Seawatch Report - Dec 2

Today's Seawatch was highlighted by a substantial early morning Common Murre flight, 5 late-afternoon Black-legged Kittiwakes, and a nice mid-afternoon pop of murre and loon movement after a rather slow late morning-noon.

We tallied 7453 Common Murres heading out of the bay today, with many of these passing in the peak hour of 0700, when, counting by 5s, we tallied 4070. The murre flight settled down by 0900, but picked up again from 1300-1600; we also had 105 Rhinoceros Auklets, 2 Marbled Murrelets, and 1 Ancient Murrelet.

The loon flight was moderately busy today: 1124 Pacifics passed (mostly on the far outer bay-cutting line) during "loon hour" (0700-0800), with 2508 total getting tallied today, thanks to another little push from 1300-1600. We had 280 Red-throats today, with peak hours being 0800 and 1500.

Quiet on the tubenose (7 Northern Fulmars) and Surf Scoter (175 total) fronts today, but the five Black-legged Kittiwakes (all, except one, were first-cycle) that came by at close range in perfect late-afternoon light were a delight, the first I've seen for several days at the Seawatch. (Some were seen yesterday, on my day off, too!).

Another element about Seawatch that I enjoyed yesterday was the opportunity to hold an impromptu session of seawatch school with a couple gals from Santa Clara County: the pace and distance of the afternoon push was perfect to really hone in on, for example, Pacific vs juvenile Red-throat in flight, and it was fun to help demystify one of the most challenging forms of birding there is.

See the full checklist here: https://ebird.org/tripreport/297709

-Alison Vilag

Seawatch Report - Nov 30

Today's seawatch featured a large sunrise Common Murre flight (3487 in the 0700-0800 hour; 3972 total today.) and another steady push of Surf Scoters (2250 total, with steady movement from 0700-1100). The loon flight was more of a trickle today, with 159 Red-throats and 685 Pacifics. Most of our Pacifics (594) came during the 0700 hour and were on the far outer bay-cutting line, while the Red-throats were more evenly distributed from 0700-1100 and passing high in front of the count.

Alcid diversity was low today: just 2 Ancient Murrelets and 62 Rhinoceros Auklets, and the only tubenoses were 1 Northern Fulmar and 1 distant, dark shearwater.

A high, distant flock of 31 Northern Pintail were fun to watch fly south over the bay, and I finally got my first-of-season Long-tailed Duck, a female, that had been tagging along with a flock of Surf Scoters but then peeled off on her own to fly into the bay. (Kai et. al had another Long-tailed much earlier in November while covering one of my days off!) There also seemed to be a little bit of swallow movement this afternoon, with scattered Trees (7) and Barns (6) setting off across the bay, northbound.

The Nazca Booby was present for all hours of the count today, and it was particularly fun to (finally!) watch it fish. Most of its fishing expeditions have seemingly been far to the west, but today a scrum formed just off the point, and we watched the Nazca dive for fish successfully at least 10x. Speaking of fishing...a Great Egret went tidepooling just below the count today. I watched it consume NINETEEN 4-6" fish over the course of about five minutes. (Yes, I used a clicker to enumerate these...). These fish were not dead when they went down the hatch. The egret spent the next couple hours looking quite uncomfortable in its tidepool, and I spent the next couple hours wondering how it might feel to have an entire school of partly alive fish inside...

The winds when we started the count today were ENE and fairly brisk, though they dropped by mid-morning and turned SW by the afternoon. It was dry, sunny, and visibility was good.

See the full checklist here: https://ebird.org/tripreport/297176

-Alison Vilag

Seawatch Report - Nov 29

We had another day that started with brisk NE winds at the Seawatch, which--as it usually does--means we had another day with a very small loon flight. (212 Red-throats; 245 Pacifics). However, the Nazca Booby stuck around for the fourth consecutive day of its visit, resting on the Pt. Pinos rocks for most of the day except for an early afternoon fishing trip. We lost track of it around 1530, and I'm not sure whether it went out for another foray (there was a ton of feeding activity to the west of the Seawatch) or if it shifted to a rock that was not visible from the Seawatch. When the booby returned from its early afternoon excursion, we picked up on it while it was still quite distant, approaching from the west. It's so fun to watch that bird fly...

The scoter flight was fun again today: 2249 total, and a fairly steady flight all day; the peak hour was 597 at 1000. As with yesterday, many scoter flocks were cutting the bay low and to the west of the count site, but not so distantly these long lines bouncing across the ocean couldn't be appreciated with binoculars (or even the naked eye at times!) from the count site. We also had 2 White-winged Scoters and 28 Green-winged Teal.

Alcid numbers continue to be fairly low: 9 Rhinoceros Auklets, 414 Common Murres (the peak flight for this species being 0700-0900), 1 Marbled Murrelet. Same for tubenoses--just 1 Northern Fulmar today.

Other highlights included 2 Pomarine Jaegers and 2 Band-tailed Pigeons that flew directly overhead at the count site--our first-of-season, which is wildly different than the last few seasons, when large flocks of this species have passed overhead...

The wind today was blowing NNE at ~15.5 knots at sunrise, dropping slightly (to 8 knots) and shifting more northerly in the afternoon. Visibility was good and swell was minimal.

See the full checklist here: https://ebird.org/tripreport/296747

-Alison Vilag