Babs' Birding Experiences : Half Moon Bay: Land and Sea Birding, San Mateo, CA PART TWO

Today I went out on the sea to see

The birds that rarely come to land

How will I greet them?

Will they eat right from my hand?

Might they really come to me?

Saturday, September 22, 2018

My friend, Kathe, had opened the gate to our hostel to let us out of the grounds prior to the usual opening time of 7:30 a.m. We needed to be at the dock by 7:00 a.m. sharp - or risk being called out (as in the movie, THE BIG YEAR), or, worse, being left behind. Anyone who knows me well, knows that I’m an early riser so we arrived with time to spare along with other birders.

For an introduction to Debi Love Shearwater, check out Part One of this blog.

For orientation, Debi communicated all the rules and expectations including: 1) NO STANDING IN FRONT OF THE CABIN WINDSHIELD - Stay Seated. This had to be repeated on the boat since we get excited about the sightings and forget the pilot needs to have visibility. 2) NO PUKING IN THE HEAD - Go to the back of the boat. This was also repeated for cause; I heard only one person get sick at the back of the boat. So, I think most of us did fine.

Debi is as interested in the sea mammals as the birds. For our help and to satisfy the scientific requirements of eBird, two bird guides were on hand to help with listing and counting species so we birders could just enjoy. The trip was broken down into two specific territories: a) near shore; and 2) as we cruised out toward the Continental Shelf calculating each hour with many stats (co-ordinates; depth, etc) to provide time and place of bird sightings. And, OMG! We had some unusuals.

Bird Guides were: Steve Hampton (see article about him in most recent Bird Watching Magazine); Alex Rinkert; and Tom. Tom’s job was chumming from the rear of the boat; he was a great spotter and full of information about each species so I learned a lot from him. Steve had the gargantuan task of preparing the lists - for which he and Alex coordinated the details each hour. All told, the sea was calm; we went out 27 miles (including two miles over canyons in the Continental Shelf where swells reached 3-4’). This is the place to find Storm Petrels.

Steve (left); Alex (right)

Having looked forward to this adventure with Debi Love Shearwater for some months, I was thrilled with good weather - despite a threatening forecast. No storms; just marine layer and even lack of any spray onto the boat that the guides said was highly unusual. It was that calm. To Tom, I suggested the cause was the Autumn Equinox; he countered that it’s always sun and wind. But he also gave the idea some world-wide weather pattern thought.

Taking photos from a moving boat of moving birds on moving water was a daunting challenge!! So, I’ve taken some photos from the internet and labeled them as such.

Among the birds you probably know well, we saw BROWN PELICANS along the jetties: total count of them for the day was 4,500! Below is one of many photos I took of them.

Shorebirds foraged from the low rocks close to the water, including this LIFE BIRD! (First time I've seen a SURFBIRD) But this was my first attempt at taking pics from the boat and I failed completely.

SURFBIRD (internet photo)

BLACK TURNSTONE (also internet photo) It, too, was on the low rocks of jetty.

The BRANDT'S CORMORANT (Left rear) is probably a juvenile with significant light feathering on the neck.
WESTERN GULL -- yellow bill with red dot on lower mandible; pink legs and feet (Right rear)
DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT are among the ones that visit our inland waterways. (2 front)

As we moved out of Pillar Point Harbor, we began to see the alcids I came to see! First up were:

MARBLED MURRELET - two swimming away from me beside the boat

COMMON MURRE - basic, not breeding, plumage
These birds look very different on summer visits to the west coast

In breeding plumage, the COMMON MURRE looks more like these two below.

COMMON MURRE - breeding plumage (taken in St. Paul, Pribilofs, earlier this summer)

Quite distant from the boat was this TUFTED PUFFIN in basic, not breeding, plumage
We saw two such puffins on the whole trip.
Compare with how it looks in breeding plumage, below.

TUFTED PUFFIN, taken this summer at St.Paul, Pribilof Islands, AK

The one I really wanted to see would be a Life Bird: RHINOCEROUS AUKLET. Debi told me they usually see between two and five on any given trip so she pretty much assured me I would see the bird! Did we ever! 50 total. Each time I looked up and saw a small black bird swimming too far for photo but close enough for binocular view - there was my LIFE BIRD! It's a strange-looking one and out of breeding season, it doesn't have the "horn" on its bill that provides good ID. It's in the puffin family but still considered an auklet.

RHINOCEROUS AUKLET - in breeding plumage - horn on bill. Internet photo.

RHINOCEROUS AUKLET - basic plumage. This photo from internet is way better than mine.

More than birds were out on the water, of course. Tom talked about the heavy infestation of jellyfish as we moved through them. The next thing I saw was a big white blob on the water.

Turns out it was an OCEAN SUNFISH! Weird looking. Jellyfish are a part of its diet, but they are large fish that weigh anywhere from 545-2200 pounds. One's weight was compared to that of an SUV.

OCEAN SUNFISH right beside the boat.

Everyone on board got excited about some RISSO'S DOLPHIN, a very deep-water dolphin.

It gets in battles with other large mammals and bears the scars until its head looks white.

Older battle-worn Risso Dolphin - internet photo

Having heard of land birds crossing a large body of water only to land on a boat to rest, was an event I had never before experienced. Alex spotted two land birds. The first circled the boat and flew off. About two hours later, he called another one. As we watched, we could identify it with our naked eye -- a BLACK-THROATED GRAY WARBLER!

It circled and circled; it flew off; it returned. Finally, it got brave, flew in very close over my head (I know I ducked; gentleman behind told me it had flown in right over my head), and landed on a birder's outstretched hand.

BLACK-THROATED GRAY WARBLER (above; below)

After allowing the bird to perch on his finger for 15 minutes or so while we all took photos, he handed the bird off to his wife, Diane (a non-birder, come along). The bird perched for a short time, seeming to like her gloved hands.

BLACK-THROATED GRAY WARBLER held by Diane. Land Bird on our Pelagic trip.

Who knows why it was out so far in the Pacific Ocean! But here it was. Diane's gloves must have felt good; she sat down in a wind-protected area and the BTGWA immediately tucked in for a nap. She must have held it for a good 45 minutes or so before Steve brought a box for it. None of us had high hopes for it, but it lived quite a while in the box (from which it would have been released to some trees when we disembarked). By the end of the trip, however, it had peacefully passed.

Fortunate to spend the bird's last hours providing comfort.

Back to sea birds, I had recalled talking to Deb about the presence of BULLER'S SHEARWATER. Having seen it previously, I thought it was one of the sleekest, most handsome shearwater of my minimum experience. Instead of the usual 2-5 Deb said I might expect, we had flocks of them, numbering 250 in all for the day. I couldn't have been happier!

BULLER'S SHEARWATER (above and below)

Another shearwater, likely a Sooty, provided an interesting photo op when two were flying closely over the water with the camera making it appear that their wings were touching. Not a reflection; it's two birds.

Shearwaters

We had two BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS come close to the boat for the chumming.

On my previous pelagic, this species had followed the boat almost all day but looking like it was half a mile behind us....very graceful, its long (7') wings, almost touching the water as it just flew along behind us.

Today, they were swimming all around the boat! Had never seen one ON the water, so I took lots of photos.

BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS (above and below)

While one continued to swim, the other took off.

Two BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS

Of course none of this could have happened without Debi Love Shearwater running these trips each fall - from Half Moon Bay and from Monterrey.

Debi talking to Tom, the chum tosser

When we had a good group of birds at the back of the boat, the 'BIRD OF THE DAY' showed up -- a SOUTH POLAR SKUA. It was close enough for a photo but I was too busy keeping my bins on it before it took off. Debi immediately asked for bigger chum - a salmon to go into the wake to try to call it back. Good-looking salmon went overboard...and again...and again. But the Skua didn't return.

This is what I saw:

SOUTH POLAR SKUA - internet photo

It had come close enough for me to see everything this photo shows, but I just was frozen at looking at the bird until too late.

With 42 species for the day (9,693 individual birds), I was more than pleased with everything about the pelagic - from the calm waters and wind, to the extraordinary looks at species I may never see again.

Deb wrapped up the day by saying it was by far, her best trip so far this Fall.

* * *

Mammals:
90 Pacific White-sided Dolphins
3 Risso's Dolphins

Links to eBird:

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S48807886

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S48807887

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S48807889

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S48807891

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S48807893

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S48807894

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S48807897

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S48807900