Transequatorial migrants

  

We were about to start a meeting this afternoon when we noticed a dark mass just offshore — thousands of Sooty Shearwaters (Ardenna griseus) in a very dense flock!  [I recommend clicking on the images for larger and sharper versions.]

Not long after, we started seeing lots of splashing:

 

 

The white splashes were large enough that at first I though there might be mammals in the area, too, or larger fish breaking the surface.  But with binoculars we could see that it was the shearwaters plunge-diving into the water.  I'm guessing there might have been bait fish (or squid?) in the area:

 

 

 

The birds were about 1/2 mile offshore, so the photos are distant, but below is a closer view where you can see some of the characteristic stiff-winged silhouettes of the shearwaters.  (By the way, I haven't counted, but scanning the photo below my guess is that there might be >500 birds in this photo alone.)

 

 

 

And one more photo showing the amazing density of the shearwater flock:

 

 

 

Sooty Shearwaters nest in the Southern Hemisphere (e.g., in/near Australia and New Zealand) and then fly across the equator to visit the North Pacific during their non-breeding season.  Take a look if you're out at the coast, it's impressive to see so many shearwaters at once!