Date: 7/2/26 7:09 am From: Alvaro Jaramillo via groups.io <chucao...> Subject: [northbaybirds] Current ocean conditions - Weather good for upcoming Farallon trips.
Hello all.
This year’s ocean conditions so far have been great. Spring and early
summer are the main time for the upwelling process to happen when consistent
winds blow from the NW and bring cold nutrient rich water to the surface of
the ocean. These nutrients, now in ample sunshine near the surface create
food for plankton, and the rest of the food chain. This has happened within
the backdrop of a warm ocean offshore and to our south, with now an El Niño
on the equatorial Pacific. That means that at the equator ocean water is
well warmer (hotter) than the norm, and this creates a low food situation
there. Birds from the Humboldt Current and Galapagos are dispersing now,
Blue-footed Boobies have been seen out of range to the south, and presumably
some are moving north. We have this warm water offshore and to our south as
I mentioned, yet the upwelling situation roughly from San Mateo county
north, means there is ample food where we are. Breeding birds on the
Farallon Islands should be doing well with local food supplies, and offshore
we expect that regular migrants, and maybe some dispersing rarer species may
be there again drawn in by the food. There has been a lot of good Humpback
Whale feeding situations, and a good diversity of marine mammals as well
offshore.
I am excited as I will be returning to the Bay Area to help guide this
weekend’s trips. I have not been on a boat for a while, and it will be great
fun. I shall return for the September trips as well. If you want to catch
the bonanza of breeding birds on the Farallon Islands not only are the ocean
conditions interesting, the weather forecast is good for a good ride out
there. I realize some folks have trepidation about heading out on a boat,
well this weekend the trips look to be in good weather (at least as
forecast). There are spaces available still. The Sunday offshore trip may
sellout, send me an email if it does, there are often last minute
cancellations.
Date: 6/25/26 7:14 pm From: larry nigro via groups.io <larrymtb...> Subject: [northbaybirds] Orioles!
Hi
We finally made it out to Pacheco Pond today. And despite wonderful views of breeding Great egrets in the big tree at the pull-out, baby Tree Sparrows squabbling up close, the highlights were definitely the orioles. Several Hooded Orioles, including one male feeding a juvenile and at least one male and female Bullock's graced the area near the Meditation Center and across Bel Marin Keys from the pond.
If you visit just look for this first year male Hooded on the Pacheco pond sign.
Best Larry [image: 6J0A6955.JPG][image: 6J0A6922.JPG]
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.
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):
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/
Date: 6/9/26 11:10 am From: larry nigro via groups.io <larrymtb...> Subject: [northbaybirds] Babies at Las Gallons
Hi
Baby coots, gallinues, and Pied-billed grebes are out and about in the first pond at Las Gallinas if you need a 'cute' hit. You may want to stop because they are growing up fast.
Larry Nigro
ps Also in the same pond we had a fly-by of the least bittern. [image: 6J0A4705.JPG]
Date: 6/6/26 3:42 pm From: Lucas Corneliussen via groups.io <Lucascorneliussen04...> Subject: [northbaybirds] CORDELL BANK PELAGICS - August 23 and September 27
Hi All
This year boats have become a little bit more complicated running to Cordell Bank given the sale of the New Sea Angler out of Bodega Bay.
That said, two boats have been organized to run out of Sausalito up to Cordell Bank on the Outer Limits. This extremely fast catamaran will get observers to the bank by approximately 8:30 AM which will allow us 6 to 8 hours of traversing this magical location before we slide back down to port.
The dates for these boats are AUGUST 23 and SEPTEMBER 27.
These boats will leave port at 5 AM and get back to port around 5 PM. The price is $185.
Seats are limited but there are still spaces available on both boats.
Please send me your name and email and I will add you to my list accordingly!
