This 8-hour pelagic trip will explore the bird-rich Nine Mile Bank from the comfortable 85-foot live-aboard Grande to find seabirds and view migrating California Gray Whales as they make their way to the warm lagoons of Baja California to breed and give birth. This majestic, once-endangered species is now making a comeback.
Rarities: An adult Blue-footed Boobly circled Grande 4 times on one of our Bird Festival Trips on March 5, 2009. An immature Blue-footed Booby was seen with the Brown Booby colony on the Los Coronados Islands on our Grande October 4, 2008 trip. A Masked Booby was seen 19 Jan 2008 and 10 Feb 2008 on a Bird Festival Pelagic trip.
EXPECTED SPECIES: What we see depends on what mother ocean gives us, but we expect 2-3 species of shearwaters and two species of auklets. Learn more about what species we will probably see and what species might be seen. We certainly didn't expect to see a Blue-footed Booby making laps around Grande at the 2009 Bird Festival, and the 2009 Festival's Manx Shearwaters were simply spectacular!
We expect to see three or four species of dolphins (Bottlenose, Common, Pacific White-sided and Risso's) and numerous seabirds including fulmars, shearwaters, auklets, murrelets, and jaegers. This is also a good time of year to find three species of loons, three species of cormorants, five to six species of gulls.
After exploring the birds and sea mammals at the Nine Mile Bank, we'll turn south and cross the border into Mexico. The rugged yet scenic Islas Coronados are situated in Mexican waters within sight of much of San Diego. The steep-sided islands are an important sanctuary for birds and sea life.
On our way out of the harbor we'll motor slowly by the San Diego live bait tanks for close-ups of several dozen lounging sea lions, several hundred Brandt's cormorants, several species of gulls, and dozens of egrets and herons.
At the islands, the captain will put Grande right up next to the steep cliffs for excellent opportunities to see rocky shore birds such as Black and American Oystercatchers, Wandering Tattler, Black Turnstone and Surfbird. Peregrine Falcons are often seen at the islands; on one of our 2008 trips, we were trying to identify a sparrow flying over the water when a Peregrine stooped and snared dinner right in front of us!
While at the Coronados Islands we'll observe immense breeding colonies of Brandt's Cormorants, Western Gulls and Brown Pelicans. We'll sift through the Brown Booby colony on Middle Rock and try find the elusive Blue-footed and Masked Boobies that have been seen off and on for the past three years.
We expect to see migrating Gray Whales, multiple pods of dolphins, as well as snoozing Harbor Seals and California Sea Lions. We'll also peek around the back of Middle Island to see if there are any of the once-thought-extinct Elephant Seals.
AGE: This trip is appropriate for children 8 years and older.
LEADERS for this trip consist of west coast pelagic birding & mammal experts LEADERS for this trip include Steve N.G. Howell Paul E. Lehman Dave Povey Matt Sadowski Terry Hunefeld Mark J Billings and Clay Taylor of Swarovski Optiks. Clay always brings along a big case of every Swarovski Binocular known to man so that you have a great opportunity to field-test them in real-life birding conditions.
Bus Departs Marina Village Bird Festival Headquarters: 7:00 a.m. sharp
Grande Boarding Time: 7:20 a.m. at Point Loma Sportfishing Landing
Grande Departure Time: 7:40 a.m. sharp
Grande Return: 3:30 p.m.
Bus Returns to Marina Village Bird Festival Headquarters: 4:00 p.m.
Local birders may meet us at Point Loma Landing or ride the complimentary bus from Marina Village.
ADVANCE RESERVATIONS: Advance reservations are available only by registering for the San Diego Bird Festival.
IMPORTANT DETAILS: Click for important logistic 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.
LOCALS: BRING A CHAIR - Grande has a spacious salon/cabin/galley with plenty of comfortable "restaurant-booth" seating for meals, reading, resting socializing or napping. Seating is limited on the spacious, stable aft deck, and you're strongly encouraged to bring a sturdy nylon outdoor folding chair aboard. If you prefer to be where the action is, outside on deck the entire day, 8 hours can be a long time to be on your feet -- you'll appreciate a chair.
RESERVATIONS for this trip are handled by the San Diego Bird Festival.
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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