December 4

Weather: At dawn, winds were moderate NE at the Point, and the full moon was glorious as it set into the ocean southwest of Pt. Pinos. Visibility was good, skies were partly cloudy, and the swell was minimal. The wind went more north by mid-morning and dropped off in early afternoon, going a little west in the evening. At the outer buoy, at dawn the wind was 15.5 knots NE. It went NNW at 1300 and was W at ~10 knots at sunset. Pressure at dawn was 30.19; it rose to 30.26 at 1000 and dropped slightly to 30.21 at sunset. These weather anecdotes are probably becoming redundant to read -- a reflection of how redundant they are to experience at Pt. Pinos! A common musing from passers-by this week has been how nice it is I have good weather to be out in. I'd rather have good weather and no birds than bad weather and no birds, but good birds and bad weather is a pretty standard seawatch pairing, and we could use a storm and some good northwest winds to shake things up. Unfortunately, there's still none of that on the horizons...

For the rest of the season, I'll keep expectations low so I can be extra grateful for every moment between now and season's end when the flight isn't a drip-feed. Loon hour today was fun: 775 Pacific Loons (we had 1745 total today and 78 Red-throats); 1100 Common Murres; a sprinkling of Ancient Murrelets; a Black-legged Kittiwake. Outside of loon hour, other highlights included 2 Royal Tern sightings (in morning, one flew out of the bay - perhaps the same individual photographed on rocks at Asilomar; during the sunset hour, one flew back in), occasional horizon Black-footed Albatross, and 2 Marbled Murrelets. We had just 125 Surf Scoters today.

The last hour of the count was highlighted by the very low tide, a beautiful sunset AND a stunning moonrise. Fulmar activity seems highest around dusk and dawn, lately, and I've really been enjoying entering and exiting each day's Seawatch by watching the fulmars wheel, arc, and circle as the sun and the moon punch in, punch out. It is a privilege to stand in one place and experience the passage of time in this manner.

-Alison Vilag

eBird Checklist: https://ebird.org/tripreport/438824

December 3

Weather: The wind this morning was northeast, but it was less than I expected -- a nice surprise! It never built much over the course of the day at Pt. Pinos, though it shifted more north in afternoon; it was overcast early, clearing during afternoon, visibility was very good, swell was big. At the outer buoy, the wind was ENE at 6 knots at sunrise; winds remained E until dusk, when they shifted to W 6 knots. Pressure this morning was 30.08 and it rose to 30.12 at sunset.

Birds: I didn't have lofty expectations for today's flight, so it was a wonderful surprise to have a good loon flight (2500 Pacifics during loon hour, mostly mid-level flocks passing in front of Pt. Pinos). We ended the day with 3329 Pacifics and 120 Red-throats. We also came close to our first four-digit Surf Scoter flight in quite some time: 934, plus three Blacks and one White-wing. A bunch of Ancient Murrelets - 63! - came through during Loon Hour; we only had one outside of Loon Hour... our other alcids today were 19 Rhinoceros Auklets, 1 Cassin's Auklet, and 514 Common Murres.

We had 2 Pink-footed Shearwaters today, as well as a Black-vent and a Short-tailed. Black-footed Albatross presence continues to build, which has been my experience in December at Pt. Pinos. I saw albatross during 7 hours of the count today, which made me extraordinarily happy; I'm certain there were at least three around, and at times they came almost as close as the buoy, which is pretty close for an albatross from Pt. Pinos.

-Alison Vilag

eBird checklist: https://ebird.org/tripreport/438551

December 2

Weather: At dawn this morning, the wind was still coming out of the east, but not as intensely as it has been for the last week. The wind dropped off in mid-morning, then shifted west in late afternoon. Visibility was good, the swell was large, and it was a clear day. At the outer buoy, winds started at ~12 knots north, went ~10 knots NNE at 0900, switched to W at 1300, and were W ~10 knots at sunset. At dawn, pressure was 30.08, rising to 30.11 at 1000, then falling to 30.02 at the count's end.

Birds: We had the biggest Surf Scoter day I've seen for awhile - 839. For loons, we had 64 Red-throats and 1457 Pacifics (462 of these were during loon hour, and we had a nice midafternoon push, too).

Alcid and tubenose numbers were low, but diversity was good! In addition to the usual suspects within these groups, we had 2 Pigeon Guillemots, 10 Ancient Murrelets, 1 Black-footed Albatross, 1 Sooty Shearwater, and 1 Black-vented Shearwater.

A Black-legged Kittiwake and what was likely 1 Royal Tern (making 3 appearances) were fun, too. East winds dominate our forecast for the next few days; I don't have high expectations for high loon volume or tubenose appearances.

-Alison Vilag

eBird checklist: