[CINC] Pelagic Bird Trip 9/18

[Mr Zalophus]

Colleagues,

On behalf of the Condor Express and the LA Audubon Society, let me pass
along the following details about the pelagic bird trip next weekend.  I
know the quoted price is $125, but if you call Capt Mat directly he promises
a special Naturalist Discount.  Believe me, this is like an all day seminar
surrounded by experts on marine birds.  The trip departs at 7am and returns
at 4pm.  In addition to sighting two species of boobies, we have seen Minke
Whales play under the boat and breach, wonderful Offshore Bottlenose, and
lots of other mammals. Mat's number is 805-896-7489.  Hope to see you there!
Bob Perry

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There are seats available for the September 18 pelagic trip running out of
Santa Barbara on the Condor Express. This trip will be 8 hours and will
concentrate on the waters around and between the northern Channel Islands.
During the fall, hundreds (sometimes thousands)  of shearwaters crowd into
the inter-island gaps. We will be looking through flocks of Pink-footed and
Sooty Shearwaters for such sought-after species as Buller's, Flesh-footed
(uncommon), and Manx (rare) Shearwaters. In September of 2002 we had a
Streaked Shearwater just south of the Anacapa-Santa Cruz Island gap, an
often productive area.

In addition to shearwaters, this is peak season for seabird diversity; we
will be looking for storm-petrels, with Black and Ashy (both likely) and
Leach's and Least (both rare), alcids such as Cassin's and Rhinoceros
Auklets with the finite but small chance of Craveri's Murrelet. Skuas and
jaegers are around, and Sabine's Gulls are in town, too. Last year both
Blue-footed Booby (Ventura County's first!) and Brown Booby were seen. And,
if we swing close to Anacapa Island we have a decent shot at the American
Oystercatcher that's occasionally seen poking around there - among the more
typical rocky shorebirds and thousands of roosting pelicans, cormorants, and
gulls.

Plus, it's on the Condor Express - a boat that can catch up to those wily
seabirds and was designed for watching marine wildlife. There is also a full
galley serving breakfast, lunch, and whatever other meals you might want to
have aboard. The cabin is spacious, comfy, and has big windows to check out
what's going on.

Sign-up details are below.
Hope to see you aboard.

Jon Feenstra
Los Angeles

Leaders: Jon Feenstra, Terry Hunefeld, Todd McGrath, Dave Pereksta and Dave
Compton
$125 Credit card or cash.

See www.socalbirding.com for the trip write-up and report and some photos
from last year.
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