Seawatch Report - Nov 23

Another fun day out at the Seawatch. The morning started with somewhat limited (but not terrible) visibility. The alcid flight was benevolent enough to wait until there were a few good sets of eyes at the count, and the bulk of the loon flight was at a low enough altitude that our attention was not horribly divided across the field of view.

Today's edition of the alcid flight was weighted more with murres (daily tally 4147) than it was with Rhinos (daily tally 1010), and the flight was heaviest in the sunrise-0900 window, with the 0700 hour bringing us the most murres (1535) and Rhinos (747). It was another good day to see Ancient Murrelets at the count (73!), and 2 Pigeon Guillemots, a Marbled Murrelet, and our second Tufted Puffin of the season added to the fun.

Adding to the early morning excitement was our season's second Cocos Booby, which was flying out of the bay low and moving in and out of the fogline, which made it difficult to stay with. Then, a Pomarine Jaeger that still had its spooners came by at close range, which was fun. Our favorite bird of the mid-morning was another Leach's Storm-Petrel that we were able to watch for quite some time as it worked back and forth over the swells and troughs...I'm really enjoying the run of storm-petrels we've had since November 15 (1 Wilson's, 2 Fork-tails, and 4 Leach's!).

We had a few more tubenoses today than we've been getting: 33 Northern Fulmars, 9 Pink-footed Shearwaters, 11 Sooty Shearwaters, and 4 Short-tailed Shearwaters...

Loon flight was fairly busy this morning. 483 Red-throats and 5337 Pacific Loons passed by over the course of the day. The bulk of the Pacific flight was low over the water and in front of the count (not cutting the bay). Peak hourly tally was 1642 (0700), and the flight was around >800/hr from 0700-noon.

See the full checklist here: https://ebird.org/tripreport/295198

- Alison Vilag

Nov 22! Rhinos galore!

What a day out at the Seawatch! At dawn, not anticipating much movement with the forecasted strong south winds and precipitation, I decided that any dry hour at the count would be a triumph, but the count delivered so much more than dry hours. (And, in fact, it did not begin raining steadily until the last hour of the count.)

As it became light enough to see, it seemed fairly quiet, but then there was a Rhinoceros Auklet... a few Rhinos...a few dozen Rhinos...and then, suddenly, the entire bay seemed to explode in flocks of Rhinoceros Auklets and looking anywhere through your scope would divulge several dozen flocks at varying distances all flying out of the bay, which was a very cool scene to take in, juxtaposed with the numerous humpback blows.

This morning turned out to be one of the biggest alcid flights I have eve seen at Pt. Pinos: 7137 Rhinoceros Auklets (peak hour 0700: 5450!!!), 1630 Common Murres (peak hour also 0700), an absolutely wonderful Ancient Murrelet flight (193!), 4 Marbled Murrelets, 3 Scripp's Murrelets, and I'm sure something epic that we missed in all the excitement of trying to keep up with the Rhinos... the Ancient flight was particularly fun, for by then I'd sent out an SOS to the Monterey Birders Whatsapp, quite a crowd had assembled, and we had this collective goal of getting triple digits of Ancient Murrelets in one hour. It went down to the wire--with 6 minutes to go in the hour, we were still 7 Ancients short--but Kai saved the day and spotted a flock that carried us past our goal.

It is interesting to me how the composition of the alcid flight changes here from day to day. Sometimes there are loads of murres but very few Rhinos. Today there were loads of Rhinos and moderate amounts of murres. All I can say with confidence is that I love the sunset hour of the count, when I'm standing out there wondering what the next day will bring, but generally having no idea of what that will be.

The rarity of the day was a Wood Duck, flying alone at moderate distance. It was a male; the chinstrap facial markings visible. Other highlights were an adult Pomarine that still had its spooners and 2 Red-necked Grebes.

Surf Scoters were scarce: 59. The loon flight was moderate: 109 Red-throats and 2999 Pacifics (peak hour 1295 at 0800). Fortunately, the ceiling was so low today that the loon flight was also low, which allowed us to get the alcid flight and the loon flight in the same field of view. This doesn't happen often.

Tubenoses were essentially nonexistent today: 3 Northern Fulmars and a dark, distant storm-petrel species.

https://ebird.org/tripreport/294819

- Alison Vilag

Seawatch Report - Nov 21

Today's continuing south and moderately strong winds (SE 15-17.5 knots at outer buoy; SSW at 8-9 knots at the count) were the likely culprit for another quiet day at the count. A Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel that briefly appeared from the swells just beneath the count site was a nice afternoon surprise, and an adult Pomarine Jaeger that still had most its "spooners" was the morning's avian treat. We had a pinniped treat, too--a Steller's Sea Lion that had hauled up onto the buoy. It was the first I've seen at Pt. Pinos, and I was amused by the fact that, while four California Sea Lions fit easily on one side of the buoy, the other side was entirely taken up by the Steller's.

Only 101 Surf Scoters were tallied today, and the alcid flight was quiet too: 78 Rhinoceros Auklets, 379 Common Murres, and 4 Ancient Murrelets. On the loon front, we had just 283 Red-throats, 245 Pacifics, and 6 Commons. Tubenoses were scarce: 1 Sooty Shearwater; 8 Northern Fulmars. During the morning, the bay was filled with Bonaparte's Gulls--it's been a few days since they've been numerous, and we tallied 706 today.

See the full checklist here: https://ebird.org/tripreport/294500

- Alison Vilag