Last weekend I was on the water guiding two full days of pelagic birding on
Monterey Bay. I am including highlights and links to the trip reports below.
Alvaro's Adventures Trip Report 9/19/26:
<https://ebird.org/tripreport/574413> We faced tough conditions, but made
it out to the canyon systems off Davenport and Año Nuevo. Highlights
included a pair of Craveri's Murrelets, an offshore Red-breasted Nuthatch,
several Parasitic and Pomarine Jaegers, a dozen Red Phalaropes, close looks
at an Arcitc Tern and Sabine's Gull, several Black-vented Shearwaters, and
an incredibly cooperative Guadalupe Fur Seal!
Monterey Seabirds Trip Report 9/20/26:
<https://ebird.org/tripreport/574677> Conditions
were a bit better than the previous day. We made it to similar waters, and
then followed the shelf edge all the way to Moss Landing. Highlights
included two Flesh-footed Shearwaters, a leucistic Sooty Shearwater, brief
looks at a couple of Short-tailed Shearwaters, incredible looks at a
Buller's Shearwater, South Polar Skua, dozens of Black Storm-petrels,
lunge-feeding Humpbacks, and Orcas (CA51s and CA50B)!
Pelagic season is still on with several more trips on Monterey Bay
with Monterey
Seabirds <https://www.montereyseabirds.com/> and a few more trips further
north out of Half Moon Bay and San Francisco with Alvaro's Adventures
<https://www.alvarosadventures.com/pelagic-dates-2026.html>. With this
year's warm water, who knows what might show up. Hope to see you on a boat
soon!
