More on La Jolla Cove this morning: Manx Shearwaters, Red-footed booby

More on La Jolla Cove this morning: Manx Shearwaters, Red-footed booby
By – 12:57 pm
Got to the Cove at 7:00, a little late. Gorgeous clear light.There were Black-vented Shearwaters everywhere, many only 100-150 yards offshore.My estimate is somewhere above 15,000.By 7:30-8:00, they had moved much further offshore, but there were still several thousand around all morning.Also saw 2 different Manx Shearwaters at around 7:10 and 7:20. One had more white in the face than the second, which was in the more textbook plumage.Both were flying alone along the inside edge of the BVSHs. As I’ve written before, I think the Manxes at the Cove are using a slightly different wind pattern than the BVSHs, and tend to fly along the outside edge of the BVSH flock; besides, the only time they are really close enough to pick out is when they are along the inside edge of the shearwater stream and only just offshore.At around 9:40 I got a 15-second look at a booby flying around one of the sport-fishing boats. Mocha-colored plumage with a paler head and neck, so my i.d. was adult or subadult Red-footed Booby.Otherwise it was relatively windless and quiet. A total of maybe 100 surf scoters, and a trickle of loons.The wind was shifting to be from the NW when I had to leave just before 10:00, and the number of scoters and loons started to increase.The weather pattern of weak winds from the east in the morning followed by weak winds from the west in the afternoon is likely to continue for at least the next 10 days.Not ideal for seawatching.Stan Walens, San DiegoNov. 23, 2021; 12:55 pm