2025 Pt. Pinos Seawatch - 13 Nov

Weather: Today was the wettest I've ever had at Pt. Pinos. It rained from the time I arrived right up into the last hour of the count, when a little sliver of sunset appeared right in time for our last big scoter flocks of the day to look gorgeous against. The wind at Pt. Pinos felt far less than what was predicted--there was about twenty minutes of gusting sideways rain--but I expected about six hours of that. I am very glad those expectations were not met... Visibility was quite poor all day; at best, we couldn't see much past the red buoy; at worst, the red buoy was barely visible. At dawn, the outer buoy was registering 27-knot wind from the southeast. It dropped and switched to 8 knots SSW at 1300. Pressure at dawn was 29.80, rising somewhat to 29.85 at sunset.

Birds: Today's storm to storm-petrel ratio was weighted more towards storm than it was towards storm-petrel. We did have at least two Ashies though, and any day with a storm-petrel in it is a good day in by book.

Other reasons why it was a good day: We had 3586 Surf Scoters (and 1 White-winged and 2 Black Scoters)! We had a late Red-necked Phalarope! We had 2 Short-tailed Shearwaters and 20 Ancient Murrelets! Even with the dreary weather, so many friends swung to bring sustenance in the form of snacks, hot drinks, and companionship! I got to see two humpbacks double-breach! And there were quite a few rain beetles (genus Pleocoma) flying around. If you're not familiar with rain beetles, I wasn't either, so here is some of what I learned: rain beetles are ONLY found in western North America. They spend most of their lives as larvae, underground. Fall and winter rain events elicit emergence: the females, flightless, stay in a burrow and release pheremones to attract the short-lived males, who fly around low to the ground searching for a mate. Insect lives are pretty wild, right?!

In addition to the highlights above, regarding alcids, we had 33 Rhinos, 1 Cassin's, and 526 Common Murres. For loons, 57 Red-throats, 44 Pacifics, and 7 Commons. We had 64 Northern Fulmars, 5 Pink-footed Shearwaters, and 4 Sooty Shearwaters. We had 1 Parasitic and 7 Pomarine Jaegers.

I think tomorrow morning, if it's not foggy, might bring a good flight--loons were moving a little bit in the final hour, of the count, winds tomorrow will be light, and it seems like birds are eager to move...

-Alison Vilag

eBird checklist: https://ebird.org/tripreport/432260