10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 25, 2013

For whatever reason, however, yesterday on my way to work my mind wasn’t with our upcoming spring, but with September’s in California. I saw a wagtail there once, which was exceptionally cool for California (I’m told). The seas were glass still, and far out we could see whales, dozens of the things.

Whales 157

Whales Whaling Sharks Bats 157

10,000 Birds

JUNE 24, 2013

The one thing I really wanted to do on this most recent trip to southern California was visit Santa Cruz Island again. First off, Felonious Jive ‘s brother-in-ornithology, Seagull Steve , who you will remember from my trip to southern California back in December , came aboard the boat after a two-week stint doing field work.

Whales 151

Whales Whaling Dolphins California 151

10,000 Birds

APRIL 7, 2015

California is big. I only had a few days in California while visiting my brother at Berkeley, but we couldn’t pass up on the opportunity to visit one of the most famous birding sites in the country: Point Reyes National Seashore. Migrating Gray Whales. Trips Birding California lighthouse point reyes'

Seals 194

Seals Elephants Whales Whaling 194

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 5, 2016

But what I have long wanted to do is get out on a boat in California, the fabled land of albatrosses, murrelets, and auklets. California: if you can make it here well, that’s actually not that impressive because if you can’t make it as a birder in California you must really suck.

Whales 113

Whales Whaling Albatross Dolphins 113

10,000 Birds

JULY 7, 2015

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. Tail, fin, blow, and back for whales; fin, back, leaping whole body, and tail splashes for dolphins and porpoises.

Dolphins 162

Dolphins Whales Whaling Porpoises 162

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 13, 2022

I’ve taken tours out of Monterey Bay (with pelagic legend Debi Shearwater , now retired) and Half Moon Bay, California ; Newport, Oregon ; and Hatteras, North Carolina. The boat is called the Legacy and it is an 80 foot whale watching vessel that generally seats 115, but takes about 70 for birding trips. This was much larger.

San Diego 147

San Diego Los Angeles Cooking North Carolina 147

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 3, 2014

The list kinds crystalized during my first big trip, on which I knocked off my two big targets (the manta ray and whale shark) but since then beyond seeing an antelope (and then many other different kinds), it hasn’t budged much at all. California Condor. A beaked whale. Any beaked whale. Hammerhead shark.

Sharks 177

Sharks Leopards Whales Whaling 177

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 28, 2014

Many gringos make their way to Baja California Sur every year, although the majority are probably heading to Cabo San Lucas to party and test the human limit of tequila endurance. Destinations Baja California Sur I Am Birder Mexico' A male Belding’s Yellowthroat. Hecho en Mexico. Especially if you can fit in some birding?

California 231

California San Jose Birds Mexico 231

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 8, 2019

Off the coast of northern California, Sooty Shearwater are common and are seen on virtually all pelagic birding trips. Bonus : A couple of years earlier, a blue whale washed up several miles south of Half Moon Bay, at Bean Hollow State Beach. The evening of September 7, 2012 was a truly memorable birding experience.

San Francisco 134

San Francisco Portland Whales Whaling 134

10,000 Birds

APRIL 25, 2013

A large number of people I talk to believe the island to be next to the city of Santa Cruz, California. It is sometimes hard to think Santa Cruz Island is sitting just offshore from paved, congested, smoggy southern California. In summer and fall, the waters around the Channel Islands can teem with Blue Whales. This is not true.

California 170

California Birds Sea Lions Whales 170

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 12, 2014

And oh crap, you guys, we really have to do something about the California Condor situation right now, but what? Everything was going to be extinct – the condors, the whales, the Whooping Cranes , the elephants and tigers, the whole shebang, and that was even if we didn’t get nuked. Will it work?

California Condor 205

California Condor United States Guam Whales 205

Critter News

JULY 31, 2009

The use of sonar is controversial because of its harmful effects on marine life such as whales. If approved, those measures would be in effect from 2010 to 2015 for the Navy's training area in the Pacific Ocean off the Washington, Oregon and Northern California coasts. Tags: seattle navy marine life whales pacific northwest.

Marine Life 100

Marine Life Seattle Whales Whaling 100

10,000 Birds

MAY 9, 2017

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. Channel Islands NP , also in California, supports most of the other 50%. The target birds tend to be similar.

Albatross 140

Albatross Hawaii Alaska Puerto Rico 140

Critter News

FEBRUARY 6, 2012

PETA claims the captured killer whales are treated like slaves, forced to live in tanks and perform daily at its parks in San Diego, California and Orlando, Florida. Advertisement: Story continues below "This case is on the next frontier of civil rights," said PETA lawyer Jeffrey Kerr, representing the five orcas.

San Diego 100

San Diego PETA Ethical Treatment Whales 100

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 13, 2013

It’s a similar trick to that which makes Monterey in California such a great location. The canyon also brings Dusky Dolphins and Sperm Whales close in, and has turned Kaikoura from a sleepy fishing village on the Picton to Christchurch road into a premier ecotourism site.

Albatross 193

Albatross New Zealand Dolphins Whales 193

10,000 Birds

JULY 30, 2014

In California I smelt the breath a Blue Whale as it passed feet beneath my boat. In Hawaii I stood on a beach as albatrosses fledged and Tiger Sharks prowled for the less successful ones. In the Bahamas I swam in a pod of feeding dolphins. In Belize I cruised above reefs few people had ever seen.

Uganda 162

Uganda Sharks Africa New Zealand 162

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 3, 2017

I started the year in Florida, traveled to India with the ABA in February, combined family and birding in an August trip to California, and in-between saw very good birds in New York and New Jersey. I tested the waters before my California pelagic, with a brief Atlantic Ocean voyage, a whale watching trip from Montauk, N.Y.

2016 113

2016 India Ducks Birds 113

Animal Ethics

JANUARY 17, 2008

According to this AP Newswire issued yesterday: "President Bush exempted the Navy from an environmental law so it can continue using sonar in its anti-submarine warfare training off the California coast — a practice critics say is harmful to whales and other marine mammals. Navy to do so?

Whales 40

Whales Whaling Los Angeles Mammals 40

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 29, 2011

The first obstacle was getting to the general range of the species, which is the west coast from northern California to Alaska and across to Russia.* There was no pretending this was a whale-watching trip, a ruse that is growing stale anyway. What were these obstacles and did I surmount them? Would we do it again? In a heartbeat!

Washington 174

Washington Protection Puffins Rhinoceros 174

Animal Ethics

JULY 8, 2008

To the Editor: Re “ Of Whales and National Security ” (editorial, July 2): Today’s threats to national security are not “exaggerated”; they are increasing. I am pleased that the Supreme Court has agreed to review the lower courts’ decisions on the Navy’s use of active sonar in waters off the coast of California.

New York Times 40

New York Times New York United States Whales 40

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 30, 2013

I was lucky to see it as I had just gotten home from California that morning. Cory’s Shearwater – 06 Oct 2013 – Going on a whale-watching trip with my family really paid off. My shorebird list in Queens is now at thirty-eight species! (It It is pictured at the top of this post.). Number 300 in Queens!

2012 158

2012 2013 New York City Jamaica 158

10,000 Birds

JUNE 22, 2011

It is a smell, however, that I am barely able to smell anymore, as three years of working breeding seasons on seabird islands of the Farallones in California have apparently dulled my ability to do so. A great place to watch whales and pelagic seabirds. And finally, a view from that step. Note about images.

Breeding 187

Breeding Stray Seals Whales 187