Today was the quietest that I can recall during this season of Seawatch. Nothing was flying in force, but an uptick in Rhinoceros Auklets during the last hour of the count (96--the bulk of the entire day's tally of 179) are making me wonder what tomorrow morning will be like... a nice dark Pomarine Jaeger in the last hour of the count was fun, too. Surf Scoters continue to trickle by--193 today. The murre flight was very small (267 total), and we had 13 Ancient Murrelets. We

The flight sure seems to be tapering at the Seawatch: though numbers of pretty much everything were low today, alcid diversity was quite high: we had 192 Common Murres, 6 Rhinoceros Auklets, 9 Marbled Murrelets, 2 Pigeon Guillemots, and 62 Ancient Murrelets. A late Blue-winged Teal (a point bird, in fact, for me!) was a nice surprise in a flock of Surf Scoters (315 total today). We also had 2 White-winged and 1 Black Scoter. The loon flight was very quiet today: 56 Red-throat

Despite being a calm day, Black-footed Albatross made a great showing: during the 1000 hour, I did a slow scope scan of the entire horizon and was rewarded with ELEVEN Black-foots between the far southwest and Loma Prieta. Most of these were distant--more apparition than they were albatross--but a few were moderately close. We also had 15 Northern Fulmar, 2 Pink-footed Shearwaters, 1 Sooty Shearwater, and 4 Short-tailed Shearwaters. Otherwise, it was a fairly quiet day. Surf

Today was quiet with interspersed excitement. We started off strong with a few Black-footed albatross passing close by the point. Seeing these young birds was lovely - all the adults should be at breeding colonies by now courting and laying eggs. The loon flight was slow in the morning, but had a notable 1100hr push of ~700 Pacific loons. The alcid flight featured a single Cassin's auklet, which has proved elusive this year. The high Ancient murrelet numbers continue to provi

Today felt like a standard late-season, light wind day at the Seawatch: subdued loon, scoter, and alcid movement overall; frequent Black-footed Albatrosses popping up on the horizon--and sometimes closer than the horizon. Other highlights were a flyby Marbled Murrelet, a Black-legged Kittiwake (an adult), and a Red-necked Grebe. We ended the day with 327 Surf Scoters (we're at nearly 42,000 for the season--low, with just a week to go), 52 Rhinoceros Auklets, 672 Common Murres

A dense Ancient Murrelet flight and close, repeat appearances by Black-footed Albatross stole the Seawatch show today: we had 357 Ancients (steady movement through noon!) and saw albatross during 6 hours of today's count; the max visible at any one time was three (!), which was fantastic--especially given the lack of wind: it was <5 knots all day at Pt. Pinos... I think my favorite seawatch vignette today was a Black-footed Albatross in front of a humpback whale background an

Today was a pretty standard early-December day at the Seawatch, save for one small detail: a late-morning tsunami warning that led us to decide to suspend the count for roughly 45 minutes in case there actually was a tsunami. No tsunami. The murre and the loon flights were the most prominent movements at the Seawatch today. We had 1934 Common Murres (peak flight 0700-0900), 52 Rhinoceros Auklets, and 67 Ancient Murrelets. Peak Pacific Loon movement occurred during the 0800 ho

Today was a somewhat diminished version of yesterday's big loon/murre/Bonaparte's showing, but still a very fun day at the Seawatch. The early morning hours (sunrise-0900) were typified by a wide river of Pacific Loons and Common Murres that flowed low and southwest across Monterey Bay. Another treat from today was taking the day's first peek into "The Deep" (that is, west of the Point) around sunrise and immediately seeing the towering, formidable dorsal of a male Orca--whic

There are two things I've consistently noticed about big flights here that don't seem attached to any particular weather system: 1. There is condensation on my vehicle when I'm leaving predawn for the count; 2. during the afternoon prior, the loon flight picked up again after a late morning lull. I entered the count yesterday knowing that both these factors were at play. However, I don't put a lot of stock into my flight fortunetelling, so when I set up at Pinos yesterday mor

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 Aukl

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

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 a

A big Surf Scoter flight and the Nazca Booby that continued for a third day (but had seemingly departed for parts yet unknown by the last hours of the count) highlighted this year's edition of Thanksgiving Seawatch. A lot of passers-by expressed surprise that the count continues on Thanksgiving--but southbound birds don't know it's a holiday, and when you're a migration counter you run on bird time and not human time, which I love. (Last year, 2023, our biggest flight of the

Today's seawatch was highlighted by the Nazca Booby that reappeared during the 1000 hour, perched on the Pt. Pinos rocks until 1300, returned again sometime during the 1400 hour, and was still on the Pt. Pinos rocks when I left somewhat after sunset. Many birders--and many passers-by--got great looks at this great bird today, and I'm glad it's stuck around. The winds today were less favorable than they've been: 7-16 knots ENE in the morning becoming more north and diminishing

Today started with steady rain, but we were prepared: using one tarp, four gator clamps, two tripods, some bungees and paracord, and a hatchback vehicle, Rhoda, Catherine, and I were able to rig a shelter that kept us out of the wind and out of the rain--and still afforded a pretty generous field of view. It was a quality over quantity day: our numbers of "frequent flier" species were low--22 Surf Scoters; 86 Rhinoceros Auklets; 272 Common Murres; 18 Red-throated Loons; 631 P

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

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.

Today was a quiet day at the count, which isn't wholly unwelcome after the big flights and exciting birds we've enjoyed during the last week. The scoter flight has hit another lull, it seems: just 98 Surf (and 1 Black) today. The loon flight was diminished, too: just 501 Red-throats and 92 Pacifics. It's amazing to think back to last Friday--just five days ago--when we had more than 20,000 Pacific Loons. It's a dynamic flight; a dynamic place; and not knowing what each day wi

Another fun day out at the Seawatch! Like yesterday, sunrise itself was tame enough, but a half-hour or so into the count, just like they did yesterday, Common Murres and Rhinoceros Auklets started pouring out of the bay en masse. We tallied 2509 Rhinoceros Auklets (peak hour 0700, with 1630 recorded) and 4958 Common Murres (peak hour also 0700, with 3200 recorded). Both murres and Rhinoceros Auklets were clicked by 10s during that peak hour but otherwise counted individually

Today was great out at the Seawatch: we had a monstrous alcid flight, a sustained stream of Bonaparte's Gulls departing the bay during some of the morning hours, and (per eBird) the Seawatch's second record of White-winged Dove. The dove flew out high towards the coast, then turned around and flew back, high, towards the golf course. It was a pretty cool sighting, especially since Blake Matheson was out there to share it! Sunrise itself was tame enough, but a half-hour or so