Date: 6/22/26 2:19 pm From: Peter Pyle via groups.io <ppyle...> Subject: Re: [SFBirds] [EBB-Sightings] Marine Madness: Bodega Bay Pelagic Trip 6/21 Hundreds of Cook's Petrel's, YELLOW-THROATED WARBLER, putative TOWNSEND'S STORM-PETREL etc
Thanks Logan for the great write-up and plugs for more pelagic trips. And thanks Al for bringing up Pycrofts - I certainly concur this species should be on our radars.
Here is a paper by Steve, Sophie, and Larry Spear on identifying Pycroft's Petrels:
I have thought about it while looking at Cook's here in summer but all birds look the same to me. This includes some 3000 that Abe Borker and I studied over Davidson Seamount in July a decade or more ago. Cook's is molting up here now (and likely the same for Pycroft's) which makes it a bit of a challenge. Perhaps not, however, with the digital imagery that is being taken today. So let's get out there more in summer, and keep at it!
Cheers, Peter
On 6/22/2026 1:55 PM, Alvaro Jaramillo via groups.io wrote: > > Logan et al. > > FANTASTIC!!!!!!! Wish I could have been there. Hey, with numbers like > that you gotta wonder if it is possible that a Pycroft’s Petrel could > be in there. My experience with Pycroft’s in New Zealand is that they > are extremely similar to Cook’s and unless you are specifically > looking for them, live or in photos, you would not realize it. Check > out eBird, vs Birds of the World. BOW has them spending the > non-breeding season out in the north Pacific. Yet there NO records on > eBird north of the equator. As in NONE. Obviously, this bird is not > looked for away from the breeding areas, it just blends in and is lost > once it moves north. I mention it, so that folks that have photos > might want to scour their images and see if any birds are slightly > darker with slightly different structure etc. > > Just wanting to help make your trip a tad more awesome 😊. Check > the photos for Pycroft’s. Eventually one will show up if the north > Pacific is indeed their wintering area. It is all quite unclear. > > Alvaro > > Alvaro Jaramillo > > <alvaro...> <mailto:<alvaro...> > > www.alvarosadventures.com <http://www.alvarosadventures.com> > > *From:*<EBB-Sightings...> <EBB-Sightings...> *On Behalf Of > *Logan Kahle via groups.io > *Sent:* Monday, June 22, 2026 4:22 PM > *To:* <northbaybirds...>; <sfbirds...>; <ebb-sightings...> > *Subject:* [EBB-Sightings] Marine Madness: Bodega Bay Pelagic Trip > 6/21 Hundreds of Cook's Petrel's, YELLOW-THROATED WARBLER, putative > TOWNSEND'S STORM-PETREL etc > > Hi all, > > Yesterday, 6/21 was a bodega pelagic everyone on board will remember > for a long time. We embarked on the Surf Scooter, a boat that has > lived in Bodega Harbor for years in the shadow of it's larger cousin > the New Sea Angler. We left the harbor at 7am. June has always been a > neglected time on the water off of Northern California, and a time > that holds more intrigue and promise than almost any other to me. As > we departed, we were greeted by flat birdless waters punctuated only > by Common Murres and Pelicans for the first few miles offshore had > some of us grumbling about the fear of a dead, slow June trip. But all > this stopped when screams came out of "passerine!!" The boat stopped > and we watched a tattered-looking passerine, seemingly a warbler > circling the boat. After a minute or so of confusion as to it's > identity it came close by the boat and we realized we were looking at > a YELLOW-THROATED WARBLER! The bird circled for about 5 minutes, > taunting us and considering landing on the boat but eventually giving > up and flying back east. We were in shock. We had already seen what we > assumed would be the rarest bird of the day, and it wasn't even 8am! > There is just a single previous record of Yellow-throated Warbler for > Sonoma county, and this was the first to be photographed. Unbelievable. > > As we charged offshore life picked up, a (summering?) Red-necked > Phalarope flopped around about 10 miles off, and our first Pink-footed > Shearwaters and Black-footed Albatross appeared. Then, about 20 miles > off when we were reaching Bodega Canyon shouts came out of a > Pterodroma: a COOK'S PETREL had appeared at the horizon! We waited > around for a while. Some albatross came by, but with some patience we > found several more Cook's Petrels. > > We headed south and off of the continental shelf. What would ensue in > the next hour was one of the most magical pelagic experiences I have > ever encountered. A few miles from Bodega Canyon, we hit a wall of > birds. Most were Sooty Shearwaters, but LOTS were COOK'S PETRELS! > Dozens turned into hundreds, and before long we had seen upwards of > 200 COOK'S PETRELS in one 45-minute stretch!! It had been years since > Cook's had been seen from Cordell and Bodega, and this was a county > bird for almost everyone on board. Through all of this, we picked up > our first couple LAYSAN ALBATROSS for the trip as well as an > interesting June first-summer LONG-TAILED JAEGER and several Ashy and > Black Storm-Petrels. > > As we proceeded south the Cook's thinned out somewhat but the birdlife > did not. A FLESH-FOOTED SHEARWATER made a quick pass my the boat and > our first pair of SCRIPPS'S MURRELETS were found on the water. As we > neared the area right off Cordell Bank, the farthest area offshore we > would reach today, we found a feeding frenzy of several Storm-Petrels. > Among them was a small, blackish, white-rumped, short- and > square-tailed bird that caught our attention. After a quite a bit of > study, we concluded that the bird appeared to be a TOWNSEND'S > STORM-PETREL, a potential first record for Sonoma/Marin and the > farther north the species has ever been seen! It allowed good views > for all, and eventually drifted off. We will be sending photos of the > bird off for further discussion in the coming weeks. > > The return leg was suitably spectacular. We re-entered the COOK'S > PETREL zone, with hundreds all around us for over an hour. If you > scanned the horizon, you were sure to see at least a few if not a > dozen or more Cook's at any given time! Flocks of 15 and 20 were found > resting on the water. Amidst all the commotion, a close HAWAIIAN > PETREL bombed right by no more than 30' from the boat at times, and we > ran into a group of BLUE WHALES feeding among large numbers of birds. > On many boats, a Hawaiian Petrel would be the talk of the day, but not > today! It was during this period that someone spotted a Murrelet off > the front of the boat: a GUADALUPE MURRELET! Not only is this a rarity > at this date, but it is all but unknown in June. Then again, there are > no June boats, so who knows....As we headed back in another > white-rumped Storm-Petrel crossed by, this one a clear > nominate/northern LEACH'S STORM-PETREL, and not long after a stunning > breeding-plumaged RED PHALAROPE landed by the boat. > > As we kept cruising inshore, a group of DALL'S PORPOISE briefly > investigated our vessel. By 20 miles off, we had re-entered the > pelagic desert of inshore dead waters. But, it was spiced up by the > occasional shearwater raft. As we neared shore, we found a dead > Humpback Whale with a few Black Storm-Petrels nearby, just 5 miles off > Bodega Head! Normally the species is rarely found inshore of 15-20 > miles this far north. It looks like it will be a good summer for Black > Storm-Petrels off NorCal! > > It was an unbelievable day out there, with the quantity of quality > birds, let alone the ubiquity of Cook's Petrels and the > Yellow-throated Warbler making a truly unforgettable combination. > Through the day, we estimated upwards of 400 Cook's Petrels, the most > anyone on board had ever seen, even off of SoCal! > > For those interested in getting offshore elsewhere this season, there > is a Fort Bragg pelagic on June 26th that still has available spots. > Noyo is often similar to Bodega, and there could well be many Cook's > out of there too, and who knows what else! If you are interested in > joining the additional Cordell Banks trips like the one above, message > me off-list, as there may be options for July. > > A Full list of pelagic birds and mammals is here (Birds inshore of > about 5 miles off not included): > > COOK'S PETREL-400+ > > HAWAIIAN PETREL-1 > > Pink-Footed Shearwater-50 > > FLESH-FOOTED SHEARWATER-1 > > Sooty Shearwater-4000 > > Ashy Storm-Petrel-30 > > Black Storm-Petrel-10 > > Leach's Storm Petrel-1 > > putative TOWNSEND'S STORM-PETREL-1 > > Black-footed Albatross-50 > > Laysan Albatross-4 > > Scripps's Murrelet-2 > > GUADALUPE MURRELET-1-2 > > Pacific Loon-5 > > Long-tailed Jaeger-1 > > Western Gull-100 > > Heermann's Gull-10 > > California Gull-1 > > Cassin's Auklet-1500+ > > Rhinoceros Auklet-15 > > Common Murre-250 > > Red Phalarope-1 > Red-necked Phalarope-5 > > YELLOW-THROATED WARBLER-1 > > Salmon Shark-4 > > Blue Shark-1 > > Mola Mola-2 > > Blue Whale-6 > > Humpback Whale-50+ > > Dall’s Porpoise-10 > > Northern Right Whale Dolphin-1 > > Full trip report here: https://ebird.org/tripreport/542027 > > June and July are RARITY TIME off of Northern California. If you are > interested in looking for rarer seabirds off our shore, consider > signing up for a trip as with Noyo Pelagics ("the Murphy's Capital") > out of Mendocino: https://noyopelagics.com/#calendar , Alvaro's > Adventures trips out of Half Moon Bay, Monterey and more: > https://www.alvarosadventures.com/ , Humboldt county pelagics with Rob > Fowler (migratoriusfwlr at gmail.com <http://gmail.com>) or Redwood > Regional Audubon Society: https://www.rras.org/ or Monterey Seabirds: > https://www.montereyseabirds.com/ > > Happy Summer! > > Logan > >
