Sunday San Diego pelagic trip: South Polar Skua, 6 Black-footed Albatrosses, 5 Brown (Cocos) Boobies

The San Diego pelagic trip on Sunday, August 4th, aboard “Legacy” and sponsored by Buena Vista Audubon Society, sailed out to the 9-Mile & 30-Mile Banks and “The Corner” (some 32 miles offshore). Seas were light to moderate, with a light surface chop, improving as the day went on. Highlights of the trip were a very cooperative South Polar Skua on the 30-Mile Bank, again a record (tie) single-day high count of 6 Black-footed Albatrosses for the second day in a row, mostly in the 30-Mile Bank area, 5 Brown (Cocos) Boobies, and plenty of white-rumped Leach’s/Townsend’s Storm-Petrels at the 30-Mile Bank and nearby to befuddle us. Photos will appear in the shared eBird lists to come out in a couple days. Totals for the day, once we were a mile offshore, included:

Western Sandpiper  10

Red-necked Phalarope  40

South Polar Skua  1

Pomarine Jaeger  2

Cassin’s Auklet  1

small alcid sp.  1

Heermann’s Gull  1

Western Gull  70

Least Tern  1  (30 miles offshore)

Common Tern  2

Elegant Tern  34

Black-footed Albatross  6

Leach’s Storm-Petrel  23  (fairly high total; both white-rumped and dark-rumped)

Townsend’s Storm-Petrel  2  (more or less, depending on outcome of photo study)

Leach’s/Townsend’s (white-rumped) Storm-Petrel  10

Black Storm-Petrel  320

Sooty Shearwater  37

Pink-footed Shearwater  24

Black-vented Shearwater  16

Brown (Cocos) Booby  5

Brandt’s Cormorant  1

Double-crested Cormorant  1

Brown Pelican  73

Also:

Surfbird  10

Blue Whale  2

Risso’s Dolphins