Date: 4/22/26 11:22 am From: <lehman.paul...> via groups.io <lehman.paul...> Subject: [CALBIRDS] shelf-edge and deepwater pelagics & cruises (a bit long)
As has become the norm over the past approx. 15+ years, April and soon-to-be May bring an annual spike in reports of deepwater/shelf edge pterodroma petrels and other species of interest. Mostly coupled with the multiple cruise-ship sailings off the coast from Southern California up to Vancouver. In addition, a few single-day charter trips make it out of port to the deep water canyons and seamounts at this time of year, and the occasional oceanographic cruise adds plenty of well-offshore data as well. Spring is often the windiest time of year, and often the windier it is the better for seeing larger numbers of the three pterodromas--Murphy's, Hawaiian, and Cook's--because they are flying rather than being becalmed and mostly sitting. So, there is a sort of sweet-spot for the single-day, smaller-boat charters where it isn't so windy that the trip is canceled or extremely unpleasant (but then the cruise-ships often see lots of arcing tubenoses and get some really large counts of Murphy's and at least a few Hawaiians), but it isn't so calm that many of the birds of interest aren't flying. (I should add here that even on windy days, most Cook's Petrels are NOT arcing high up, despite what a fair number of observers report in their comments, but rather they still stay closer to the surface than the other two petrel species.)
One major point I'd like to make here is that Murphy's, Cook's, and even Hawaiian Petrels are EXPECTED, REGULAR components of the offshore avifauna in numbers at this time of year, if one can get out to the shelf edge and to submarine canyons and seamounts. They are NOT the least bit unusual. (Ditto Laysan Albatross.) I think some folks still equate the evocative term "pterodroma petrel" with rarity, but that simply is not the case off the West Coast if one gets far and deep enough. Now, on some repo cruises, a number of neophyte and over-eager observers report a number of individuals of all three pterodromas which aren't! (Think arcing fulmars, Pink-foots, Sooties, or who knows what.) But there are still lots of real ones! Murphy's often starts occurring off CA already during March (possibly late Feb?), and all three can go fairly regularly into early June, even a bit later. Murphy's can be the most numerous on certain trips, with up to 300 seen on just single repo cruises, although typically they are seen in double-digits, and some calmer trips struggle to see just a very few. They can be seen anywhere from western Santa Barbara County north to well off s. British Columbia, and the largest numbers are often seen between about Sonoma (sometimes San Mateo) or Humboldt Counties north to off extreme southern WA. Hawaiian Petrels are seen in very small numbers on most repo cruises, with a few trips seeing as many as 15, but usually fewer than 5 per trip. They can be seen mostly from western Santa Barbara County north to central Oregon, with fewer, but still some, north to well off s. BC. Cook's is often feast or famine, with very good numbers on some trips and very few or even none on others, and it is the southern-most of the three in distribution, with the largest numbers often between Santa Barbara and about San Francisco Counties, but still regular as far north as southern Oregon, but then very rare up to off northern Oregon. Laysans occur everywhere. And some years there are a few Parakeet Auklets south to about Humboldt County, although that species tends to be falsely reported on some trips by over-eager observers who don''t appreciate how extensively pale below some flying Cassin's and Rhino Auklets appear.
Another major point I'd like to make is that if one relies solely on eBird data, then the status of these species is substantially under-represented. There are plenty of oceanographic cruises recording them but which do not report to eBird, and there are plenty of single-day pelagic trips and repo cruises from prior to about 10 years ago which only sometimes reported to eBird but which DID dutifully report to "North American Birds", the CBRC, local county records coordinators, or to other local data depositories. Those data should certainly not be ignored by folks not wishing to look beyond eBird.
For those potentially interested in cruise-ship crossings of these waters, the spring trips produce pterodromas, but the fall trips typically do NOT (but do record plenty of other species of interest). Holland America leaving out of San Diego typically has deepwater daylight from northwestern Santa Barbara County to northern San Francisco or southern Marin County, and then again from northern Humboldt County up to central-northern Oregon. Princess out of Los Angeles (San Pedro) typically has daylight from the SLO/Monterey County line north to southern Mendocino County, and then the next day they are already off s. Oregon. Take trips that, if at all possible, do NOT stop anywhere en route to Vancouver other than at Victoria. The ships with a wrap-around bow deck are best, but almost anything works, although some newer, behemoth ships have very limited outside deck space lower down and should be avoided it at all possible. There is also a longer 10-day trip that Princess runs as a round-trip some years from San Francisco to southeast Alaska and back, and it spends some good quality daylight time both directions in deep water off Humboldt and Del Norte, and also briefly off northern Mendocino on the return, and gobs of good time well off OR and BC (but is mostly at night off WA). There are also seasonal round-trip sailings through early spring from San Francisco south to Ensenada and back which spend one or two days in deep water. And lastly, I continue to hear one or two folks per year tell me that they heard that birding from a cruise ship is "like birding from the seventh floor of some building." Well, every time I hear this comment it is from someone who has NEVER been on a cruise-ship pelagic! The main birding deck is closer to the water surface and one gets perfectly reasonable looks even at storm-petrels. Sure, some birds stay a long ways off, but many don't, and of course the ship is often so steady that one uses a scope as much as one likes, but binoculars are fine for many birds. And photography can be good, given how steady it is. Now, birds chummed in right behind a much smaller, single-day, charter boat can't be beat for closeness, of course. But then one also factors in the potential trade-off of movement and comfort, actual daylight time spent well offshore, likelihood of cancellation, etc. And while the cruises are quite cheap per full day spent offshore (and you have your food and lodging covered), you also have to factor in the cost of getting to Southern CA and then home from Vancouver. So, all these various trips have their pluses and minuses. Great to do ALL of them!
