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!

Spanning the Northeast Pacific

  

Black-footed Albatross (Phoebastria nigripes) offshore on 7 May 2023.

And here's a view of the entire bird so you can appreciate its wingspan:

 

 

P.S.  You can click on the images for larger versions.

 

Gray on gray

 

 

I'm still sorting through photos from the boat trip on 21 August 2022, but here's a Buller's Shearwater (Puffinus bulleri).  They were quite common throughout most of the day.

For the record

I had kind of an "off" day for bird photographs during the pelagic boat trip to Bodega Canyon and Cordell Bank on 6 October 2019.  I was often in the wrong place for photos, or the birds were at odd angles or just out of focus.  But for the record, here are some shots that were interesting for various reasons:

Brown Booby (Sula leucogaster), a rarity in Sonoma County:

 

Flyby Laysan Albatross (Phoebastria immutabilis):

 

Flesh-footed Shearwater (Ardenna carneipes), an uncommon visitor from Australia or New Zealand:

 

A "ballet" of Buller's Shearwaters (Ardenna bulleri):

 

A Pomarine Jaeger (Stercorarius pomarinus) and the moon:

 

Just visiting

 

A few Laysan Albatross (Phoebastria immutabilis) images from a boat trip to Bodega Canyon/Cordell Bank on 25 August 2019.  [You can click on the images for larger versions.]

 

 

 

P.S.  For an introduction to Laysan Albatross, see the post called "Incoming" on 2 September 2012.  (And note that they also breed on Guadalupe Island off the west coast of Baja California, Mexico, which I neglected to mention in that earlier post.)  And for some fun audio recordings of Laysan Albatross, check out "Largely silent at sea" on 9 September 2015.

On their way to Australia

 

Short-tailed Shearwater (Ardenna tenuirostris) photographed offshore of Bodega Head on 15 October 2017.

This species is an uncommon fall/winter visitor to our area.  They spend their winter (our summer) in the North Pacific (with concentrations off Alaska), then migrate south to breeding sites around Australia. 

Gray-backed

 

 

Buller's Shearwaters (Puffinus bulleri) near Cordell Bank on 20 August 2017.

For more pictures and information about Buller's Shearwaters, see the post called "Visitors from New Zealand" from 30 October 2012.

Out at sea

A few more of the seabirds observed during the boat trip to Bodega Canyon/Cordell Bank on 9 October 2016:

 

Black-vented Shearwater (Puffinus opisthomelas)

 

Red Phalaropes (Phalaropus fulicarius) 

 

South Polar Skua (Stercorarius maccormicki) 

 

Cassin's Auklet (Ptychoramphus aleuticus)

 

Rhinoceros Auklets (Cerorhinca monocerata)

 

Tufted Puffin (Fratercula cirrhata)

We saw three different puffins that day — a good number for this area.  Overall numbers of birds were relatively low, but the diversity of species was decent.

From islands off Baja

This is one of those times when I don't have great pictures, but I'm going to show a few images because they represent an important record.

At the end of the day today there were thousands of Black-vented Shearwaters (Puffinus opisthomelas) flying north past Bodega Head.

These are small shearwaters, and they were about 1/4 mile offshore, but you can still see their distinctive profiles with stiff wings.  And in these images, on some individuals, you can just make out the coloration — dark upperparts and light underparts.

 

At ~5 p.m., through a spotting scope, I counted ~135 Black-vented Shearwaters/minute (on average).

 

 

Black-vented Shearwaters are generally a southern species — breeding on islands off the west coast of Baja California, and dispersing north to Point Conception.  In some years, they make it to Monterey Bay.  When the water is warm, they make it to Sonoma County.  (Rarely they make it as far north as British Columbia.)  Their abundance off Bodega Head in 2015 is probably related to El Niño and warmer water conditions.  Water temperatures reached over 16°C (61°F) today (about 3°C above average for this time of year).

Because they're rare off Bodega Head, I don't have great pictures of this species, but here's a photograph from Monterey Bay on 22 August 2014 (with a couple of cormorants and a larger and darker Sooty Shearwater for comparison):

 

Black-vented Shearwaters can be seen close to shore, so watch for them if you're at the coast this fall.

"Largely silent at sea"

As promised, here are a few recordings of Laysan Albatross calls, recorded near Cordell Bank on 9 September 2015.

First, a couple of pictures so you can visualize the albatross.  The birds were sitting on the water when we heard them calling.  

 

It appeared that the calls were "territorial" — that is, they were given when other individuals were close by or in response to another bird calling.  In the picture below, a Black-footed Albatross is approaching from behind.  (The Laysan is calling.)

 

I've included three audio clips below.  The National Geographic Field Guide to Birds of North America says that albatross are "largely silent at sea."  This day was an exception!

Sometimes two calls are given one-right-after-the-other — that's likely a second bird calling in response to the first.

[If you can't see the audio files in an e-mail, click on the title of the post above to go directly to the website.]

 
 
 

Spectacle

After chores this morning, I took a quick run out to the coast in the late afternoon.  When I got there, the ocean was flat calm and the sky was overcast gray.  These conditions made it easy to see very large flocks of birds ~ 0.5 mile offshore.

From a distance, the dense flocks looked like dark ribbons:

 

With a magnified view, it was possible to see many birds sitting on the water, as well as large numbers in flight.

 

Occasionally, the birds sitting on the water would take off all at once:

 

Although the sitting flocks stood out, scanning other areas of the ocean revealed impressive, although sparser, concentrations of birds flying south:

The birds in these photographs are Sooty Shearwaters (Puffinus griseus).  It was very difficult to count the number of shearwaters visible off Bodega Head this afternoon.   

I tried to make a quick estimate of the number of birds in the second photo of this post.  Here it is again (below) if you'd like to try counting yourself.  [Click on the picture of a slightly larger version.]

 

My first pass through the flock in the picture above resulted in a count of ~550-600 shearwaters.  This was a very small portion of the total number of birds visible across the entire seascape.  I'm going to throw out a very rough estimate of at least 10,000 Sooty Shearwaters in view from Bodega Head at ~3:30 p.m. today.

If you're near the coast, it's worth watching for this spectacle of shearwaters.

P.S.  I first wrote about Sooty Shearwaters and their amazing migrations on 19 August 2012.  You can review that post here.

ADDENDUM (24 August 2015): And here's another view of an incredibly dense shearwater flock (all of those little black specks).  Can you tell where this picture was taken?

 

View from Dillon Beach, looking towards Tomales Point (northern tip of Point Reyes).  Taken on 23 August 2015 (Thanks, Stephanie!).  [Clues for the location: extensive dune grass in the foreground, looking straight across to a steep rocky promontory, and a navigational buoy just off the tip.]

Nostalgic

I did a presentation tonight where I talked a little bit about my lobstering background and it made me feel nostalgic for being on boats out at sea.  So here's a picture of a Northern Fulmar (Fulmarus glacialis).  This one was taken near Cordell Bank on 14 October 2011.

 

I first wrote about fulmars in October 2012.  To learn more about them, you can read that post here.

A lesson in light

 

One of the highlights from a boat trip to Bodega Canyon and Cordell Bank on 26 October 2012 was a Manx Shearwater (Puffinus puffinus).

The Birds of Sonoma County California lists two records for Manx Shearwater: the first at Bodega Canyon on 7 April 2008 and the second on the way to Cordell Bank on 16 November 2008.  I don't know if there have been other records since then, but this is currently a rare species in county waters.  We encountered it fairly close to Bodega Head.

There are several important field marks to look for:  the most critical is the color of the undertail coverts (feathers under the tail).  In the photo above, note that they're white almost to the tip of the tail.

In addition, notice the following:

- overall small size (wingspan of 75-84 cm, or 30-33 inches)
- strong black and white coloration (see black upperparts in next photo)
- an almost hooded appearance due to a white "hook" or "notch" extending upward behind the face
- a mostly pale unmarked underwing, with a narrow black border 
- gray underside of primaries (at wing tips)
- relatively short tail

 

The next photo shows the white "saddles" just in front of the black "thigh patch."

 

The image below is the same individual, but in different light and at a slightly different angle.  Note that with a quick view, it appears that the undertail coverts could be dark.  This is a lesson in light.  It was important to continue watching the bird until there was a clear view of the undertail coverts in good light.  Otherwise, this bird might have been mistaken for a Black-vented Shearwater.  [Note that Black-vented Shearwaters have dark undertail coverts, appear brown above rather than black, have a diffuse and dusky face pattern, and lack the white saddles.]

 

Until the last 20 years or so, Manx Shearwaters were considered rare throughout the Pacific Ocean.  They were first detected in California in the mid-1970s, and the first formally accepted record was from Monterey Bay in 1993.  There are now annual records in California (most between the Farallon Islands and San Luis Obispo County).  Late summer and fall (especially September and October) is the most likely time to see them.

Although primarily an Atlantic species (the common name means "from the Isle of Mann," located in the northeast Atlantic), Manx Shearwaters are now potentially breeding on Triangle Island off Vancouver Island and on Middleton Island in Alaska.  We may see more of them in the future!

(Facts from Rare Birds of California and Petrels, Albatrosses, and Storm-Petrels of North America by Steve Howell.)

Stiff winds and stiff wings

Yesterday it was blowing 20-25 knots out of the northwest, with gusts to 30-35 knots.  I'm guessing the strong winds had something to do with this visitor to Salmon Creek Beach.  Do you recognize this bird?

 

Here are a few closer views:

 

 

Note the relatively stocky and thick-necked appearance.

 

This is a Northern Fulmar (Fulmarus glacialis).  Fulmars are seabirds related to shearwaters and petrels.  They're in a group known as "tubenoses" because their nostrils are enclosed in long tubes on top of their bills.  This feature is hard to discern in the pictures from 20 October 2012, but see the next close-up taken at Cordell Bank on 14 October 2011.

 

In all of these photos, note the stiff-winged profile and imagine a flight pattern alternating between glides and shallow wing beats.  The fulmar was soaring up over the waves, moving across the wind.  

 

The distinctive arcing and banking flight caught my eye.  Although I've seen fulmars from land, this is the first one I've noticed spending significant time in the surf zone.  

During the fall and winter, it's common to see fulmars offshore, with an ocean backdrop.  It's unusual to view them with coastal hills and trees in the background, or gliding over driftwood on the beach!

 

A few fun facts about Northern Fulmars (thanks to The Birds of North America account by Hatch and Nettleship):

- There are only 34 breeding colonies in North America.  Half of them are in Alaska.  99% of the Alaskan population is found at several island colonies (Semidi Island, Chagulak Island, Pribilof Islands, and St. Matthew and Hall islands).

- Fulmars are broadly distributed across the Pacific Ocean during the winter, but common only north of 35-40°N.  (Bodega Head is at 38°N.)

- They don't breed until 8-10 years old.  They raise only one chick per year.  They're very long-lived, with an average lifespan of ~30 years.

- Fulmars have a strong sense of smell and use olfactory cues to locate their prey, e.g., fish, squid, and zooplankton (primarily crustaceans).