San Diego Nine Mile Bank
Least Tern Survey
|
By Dave Povey
(San Diego) I took reseachers Tyler Willsey, Mel Kirby, and Greg McMichael, out of San Diego Bay to do five transects, from Point Loma to the extreme northern limits of the Nine Mile Bank, then up and down the bank to the border in an "x" pattern. We did not do well on their intended study subject, Least terns, but as they say, all data is good data.
A Black-vented Shearwater was seen with Sooties just a couple of miles outside the Point Loma kelp. Last year the first of that species was July 15th, for three birds.
The first interesting bird of the day was a breeding plumage Common Murre, on the water, at 32d 41.23'N and 117d 23.71' W. About 7 n. miles west of Pt Loma. My five pervious July and Aug birds all have all been in winter or sub adult plummage.
Next I was surprised to see a adult female Brown Booby flyby us headed east, at postion 32d 35.83'N and 117d 28.99'W. This about 12 n. miles s.w. of Pt Loma.
After a run south and back north, We had another interesting flyby, of one of the darker South Polar Skua I've seen. I'm always amazed at how fast this species can cover ground (water) with such powerful wing strokes. This bird seen at about 32d 43.32'N and 117d 33.10'W, speeding north.
Not long after, I was blown away by having two more Brown Boobies flyby going the north, both adult males. I've been lucky enough to see maybe 9 or 10 of this species in U.S. waters over 18 yrs since the first in 1991. Now three in a single day. Wow! These two birds were at 32d 43.26'N and 117d 32.60'W about 16 n.miles west of the "Point".
The most numerous species of the day was Elegant Terns (800+) they seem to associate with the pods of Common Dolphin we saw and a few were following some Bottle-nosed Dolphin. These grouping also had good numbers of Sooty Shearwater (500+), and those groups offshore also had Pink-fotted Shearwater (90+).
We saw a scattering of Black Storm Petrel (< 50 ) over most of the bank missing the large aggregation that were seen in May and June.
Red-necked Phalaropes continue to filter in, with more birds now in moult.
List
92 Pink-footed Shearwater
520 Sooty Shearwater
1 Black-vented Shearwater
47 Black Storm Petrel
40 Brown Pelican
3 Brown Booby
9 Brandt's Cormorant
43 Red-necked Phalarope
64 Western Gull
4 Heermann's Gull ( 50+ S.D.Bay )
1 Caspain Tern ( 7 S.D.Bay )
827 Elegant Tern ( 35 S.D.Bay )
9 Least Terns ( 4 S.D.Bay )
Black Skimmer ( 3 S.D.Bay )
1 South Polar Skua
1 Jeager sp.
1 Common Murre
25 California Sealion, 1 Harbor Seal, 300-400 Common Dolphin, 10-15 Bottle-nosed Dolphin, 6-8 Risso's Dolphin .
Overcast to hazy sun, winds of 5-12 kts from the west, 2-4 ft west swell , air temps in the mid 70's, sea surface temps. of 68.7 to 70.4 F.
0530-1430
|
|