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California’s Autumn Seas

10,000 Birds

For whatever reason, however, yesterday on my way to work my mind wasn’t with our upcoming spring, but with September’s in California. The almost overpowering intensity of the summer breeding season was over, the island feels completely different, more relaxing and much less dangerous. A Humpback Whale.

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An Amazing Boat Ride from Santa Cruz Island to Ventura Harbor

10,000 Birds

The one thing I really wanted to do on this most recent trip to southern California was visit Santa Cruz Island again. The ride from Prisoner’s Harbor, where we had spent our day, to Scorpion Anchorage, was uneventful, though Desi did fall asleep and I did enjoy pretty good views of breeding-plumaged Pigeon Guillemots.

Whales 151
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Federal Public Lands: Pacific Seabirds

10,000 Birds

Although some of the most popular Pacific pelagic trips depart from Monterey Bay in California, there are also regular trips out of Half Moon Bay, California; Newport, Oregon; and Westport, Washington. A few breed on the main Hawaiian islands, including Kilauea Point NWR on Kauai. Most of the key breeding locations in the U.S.

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Offshore Sea Life ID Guide: West Coast–A Book Review

10,000 Birds

Sullivan, in collaboration with Todd McGrath and Tom Johnson, arrived at my door the day before I was leaving for southern California. Birds of California , the new volume in the ABA series, arrived the day I returned. Every bird book seems to be about the west coast this month!) western waters in the fall.

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Birding Santa Cruz Island

10,000 Birds

A large number of people I talk to believe the island to be next to the city of Santa Cruz, California. At the very northern end of their breeding range in the Channel Islands, they are strictly a Californian bird as far as the U.S. In summer and fall, the waters around the Channel Islands can teem with Blue Whales.

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Kaikoura in the Summer

10,000 Birds

And the endemic Hutton’s Shearwater, which only breeds in Kaikoura, will keep you entertained for those few minutes till the albatrosses hit. It’s a similar trick to that which makes Monterey in California such a great location. Even in summer the Kaikoura Ranges are snowcapped. So few I had to use my winter photo!

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Hey, What About the Great Auk?

10,000 Birds

Then a little later there was a spot of bother with DDT, but we pulled out of that one ok, with a toolbox that would surely stand us in good stead if we only had the will to use it – legislation and literature, captive breeding programs, nest platforms. We could do it! Then the 80s happened. Will it work?