San Diego Bird Festival Pelagic Trips March 2011
101 views · Published 26 March 2011 · 6:57 · Indexed 4 October 2026
Channel: W. Terry Hunefeld · 2011 · People & Blogs
The four San Diego Bird Festival Pelagic trips (Thursday -- Sunday) enjoyed perfect marine weather and a rich assortment of seabirds and marine mammals. Trip highlights included Black-legged Kittiwakes on all four trips, two Brown Boobies in San Diego County on Friday and close-ups of seven northbound migrating California Gray Whales. Some of the species participants enjoyed on all four trips included: Black-legged Kittiwakes, Sooty Shearwaters, Pomarine and Parasitic Jaegers, Xantus's Murrelets, Cassin's Auklets, Rhinoceros Auklets, Black Turnstones, Brant Geese, Common Loons, Common Dolphins, Bottlenose Dolphins and California Sea Lions. Seen on multiple trips (but not all): Northern Fulmars, Common Murres, Brown Boobies, Wandering Tattlers, Surfbirds, Red-throated Loons, Bonaparte's Gulls, Mew Gulls, Herring Gulls, Minke Whales, Pacific White-sided Dolphins, Harbor and Elephant Seals, Mola-molas. Seen on one trip: Pink-footed Shearwater, Black-vented Shearwater (!!), Elegant Tern (first of season for 99% of the participants and leaders). About 30 Brown Boobies were counted Sat & Sunday at the Coronados Islands. Also seen there were Elephant Seals, a hybrid American X Black Oystercatcher and more than 20 Black Oystercatchers.
