November 16, 2005
Big Sur and a loooong pelagic
Friday was a public holiday here in the US, so Marcel and I spent the whole day doing a leisurely drive from Davis to Santa Barbara in readiness for tomorrow's pelagic. Our first stop was in the Carmel Highlands, in search of a cluster of rarities which had been frequenting someone's bird feeders. In spite of 2 hours' waiting, we didn't manage to connect with any of these birds! Fortunately, we got to enjoy a few of the coastal birds which don't regularly make it into the Central Valley, namely Pygmy Nuthatch...
... and Chestnut-backed Chickadee.
In contrast to my last visit, visibility along Big Sur was crystal clear, affording spectacular views along the coast.
We stopped off in San Simeon to see the first returning Elephant Seals.
There wasn't much activity, and the alpha male spent much of his time lying around.
These young males, perhaps last year's pups, were indulging in some play-fighting.
Next morning we got up at the ungodly hour of 4am to make the 5am departure of the Condor Express, a fast, swanky boat complete with breakfast, lunch and dinner menu as well as a bar! Needless to say I traded in my manky home-made sandwiches for a delicious turkey burger....
Around about 10am we came across a pocket of bird activity. Having already missed Least Storm-Petrel and Short-tailed Shearwater by being in the wrong place at the wrong time, I was delighted to connect, finally, with Leach's Storm-Petrel as a lifer (one of the more embarrassing gaps on my British list). Not long after 3 Xantus' Murrelets streamed past, with gleaming white underwings contrasting with their jet black backs. But best of all, my attention was drawn to a bird displaying a Buller's Shearwater-like upperwing pattern. This bird was small, however, the flight action not quite right for a shearwater, and there was a black bar along the leading edge of its white underwings - a COOK'S PETREL! Unfortunately, the bird was headed away from the boat, and those taking shelter from the choppy conditions in the cabin did not get to see it.
From thereafter the birding became very dull. There were rarely more than one or two birds on show at any time, and despite motoring south for several hours to an upwelling zone, we did not connect with any new species. The increasing swell and spray took their toll - my regular trousers got soaked through my waterproof trousers, and remained wet for the rest of the journey, while poor Marcel not only got seasick but fried his camera when seawater got in a gap between the lens and the camera body! Fortunately, the birders on board provided good company, and a chicken and steak dinner washed down with a glass of white wine helped lift the spirits! We finally got back into port at 9:30pm, spending a total of 16.5 hours at sea. Finding new birds in the western US is definitely getting harder!