Whale watching seabirds (Aug. 23rd)

I apologize for the delay in getting this report out, but on Wednesday, August 23rd, four of us ventured offshore aboard the Legacy on one of their whale watching trips. The pelagic birds put on quite the show with several enormous rafts of Shearwaters, including unexpectedly large numbers of Pink-footed Shearwaters. The highlights included very close views of a Long-tailed Jaeger in beautiful crisp plumage, a single Manx Shearwater, and a very distant possible South Polar Skua (pending review of photos). Totals were as follows: 

2 Black Storm-Petrel

1,300 Black-vented Shearwater

120 Pink-footed Shearwater

18 Sooty Shearwater

1 Manx Shearwater

2 Parasitic Jaeger

3 Pomarine Jaeger

1 Long-tailed Jaeger

1 possible South Polar Skua (?)

8 Sabine’s Gull

25 Elegant Tern

1 Forster’s Tern

5 Common Tern

1 Arctic Tern

8 Brown Pelican

1 Red Phalarope

1 Red-necked Phalarope

1,000 Common Dolphin

1 Minke Whale

Happy Birding!

  –Trysten Loefke

Valley Center