So Cal Pelagic Birding

a service of the Buena Vista Audubon Society
Pelagic Trips And Deep Water Expeditions

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Laysan & Black-footed Albatross (c) Terry Hunefeld

SO-CAL 3/4 DAY TRIPS

SoCal 3/4 day trips explore the bird-rich Nine-mile Bank and the booby-filled Los Coronados Islands in nearby Mexico. A Cory’s Shearwater and three species of booby were seen in 2007 just 15 miles south of San Diego on the Mexican Los Coronados Islands. Cory's Shearwater was seen by pelagic expert (and leader on these trips) Dave Povey in ABA waters at "the 182 point" in 2007. Dave has seen Brown Booby in the area in ABA waters as well. They're out there, let's find them! You can also make this trip part of a "double-header."

Cook's Petrel (c) Todd McGrath

SO-CAL TWO DAY
DEEP WATER EXPEDITIONS

These overnight trips have but one purpose: to get to deep waters 100 miles or more offshore along the edge of the continental shelf where rarities and mega-rarites are usually found only by research ships – because no day trips venture this far.

We depart Saturday afternoon or evening (depending on the time of year) and cruise all night to the continental shelf. We spend all day Sunday from sun-up to sun-down in the realm of the albatross,
pterdroma petrel and tropicbird. At sunset we turn the boat around and cruise back to San Diego Sunday night, arriving before 6:30 a.m. Monday morning.

We’re hunting mega-rarities, birds with only a handful of accepted records - birds that birders whisper about: Shy Albatross, Short-tailed Albatross, Great-winged Petrel, Hawaiian Petrel, Cook’s Petrel, Murphy’s Petrel, Bulwer’s Petrel, Wedge-tailed Shearwater, Streaked Shearwater, Tristram’s Storm-Petrel, Ringed Storm-Petrel, Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel, Red-billed Tropicbird, Red-tailed Tropicbird.

You can also make this trip part of a "double-header."

Red-billed Tropicbird (c) Todd McGrath

SO-CAL LONG-RANGE EXPEDITIONS

5-day trips on the Searcher are true expeditions that find rarities and mega-rarities in deep water along the edge of the continental shelf on nearly every trip. Since 2003, Searcher has seen: Dark-rumped (Hawaiian) Petrel, Cooks Petrel, Laysan Albatross, Murphy’s Petrel, Bulwer’s Petrel, Manx and Flesh-footed Shearwater, Fork-tailed Storm-petrel, Xantus’ and Craveri’s Murrelet, both Red-billed and Red-tailed Tropicbird. Visit the Searcher website for bird lists of every trip since we began in 2003.

HOW TO FIND MEGA-RARITIES

The Pacific Ocean is a vast, virtually unexplored frontier, enormous beyond comprehension, replete with seldom seen and little understood birds.

The secret to finding rarities (like Laysan and Short-tailed Albatross, Red-billed Tropicbird, Cook’s Petrel, Flesh-footed Shearwater) and mega-rarities (Shy and Light-mantled Albatross; Hawaiian, Bulwer’s and Murphy’s Petrel, Red-tailed Tropicbird) is to be out there, in deep water life-zones, with knowledgeable leaders who know where and when to look, following temperature and current breaks, chumming, watching, waiting....

                                                   Terry Hunefeld
                                                   Life is short.
                                                    Bird often.

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Recommended Birding Links:

Guided Birdwatching

Southwest Birders

Guided Birdwatching

Pomarine Jaeger (c) Tom Blackman

Murphy's Petrel
Terry Hunefeld

Stretching west 100 miles beneath the waves, Southern California contains submarine ridges, domes and banks which create rich life-zones that attract albatross, shearwater, petrels (notably, pterodroma petrels), storm-petrels, auklets and murrelets. Over the past 15 years, there have been only a handful of pelagic birding charters
available from San Diego. We aim to change that.