On Sunday August 14th my wife and I took a Shearwater Journeys pelagic trip out of Sausalito. The news when we got to the boat at 7:20 was not good with the ocean swell meaning we would stay close to the coast before making the journey to the Farralone Islands. This meant a longer journey and we would not have time later in the day to look for birds along the continental shelf.
My target bird for the trip was the much-wanted Tufted Puffin and these were guaranteed at the islands. We also saw thousands of Common Murres, many Pigeon Guillemots and a few Cassin's Auklets in the waters.
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| Tufted Puffin |
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| Common Murre |
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| Pigeon Guillemots |
In addition a single Blue-footed Booby and a single Brown Booby on the island known as Sugarloaf provided life birds for many of those on the boat. And the rocks also held some west coast shorebirds.
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| Black Oystercatcher |
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| Blue-footed Booby |
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| Brown Booby |
Returning home in calmer seas we were lucky to get close views of a single Fork-tailed Storm Petrel and a fly by Pomarine Jaeger.
The trip ended with a wonderful non-birdy moment, a return to the bay seeing San Francisco framed beneath the Golden Gate Bridge under blue skies.
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