possible Streaked Shearwater

[Force]

Birders,

For any birders venturing off shore in the next little while I thought
I'd pass on a bird seen today believed to be a Streaked Shearwater.
Distance and lighting conditions preclude making a definitive
identification, feeling it's best to be cautious with these species
which can show some extreme variation. I've seen plenty of Streaked
Shearwaters around the Marianas Islands and their white head can be
striking at a distance, such as the bird seen today. Its underparts
were pure white, the underwings also appeared white. I couldn't see
the distinctive carpal patch formed by the brownish under primary
coverts. It was Pink-footed sized, and brown on the upperparts.. It
was a cloudless morning, the light was low off the port bow, some haze
and I was using prism-stabilised 20x and ship-mounted 25x binoculars.
Not long after getting on the 25x, the bird promptly turned and lazily
flew directly away into the glare! By then, it was almost 2 nmi away.
Not the best sighting conditions by any stretch of the imagination.
Pelagic birding has more than its fair share of "ones that got away".
We never saw it again and it remains unidentified.

Plenty of seabirds and high diversity the past few days, particularly
in the Outer Santa Barbara Channel, southeast of San Nicolas Island.
Six species of shearwaters, all the expected ones (two Flesh-foots
today), thousands of Pink-foots, and lots of fulmars (over a hundred
today). An adult Red-billed Tropicbird seen executing a heart stopping
high-altitude plunge dive was a classy species we hadn't seen for a
while.

happy seabirding,

Michael Force
currently aboard NOAA ship McArthur II
about 85 nmi S of San Nicolas Island, CA

[Terry Hunefeld]

wooo-hooooo

Hey Mike

cool report.... you are our eyes in the eastern Pacific...
reading your reports are *almost* as good as being there....
best wishes for more rarities!

--
Terry
thun...@gmail.com

W. Terry Hunefeld, Encinitas
Life is short. Seabird often.
In memory of Luke Cole
“Come on out with us to see what’s out there.”

Southern California Seabirding Trips
by: Buena Vista Audubon Society
http://www.SoCalBirding.com
Los Coronados Islands & Nine Mile Bank
all the way to the edge of the Continental Shelf

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Terry
---
W. Terry Hunefeld, San Diego
Life is short.
Bird often.

www.SoCalBirding.com
Pelagic Seabirding Trips From San Diego to:
9-mile Bank
Los Coronados Islands
Cortes & Tanner Banks
Channel Islands

reply to: thun...@gmail.com