Abe Borker

Last Friday I finally found myself on one of Debra Shearwater’s famous Monterey Bay pelagic birding trips. It was my first time seabirding off California, the nutrient rich waters and deep canyon upwellings of the bay did not disappoint! The day started out with many thrills. I anxiously awaited my first life bird, wondering what would take the 600 milestone spot on my US lifelist. On the way out we encountered all the common nearshore birds, like guillemots, and larger rafts of adult male Common Murres and juveniles.

I was sitting on the bow and not long after first encountering hundreds of shearwaters when a Black Footed Albatross wheeled across the bow of our boat and soared over the horizon. After a short celebration, and a courtesy hearty handshake to the fellow who first spotted the bird (not that it could have been missed at ~50 feet away!), we got back down to business. As I would learn, black foots are a mere common bird out in the bay, and it was time to focus on some of the more elusive bird diversity the bay had to offer. With #600 finally in the bag (and a great bird too!), it was a nice weight off my shoulders.

On the way out I had many great look’s at Sabine’s Gulls (far superior to the scrappy juvenile I saw in NY), a bird I always dreamed about seeing on a Monterey Bay pelagic. Throughout the day we encountered Pink-Footed, Bullers and Sooty Shearwaters, with some large flocks of Sooties sitting on the water. At one point, in the chaos of many birds being called out I heard someone shout out “PASSERINE, 6 o’clock!”. Sure enough, in the foggy weather a Townsend’s Warbler found itself far offshore. We slowed for it to land, keeping pace with it for a couple minuted but the bird wouldn’t have any of it and kept flying out to sea to most likely a grim end. Perhaps one of the three species of Jaegers we saw could make a meal out of it. We also saw quite a few Northern Fulmars, of light and dark varieties.

At some point we encountered lots of Ashy Storm-petrels feeding. It was a real treat, with over a hundred perhaps. They did stay distant, but had diagnostic flight patterns that were great to study. We seemed long overdue for a mammal sighting and encountered a herd of Northern Right Whale Dolphin 250 strong! Mixed in were also White-Sided dolphins and they took turns bow-riding allowing excellent looks. Later we also saw a few Humpback Whales.

Finding the back of the boat a little chaotic I headed up to the bow for a better chance of alcids (they most often dive before the boat gets to them) and to get away form engine noise for a bit. Another birder and I were watching the seas when all of a sudden a relatively small grey bird popped up out of nowhere at 1 o’clock and quickly turned, swiftly cruising the starboard of our boat. I immediately was out of my seat and scampering down the right side of the boat, keeping an eye on the bird. Within seconds the captain stopped the boat and “COOK’S PETREL” was yelled from the rear starboard!

A note on Cook’s Petrel, they are an endemic breeder of New Zealand, a code 3 bird by ABA standards, and usually encountered far offshore. Earlier this year, a boat out of Santa Barbara recorded an incredible 136 of them! In the following week’s Debbie Shearwater’s trips found more relatively far offshore out of Monterey Bay. Something is up this year, like the periodic southward invasion of northern owls, there has been an invasion of near shore Cook’s Petrels this year. This can’t last forever, it was great to witness this incredibly rare natural phenomena.

This has been a great year for Cook’s Petrels, but noone expected them on a 7 hour bay pelagic, less than twenty miles from shore! The petrel circled a few times, presenting good views to all. Needless to say all of us on board were elated. High on an incredible life bird, I was talking to Debbie and she told me I picked an incredible day for my first trip out on the water! In her entire career, she had never seen a Cook’s Petrel on such a short trip. This is a 100 mile bird, not a 10 mile one! Not five minutes later, we encountered another Cook’s Petrel, and another, and another, and another. The boat counted 35, of which I got good looks at about a dozen, but not as good as that first one which I will remember for a long time! Talking to one of our leaders, I was asked if I’d still let the albatross be #600; of course, but I’ll always recall seeing such a rarity on the same day as my 600th bird!

As we all came down from our collective frantic energy of such great finds (and 35 no less!), I finally saw Monterey on the horizon from the bow of the boat, our day on the water was coming to a close. For a second, another participant and I spotted two very tall isoceles triangular dorsals break the surface and then dissapear quickly. While we discussed the likelihood that they belonged to a couple of Orcas, one more life bird demanded to be seen! Close to the bow, two small black and white birds dove and the only word that could be vocalized was “STOP!” The boat slowed to a crawl, and along the starboard side one of the bird’s resurfaced, a Xantu’s Murrelet! It was a goal bird of the birder I was sitting next to, he had sat on the bow all day hoping for this bird. In a rare case, the murrelet obliged by staying afloat alongside the boat so that everyone had good views.

Many thanks to all the other participants, our excellent leaders Don Doolittle, Wes Fritz (master chummer and exuberant spotter), John Hiles, Jennifer Green and of course Debi for setting a very high bar for my next trip out! I hope to do it again soon.

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