[CINC] CX 8-hour American Cetacean Society trip

[Bernardo Alps]

Hi all.
 
As you already know form Bob’s post, the all-day Condor Express trip on Saturday was pretty spectacular. We also had a good diversity of bird sightings which was a nice change of pace from recent weeks when things were kind of blah, birdwise. I am attaching two lists below, one for the harbor and one for the remainder of the trip.
 
Shorebird migration is picking up in Southern California. We saw about 15 Long-billed Curlews in the harbor on the way out and three marbled Godwits and two Willets on the way back. Underway we saw a single Semipalmated Plover (not rare, but also not a bird you see every day), a flock of about 25 shorebirds that were likely all Willets, and a flock of seven shorebirds that were likely all Marbled Godwits.
 
There were about 15 Elegant Terns in the harbor on the way out. Elegant Terns have an unusual migration pattern. They nest in the Sea of Cortez, Northern Baja and Southern California and in late summer they move north along the coast usually up to San Francisco Bay but sometimes as far as British Columbia. In late fall they then migrate south to their wintering grounds in Guatemala and as far south as central Chile. The only other tern seen was a single Royal Tern in mid-channel.
 
We saw four Common Murres, a group of three and a single individual, all fairly close to the coast. They must have all been females or immature birds because at this time of year the breeding males are attending their recently fledged chicks, so you always see them in pairs and the chick is usually begging loudly. Other alcids included three Cassin’s Auklets, a possible Rhinoceros Auklet and a possible Xantus’ Murrelet.
 
We saw three Sabine’s Gulls in breeding plumage. Sabine’s Gulls are strikingly handsome birds that we don’t get to see very often. They nest in the high Arctic and spend the winter on the ocean off Mexico down to Chile. They pass by our coast around April and again around August, but usually further offshore. They are much more common outside of the islands than in the channel, although on rare occasions we get to see one onshore.
 
About half of the phalaropes that I identified to species were Red Phalaropes, which is somewhat unusual.  Phalaropes also nest on the Arctic tundra and spend their winters on the ocean off South America. But Red Phalaropes tend to stay further offshore than Red-necked Phalaropes. On most days, most if not all phalaropes seen in the channel are Red-necked, while most seen outside of the islands are Red.
 
It was a good day for storm- petrels. We saw approximately 20 Ashy Storm-Petrels and eight Black Storm-Petrels. Ashy Storm-Petrels nest on all Northern Channel Islands except Santa Rosa, and numbers are probably benefitting from the rat eradication on Anacapa.

We also saw a couple of hummingbirds and what was probably a Mourning Dove. It is not unusual for migrating land birds to travel over the ocean. Some winter in islands, some migrate along the Channel Islands and some got lost or blown off course. Some of these birds perish in the ocean but most make it.

Take care,

Bernardo

Pelagic CondEx Islands, Santa Barbara, US-CA
Aug 13, 2011 8:15 AM - 3:55 PM
Protocol: Traveling
70.0 mile(s)
Comments:     ACS whale watching trip aboard the "Condor Express" from Santa Barbara Harbor to waters approximately 5 miles northeast of the West end of Santa Rosa Island; return.
19 species (+3 other taxa)

Northern Fulmar  6
Pink-footed Shearwater  22
Sooty Shearwater  240
Ashy Storm-Petrel  20     
Black Storm-Petrel  8
Brandt's Cormorant  2
Double-crested Cormorant  6
Brown Pelican  12
Semipalmated Plover  1
Red-necked Phalarope  60
Red Phalarope  30 
phalarope sp.  40
Sabine's Gull  3
Heermann's Gull  15
Western Gull  50
California Gull  2
Royal Tern  1
Pomarine Jaeger  1
Common Murre  4
Cassin's Auklet  3
alcid sp.  4
hummingbird sp.  2


Santa Barbara Harbor, Santa Barbara, US-CA
Aug 13, 2011 8:05 AM - 8:15 AM
Protocol: Traveling
0.5 mile(s)
Comments:     ACS pleagic trip aboard the "Condor Express."
12 species (+1 other taxa)

Mallard  1
Double-crested Cormorant  30
Brown Pelican  150
Great Blue Heron  3
Snowy Egret  4
Black-crowned Night-Heron  1
Long-billed Curlew  15
Heermann's Gull  10
Western Gull  40
Western x Glaucous-winged Gull (hybrid)  1   
Elegant Tern  15
American Crow  10
Barn Swallow  2

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2 (http://ebird.org)