Marshall, Michigan by Kat
In June we tucked our RV and Jeep in storage and went home to Michigan for two months . . . a long two months. But we are back on the road now and a blog is overdue.
After a week at the parents in Los Altos, our first stop was Pescadero. So we saw the elephant seals, walked in the redwoods and went to Duarte’s of Diners and Dives fame.
Pescadero, California by Bob
Elephant Seals (Not our Photo)
Sea Lions by Bob
Monterey
We moved on down the road to Monterey. Bob had generously taken me to the world class aquarium there several times. I say generously as he does not especially care about fish and really does not like zoo-type venues, so outside of going to the Giant Artichoke in nearby Castroville for deep fried artichokes, there was only one reason we were going to Monterey – birds, of course. We had tickets to go on a pelagic birding trip. Pelagic means ocean, so obviously you have to go on a boat for this and not just a 30-minute buzz around the bay “whale watching” (ha – whales in 30 minutes?), but this was an eight- hour trip out to the edge of the shelf where it drops straight down a few thousand feet. Bob is not crazy about water either. So, there was some preparation needed, mental as well as assembling of bird lists, Dramamine, and a dry run to Fisherman’s Wharf to check our departure site and boat.
Our Boat by Bob
The morning of the big trip dawned gray and dismal – perfect birding weather. Generally, we are fairly confident in the field – answering questions from novices and discoursing knowledgably to them about various birds. Within about 30 seconds of stepping on the boat, however, we realized we were in fast company. We were going to be at the bottom on this bird totem pole, so to speak, and our best bet was to zip it – smile a lot, learn a lot and remain totally silent. Birding is after all something of a science and it offers abundant opportunities to look like a complete fool. The simplest thing will betray you. For instance, authors of bird books, would it freaking kill you to offer a pronunciation key in your darn book? Some of these things are in Latin, for pete’s sake. Anybody out there want to take a stab at pileatus or lazuli? Long or short I?
Bob readies to mingle with “Heavy-Weights” by Kat
Anyway, there were perhaps 40 people and maybe $80,000 worth of binoculars. More correctly, that would be $76,400 – that’s $2,000 a piece for them and $200 for us. Just guessing. Our leader was Debi Shearwater and she was most definitely up to this task. She told us this was going to be difficult, and it was. She told us not to throw up in the toilet under any circumstances or off the front of the boat for more obvious reasons. She told us to hang on at all times to something secure – not the fishing poles -- also very wise. If you must go to sea for eight hours, this is your woman. She will keep you safe and you will see birds (or else!). There is a movie coming out called “The Big Year”. Debi is in this movie and her character will be played by Angelica Huston. Yes, I’m serious - and I feel sure Angelica Huston is just the one to play her. (Debi maintains that no matter what, she has never pulled a knife on a tour participant).
Debi by Bob
The first 20 minutes on the boat were enough to sort the wheat from the chaff. The boat was making good time, despite what I would call some heavy seas. I am fairly sure this was an ordinary day on the Pacific, but the swells looked enormous to my land-lubber eyes and the boat felt like an amusement park ride. In pretty quick order four people dashed to the back of the boat, tossed everything they could possibly toss and then retired in unison to separate corners of the cabin where they remained for the next eight hours . All of them had the same posture – heads cradled in arms, eyes firmly closed, unmoving and unmoved by suggestions to “go out and get some air”. Soon, we were all treating them like four backpacks, stepping over them and around them. I have never seen people so pitifully and so dreadfully ill, that all recovered promptly at 3:20 p.m. on the same day.
There were also on board spotters that would assist in finding birds for us. They did this without pay, just for the joy of the trip and they were wonderful, all of them. But one was a stand-out. He was a tousle-haired youngster of maybe 20 -- or 30 who knows -- and he was absolutely amazing. He could talk (and he did continuously for eight hours) about birds and suddenly yell “Sabine’s Gull at 2 o’clock!” Where? Do you possibly mean that speck on the horizon, the horizon that is moving up and down some 15 feet in each direction? And every time, it was as he said. He never missed a word and at the same time, never missed a bird, apparently. We did not know it, but this was to be a record-setting trip and Abe got the bird. He not only got the bird, he photographed it because in addition to wielding a pair of binoculars, he also had a camera with about four feet of lens on it strapped around this neck, which he could point and focus, all while standing on a wildly heaving wet boat. I remain in awe.
Suddenly, the call “Risso dolphin!!” What? With my life-long interest in marine life, I have never heard of a Risso dolphin, so apparently I don’t know squat about that either. And it’s not like they are small and rare. They are as big as Volkswagens – the dorsal fin coming towards us seemed over our heads. And they are abundant in all warm waters of the world. And they are on the “least concern” list meaning they are under no threat. What is the secret of their success under the world radar? My opinion: they are not very attractive. They have a dark skin early on and nicks result in white scars. And apparently they are rather clumsy, running regularly into each other’s teeth. They look like belugas that are covered in a crisscross network of white scars.
Risso Dolphins (Not our photo)
So, instead of living in a pool doing circus tricks with Flipper and Shamu, they cavort and play wild and free in the waves with a sly smile on their faces. I feel there is a lesson here somewhere, but will leave it to you to work out.
More calls of different birds, wonderful birds. Our favorites were the Black-footed Albatross and Pomarine Jaeger. The Albatross followed us for hours and we loved him. He was a master in the air – strong, graceful, agile. He might even dip a wing in the surf, rather casually. At the same time, there was a bit of gentleness in the face, perhaps some golden retriever in the eyes. It was enchanting.
Black-footed Albatross by Bob
Pomarine Jaeger by Bob
And other birds harder for a novice to see as anything other than the catch-all “seagull”. The following birds are in the order of sighting and were either too far away or too difficult be photographed without the fear of going overboard: Elegant Tern, Black Oyster Catcher, Black Turnstone, Peregrine Falcon, Sooty Shearwater, Northern Fulmar, Rhinoceros Auklet, Ashy Storm Petrel, Common Tern, Red Neck Phalarope, Sabin Gull, Parasitic Jaeger, California Gull, Heermann’s Gull, Black Storm Petrel, Fork-Tailed Storm Petrel.
And a word about those ubiquitous “seagulls”. They are not SEAgulls. They are Sabine’s gulls, Heerman’s gulls, Bonaparte gulls, and if you do not know, they are simply gulls. But they are never seagulls. I did not know this before the trip, but escaped disgrace by being silent. “Jonathan Livingston Glaucous Gull” would probably not have been made into that charming film.
And finally, just when things were lagging a bit, Abe electrified the boat: “Great Winged Petrel”!!!! Debi screams to Captain Tinker “Follow that bird!!” Everyone on the boat moved as one to port and the boat accelerated in that direction. Amazing there wasn’t a mass overbroad. No one cared. We were in chase of a Great Winged Petrel and the excitement was palpable! This bird breeds on small islands in New Zealand. It has only been recorded in North America three times – and now four. This is hard to explain to the “unwashed”, but this is big in birding circles. Huge. There were high fives, people expressing thanks they were there, mentions of absent ones who will be so sorry to have missed it.
Great-winged Petrel (Not our photo)
We never caught the bird. It sailed off out of site. But no matter, we had seen it – at first a dark silhouette against the sea, then speck in the sky, a golden moment in which it was there. And we all knew how far it had come to give us that moment.
And just when we were catching our breath, another call by Abe – “Killer Whales!!” And there they were three of them – a large one, a small one and a medium on side by side, a family likely. They were beautiful and showed themselves many times.
Orcas by Bob
When someone with better eyes or a better boat position than me saw that the larger one had a seal in its mouth, we decided to break off the chase. We were sated by our other finds at that point , and happy to see them go on their way to do whale things.
An aside, it was a marvelous moment and one that made me feel just a bit better. They are, of course, Orcas, but in the excitement of the moment the old term Killer Whales just comes out of even the most educated and – cool. I liked that.
