Saturday San Diego pelagic: Tufted Puffin, Masked Booby

A pelagic trip aboard “Legacy” on Saturday, 18 Feb, was organized by the Pacific Seabird Group, associated with their annual meeting being held in San Diego. The trip went out of Mission Bay to the outer edge of the Nine-Mile Bank, from the international border north to off La Jolla. A beautiful day, with extremely light seas and only a light breeze. The highlight was certainly the very cooperative adult Tufted Puffin swimming near the boat 7.1 miles off La Jolla, and by the near-adult Masked Booby that flew by the boat some 11.9 miles west of the tip of Point Loma. A total of 8 Pink-footed Shearwaters west of La Jolla was a very good total for winter. Five Brown Boobies. Given the light sea conditions, alcid and phalarope totals were good (e.g., 60 Scripps’s Murrelets, 175 Rhino Auklets). We also saw the continuing Yellow-billed Loon as we departed the dock. OFFSHORE totals for the day were:

Surf Scoter  1

Eared Grebe  2  (some 10 miles offshore; not unusual)

Red Phalarope  40

Pomarine Jaeger  10

Parasitic Jaeger  3

Scripps’s Murrelet  60

Cassin’s Auklet  35

Rhinoceros Auklet  175

TUFTED PUFFIN  1  (32.83, 117.40)

Bonaparte’s Gull  40

Heermann’s Gull  8

Western Gull  200

California Gull  120

Royal Tern  1

Northern Fulmar  1

Pink-footed Shearwater  8

Sooty Shearwater  2

Black-vented Shearwater  800

Brown Booby  5

MASKED BOOBY  1  (32.64, 117.45)

Brandt’s Cormorant  45

Brown Pelican  120

–Paul Lehman, Dave Povey, Bruce Rideout, Matt Sadowski, et al., San Diego