August 25th, 2012: Half Moon Bay Pelagic

        Having been working for a large portion of my summer, I realized that I had acquired enough money to pay a pelagic trip for myself. I was extremely excited when I found out that I could go, for this was going to be my first ever pelagic trip. For those of you who aren't familiar with what a "pelagic"trip" is, it is a trip out to sea to find some seafaring birds; birds that are seldom seen from shore. 

            

       I woke up at 5:00 AM, to arrive at Pillar Point Harbor at 6:30 AM. I was dropped off at the rendezvous spot, and waited with several other birders. This trip was led by Alvaro Jaramillo, a renowned birder with many pelagic experiences, with Alvaro Adventures. We embarked on our nautical journey at 7:00 AM, while birding as we left the harbor. We saw some typical coastal birds such as Black Turnstones, Elegant Terns, Heermann's Gulls, Surfbirds, and many Brown Pelicans.

Frightened flock of Elegant Terns

        Western Gulls trailed behind our boat as we tossed little pieces of popcorn to lure them closer. The goal of the popcorn was to attract the gulls, which would indirectly attract other seabirds, that would be attracted by the large flock of those gulls. However, there weren't any truly pelagic birds by the harbor, so we tried to save up on the popcorn. We began seeing Pigeon Guillemots and Common Murres as we went further from the harbor. Some of these alcids didn't fear the boat and didn't dive or take flight as we neared them, producing exceptional photo ops.

Nonbreeding Common Murre
(notice the bridled eye, the white on the face,
and the black back and wings.)

      Suddenly, Alvaro shouted: "Rhino Auklets!". We all turned around and noticed two of these alcids flying a couple hundred feet from the boat. This was my first lifer of the trip, the first of many.

Rhinoceros Auklets
(notice the orange bill, the white marks on the face,
the white belly, and slightly angled flight.)

          We then approached a large flock of Common Murres that had a couple Sooty Shearwaters mixed in. Though this species is frequently seen from shore, it was another lifer for me. My scope's aperture doesn't provide enough luminosity to clearly see birds, or a big enough view, for a broader view of the sea. This is why I haven't ever seabirded from shore. However, the view we got of this species surpassed any view from shore. This bird was about 30 feet from the boat, which was sufficient to get good, clear views.

Sooty Shearwater
(notice the entirely dark body, and the slender hooked bill)

         After about an hour and a half, the coast was no longer visible, and we were surrounded by water. This gave me a feeling of vulnerability, where if something bad happened, there wasn't anybody or anything to help us. Fortunately, the captain was very experienced; and if the unlikely eventuality of the boat sinking were to happen, the boat was equipped with life rafts and life jackets. So I didn't worry.

         Later, little dark birds started flying by the boat. These birds reminded me of swallows by their size and the way they flew. Obviously, they weren't. These were Ashy Storm-Petrels, another lifer and a common bird off the California coast. Suddenly, that small storm-petrel joined an enormous flock of other storm-petrels. This flock was absolutely gargantuan, with at least 500 birds. Ashy Storm-Petrels were the most numerous birds, however they weren't the only birds to compose this flock. There were also Black Storm-Petrels, that were similar to ASSP, but were slightly larger, and had a different flight pattern. There were also Wilson's Storm-Petrels and Fork-tailed Storm-Petrels. Wilson's are regular birds off the California coast, but are usually in low numbers. There was however a surprisingly large number of these birds in the flock (around 40!). Alvaro said that it might have been the most Wilson's on record in California at once! Fork-tailed Storm-Petrels are also regular birds off of the California coast, and in higher numbers than the Wilson's. There were however only 4 individuals sighted in this flock.

Ashy Storm-Petrel
(notice the light colored carpal-bar, and long wings.)

Mixed flock of Ashy, Black and Wilson's Storm-Petrels

Wilson's Storm-Petrel
(notice the white rump)

         After we passed the massive flock of storm-petrels, we started going into deeper water, where we were expecting to find more truly pelagic birds. We soon began tossing out more of the popcorn, and more gulls appeared. There were however only Western Gulls, and no Heermann's Gulls, because they are more coastal birds that rarely go so far out at sea. However, the gulls attracted more birds such as Sooty Shearwaters, Pink-footed Shearwaters, and lifers Black-footed Albatross, Northern Fulmars, Buller's Shearwaters, Pomarine and Long-tailed Jaegers, South Polar Skuas, Sabine's Gulls, and even Laysan Albatross! Two of them! These birds came surprisingly close to the boat, which offered once again many photo ops.

Pomarine Jaeger
(notice the yellow nape, the brown band across chest,
the white belly, and the overall bulky appearance.)

Black-footed Albatross
(notice the entirely dark body, the white at the base of the bill
the long wingspan, and the dark underwings.)

Laysan Albatross
(notice the white body, the brow over the eye,
and the white on the underwings.)

South Polar Skua
(notice the entirely dark body, the white on the primaries,
and extremely bulky appearance.)

Pink-footed Shearwater
(notice the pink bill, the brown back,
and the belly and underwings (not visible in this photo) )

Buller's Shearwater
(notice the extensive white on the underside)

Juvenile Sabine's Gull
(notice the brown back, and the lack primaries)

Northern Fulmar (dark morph)
(notice its tubenose bill, and its "dirty-looking" feathers.)

Juvenile Sabine's Gull
(appears identical to an adult, but notice the small white feathers on the dark primaries.
This indicates that it's a juvenile.)

Long-tailed Jaeger
(notice the yellow nape, the white belly,
the thread-like tail, and its somewhat petite frame.)

        As we are all looking at these surprisingly close birds, Matthew Dodder (one of the spotters of the trip) shouted: "Petrel!". Because nobody was expecting to find a petrel on this trip (because they aren't found so close to the coast), everybody jumped up and asked where. I put my binoculars up to my eyes and looked at all the birds trailing behind, when suddenly I noticed a bird with long, pointed wings and a white face. This was the petrel Matthew had spotted. But it wasn't just any petrel, it was Hawaiian Petrel! A rare bird for North America, and as it turned out, a San Mateo County first! This was the most amazing find of the trip by far. Everybody had gotten great looks at the Pterodroma, and I even managed to get a shot of the bird.

Hawaiian Petrel!
(notice its Pterodroma shape (stout bill, long and pointed wings, and long tail),
and the white on its face.)

        This was an incredible find by Matthew Dodder, and everybody applauded him. This was near the end of the trip and it was the perfect way to end the trip. Before we left, Alvaro threw out a couple chum-sicles, which attracted many birds, extremely close to the boat, including a Black-footed Albatross 3 feet away!

Black-footed Albatross
(notice the massive bill, the white on the face,
and the entirely brown body.)

         As we headed back towards the harbor, we crossed several small flocks of Red and Red-necked Phalaropes, more Common Murres, and migrant Arctic and Common Terns.

        Pelagic birding is truly an experience unlike any other. It is completely different than from regular birding on land. The birds we encountered were completely different and new and fascinating. The Hawaiian Petrel certainly was the cherry on top, but the trip would have still have amazing without it. Many thanks to Alvaro Jaramillo with Alvaro Adventures, the boat captain, Matthew Dodder for finding the rarity, and all the other passengers for making the trip that much more special. I hope to participate in more pelagics in the near future, and perhaps find another county first! Or maybe if I'm lucky, an ABA first!