Big Year birders meet in San Diego
2024 Pelagic Trips and a few Pre and Post Pelagic Quickies.
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| Hatteras Pelagic |
Have you ever seen a Sooty Shearwater at your feeder. How about an Albatross? I didn't think so. Shearwaters, Auklets, Albatrosses spend most of their life over the seas. they don't come to birders we come to them. And if you want to find a lot of birds in a big year have to take to the sea.
Luckily, Molly and I live on the west coast and have access to some of the best pelagic trips in the county. The pelagic season on the Pacific Coast runs from June to October. But this year we got a head start on May 10th in Hatteras North Carolina. Let's look back.
Hatteras North Carolina May 10th Pelagic #1
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Wilson Storm Petrels abounded on the Atlantic
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A Big Year is all about planning. You have to love the planning. On our big Spring-Migration trip we did a mini-pelagic/song bird day on May 5th in the Dry Tortugas off the Florida Keys which netted us a bunch of species of terns and a whole colony of Masked Boobies. Then five days later we were in Hatteras, North Carolina for our first full day on a boat. Both trips had to be booked early before they sold out.
The Hatteras bird list was topped by our only Black capped Petrels of the year. (Pictured above and below) We also saw numerous soaring Wilson Storm Petrels and our first Red-necked Phalaropes of the year.
By the way don't panic if you get seasick. Our first pelagic trip involved both of us sick as dogs and a woman on board yelling that that I was throwing up on everyone's bags. ("He is not!" Molly yelled back. Which was true). From that inauspicous first trip we really enjoy patching up and hitting the seas. Our not so secret is wearing scopolamine patches. Ask your health care professional.
Black-caps, Murphy's soaring and Molly Smiling
San Diego County: July 14th Pelagic #2
Let's fast forward now to July. We have just finished our northern west coast swing. Spring migration and the breeding season are in the rear view mirror. From now through October it California pelagic trip time.
On the way: Pre San Diego Pelagic Quickie: Yosemite Pine Grosbeak and another Great Grey Strikeout
We were driving down to San Diego. Every route, regardless if it is plane or car is scrutinized for Big Year Birds. What is between Fairfax, California and San Diego County
And the best place to see the Great Gray Owl in California, according to those that have actually seen it is Yosemite National park.
As we pulled into our Yosemite National Park campground the ranger said that a Great Gray had fallen out of a nest a few days ago just down the road. Molly and I looked at each other. This felt like the place to finally see the 'Ghost' owl.
All the sage owl advice is to walk the edges of meadows and then walk them some more. The Great Grey owls sit in a trees at the edges of the meadows. We walked meadow after meadow: Hogdon, Crane Flat, Wanona but no owl.
We did see our first Pine Grosbeak of the year at Lukens Lake and while not a year bird Molly loved the Williamson Sapsuckers at Dog lakes and celebrated with a dip.
Down to San Diego.
On the boat The next day was our San Diego pelagic trip out of beautiful Mission Bay. San Diego pelagics are the closest pelagics to Mexican waters and are the trip to see the southeastern Pacific Coco's Booby, which was just split off from the Brown Booby.
As I was signing in for the boat trip the man behind me said, "So you're Larry Nigro." Turns out, Tim Ryan, a very committed Big Year Birder had been tracking me on Ebird. Wow I guess we are in a competition, felt kind of good for a senior to be tracked for something besides medical concerns. Also on the boat were the McQuades, a couple from Florida, who consistently find seven hundred plus species of ABA birds every year.
David McQuade said this happens once. year when a bunch of big year birders run into other on important pelagic trip. So we had to pose for a photo. (See above)
We added twelve new species for the year including: the following murrelets: Guadalupe, Scrips and Craveri's, the following storm petrels: Townsends's, Ashy, Black and Leach's, the Coco's booby, Cassin's Auklet and the following shearwaters: Black-vented, Sooty and Pink-footed.
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| Risso Dolphin |
Coco's Booby Sooty Shearwater
Scripp's Murrelet
Post San Diego Quickies: Yellow-green Vireo and California Gnatcatcher
The day before the pelagic we went to the zoo. Now I know what you are thinking. Zoo birds don't count. But a Yellow-green Vireo was a visitor to the zoo not a a resident. The vireo had been hanging out and singing in the early mornings hours. An eBirding zoo employee reported on the bird's early morning chorus. Would it still be out when we arrived? No sign of our red eyed friend on our first trip. Luckily I bought a zoo pass and we went back the day after the pelagic trip. And the vireo was a singing mood. It serenaded us like this: 
Vireo verified we then ticked off our favorite San Diego Endemic, the California Gnatcatcher, and it was even feeding young, thus capping off an excellent visit to the old home town.
Pre-Bay Area Pelagic Quickie: Ruff. July 20th
Finally back home for eleven straight days and a home county pelagic! As we reacquainted ourself with Dora, our cat and waited for our home county pelagic, a Ruff showed up south of us at the wonderful Coyote Hills Regional Park in Fremont California. And even more impressive, the Ruff was still in partial breeding plumage and really stood out among the dowitchers.
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| Ruff on the move |
Pelagic Trip #3 Sausalito July 27th
Our third pelagic trip of the Big Year was in our back yard. Sausalito harbor is just across the Golden Gate Bridge. We would be traveling with Alvaro Jaramillo a great birder, researcher, trip organizer. We headed out to the Farollon Islands and saw Black-footed Albatross, tufted puffins, a couple. of year birds: Ashy Storm Petrels, Black Storm Petrels, Rhinoceros Auklet.
But the real star of the trip was the pod of Killer Whales. Check out the dorsal fin on the male killer whale. This is the tallest dorsal fin of all cetaceans and may reach six feet tall.
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| Fork-tailed Storm Petrel |
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| Petrel |
Pelagic Trips #4 Half Moon Bay August 18th
Pelagic trip numbers four and five were also with Alvaro. But this time we left from Half Moon Bay Ca, Here are the highlights
As we left Pillar Point Harbor the group spotted a year bird for Molly and I two petite Marbled Murrelets. As we head into the deeper waters, the lovely Buller's Shearwater showed up in big numbers.
Then the bird of the day:On our way into the harbor we saw an old friend back on his roast. Morris, the only Pacfic Ocean Gannet was back on his porch on the breakwater. While, we were to see hundreds of Gannets later in the year there is nothing like an old friend to arrive home to after a long day at the sea.
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The one and only Morris (Species: Morus bassanus or Northern Gannet)
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Pelagic Trip #5 October 6. Ventura Pelagic and the Channel Islands(like a mini-Pelagic).
One a year we head down to Ventura County to visit the Channel Islands National Park. This year we added a Pelagic trip the day before out of Ventura Harbor.
The Pelagic trip was a little slow with no year birds. But what I really want to talk about is the next day on the Channel Islands. Channel Islands and Dry Tortugas National Park are two half-to Big Year Birding trips. The Dry Tortugas, which I wrote about on our trip across the country, teed up seven new species of the year for us. (Not counting the pigeon and the Nighthawk right by the dock we saw in Key West right after the trip).
Channel Islands is a 'mini' Tortuga. Besides spying Pelagic birds, there are always Sooty's, and Marin Mammals on the way out and back, the island itself has this big guy below. The Island Scrub Jay is one of four endemic scrub jays in the ABA. The other three from west to east: California Scrub Jay, Woodhouse's Scrub Ja, and Florida Scrub Jay. (Note: there are no scrub jays east of the Mississippi--think Blue Jays). Like many island birds the Island Scrub Jay is bigger and brighter than its mainland counterpart the California Scrub Jay. I am fascinated by this bird. How come it never made it Ventura, only 35 miles away?
Island sub species of the loggerheads Shrike and one wandering Cackling goos.
Pelagic Trips Trip #6 August 18 Return to Half Moon Bay
A day hampered somewhat by a foggy morning. I added just one new species. (As the year does on you have to work harder and harder like squeezing an already squeezed orange.) On the third leg of the trip we saw a Flesh-footed Shearwater, dark like the Sooty but with a pink bill like the Ash-throated.
Some old faves showed when the sun came out from top left: South Polar Skua, Buller's Shearwater, Horned Puffin and Molly!
The Last Pelagic of the year # 7 Noyo Harbor Fort Bragg and a Big Post Trip Goose!!
We combined the last Pelagic of the year with a wild goose chase. We tried for the goose first. A Taiga Bean goose was loose among the cackling geese on the Arcata Bottom farm land. We spent November 10th looking for the goose. No luck. Then we headed down to Fort Bragg for the Pelagic trip.
The ornithologist Peter Pyle moved to Fort Bragg in the last couple of years and established as the Harbor north of Bodega bay for pelagic trips, especially early in the year when Hawaiin Petrels and Short-tailed Albatross are in the waters. We missed those but we love Fort Bragg, where I use to mountain bike a lot so we had to go Noyo Harbor in Fort Bragg, California. Again we only managed one new specie, an Icelandic gull. But the vibe was great and so were the spotters. Here are some highlights:
Northern Fulmar and a very strange Sunfish.
Parasitic Jaeger and Pacific White-sided Dolphins
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| Taiga bean goose with orange bill with black tip |
Big Year Quickee: Goooooooooose!
Using the Yellow Green Vireo as inspiration. We drove back up to Fort Bragg the morning after the pelagic to resume looking for Birder were spread across the farm fields scanning for a goose taller than the hundreds of Cackling geese milling around. Every birder we talked we exchanged numbers and good wishes. Then after a couple of hours we were getting desperate and thinking about the long ride home. Right then one of our new bird friends drove up. He had just seen the bird at the back of a nearby field. (Big year advice connect with other birders in the field). We drove off and cooked our goose.
Some final thoughts on Pelagics:
We missed quite a few birds on Pelagics. If you can squeeze one in look for a repositioning cruise for deep water Petrels like Hawaiian and Cook's in April before you are going migration crazy. (You will be in deepwater traveling one way along the coast and hopefully the awesome birder, Paul Lehman, will be on board) Also April pelagics out of Noyo Harbor are great for Hawaiian Petrels and offer a chance for Short-tailed Albatross. Also recommended just by perusing the list the 24 hour pelagic trip out of Cape May in August, a time of year with a little more space. Plan, plan, and plan some more.
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