Date: 10/25/26 5:13 pm From: Barbara Kossy via groups.io <bkossy...> Subject: [pen-bird] Half Moon Bay by Kayak
I was happy to get out on the ocean in our double kayak with my husband on a sunny and calm October afternoon. Just last week the harbor was packed with Brown Pelicans. There was hardly standing room on the jetties. Today we saw long stretches of empty guano covered rock, with just a Western Gull here and there, evenly spaced. In the area where we typically see the Northern Gannet (absent at about 1:30 pm) were a smattering of Brandt's Cormorants, 4 Black Oystercatchers, a few Black Turnstones, and about 20 Pelicans. Out on the waters of Half Moon Bay we paddled past flocks of 20 Western Grebes, team foraging (no Clark's were noticed.) At least 2 Common loons flew over, one heading NW and the other East. Out towards the red buoy at about 1.8 miles was a smallish (comparatively) group of birds feeding. There were sitting and low-flying shearwaters. When I got a look they were the Black-vented Shearwaters, smaller than sootys, and with the white belly and charcoal smear underwings. In the group were Double-crested Cormorants, Common Murres, Western Gulls, and Brown Pelicans. A line of 12 Surf Scoters flew low over the water and NW. Paddling along I think I got a glimpse of a pair of Short-billed gulls on the water. Smaller than Westerns, cuter look, white head, black with either back dot or perhaps ring on the bill. We were pressing into the wind, so I didn't get a great look. Elegant terns were still in the harbor. They looked especially dapper sitting on top of spherical red buoys. I looked around for a possible Royal Tern. No luck there. The Caleb sunken tug hosted some Double-crested Cormorants, but no night herons. I didn't check the inner harbor for the Yellow-Crowned Night Heron. (I forgot!!) The ocean outside of the harbor was pleasantly more birdy than I expected. Other highlights included being followed by a sea lion close to 2 miles out near the red buoy that held 6 or 8 sea lions. It seemed a bit too interested in us, but people were fishing in small boats not far away. We slapped the water with our paddles to warn it off after it swam under the kayak a couple of times.
