On 1/29/2025 1:32 PM, Peter Pyle wrote:
> Greetings Mendobirders,
>
> Not many pelagic trips have gone out off the California coast in
> winter, but we decided to give it a try on January 27th. We envision
> conditions as constantly stormy with massive swells at this time of
> year, but many days, especially during this dry January, have been
> calm and beautiful out there, and the 27th was no exception. As in
> November we looked ahead for a favorable day and, even after switching
> dates from Friday to Monday, we still managed to recruit 27 birders
> and marine mammal enthusiasts to join in, thanks to outreach by the
> Noyo Marine Science Center and Mendocino Coast Audubon Society.
>
> We departed at 0800 on the Kraken, with Captain Richard Thornton and
> his deckhand wife Corinne, of Anchor Charters
> (https://anchorcharterboats.com/). Weather was as forecast, beginning
> with light east winds which diminished to produce glassy seas, and
> there was very low swell for this date off Mendocino. We first visited
> a couple of groups of Gray Whales as they headed south along our
> shores. These are straggling non-breeders, mostly young animals and
> males, as by now the adult females are all down in the lagoons of Baja
> CA giving birth and tending newborn calves. We gave these whales a
> passing salute on the way out to Noyo Canyon, then later came in well
> to the north of port, to cruise along with other southbound groups on
> the way in. Those who came along for the whales were very pleased with
> the many close views. The other marine mammal highlight was of a
> sleeping adult female Northern Fur Seal out over the canyon. A debate
> ensued about whether or not it was a log, until it lifted and clasped
> its fore and hind flippers in "jug-handle" fashion. It had a pink tag,
> which meant it was from San Miguel Island off Southern California, and
> we were even able to photograph a partial number from it, which could
> allow the marine mammalogists who study them to figure out who she is.
>
> The birders on board had visions of all sorts of rarities. After all,
> who knows what is out here in late January? Parakeet Auklets? Horned
> Puffins? Mottled Petrels? Well, none of these today but the canyon did
> offer rather constant entertainment in the form of sparse but
> consistent densities of tubenoses, alcids, and, of course, gulls,
> which we kept well fed with popcorn and fish parts throughout the
> trip. Almost immediately dark shearwaters were attracted to our gull
> flock, and the first 6-8 were all Short-tailed Shearwaters, instead of
> the far more common (in summer at least) Sooty Shearwaters. Roger
> Adamson is doing a Mendocino County "big month" and we had the unusual
> experience of searching for a Sooty among the Short-taileds, as
> usually the opposite is the case. We eventually were able to find a
> few Sooties for Roger's January list. One of the Short-taileds had
> begun a complete molt, which seems unusually early but, then again,
> with so little study on non-breeding birds off California, perhaps
> this is normal?
>
> For 2-3 hours over the canyon we enjoyed many good looks at Rhinoceros
> and Cassin's Auklets and a few Black-footed Albatrosses that pleased
> all aboard with their close passes. The albatrosses were all young
> birds, not yet developing white around the base of the tail, as all of
> the adults are out in Hawaii now, dancing away and incubating eggs.
> Several of the Rhinoceros Auklets were already in breeding
> plumage.Surprising to all of us, no Northern Fulmars today but, as
> they say, "no data is still good data, just not as much fun to collect."
>
> We wound up with 10 taxa of gulls, with 1-4 age groups of each,
> affording the usual labyrinthian efforts to identify them all. In
> order of decreasing abundance these were Western, Herring,
> Glaucous-winged, California, Short-billed, Iceland (Thayer's), and
> Black-legged Kittiwake. The last included 2-3 first-cycle birds, their
> striking black hind collars reminding one non-birding participant of
> Lobot from Star Wars. But, wait, that list was only of seven species.
> We say "taxa" because three of the 10 were of hybrid combinations,
> which adds more beats to the identification conundrum(!). Perhaps the
> avian highlight of the trip was a rather large and very whitish gull
> with a pink base to the bill, which we suspected was a hybrid between
> a Glaucous and a Glaucous-winged Gull and this was later supported by
> gull experts on masochistic social media groups devoted to these
> exercises. This hybrid combination is known colloquially as "Seward
> Gull" because the hybrid zone is on the Seward Peninsula in Alaska.
> You see, Glaucous-winged Gulls have greatly expanded their range over
> the past century (in large part due to the fishing industry),
> resulting in Seward Gulls, "Cook Inlet Gulls" also in Alaska (hybrids
> with Herring), and "Olympic Gulls" in Washington (hybrids with
> Western), accounting for all three hybrid combos we observed on this
> trip.
>
> While we did not get any avian super rarities, we were all pleased
> just to be on the ocean under such glorious conditions. As pelagic
> observers well know, things can change drastically from day to day,
> based on shifting sea breezes, currents, and food resources, so a
> sample of one January trip will not come close to telling the full
> winter story. After the trip some of us met with the Captain to
> schedule out more trips for 2025, so stay tuned!
>
