John started a pelagic, 6 AM Saturday, October 13th, out of San Diego. They cruised out along the continental shelf to the back side of San Clemente Island, returning to port early Monday morning, October 15th.
On board were several people he has spent time with on various venues over this past year. Sandy Komito was there, we met him at High Island, also, a guy who was with John on Attu, a guy who was on the weather cancelled boat and then the boat that finally went out to Dry Tortugas, and a lady who was at the Sax-Zim festival with us last February. The bunks were nearly full. Crazy birders all.
At firs,t there were tons of storm petrals. Way out to sea, John was surprised to see lots of Brown Pelicans and Western Gulls along the continent's edge. The Sax-Zim lady got a life bird with the Red-Billed Tropicbird. John got the Guadalupe Murrelet that he had missed on the last San Diego pelagic. He is now at 662 for his big year list. And lots of pictures. He was happy to get better pictures of the Least Storm Petral. John is getting close to having decent pictures of 600 bird species taken this year.
I am blogging from my sister's farm in Minnesota. I don't do pelagics. John called me with his report as soon as he got home. He will start the download of his pictures onto hard drives and crawl into bed. It isn't easy to get a good night's sleep on a boat.
Showing posts with label Red-Billed Tropicbird. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Red-Billed Tropicbird. Show all posts
Monday, October 15, 2012
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
On the High 'See's
John called from San Diego to report on his pelagic on the Grande, August 13th-15th. The seas were a bit high on Tuesday, otherwise, not bad. Glad I wasn't there!
John saw four storm petrels - Ashy and Least - not great looks but good enough, Leach's and Black- good views. He also got the Sooty and Pink-Footed Shearwater, the Red-Billed Tropicbird and half of the split Xantu's Murrelet - the northern half, Scripp's Murrelet. Unfortunately, though several were spotted, John didn't get to see the southern half, Guadalupe's Murrelet. I checked out the pictures in Sibley, looks like the difference between Clark's and Western Grebes. I do not like pelagics! Besides sea-sickness and LONG periods of no birds, I don't like depending on the on-board experts to spot and identify the pelagic birds. Referencing my last blog, they did NOT see the Cook's Petrel!
John had a whole half of an afternoon to drive home! What to do! So he drove over to the Salton Sea and got the Yellow-Footed Gull! If you want to go back in the archives, you can read his attempt to see the Yellow-Legged Gull back in January. I think the entry is titled 'Watching all the Gulls go by'. Seems ages ago.
John is up to 623!
I am glad to hear that some people he encounters on trips actually enjoy reading my blog. I enjoy writing it.
John will be back late tonight. There is a nasty immigration checkpoint near the Salton Sea that can take a long time to clear. A few days to plan and then we will be off, or not, on a car trip.
John saw four storm petrels - Ashy and Least - not great looks but good enough, Leach's and Black- good views. He also got the Sooty and Pink-Footed Shearwater, the Red-Billed Tropicbird and half of the split Xantu's Murrelet - the northern half, Scripp's Murrelet. Unfortunately, though several were spotted, John didn't get to see the southern half, Guadalupe's Murrelet. I checked out the pictures in Sibley, looks like the difference between Clark's and Western Grebes. I do not like pelagics! Besides sea-sickness and LONG periods of no birds, I don't like depending on the on-board experts to spot and identify the pelagic birds. Referencing my last blog, they did NOT see the Cook's Petrel!
John had a whole half of an afternoon to drive home! What to do! So he drove over to the Salton Sea and got the Yellow-Footed Gull! If you want to go back in the archives, you can read his attempt to see the Yellow-Legged Gull back in January. I think the entry is titled 'Watching all the Gulls go by'. Seems ages ago.
John is up to 623!
I am glad to hear that some people he encounters on trips actually enjoy reading my blog. I enjoy writing it.
John will be back late tonight. There is a nasty immigration checkpoint near the Salton Sea that can take a long time to clear. A few days to plan and then we will be off, or not, on a car trip.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)