Half-day Pelagic report
Sooty Shearwater beginning a complete molt (T. Bray and P. Pyle)
Not many pelagic trips have gone out off the California coast in winter, but we decided to give it a try. We envision conditions as constantly stormy with massive swells at this time of year, but many days during this dry January have been calm and beautiful out there, and we caught one of those on the 27th. As in November we looked ahead for a favorable day and, even after switching dates from Friday to Monday, we still managed to recruit 27 birders and marine mammal enthusiasts to join in, thanks to outreach by the Noyo Marine Science Center and Mendocino Coast Audubon Society.
We departed at 0800 on the Kraken, with Captain Richard Thornton and his deckhand wife Corinne, of Anchor Charters (https://anchorcharterboats.com/). Weather was as forecast, beginning with light east winds which diminished to produce glassy seas, with a long-period swell of only 4-5 feet. We first visited a couple of groups of Gray Whales as they headed south along our shores. These are straggling non-breeders, mostly young animals and males, as by now the adult females are all down in the lagoons of Baja California giving birth and tending newborn calves. We gave these whales a passing salute on the way out to Noyo Canyon, then later came in well to the north of port, to cruise along with other southbound groups on the way in. Those who came along for the whales were very pleased with the many close views.
Northern Fur Seal photo by Tim Bray.
The other marine mammal highlight was of a sleeping adult female Northern Fur Seal out over the canyon. A debate ensued about whether or not it was a log, until it lifted and clasped its fore and hind flippers in “jug-handle” fashion. It had a pink tag, which meant it was from San Miguel Island off Southern California, and we were even able to photograph a partial number from it, which could allow the marine mammalogists who study them to figure out who she is.
The birders on board had visions of all sorts of rarities. After all, who knows what is out here in late January? Parakeet Auklets? Horned Puffins? Mottled Petrels? Well, none of these today but the canyon did offer rather constant entertainment in the form of sparse but consistent densities of tubenoses, alcids, and, of course, gulls, which we kept well fed with popcorn and fish parts throughout the trip. Almost immediately dark shearwaters were attracted to our gull flock, and the first 6-8 were all Short-tailed Shearwaters, instead of the far more common (in summer at least) Sooty Shearwaters. Roger Adamson is doing a Mendocino County “big month” and we had the unusual experience of searching for a Sooty among the Short-taileds, as usually the opposite is the case. We eventually were able to find a few Sooties for Roger’s January list. One of the Sooties had begun a complete molt, which seems unusually early but, then again, with so little study on non-breeding birds off California, perhaps this is normal?
For 2-3 hours over the canyon we enjoyed many good looks at Rhinoceros and Cassin’s Auklets and a few Black-footed Albatrosses that pleased all aboard with their close passes. The albatrosses were all young birds, not yet developing white around the base of the tail, as all of the adults are out in Hawaii now, dancing away and incubating eggs. Several of the Rhinoceros Auklets were already in breeding plumage. Surprising to all of us, no Northern Fulmars today but, as they say, “no data is still good data, just not as much fun to collect.”
Adult Rhinoceros Auklet (P. Pyle)
We wound up with 10 taxa of gulls, with 1-4 age groups of each, affording the usual labyrinthine efforts to identify them all. In order of decreasing abundance, these were Western, Herring, Glaucous-winged, California, Short-billed, Iceland (Thayer’s), and Black-legged Kittiwake. The last included 2-3 first-cycle birds, their striking black hind collars reminding one non-birding participant of Lobot from Star Wars.
But, wait, that list was only of seven species. We say “taxa” because three of the 10 were hybrid combinations, which adds more beats to the identification conundrum(!). Perhaps the avian highlight of the trip was a rather large and very whitish gull with a pink base to the bill, which we suspected was a hybrid between a Glaucous and a Glaucous-winged Gull, and this was later supported by gull experts on masochistic social media groups devoted to these exercises.
This hybrid combination is known colloquially as “Seward Gull” because the hybrid zone is on the Seward Peninsula in Alaska. Glaucous-winged Gulls have greatly expanded their range over the past century (in large part due to the fishing industry), resulting in Seward Gulls, “Cook Inlet Gulls” also in Alaska (hybrids with Herring), and “Olympic Gulls” in Washington (hybrids with Western), accounting for all three hybrid combos we observed on this trip.
While we did not get any avian super rarities, we were all pleased just to be on the ocean under such glorious conditions. As pelagic observers well know, things can change drastically from day to day, based on shifting sea breezes, currents, and food resources, so a sample of one January trip will not come close to telling the full winter story. After the trip some of us met with the Captain to schedule more trips for 2025, so stay tuned!
Two Gray Whales surfacing photo by Tim Bray.
