2025 Seawatch - Nov 3

Photo by Mark Chappell - March 2024

Weather: This morning started, again, with fog--we could not see to the buoy. The fog lingered for most of the morning, though by mid-morning we were consistently seeing to the buoy and by afternoon we were able to see Loma and the stacks at Moss Landing, and it even got sunny. It was fairly calm at Pt. Pinos itself; at the outer buoy at dawn, winds were WSW at 8 knots and remained westerly and <8 knots over the course of the day. Pressure was 30.06 at dawn, rising to 30.14 at 1100, then falling to 30.05 by the count's end .

Birds: It was a fairly slow day, but thanks to a late-afternoon look at a COCOS BOOBY (a GOOD look, by Seawatch standards, and a lifer for at least one of our great volunteers!), it didn't feel like a quiet day. Crazy how just one bird can bring an adrenaline rush that becomes the dominant flavor of the day. We had 645 SURF SCOTERS and 1 BLACK SCOTER--a quiet scoter day. We had 3 RHINOCEROS AUKLETS, 1 MARBLED MURRELET, 1 PIGEON GUILLEMOT, and 227 COMMON MURRES. 2 PARASITIC JAEGERS were fun! On the loon front, we had 17 RED-THROATS, 98 PACIFICS, and 32 COMMONS. Tubenoses were sparse: 10 fulmars, 3 Sooties, 1 Short-tailed Shearwater. We had ample opportunity to laugh at the cranky Heermann's Gull flock that kept complaining about wet feet, compliments of the big full moon tide. And Kai and I heard, just once in the afternoon, an intriguing passerine high overhead that sounded wagtaily (White or possibly Gray). There was a lot of background noise, and I wouldn't put money on it, but it was very interesting.

-Alison Vilag

eBird checklist - https://ebird.org/tripreport/429313

2025 Pt. Pinos Seawatch - 2 Nov

Black Scoter drake (center left) in a flock of Surf Scoters

Weather: Slight breeze all day, strongest mid-morning as it swung around from east to west. The fog rolled in in the early afternoon and we were in pea soup for less than an hour - great visibility all day otherwise, except for a slight haze due to salt spray from the heavy swell.

Birds: Overall slightly quieter than yesterday, but with constant movement throughout the day. SURF SCOTERS steadily flew by in small flocks with 983 birds total for the day; one flock contained a BLACK SCOTER drake.

Loon numbers were slightly up, with RED-THROATED LOONS peaking in the morning and PACIFIC LOONS steady all day. Most of these birds were singles to small groups.

Tubenoses were largely absent save for a few SOOTY SHEARWATERS and NORTHERN FULMARS. COMMON MURRES were steady all day in small numbers. ELEGANT TERNS and BONAPARTE'S GULLS were present all day, peaking in the afternoon, and offering excitement as PARASITIC JAEGERS attempted to steal their lunch money.

2 small flocks and a lone individual BRANT were also a lovely sight as these sea geese make their way south from Alaska. One banded individual that was observed in Monterey two years ago turned out to be only 4 months old and fresh from Kachemak Bay, Alaska before it was spotted eating sod near Monterey Bay Park. Every year it is amazing to watch these young birds make their way south for the first time!

A MERLIN was also buzzing the Point - hopefully this small fierce falcon sticks around for the winter to take advantage of the bountiful prey, perhaps to the chagrin of passerines we observed like AMERICAN PIPIT, BARN SWALLOW, and YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER...

Finally, on this beautiful Sunday we had many pleasant interactions with curious passersby, several of which turned out to be locals or even regular visitors looking forward to the start of Seawatch and Alison's return! Thank you to our volunteer relief counters Amanda Preece, Fred Hochstaedter, and Catherine Webb - it takes a village to attempt to match what Alison does every day.

See the full trip report here: https://ebird.org/tripreport/428969

- Kai Russell

Seawatch opening day!

Since it was Saturday, many of Monterey's finest seawatch supporters were able to swing by, and the whole day felt like a homecoming: for me, and for this window of fall migration. What a happy, eager gathering of birders. Thank you for having me once again.

Weather: At Pt. Pinos, winds were light at dawn, picking up a little from the NNW during late morning and early afternoon. Dense fog moved in and out for the entire morning, and came back briefly in the afternoon--the buoy was not visible for roughly a quarter of the morning. Pressure rose from 30.10 at dawn to 30.16 at 1000, falling gradually to 30.05 at dusk. Winds at the outer buoy were W at 10 knots at dawn, building to W at 21 knots by 1600, dropping to 14 knots at dusk.

Birds: SURF SCOTERS were moving in good numbers today: we had 1442, with the flight evenly distributed across the day till 1500 when it began to drop off. We also had 2 WHITE-WINGED and 3 BLACK SCOTERS--all these, save one Black Scoter by itself, were mixed with Surf flocks. This is the first opening day of my four (!) seasons that's brought a thousand+ scoter day; curious how many went by in October, as during the afternoon of October 28 I tallied 3300 in just a couple hours... The only other waterfowl was a single BRANT, ironically smack dab in the middle of a flock of Brandt's Cormorants--Brant with the Brandt's...

On the alcid front, we had 433 COMMON MURRES, evenly distributed throughout the day. We also had 10 RHINOCEROS AUKLETS, 1 ANCIENT MURRELET, and a MARBLED MURRELET that was just the adrenaline jolt we needed to hone our focus for the count's final hours.

On the basis of numbers, it was a quiet tubenose day: 16 NORTHERN FULMAR, 1 SOOTY SHEARWATER, 1 SHORT-TAILED SHEARWATER. And! Just as the fog lifted (and after we'd spent a couple hours enduring the fog on the hopes that something really cool would be nearshore when/if it did), Kaiting nonchalantly announced a STORM-PETREL at kelpline distance. It was an Ashy!

We had 55 RED-THROATED LOONS, 99 PACIFICS, and 26 COMMON LOONS--all numbers consistent with the last four opening days of Seawatch.

The other obvious highlight was not one but TWO SOUTH POLAR SKUA sightings within a half-hour of each other. These were both birds flying out of the bay and I believe they were two individuals. One was essentially over land, to the delight of all present. Per eBird, there are <5 records for this species in Monterey County during November, and this is the first official Seawatch record. So cool! There seem to be a lot of PARASITIC JAEGERS lingering in the bay; we had 7 today; perhaps this is connected to the numerous ELEGANT TERNS (161) still around. 332 BONAPARTE'S GULLS were wonderful too.

Bird-wise, it was absolutely the best opening day of Seawatch I've had. But it wasn't just the birds that made it that way. Since it was Saturday, many of Monterey's finest seawatch supporters were able to swing by, and the whole day felt like a homecoming: for me, and for this window of fall migration. What a happy, eager gathering of birders. Thank you for having me once again.

Alison Vilag

eBird Checklist - https://ebird.org/tripreport/428677