Seawatch Report - Nov 3

Our first large flock of Surf Scoters

Moderate onshore winds from the northwest sustained through the night into the early morning, and we woke up excited to see what birds might be streaming out of the bay. Pre-dawn saw a few hundred Common Murres on their way out, as well as a close first-year Black-legged Kittiwake.

Brian Sullivan kept an eye on the Common Loon (n=198) line cutting south across the peninsula. These birds flew very high over the Highway One corridor and were silhouetted well against the morning glow. The sunrise was punctuated by a distant group of seven Sandhill Cranes in this line - an exciting first Point bird for the observers.

Small groups of Bonaparte's gulls were mostly seen in the morning, as well as a few flocks of Brant (mostly far offshore). A Black-footed Albatross made an appearance and was seen a few times over a quarter-hour span. The first Ancient Murrelet of the count made a close flyby mid-morning.

As the sun rose higher, the winds shifted slightly to the north and lost speed. During this time, the number of Red Phalaropes slightly increased. The 60 total birds we saw are a marked increase from the previous day's total of 6 birds.

Notably, the Surf Scoter flight appears to have begun! Our total of 2199 birds saw many larger flocks of up to 80 birds with the last hour of the count seeing 669 birds - up from just 92 total birds for yesterday. As Brian predicted in the morning, the late morning wind shift drifted the flight lines out to the northwest, which meant our attention was divided. Docents and volunteers were extremely helpful in spotting the many flocks that flew by closer to shore. A Long-tailed Duck was another exciting rarity seen smack in the middle of a flock of 20 Surf Scoters. The scoter flight was sustained all day.

Keeping the trend, Pacific Loons were seen in low numbers with larger flocks seen in the morning. Smaller numbers of Red-throated Loons were also present.

The wind picked up substantially in the afternoon, shifting back to the northwest. This brought tubenoses into the bay, with Pink-footed Shearwaters being most prominent. Northern Fulmars were seen all day, but with the largest numbers in the afternoon - it was exciting to see these birds after missing them last year. We were also very excited to spot 4 Buller's Shearwaters far inside the bay; these birds were surprisingly close to shore and offered excellent views. A more distant shearwater was revealed to be a Manx Shearwater. Two more first-cycle Black-legged Kittiwakes were also seen at the end of the day, along with a pair of jaegers. Large groups of Common Murres were constantly streaming out of the bay the whole afternoon.

Incidentally, a warbler flew directly over our heads and dove into the bushes behind the Point - immediately following it dove a Merlin at full speed, not more than five meters over our heads. I predict this bird will be seen terrorizing passerines for the remainder of the count.

- Kai Russell

View the full checklist of birds here: https://ebird.org/tripreport/290181

Seawatch Report - Nov 2

Brant

Weather: Overnight - moderate onshore winds that had calmed by count's start, and light rain that had also ceased by dawn. The first couple hours of the count were encumbered by fog which rendered it impossible to see to the buoy at times. When that cleared, we had a few mostly sunny and mostly windless hours. By 1300 whitecaps were whipping up to our west. When the wind reached us, tubenose detections increased, as did murre and loon flight. The wind built through to sunset, registering 17.5 kt (WNW) at the outer buoy and roughly 10.5 kt at Pt. Pinos.

Flight: For the second day in a row, Cackling Geese (n=153) were moving more prominently than Surf Scoters (n=92) were. Most of the Cackling Goose number comes from a flock of 145 that was bay-crossing to the northeast during the 0800 hour.

There was a strong movement of Common Murres during the afternoon hours, with our peak hourly count (n=622) coming from the 1300 hour. Our cumulative total for the day was 1897, and we did see a few (n=14) Rhinoceros Auklets.

Within the substantial numbers of Heermann's and California gulls (there were some terrific scrums off the Point today!) are a fair number of more northern species (Glaucous-winged, Thayer's, Short-billed, American Herring), and Brian picked out and photographed a first-cycle bird that seems to be a good Vega Gull candidate. We also had a scattering of Bonaparte's Gulls offshore, and the season's first Black-legged Kittiwake in a scrum just off the point.

Loon movement hasn't opened up yet, as is expected. We had 185 Pacifics and 55 Red-throats.

The west winds provided us with more regular tubenose sightings: Pink-footed and Sooty Shearwaters and Northern Fulmars, and Brian briefly got on a distant albatross sp. The seasonal arrival of Black-vented Shearwaters happened during the afternoon, which made me quite happy.

The day's less-common highlights were topped by a flyover WHITE-FACED IBIS (only the second record during the annual Seawatch period, per eBird); Kai's catch of a Wilson's Snipe and a dawn Black-crowned Night-Heron also deserve mention.

You can view the full list of birds here: https://ebird.org/tripreport/289797

- Alison Vilag

Seawatch Begins!

We couldn’t have asked for a better morning to start off our Seawatch season. We have welcomed Alison Vilag back for a third season of tracking the majestic migration of seabirds.

“Somewhat quiet--but very pleasant--start to the 2024 Pt. Pinos Seawatch.

Weather: mostly sunny, fairly large swell, light onshore winds.

Flight: Cackling Geese were moving prominently today--I logged 464 over the course of the day; all flocks were flying northeast across the bay, as is typical here. There were just 180 Surf Scoters today, and there were several hourly checklists from today's count that lacked SUSC; this is the first opening day I've counted at Pinos where I haven't had Surf Scoters every hour. Alcid numbers were also low: I tallied just 143 Common Murres. Loon numbers (45 Red-throats and 102 Pacifics) were within expected totals for the count's start. Tubenose diversity and numbers were low: single digits of both Northern Fulmar and Sooty Shearwater. There seem to be substantial numbers of Brown Pelicans and Heermann's Gulls in the bay right now; the counts represented in these checklists are comprised only of birds flying out of the bay.

An adult female COCOS BOOBY was the obvious highlight of today's seawatch, particularly because she flew by during the height of a quiet afternoon's doldrums. A COMMON RAVEN (just my second ever at Pt. Pinos) and a SCALY-BREASTED MUNIA (detected by Brian and a Seawatch first) were non-seabird highlights, and a Black Scoter and Forster's (3) and Elegant (2) terns were nice additions to the day too.

I'm honored to be conducting the Pt. Pinos Seawatch for a third season, and enjoyed and appreciated all who dropped by this opening day to welcome me back. I'm excited to see what flights and surprises we'll share over the next six weeks; thanks for having me once again. day ended with 62 species!”

You can check the eBird Checklist here:

https://ebird.org/tripreport/289345

- Alison Vilag