SoCalBirding.com

Participants on the Buena Vista Audubon's Aug 16-18 deep water pelagic aboard Grande off the coast of San Diego saw Skuas, tropicbirds, Long-tailed Jaegers, Sabine’s Gulls, 4 species of Storm-Petrels and 4 amazingly awesome pods of seldom-seen-this-well Baird’s Beaked Whales. 

Monday we enjoyed looks at Fin Whales, a Brown Booby, Ashy, Least, Black and Storm-Petrels and both nominate and “Chapman’s” Leach’s Storm-Petrels.

A Double-crested Cormorant flew over a full 60 miles offshore!

More Baird’s Beaked Whales shot up out of the water.  We had great looks at their scratched backs and Bottlenose-Dolplin-type snouts.

Guadalupe Fur Seals!  Steve got shots of “babies.”

Tuesday pre-dawn:  150 Red-necked Phalaropes, and handful of Reds, and 6 Sabine’s Gulls were circling the boat until first light.

At dawn we began traversing “Matt’s Bank” (named after Matt Sadowski who first recommended exploring this western edge of the Bell Bank in 2009) we enjoyed good life from the beaked whales to Skua, Black-footed Albatross, Arctic Tern, Long-tailed Jaegers, Pacific White-sided Dolphin, Guadalupe Fur Seals, a Buller’s Shearwater and two Tropicbirds.  Matt’s Bank drops off from 3000 feet to 6000 feet within a mile, and to 9000 feet within another few miles.  Evidence of a food supply here is apparent in the species lists prepared by Jon Feenstra. 

After a snack of fresh fruit and watermelon prepared by the chef, we were entertained by the U.S. Navy with an ear-splitting “Grande Sky Show” of an F15 at near-supersonic speeds looping, rolling.  We waved and the pilot waved back a hello.

Many Mola Mola were seen.  Mola is latin for “millstone” which accurately describes these bony, heavy, roundish, heavy fish that dwell a mile underwater, surfacing occasionally to lie on one side or the other to soak up some rays and warm up. 

Tropicbirds were found both on the water and flying overhead.  These deep late summer - early fall trips have a 95% success rate for finding tropicbirds.

After a great morning of birding and marine mammal watching, participants settled down after lunch in the warm sun for some afternoon naps….. enjoying the Zen of deep water birding. 

The chef served up tasty breakfast burritos and fine dinners and delicious deserts.   And beer. 

We came across a couple of Blue Whales who had just “evacuated” some of their previous meals of krill.  The water was a krill-like red.  There was a failed effort to compose a song with the distinctive title of Blue Whale Poo. 

We kept the chum slicks small and condensed because too many broths spoil the Cook’s.     

The southern frontier of the ABA area is a great place to look for vagrants. Whether its Caribbean strays in Florida, or Mexican vagrants in Texas and Arizona, birders have long known to head south to the border. One of the last frontiers of border birding is the ocean off San Diego.

Due to a  treaty, the US territorial waters (and ABA area) extend offshore well south of San Diego. This area is well known to fishermen who flock to this area in the summer to fish tuna and yellowtail. The rich environment that brings game fish up from the south also provides excellent feeding ground for seabirds, including some of the most sought after in the ABA area.  

Red-billed Tropicbirds have never been missed on a Grande 48 hour trip, and are at their peak numbers in August.  

Least Storm-Petrels are regular of SoCal in late summer and early fall.

Cook's Petrels Cook's were seen well throughout 2009 and hundreds have been seen off SoCal April - June of 2010.  This is THE year for Cook's Petrel. 

Craveri's Murrelet.  One seen from Grande July 19, 2008. 

Hawaiian Petrel:   August is a peak time to look for Hawaiian Petrel known to be in these waters July - September.   

CRAVERI'S MURRELETS:   The southern waters off the coast of San Diego are the best areas in the ABA area to look for Xantus's (both races) and Craveri's Murrelets.  The best time to find Craveri's is Aug - mid October.  The September 2009 Searcher trip recorded a Craveri's Murrelet on the north end of the Nine Mile Bank.  Four were well seen and photographed from Grande on Oct 4, 2008 (see photos by Steve Howell below).  Glimpses of two elusive birds were had by a few from Grande on Oct 3, 2009.   

LEACH'S STORM-PETRELS:  Three subspecies of Leach's Storm-Petrels are expected including one summer-breeding Guadalupe subspecies that is a good candidate for eventual splitting. The current issue of North American Birds has an article about the status and identification of the subspecies of Leach's off Southern California.

Extreme vagrants such as Wedge-tailed Shearwater and Wedge-rumped Storm-Petrel are regular up to a bit south of mid-peninsula in Baja; August and September is a great time to look for these species. We are just beginning to explore this area, and other surprises will likely await.  A Bulwer's Petrel was seen September 4, 2003 off San Clemente Island and probably in the Santa Barbara Channel September 5, 2007.  

In addition to these "Southern Specialties" late August is an excellent time to see the regular assortment of fall migrant seabirds that have made California famous including Black, Leach's and Ashy Storm-Petrels, South Polar Skua, all 3 species of jaegers, Buller's, Pink-footed and Sooty Shearwaters and Black-footed Albatrosses.

This trip is our only summer double-overnight trip and is scheduled during weekdays because we're competing with sports fishermen during peak fishing season.  If we scheduled this trip on the weekend, the price would double!  Our purpose on this late-summer trip is to get spend a full 48-hours looking for rare vagrants - summer birds at the north end of their range and early southbound migrants. 

We will depart Point Loma Sportfishing on Grande on Monday morning Aug 16 at 7:00 a.m. sharp.  We'll bird our way to and through the bird-rich Nine Mile Bank.  After spending some time exploring the bank we'll continue west to the Thirty Mile Bank and San Clemente basin where we enter the zone of the deep water tubenoses and alcids. 

Depending on weather, currents, and where the fishing life zone are, we'll spend all Tuesday  out past San Clemente Island, exploring some (but not all of the following features):  The Sixty Mile Bank, The Butterfly Bank, The Mushroom, The Dumping Grounds, The Cortes Bank. 

LEADERS & SPOTTERS for this trip will include SoCal pelagic experts including noted author, Wings Leader and tubenose expert Steve N.G. Howell.  Joining Steve will be Dr. Jon Feenstra, Dave Povey, Matt Sadowski, Wes Fritz and Terry Hunefeld. 
Arrival Time:  6:00 a.m.   
Boarding Time:  6:30 a.m.
Departure Time: 7:00 a.m. sharp        
Return:  7:00 a.m. Wednesday 

ADVANCE RESERVATIONS:  Advance reservations are $325,  
This trip has reached the necessary signup minimums and is officially a go. 

RESERVATIONS Telephone Point Loma Sportfishing (the landing) seven days a week at (619) 223-1627.  Tell them to wish to make a reservation for a birding trip on Grande and give them the date of departure.

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:   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.  

DEEP WATER LIFE ABOARD GRANDE