Date: 10/5/26 8:30 am From: Thomas Slater via groups.io <tomslaterphotography...> Subject: [slocobirding] 400ish
Pelagic Birding Act 1
Friend: "Hey, so how was your cruise!? Did you eat a ton and drink a lot?"Me: "Nope, there wasn't any food or drinks. It wasn't that kind of cruise."
Friend: "Wow, bummer. What kind of cruise was this?"
Me: "A pelagic cruise."
Friend: "What's that? What do you do on a pelagic cruise?"
Me: "You look at birds that usually only occur out in the open ocean."
Friend: "Oh. Did you see lots of birds?"
Me: "Yes."
Friend: "So it was a good pelagic cruise then?"
Me: "Well, it was fun. Great people. Plenty of birds. But I missed the one I really wanted to see... a murrelet. It would have been a new bird for me. I keep a county list."
Friend: "Bummer. So you didn't see a murrelet, huh?" Me: "Oh, I did. Four of them."
Friend: "Hmmm. So you saw a murrelet, but it wasn't a new one?"
Me: "Actually, it was. It was either a Guadalupe, Scripp's, or Craveri's murrelet. Nobody knows which one, though."
Friend: "So you saw a new bird, but you can't count it?"
Me: "Not really, no."
Friend: "Huh. Birding is strange."Me: "Yes, yes it is."
Thank you Kevin Zimmer for calling out the birds without wavering; Ben for trying to help me get the murrelet; Jay and Dave for their great company (and years of help finding and IDing birds); the lady in pink for having amazing eyes and for keeping it upbeat the whole time, good job Sub-Sea tours; and Steve (Mr. Wingnut) for being one of the kindest humans to ever ride the waves.
Tom Slater
Slater Photography
(805)-441-6945
@surfinslater on Instagram
