As expected, I made the trip to Monterey on June 25 for what is looking to be my last trip out of Monterey Bay this year (a sad event for sure). Fortunately, the trip turned out very memorable with great friends on board (Anne Pellegrini, John Musina, and Mark Dettling), and great sights on the seas. Overall bird diversity was low on this trip (as expected), but the spectacles of what we saw were well worth the effort of getting down there. To Roger Wolfe and the Monterey Seabirds Co. I am extremely grateful for the amazing hospitality on board the boats, and the opportunity for me to get on as a chummer for my last 3 trips.

When the 4 of us arrived in Monterey early Sunday morning the winds were calm and the day looked to be good for sea conditions, although the winds were perhaps a bit too low to help keep the shearwaters and albatrosses that were present airborne. As we departed the harbor we followed the breakwall and were treated with nice views of the Brandt’s Cormorant colony that is ever present. However, within a few minutes the breakwall and the cormorants and Sea Lions it held would soon be left behind for the open ocean of Monterey Bay.

Soon out into the ocean we encountered our first flocks of Sooty Shearwaters, and scattered alcids like Common Murres and distant Rhinoceros Auklets. However, this smattering of birds would soon turn into a swarm as we found several large flocks of Sooty Shearwaters. Talking to the birders in my party we estimate that we observed at least 50-75 thousand Sooties! And most of these were found within several rafts close together! While it probably does not do it justice, you can gain a sense of the flock size in the picture below.

However, birds were not the only spectacle on the day, and Humpback Whales did their best to get our attention, and did they ever do a great job! This day held perhaps one of the best whale shows that I have observed in the ~100 hrs I have spent on the ocean. The main thing that really made the day with the whales was watching them vertical lunge feed. They would dive under the water together and corral the fish into a tight ball, and then in unison the three would rush towards the surface and with their mouths open wide would take in as much water and fish as they could in a giant gulp. As they re-entered the water they would use their massive tongues to force the water out of their mouth leaving the fish trapped inside their mouth caught in the baleen which serves as a strainer.

We watched these three whales for the better part of 30 mins before we left them to feed on the anchovies which were trying to escape these huge creatures.

The last real treat on the day was the presence of not just 1, but 3 Tufted Puffins in immaculate alternate plumage! The first was a bird that was observed flying in the distance by another passenger on the boat. However, when he mentioned the bird he did not seem confident in his ID. Luckily, I picked up on the bird quickly and having had a good deal of experience with puffins (Atlantic) in flight, I knew what to look for. So as soon as I saw the bird I yelled out “Tufted Puffin behind the boat!” which was enough to get everybody’s attention on the distant bird. However, the bird did us a favor, and within 1 minute it was cruising along side the boat giving everybody a great opportunity to view this gorgeous bird.

However, luck was with us, and later in the day, John, on his first pelagic trip ever(!), spotted two Tufted Puffins on the water. I contacted a spotter who told the skipper to turn around. And thank goodness we did because when we turned around we were able to move close to the birds, and actually get within 10 meters of them for roughly 5 minutes. This allowed everyone close study of the birds, which was actually a first for the tour company. No trip previous had they ever had 3 puffins in one day, let alone two together on the water! How lucky were we?

Overall, it was a great day despite the fact that bird diversity was rather low. But, how could one rule out the fortune of seeing 50+ thousand shearwaters, or Humpback Whales lunge feeding, or Tufted Puffins…all of this in the company of good friends! My apologies for the short post, but to do justice for this trip would require more time than I can give at the moment. What follows are some more pictures from the trip. To see captions of the images simply put the cursor over the image and it will pop-up. Enjoy!

~Chad (06/27/2006)