Re: Pt. La Jolla – distant black-and-white booby, June 14, 2018
All,
Gary’s post reminded me that I wanted to note some minor observations from these past few weeks, when I’ve gone out about 4 mornings and 4 afternoons each week.
I am glad Gary reported 3000 black-vented shearwaters, because that’s about how many I’ve seen every day when I’ve gone out in the morning this past week [stayed home today].
Most eBird reports have had only numbers around 150.
I also find that the large numbers of black-venteds often dissipate or move far offshore by 7:00 or so in the morning. So getting there by 5:30-6:00 is de rigueur, even though it can be overcast and windless.
I’ve also found that the black-venteds are replaced by sooties in the afternoon. Yesterday from 3:00–4:00 pm I had maybe 60 black-venteds and about 750 sooties. There have been major feeding frenzies about 1-1/2 miles offshore; I can see thousands of terns and shearwaters, but they are specks in the distance. Light in the afternoons has been harsh.
Interestingly, this season I have yet to see a single storm-petrel from shore; usually by mid-June, black-storm petrels are working the edges of La Jolla Canyon.
Finally, there have ginormous pods of common dolphins near shore, especially in the early morning. On June 9, perhaps the most exciting day I’ve had in 36 years of birding the Cove, though not because of cetaceans, there were at least 2500 common dolphins in the Cove and offshore of the Point.
Stan Walens, San Diego
June 14, 2018; 12:15 p.m.
Source: SanDiegoRegionBirding Latest Reports