Birds at the Bank

A few bird photos from the boat trip to Bodega Canyon and Cordell Bank on 30 July 2016:

 

Sooty Shearwaters (Puffinus griseus) and Pink-footed Shearwaters (Puffinus creatopus)

 

Black-footed Albatross (Phoebastria nigripes) preening

Sightings that day also included Northern Fulmar, Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel, Ashy Storm-Petrel, Red-necked Phalarope, Red Phalarope, Sabine's Gull, Long-tailed Jaeger, Common Murre, Pigeon Guillemot, Cassin's Auklet, and Rhinoceros Auklet.  The best birds of the day were probably these murrelets:

 

Although I don't have a lot of experience with murrelets, I identified these as Scripps's Murrelets (Synthliboramphus scrippsi) based primarily on the amount of black on the face and the amount of white  under the wings (hard to see here).  Let me know if you agree or disagree!

 

 This was a nice start to the fall seabird season!

 

P.S.  For previous photos of Scripps's Murrelet (from Monterey Bay), see the post from 27 August 2014.  And for previous photos of Guadalupe Murrelet (from Cordell Bank), see the post from 21 September 2014.