As 15 of us left Port San Luis (Avila, CA) on the boat Pacific Horizon
at 6:30 AM on Oct. 26, 2005, a killer sunrise started our day
Event Description:
Morro Coast
Audubon Society, in partnership with Cal
Poly State University and the Marine Interest Group (MIG) invited the public out
on a Pelagic Boat Trip to observe a seabird study conducted by graduate student
Katie Gordon... designed to identify species and qualify abundance of the ocean
birds that come to the waters of Estero Bay. Our guide and outing organizer,
Kara Hagedorn, shared natural history information and helped with the bird and
marine mammal identification on this full day ocean adventure.
Photos
by Mike Baird
- click thumbnails below to enlarge (taken with a Canon 20D w/ 100-400 IS Canon
lens, some taken with polarizing filter).
Note: Shown frequently below are
multiple photos of the same individual animal.
Also, the photo collection below is not intended in any way to represent the
totality of the observations made --
I have just included some random photos that I was able get from my vantage
point.
Corrections and clarifications are always appreciated - please e-mail any
comments to mike at mikebaird.com and include "ignorefilters" somewhere in the
subject line.
As 15 of us left Port San Luis (Avila, CA)
on the boat Pacific Horizon
at 6:30 AM on Oct. 26, 2005, a killer sunrise started our day
We immediately saw this Humpback whale
Followed by some Bottlenose Dolphins (ID
thanks to Marlin Harms and Brad Schram)
and many playful Sea Lions all along the
way
interspersed by several
California Sea Otters
Leaders (L-R) Kara Hagedorn and Katie
Gordon explained the scientific process,
and conducted species identification, along with
expert birders (L-R) Brad Schram and
Maggie Smith
while several other participants,
including (L-R) Sylvia Rosenberg,
Barbara Akle, and Donna
O'Shaughnessy, assisted by recording data, etc.
David Sneed, who covers environmental issues for the
The Tribune -
SanLuisObispo.com covered
this event with his associate, photographer Jayson Mellom (not shown).
David wrote a nice
article about this event which was published in The tribune on Nov., 1, 2005
which now (11-1-05 PM) is accompanied by five
photos.
Of the approximately 24 birds species identified
this day...
Brandt's Cormorants were seen in abundance, along with one or
more of the:
Common Loon Pigeon
Guillemot
Western Grebe
Brown Pelican Gulls with a Brown
Pelican on a kelp float
We passed by Morro Rock and had a unique view of the "Nine Sister" Morros lined
up
Here is a list of the species observed, courtesy of Kara
Hagedorn:
MCAS-CAL-POLY Seabird Study Trip -- Date: 10-26-05
Conditions: Clear, calm, slight wind, 70 degrees
Bird and Mammal Checklist
(corrected 11-4-05)
Birds Species Observed (24)
Red-throated Loon
Pacific Loon
Common Loon
Eared Grebe
Western Grebe
Clark’s Grebe
Brown Pelican
Brandt’s Cormorant
Double-crested Cormorant
Pelagic Cormorant
Surf Scoter
Parasitic Jaeger
Pomarine Jaeger
Herring Gull
California Gull
Western Gull
Heermann’s Gull
Mew Gull
Bonaparte’s Gull
Caspian Tern
Royal Tern
Elegant Tern
Common Murre
Pigeon Guillemot
Mammal Species Observed (6)
Humpback Whale
Bottlenose Dolphin
Harbor Seal
California Sea Lion
California Sea Otter
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