Abe Borker

On Labor Day I brought my kayak down to West Cliff, and had one simple goal in mind. Somewhere offshore would be Sooty Shearwaters, and I wanted to see LOTS of them.

(Photo taken from a 55′ Boat)

After a sketchy enough launch in the surf it occurred to me that I had not picked the calmest day or had planned fully for what I was to encounter. A prepared paddler certainly would have had a sprayskirt at least, and a bilge pump hopefully. A more cautious photographer might have tried a “dry run” without valuable and far from waterproof camera equipment. These were not things I considered, but I pushed on, seeing distant dark birds streaming and arcing over the blue horizon.

As I should have expected the swells grew and winds stiffened as I approached the birds on the horizon. Still going into the wind, the boat’s bow and I would be splashed by each passing swell. But just as I pondered how fast my boat could drift away from me, three, then five Sooty Shearwaters zoomed fifteen feet in front of my bow! I was far too tense to take out my camera, and had to keep negotiating the direction of the kayak against the oncoming waves.

After some very loud cheering to noone but myself, I watched a few dozen more fly near my boat, and arc dynamically soaring over the wave crests. After what seemed like a sensible amount of time I started paddling back with the swell at my back. Almost as soon as the wind slowed and swell weakened I saw only the very occasional shearwater. I did find a juvenile Common Murre and attempted to photograph it from the rocking kayak. A few minutes later I also saw a Red-Necked Phalarope forage along the surface.

This brings my highly valued kayak-pelagic bird lifelist to 3:
Sooty Shearwater
Common Murre
Red Necked Phalarope

With proper planning, I’m setting Black-Footed Albatross as the goal.

I spent the rest of my paddle in calmer waters, just outside and in the kelp forests along West Cliff. I encountered Sea Otters, Sea Lions and Harbor Seals. Foraging on the kelp beds were the usual Western Gulls, but also a Great Egret and two Snowy Egrets!

The rest of the day’s images:

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