Date: 6/17/25 9:37 am From: Tim Bray via groups.io <tbray...> Subject: [Mendobirds] Cook's Petrels and Short-tailed Shearwaters
15 June 2025 - On Sunday's Noyo Pelagic trip we made it fifteen miles
offshore in very heavy seas. That was far enough to get us into the
Pterodroma zone and our chum drew an estimated fifteen Murphy's and at
least ten Cook's Petrels, whizzing around in 20-knot winds and
repeatedly investigating our fish-oil slick, giving everyone great views
of these remarkable birds.
Perhaps even more remarkably, sharp-eyed birders photographed some dark
Shearwaters that were following the boat at times, and at least one has
been verified as a Short-tailed Shearwater. Chuck Vaughn says there are
no previous summer records for this species off Mendocino. Peter Pyle
thinks they may be rare but regular in summer, easily missed among the
hundreds of Sooty Shearwaters which they closely resemble. Now that we
have more skilled photographers on the boats, we are getting IDs on
birds that might have been missed.
