San Diego pelagic: LAYSAN, 2 new RED-FOOTED & new MASKED Boobies, 12 Craveri's, S.P. Skua, B-f Albatross

The 12-hour pelagic trip from San Diego on Sunday, 19 August, out as far as the 30-Mile Bank aboard GRANDE and sponsored by Buena Vista Audubon Society was wildly successful for quality birds. Best for San Diego waters was the LAYSAN ALBATROSS that plopped down near the boat only 10.5 nm WSW of Sunset Cliffs (Point Loma), on our way back in. Before that, the best birds had been yet another, new RED-FOOTED BOOBY 24.4 nm WSW of La Jolla, also sitting on the water near the boat, and a close fly-by sub-adult MASKED BOOBY at the "182" site on the 30-Mile Bank. (Both of these birds were recognizably DIFFERENT from the ones we saw in the same general waters just two days earlier!!) At the end of the day, we heard that yet another RED-FOOTED BOOBY was riding along on another fishing boat, so we met that boat at the mouth of the bay and enjoyed following that bird back to the dock! Combined with the 3 BROWN BOOBIES seen, we had a three-booby day. A BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS made repeated passes close to the boat out at the 30-Mile, where there was also a distant SOUTH POLAR SKUA.  And a total of 12 (6 pairs) of flighty CRAVERI'S MURRELETS were tallied, all well offshore.  A BLACK TERN was seen by some, as was a WHITE-WINGED DOVE as we left the dock in the early morning. Photos of many of these birds will undoubtedly be posted by others. Offshore totals for the trip included:

LAYSAN ALBATROSS:  1

BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS:  1

Pink-footed Shearwater:  90

Sooty Shearwater:  2

Black-vented Shearwater:  300

Black Storm-Petrel:  350

Ashy Storm-Petrel:  4

Leach's Storm-Petrel:  15  (high)

Least Storm-Petrel:  0  (a couple "maybe's" that were not seen well enough or photo'd)

MASKED BOOBY:  1

Brown Booby:  3

RED-FOOTED BOOBY:  2

Red-necked Phalarope:  50

Red Phalarope:  200

Pomarine Jaeger:  5

Parasitic Jaeger:  2

Long-tailed Jaeger:  1

CRAVERI'S MURRELET:  12

Cassin's Auklet:  6

Sabine's Gull:  10

BLACK TERN:  1

WHITE-WINGED DOVE:  1

Blue Whale:  1

–Paul Lehman and leader contingent, San Diego
Source: SanDiegoRegionBirding Latest Reports