Nov 27 - Thanksgiving

Weather: This is the third consecutive day that, upon going to bed, I've expected light winds in the morning and woken to brisk northeast winds, ugh! Fortunately they were lighter than the prior two days and died off by late morning. It was partly cloudy with minimal swell and good visibility at the Seawatch today. At the outer buoy, it was blowing 15.5 knots from the NE at dawn. It switched to NNW at 1200 (dropping to ~10 knots). At dawn pressure, was 30.13, it dropped to 30.08 at sunset.

Birds: Any day you see an albatross is a good day, so today was a good day. The albatross, a Black-footed, was arcing around for 10 minutes or so well to the SW of Pt. Pinos. It was distant, but not so distant that we couldn't appreciate all the things that make an albatross an albatross, and it was a much-anticipated and much-deserved lifer for Madison!

Despite the northeast winds, we had the best Loon Hour we've had in several days--2517 Pacifics, mostly on the outer line. Our daily tally: 261 Red-throats, 2892 Pacifics.

The volume of scoters (180 Surf) and alcids (112 Rhino Auklets, 349 Common Murres, 2 Marbled Murrelets, 4 Ancient Murrelets) was just a trickle today.

We did have a huge scrum for several hours just off Pt. Pinos - hundreds of California Gulls, with good numbers of Heermann's and Western and a sprinkling of Bonaparte's, Short-billed, Herring, Glaucous-winged, and Thayer's. Thanksgiving dinner across the species...including for the bruiser of a Pomarine Jaeger that went gull-to-gull demanding tribute.

Other birds of note: A Downy Woodpecker - my first from Seawatch (and the first for Seawatch's eBird hotspot, though there are a few for the Pt. Pinos general hotspot). 659 Brown Pelicans flew out of the bay during the sunset hour, presumably full of baitfish. A Brown Pelican consumes up to 4 pounds of fish per day; imagining the biomass of the scrum that supplied nourishment to so many pelicans (and gulls, cormorants, and Risso's dolphins) really made me, on this day of intentional gratitude, appreciate the life Monterey Bay sustains.

-Alison Vilag

eBird checklist: https://ebird.org/tripreport/436435

November 26

Weather: This morning began, like yesterday, with a stiff wind from the northeast. For several hours, I conducted the count from the lee side of the green concrete structure, to diminish tripod shake and to enhance comfort. This is the first time this season I've had to do that, and I'm glad it's taken this long--in 2022 & 2023, I recall spending quite a bit of time on the lee side of the green concrete... by late morning, it was fairly calm, and the wind did not pick up for the remainder of the day. It was clear, visibility was good, and the swell was minimal. At the outer buoy, wind at sunrise was NNE at 15.5 knots; it switched to WNW 8 knots at 1500; pressure at sunrise was 30.16; it rose to 30.22 at 0900, then dropped to 30.13 at the count's end.

Birds: It was a quiet day, which is not surprising given the wind speed and direction. On the waterfowl front, 2 Greater White-fronted Geese, our season's first, were a fun flyby; we had just 293 Surf Scoters today. (Our season total for Surf Scoter is now over 53,000--well within the range of what's expected!). For alcids, we had 23 Rhinoceros Auklets, 510 Common Murres, and 2 Ancient Murrelets. For loons, 277 Red-throats and 1629 Pacifics. Fulmar numbers are dwindling, but we did have our first Pink-footed Shearwater in a few days...

2 late Barn Swallows were, perhaps, the most interesting non-seabird.

I think the loon flight is going to pick up considerably over the next few days. To me, there's no obvious day the peak will fall on, but I do think we'll have some nice thousand+ hours on Friday and Saturday mornings. Peak loon migration is one of the best parts of seawatching at Pt. Pinos; it's definitely worth getting up for :)

-Alison Vilag

eBird Checklist: https://ebird.org/tripreport/436191

November 25

Weather: The wind was brisk and from the NE at Pt. Pinos at dawn, dropping off somewhat over the course of the day. It was clear, visibility was quite good, and the swell was moderate. At the outer buoy, it was blowing NNE 13.6 at dawn; it switched to W, 8 knots, at 1300, and continue to come from the west until sunset. Pressure at sunrise was 30.20 and remained fairly even; at sunset it was 30.17.

Birds: NE winds are not good for Seawatch (nor for human comfort at Seawatch!), so today was quiet, especially considering that this is the window when we start expecting Pacific Loons to peak.

We had our season's first Cackling Geese - 2, flying towards Santa Cruz - and a flock of 7 Snow Geese, also flying towards Santa Cruz. We tallied 803 Surf Scoters today (and had 2 White-wings and 2 Black Scoters). A big Band-tailed Pigeon flock made a low foray over the Point this morning as they contemplated the bay crossing - delightful to see. For alcids, we had just 15 Rhinoceros Auklets, 526 Common Murres, and 9 Ancient Murrelets. We had 428 Red-throated Loons, 1317 Pacific Loons, and 4 Common Loons. Madison spotted our day's only kittiwake, ensuring the kittiwake streak (which began Nov 17) continues. We hope it keeps going; kittiwakes are great!

-Alison Vilag

eBird checklist: https://ebird.org/tripreport/436023