-vented Shearwaters have mostly all headed back south to their breeding grounds on Natividad island off Baja, Mex. The number of Southern Hemisphere tubenoses continues to increase , however, as we counted 14 Pink-footed and 10 Sooty Shearwaters. In light of recorded numbers this winter, especially surprising was the number of Northern Fulmars – we counted 37 of them from just offshore La Jolla (the light-morph that has been hanging around all winter) to all the way out over the Thirty Mile.
We encountered a small flock of 6 early migrating Red-necked Phalarope on their way to their arctic breeding grounds after wintering in the seas of the Southern Hemisphere; we also saw a flock of 6 Red Phalaropes.
Marine Mammals included multiple large pods of Common “Saddleback” Dolphins (both long and short beakers) and single pods of Risso’s, Bottlenose and Pacific White-sided Dolphins.
It was another great day at sea, full of wonder and discovery. Please join us on April 4 as we board Grande to explore early spring migration at the Nine Mile Bank and see just what boobies might be at the Coronados Island sponsored by the Buena Vista Audubon Society.
Many of us will drive up to Santa Barbara on April 25 for a day in deep water beyond the edge of the Continental Shelf on the Condor Express chartered by the Los Angeles Audubon Society. We found two Parakeet Auklets up there on March 1, and saw seven Parakeet Auklets there on April 21, 2007 from the Condor. This trip will get to 2000 fathom-deep water around the San Juan Seamount which is where rarities like as Murphy's, Cook's and Hawaiian Petrel can be found this time of year as well as Black-footed and Laysan Albatrosses. f you’ve never been on the Condor Express and wonder what it’s like, you can watch a VIDEO of flying along at 30 knots over the Pacific Ocean. It's unreal.
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Location: Pelagic - San Diego County
Observation date: 3/20/09
Brant (Black) 150
Surf Scoter 2
Common Loon 12
Eared Grebe 2
Western Grebe 1
Northern Fulmar 37
Pink-footed Shearwater 14
Sooty Shearwater 10
Black-vented Shearwater 3
Brown Pelican 130
Brandt's Cormorant 32
Double-crested Cormorant 2
Red-necked Phalarope 6
Red Phalarope 6
Bonaparte's Gull 1200
Heermann's Gull 85
Western Gull 330
California Gull 2500
Glaucous-winged Gull 2
Caspian Tern 1
Forster's Tern 10
Elegant Tern 24
Pomarine Jaeger 9
Parasitic Jaeger 2
Pomarine/Parasitic Jaeger 2
Xantus's Murrelet 74
Cassin's Auklet 98
Rhinoceros Auklet 242
hummingbird sp. 1
Barn Swallow 1
This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)
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| Northern Fulmar - La Jolla Canyon by W. Terry Hunefeld |
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| "Pinky" by W. Terry Hunefeld |
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