An army of Short-beaked Common Dolphins
1,309 views · Published 11 March 2009 · 1:15 · Indexed 4 October 2026
Channel: W. Terry Hunefeld · 2009 · Travel & Events
An army of short-beaked "Saddleback" dolphins comes over to investivate Grande on a San Diego Bird Festival Pelagic Trip. Seen in this movie: Todd McGrath, Steve N.G. Howell, Thomas Blackman. Photographer: W. Terry Hunefeld The San Diego Bird Festival pelagic trips were enjoyed by nearly 150 participants this past week, many of whom were at sea observing pelagic birds and mammals for the first time. Seabirds and marine mammals are elusive creatures and can be extremely difficult to observe and understand, and participants enjoyed a steady stream of interpretation both one-on-one and over the public address system creating a context of understanding, connectedness and appreciation about what they were seeing. Especially telling was how the trips were enjoyed by newcomers and experienced pelagic birders alike. Trip reports of all SoCal trips are always posted to http://www.SoCalBirding.com within 48 72 hours of the trip. Click the Trip Reports link to see all the past SoCal pelagic trips in chronological order. The reason for the 48 hour posting delay is to allow time for the leaders (1) to enter the sightings into eBird and (2) for photographers to download, edit and forward their photos. Highlights of this years three Bird Festival pelagic trips included a Blue-footed Booby 5.1 miles offshore doing eight close laps around Grande, up to 26 Brown Boobies around the Coronados Islands, two Manx Shearwaters; an extremely rare sighting of a Common Murre in Mexican waters; 16 Pink-footed Shearwaters; great close-ups of adult and first-winter Mew Gulls; Rhinoceros Auklets wherever you looked, dozens of Xantuss Murrelets; a twice breaching Humpback Whale; herds of Common Dolphin advancing on, then surrounding, Grande; Gray Whales so close you could count their barnacles; the seasons first returning Elegant Terns; and hundreds of ghostly fairies engaged in a delicate ballet over the oceans surface.
