Pt. La Jolla seawatch – Pigeon Guillemot, Common Murre, June 16, 2018

I put in a four hour seawatch 6:30–10:30am this morning June 16, 2018 from Point La Jolla.  Actually I had to move a bit south the last hour or so because park rangers put up their public outreach canopy right next to me obscuring the view.

Hoped for a frigatebird maybe on these south winds but no luck with that.  An adult COMMON MURRE in alternate plumage flying south at 7:55am was too distant for photography.  Not the hoped for puffin but raised my pulse a bit.  I continued the vigil and nearly two hours later spotted a slow moving PIGEON GUILLEMOT going south at 9:50am flying into the stiff breeze.  This bird almost too distant for photography too, on the inside of outer kelp line, but I snapped a few frames anyways which can be seen in the eBird checklist below.  It is guillemot season here and I would say one seen about every 6-8 hours watch effort at the moment. 
Sightings random and could be first or last five minutes you are out there though! 

This bird my second of the "season" after one here on June 9. 

eBird checklist here https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S46590141

Also two Whimbrel flying south.

The massive bird congregation was very distant offshore this morning.  Looked to be far out over La Jolla Canyon a couple miles distant.  While watching the distant blurry specks of birds I did see a Humpback Whale go full breech a couple times followed by some impressive tail whacking of the ocean.  Amazing how far this large animal can stick its tail out the water!

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