Seawatch Report - Nov 19

Today was a quiet day at the count, which isn't wholly unwelcome after the big flights and exciting birds we've enjoyed during the last week. The scoter flight has hit another lull, it seems: just 98 Surf (and 1 Black) today. The loon flight was diminished, too: just 501 Red-throats and 92 Pacifics. It's amazing to think back to last Friday--just five days ago--when we had more than 20,000 Pacific Loons. It's a dynamic flight; a dynamic place; and not knowing what each day will bring is, for me, part of what makes seawatching so exciting.

We did have a nice morning murre flight, with our daily total coming out at 2187. We also had 4 Rhinoceros Auklets (it's also crazy to me how much the murre/Rhino composition changes here on a day to day basis!), 2 Marbled Murrelets, and 2 Ancient Murrelets.

It was a quiet tubenose day--just 19 fulmars; 10 Sooty Shearwaters; 2 Black-vented Shearwaters.

Less-common highlights included a Black-legged Kittiwake, a Pomarine Jaeger, and a Black Scoter.

Winds at the count remained <5 knots all day. Visibility was fairly good, the swell minimal. Overnight, the wind at the outer buoy had been NW at ~10 knots, switching to the NE by sunrise. The pressure dropped from 30.15 at 0800 to 30.04 by count's end.

See the full checklist here: https://ebird.org/tripreport/294107

- Alison Vilag

An exhausted plover - Nov 18

Today's Seawatch excitement came in the form of a plover that, at this writing, is still yet to be positively identified. It dropped in and landed on the beach just below where we count from, and hunkered there, seemingly exhausted, for roughly the next hour. More details on this bird can be found within the 0700 checklist contained in this report, but in short, it didn't seem quite right for a Snowy Plover. The possibility of Kentish Plover (an old-world species which Snowy Plover was lumped with until 2011) was raised, which created quite a bit of excitement in the local birding community, but despite the notes and photos that were obtained, I'm not sure this is a bird that can be confidently identified. And--even though Snowy Plovers are a regularly occurring species not far from the Seawatch--they don't turn up at Pt. Pinos often at all. Per eBird, there are just a handful of site records. So regardless of identification, it was an unexpected bird that added a fair amount of excitement to our morning.

We did have another nice loon flight today, with 1219 Red-throated (sunrise hour peak, 405) and 6114 Pacifics (0700 hour peak, 3185). The flight was high, with some flocks cutting the bay behind the buoy but no heavy loon traffic on the far outer bay-cutting line.

The morning murre flight was busy, too, with 550 coming by in the 0700 hour. Our day's cumulative tally was 1553, and we also had 3 Ancient Murrelets.

The Surf Scoter flight was pretty quiet--just 205.

The wind today was light south until around 0900, when it switched to NNW and built to 15 knots NW by count's end. With those winds, I would have expected a little more tubenose diversity during the afternoon, but alas, aside from plenty of Northern Fulmars (200), we had just 2 Short-tailed Shearwaters on the tubenose front.

See the full checklist here: https://ebird.org/checklist/S203089600

- Alison Vilag

White Wagtail at the Point! - Nov 17

White wagtail

Today was a memorable day at Point Pinos. The morning flight was lively, dynamic, and punctuated by noteworthy rarities. We had a strong showing of MAS counters and docents who enjoyed the day, counted thousands of birds, and engaged with many dozens of visitors.

The clear and cold early morning hours provided our highest counts of loons and alcids. While alcids dropped off precipitously in the late morning, the loon flight remained steady throughout the day. In the morning, Pacific and Red-throated Loons would appear in small flocks anywhere in the sky, requiring constant scanning to pick out 7 here, 12 there, and, oh, wow, 5 over there. Pacific Loons dominated the morning, and after a lull in the early afternoon, Red-throated Loons were in the majority, primarily on a westbound flight line above the distant Santa Cruz hills.

During the morning alcid flight we tallied a nice count of 25 Ancient Murrelets. We also had a thrill when Kai spotted and got everyone on a/the very rarely recorded fully dark Common Murre. The day's scoter and tubenose numbers were modest.

The unforgettable highlight came suddenly when an exceptionally rare vagrant White Wagtail appeared in front of us for a few moments and bounded away to the east, calling. We were thrilled to find we had managed documentation photos. It is the first record for Point Pinos, the Monterey Peninsula, and for this millennium in Monterey County (last was 1998). See inline notes and photos.

Winds and waves were much milder than previous days with mostly clear skies and generally very high visibility. A king tide was very much in evidence throughout the day with an exceptionally low tide near sunset. Tidepool enthusiasts were able to enjoy a variety of showy nudibranchs, including the bright pink Hopkins' Rose Nudibranch (Ceratodoris rosacea). Marine mammals were cooperative today with Humpback Whales rarely out of sight. Risso's Dolphins were spotted in the distance and Orcas were reported on the Bay but not seen from Pinos. California Sea Lions and Pacific Harbor Seal were seen active and close to shore. Two of the many local Southern Sea Otters lounged on nearby rocks, allowing passersby to enjoy particularly good scope views.

- Bill Hubick

See the full checklist here: https://ebird.org/tripreport/293637