Monterey Bay Pelagic

I was at the Monterey Wharf at 7 a.m. on Friday September 28th for my first real pelagic birding trip (Lake Havasy doesn't really count). I was a little apprehensive about being on a boat for 8 hours and had taken my Dramamine pill as suggested on the Shearwater Journeys website. However there was no need to be; the bay waters remained calm all day and, with 9 lifers I had my best birding day since Khao Yai National Park 18 months earlier. This must have been the most ABA lifers I had seen in one day for about 20 years!

The most remarkable thing was that things were going on continuously for the whole trip, starting with Surfbirds and Black Turnstones on the breakwaters as we left the harbor, the Common Murres that we had immediately and the Sooty and Black-vented Shearwaters we had soon thereafter.

Common Murre

Sooty Shearwater

The Black-footed Albatross and Buller's Shearwaters were the loveliest of the birds we saw. Pink-footed and Flesh-footed Sheartwaters, Cassin's and Rhinoceros Auklets; South Polar Skua and Pomarine Jaeger made up the rest of my lifers. We spent some time watching Humpback Whales and found both Pacific White-sided and Risso's dolphins. However the cetacean highlight were a pod of Dall Porpoises (aka Mini Orcas) that swam in the bow wave just metres from where I was sitting.
Remarkably we ran into some passerines some 20 miles out to sea, a Red-winged Blackbird, 3 Lesser Goldfinch and a Red-breasted Nuthatch who worked its way down an antennae before eventually resting on someone's head! Removed with the hat, this bird was released once we returned to shore.

Back on land at 3pm I ventured out after tea in search of some California land birds, but Frog Pond (close to my hotel in Seaside) did not deliver the good birds I had seen posted on eBird - just one California Towhee!