San Diego

A few weeks ago I went out to San Diego to see my best friend since second grade, and you know we have to go birding when we travel somewhere. Due to work and this crazy thing called hanging with my boy, I didn't want to get out every day. I'm sure Daniel and Jacqueline needed a break from me, so I spent all day one day on a pelagic trip. 

The first and only pelagic I've done was out of this world, seeing storm-petrels, albatrosses, and shearwaters that I only thought I would get to see in field guides. Hyped was an understatement, but I was very nervous. Pelagic trips are long and if there are big swells you're in for a rough day. My Westport trip was supposedly the calmest seas ever, so I was prepping for a tough day. I arrived and checked in, only to be told that swells were 1-2 feet aka the lowest they can be. Let's go! All that worry over nothing...

The overcast morning was serene, and the it was way cooler than I expected, I'm very glad I turned around for my jacket on my way to the airport. Sea lion pups were frolicking in the water and Western Gulls were already following our boat, it was going to be a good day!

Western Gull

My first lifer was seen before we even hit the open ocean, an Elegant Tern, which would be very common throughout the day. Sooty Shearwaters appeared on the horizon, and we would see them throughout the day as well. Red-necked Phalaropes were everywhere, and my next lifer was a distant Black Storm-petrel off in the distance, one that I was very excited about.

Scripps's Murrelet

Eventually we got much better looks at the storm-petrel, but once we got further offshore the big kahuna hit. Murrelets flew across the bow in the distance, and despite being far away it was obvious what it was- SCRIPPS'S MURRELET! This was my most sought after bird of the trip, and it was one I have dreamed about for years. I used to know these as Xantus's Murrelet before it was split into Scripps's and Guadalupe, and it always struck me as a rare find in North America. It isn't, but back when my birding world was a triangle of Austin, Dallas, and Houston I thought I would never see these. And here I was, getting extremely cooperative views of one out of sight of land, almost across the border in Mexican waters. We would see tons of them, but each one was just as jaw dropping as the last.                                                     

As we got further offshore we started getting a following of birds. I really wanted to see the endangered Ashy Storm-petrel, but there aren't a ton of them and they can look very similar to Black. We would see very few of them, but I was able to get the ID down! 

We reached The Corner, our furthest point offshore, where Mexico meets San Diego and Los Angeles County. This was over 30 miles offshore, and we were looking hard for the extremely rare Cook's Petrel. We would miss the petrel, but we got a Sabine's Gull! I saw these in Washington and was stunned by them, and I went crazy over them again. What will it take to get one at White Rock?

Black Storm-petrel

At this point I was exhausted from all the excitement and I had to go lay down for a little bit, thinking it would be a little slow. Just as I was about to close my eyes, I heard "Northern Fulmar" over the speaker and shot up. Northern Fulmars are one of those seabirds that get me going, and they are very patient when it comes to boats. We got one within 20 feet of the boat, and I couldn't even use my binoculars on it. We thankfully stayed on it for 15 minutes before we decided to continue on. I laid down again, only to spring to my feet again when a Black-vented Shearwater, a lifer, began flying around the boat. That was the jolt I needed, no way could I sleep with so many good birds out!

Northern Fulmar

The rest of the day was mostly the same awesome birds, but as we were heading in we got one last surprise, one of my favorite alcids, a Rhinoceros Auklet! A rare find in this area, it gave us the energy we needed after being on the boat for over 10 hours to finish the day. You never know what you'll get on the ocean, and that was a hell of a way to finish the day. 

On Sunday I had a little free time and walked to Marston Canyon from Daniel's apartment. The weather was nasty and horrible for birding, but I was at lifer #498 and I had to get to 500! In the driving rain I would get it, Pacific Slope Flycatcher was 499 and Nuttall's Woodpecker was 500, just in time for me to rush off to lunch and get out of the rain. Marston Canyon has a ton of birding potential, the weather just sucked. Still, I had Warbling Vireo, Anna's Hummingbird, and an Allen's Hummingbird in such a short time. I also gained a new nemesis- Hooded Oriole. I can't find that bird anywhere, despite being in perfect habitat for it.

A pod of Rizzo's Dolphins, a rare find