offshore San Diego: Cook’s Petrel, Manx Shearwater, Red-footed & Nazca Boobies, 2 B-f Albatrosses

By – 4:11 pm

Several folks went offshore out of San Diego on Sunday, Aug 21st. Choppy seas on the way out, settled down somewhat thereafter. There were large numbers (thousands) of birds along the outer part of the 9-Mile Bank, mostly associated with tuna. Highlights there were a brief fly-by Manx Shearwater with thousands of Black-venteds, a Red-footed Booby, a sub-adult Nazca Booby, and an immature Masked/Nazca Booby–as well as 9 Brown Boobies. Also a single flock of 55 Sabine’s Gulls. Farther offshore, we had a single Cook’s Petrel at the 30-Mile Bank and 2 Black-footed Albatrosses at The Corner. Also a fair number of Arctic Terns, Long-tailed Jaegers, and a seasonally very rare Northern Fulmar. Good numbers of Townsend’s and Leach’s Storm-Petrels continue. We had zero Craveri’s Murrelets or Least Storm-Petrels–perhaps due to the choppy ocean surface. Offshore totals were as follows:

Red-necked Phalarope  35

Red Phalarope  31

Pomarine Jaeger  1

Parasitic Jaeger  2

Long-tailed Jaeger  3

Cassin’s Auklet  13

Sabine’s Gull  70

Western Gull  110

Common Tern  20

Arctic Tern  12

Elegant Tern  360

Black-footed Albatross  2

Leach’s Storm-Petrel  39

Townsend’s Storm-Petrel  10

Black Storm-Petrel  68

Northern Fulmar  1

Cook’s Petrel  1

Pink-footed Shearwater  175

Sooty Shearwater  9

Manx Shearwater  1

Black-vented Shearwater  5200

Masked/Nazca Booby  1

Nazca Booby  1

Brown Booby  9

Red-footed Booby  1

Brown Pelican  340

Brandt’s Cormorant  1

warbler sp.  1  (possibly Hermit)

–Paul Lehman et al., San Diego