Dermot Breen's Blog: surf scoter

Thursday, 16 April 2015

California 18th February 2015

So managed to eventually get out into Monterey Bay on one of the whale watching trips on my last full day of the US trip. We saw a lot of Rhinoceros Auklets but most would dive as the boat approached them. Smaller numbers of Cassin's Auklets but these would fly off at even greater distances. A few Black-vented Shearwaters and two Northern Fulmars really the only other proper seabirds around. I was expecting much anyway given the time of year though. Certainly the highlight had to be a very inquisitive Humpback Whale that came right up to another whale watching boat and later came to ours. I've never experienced anything like it before. The exhalant breath was over-powering!

I headed down along the Big Sur coastline to have a look for California Condors. Plenty of Turkey Vultures and a nice pair of Golden Eagles but no condors unfortunately.

Black-vented Shearwater, Heermann's and Western Gulls

Black-vented Shearwater

Pacific Fulmar

Great northern Diver

Pacific Diver

First-winter male Red-breasted Merganser

Surf Scoter

Cassin's Auklet

Rhinoceros Auklet

Black Phoebe

Great Blue Heron

Lincoln's Sparrow

Varied Thrush

Harbour Seal

Humpback Whale

Pacific Grey Whales

Sea Otter

Friday, 27 February 2015

California 2nd February 2015

After arriving in San Ysidro the previous night which headed the short distance up to San Diego harbour to go out on one of the whale watching boat tours. The main focus of these trips are the Pacific Grey Whales that past along here during their migration down to Baja, Mexcio where the females give birth. We saw several Grey Whales during the three hour trip. Their heart-shaped blows were quite distinctive. These trips can also be good for picking seabirds that aren't often seen from the shoreline. The winter months tend to be rather quiet but we still saw a few good seabirds such as several Scripp's Murrelets (recently spilt from Guadalupe Murrelet), Rhinoceros Auklet, Cassin's Auklet, many Black-vented Shearwaters and probably up to ten Brown Boobies. Most of the Murrelets/Auklets were very difficult to get decent views of. They would either dive or fly off long before the boat would come near to them.
There was a heavy military presence in the large harbour as San Diego harbour is largest naval base on the west coast of the United States.

After the boat trip we had a look for California Gnatcatcher which is a species that's restricted to SW California and the Baja peninsula. We had excellent views of these gnatcatchers that seem to keep themselves to low scrubby vegetation that seemed to be common in the undeveloped areas of this area of California.