Pelagic Birds & Whales Trip, $75

Meet at the Community Center at 6:45am to caravan (50-miles round trip) to the Port San Luis pier by 7:30 am. The boat does not wait for late arrivals. You must be pre-registered. Spend a day in the Pacific with Tom Edell, Brad Schram, Jon Dunn, and Curtis Marantz, searching for albatross, shearwaters, kittiwakes, alcids, jaegers, gray whales, and much more. Dress for cold and wind, including gloves! Weather conditions may cancel. Bring lunch, liquids, sunscreen, and motion sickness medication.”

I signed up for this Saturday trip. WHAT WAS I THINKING?

A Hearty Birding Group, Waiting to Board the Vessel

Birders at the Morro Bay Winter Birds Festival, Bundled Up and Ready-to-Go

 

Let me explain. I am attending the four-day Morro Bay Winter Bird Festival. As the festival brochure states,

“Every Martin Luther King weekend over 450 birders visit Morro Bay, California, a Globally Important Bird Area, to see, photograph, and learn more about birds.  Morro Bay is located halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco on the Pacific Flyway. The area offers pristine beaches, beautiful state parks, an excellent natural history museum, panoramic views of the Pacific Ocean and, best of all, thousands of birds.  Over 200 species are usually sighted during the Festival weekend.”

http://www.morrobaybirdfestival.org/

During the first three days, with the help of experts, I’ve spotted 100 of those species, which, incidentally, I think is worth crowing about. But, I digress…..

This is a Post about “Enthusiasm” and “Passion”. I would call myself “an enthusiastic” Birder while most of the other 449 Birders here at the Festival are “wildly passionate” about our feathered friends. I had signed up for the Pelagic trip with my friend, Bill Auberle, who is capital double-“P”, (Passionate, Passionate) to my lower-case “e”,(enthusiastic). This was his tenth time at the Festival and his tenth Pelagic trip here. That was another “What was I thinking-moment?”

First, I don’t swim and this small boat is heading into the wild blue Pacific yonder. I tried not to think about that as I prepared and prioritized for my adventure. My mantra to myself was “Stay Warm, Think Layers; Keep Healthy, Pills and Patch; Take Food.”  So last Friday evening I laid out all the warm clothes I possessed. Bill had told me I could not wear my red wool hat because other Birders would think I was trying to attract hummingbirds. He handed me his “Guinness Beer” wool stocking cap. Yeah…..  I made enough food to feed five and Bill gallantly offered to carry it in his budging backpack. This lightened my load enough to stuff an extra sack of Trader Joe’s caramel corn into mine.

The next morning I was up at 5am (pitch-black outside), ready to roll by 5:45am, mustered with the caravan by 6:45 am, swallowed 2 seasick pills en route and was at the dock by 7:30am. One look at my bundled birder buddies and I already knew “warmth” was going to be an issue for me. Perhaps I could barter a sandwich or two for a heavy sweater.

Our four leaders, Tom, Brad, Jon and Curtis, made introductory remarks and provided safety instructions prior to boarding. I already knew that these four ornithologists, running this trip as volunteers, were authors, educators and four of the most preeminent scholars of pelagic birds in North America. Even better, they appeared to be very nice guys.

Upon boarding, the first thing I did, after stowing my backpack, was locate a life preserver and spot the toilet. Then, I grabbed my binoculars, headed for the bow, and was good-to-go.  Is this the time to mention there were no seats on this boat? Yes, there were two booths in the tiny galley area but those were soon commandeered by birding gear and people who did not take their seasickness pills one hour prior to take-off.

We stayed on the boat from 8:00am to 4:30pm, close to sundown.  I had eaten all my sandwiches by 10:30am. It was the caramel corn, allowing myself 1/2 cup per hour, that saved me. I was never warm. Standing, for hours and hours, holding binoculars, is tiring. I would have killed for a nap. No one really wanted to chat, not even Bill.  No! No! No!

But, what was amazing to watch and the reason I feel phenomenally privileged to have gone on this trip, was watching these four Masters at work. Thanks to them, we saw more than thirty different varieties of pelagic birds, caught a glimpse of one whale, a pod of Dall’s porpoise and a pod of dolphins.. While we saw hundreds of Rhinoceros Auklets and Common Murres and six different kinds of Gulls, it was the occasional and rare species’ sighting that was noteworthy.

Rhinoceros Auklet    homepage.mac.com

Common Murre Sdakotabirds.com

 

For example, Jon Dunn, whose sixth edition, groundbreaking National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America was just published, would spot a “Shearwater” zooming across the horizon and call it out so most Birders could get their binoculars on it. The Birders on this boat did just that.  By the time the bird got close enough so I could focus on it, they had already decided if it was a Pink-footed, Sooty or Short-tailed. I would think, ‘How could they possibly know?’ as it went whizzing overhead.  Since birds do not slow down for photographic or ID-ing opportunities, one can only imagine the investment of time and committed focus that has gone into this level of expertise.

We didn’t just glimpse a Jaeger, we saw both a Pomarine and a Parasitic. The Tern was Royal, the Loons, Red-throated, Pacific, and Common. But I’ve never experienced four men so exuberant, thrilled and kid-like joyful, as when Curtis picked out, pursued and positively identified the Manx Shearwater, a rare visitor here and seabird of the Atlantic. It was definitely party time on the Birder Boat.  And, to his credit and earning my everlasting respect and admiration, Jon went to every participant, making sure they had viewed the Manx. One woman, particularly shy and a novice, like me, had not. We spent another one-half hour finding the bird and letting her watch it. No one begrudged the delay.http://www.flickr.com/photos/billbouton/6701796007/

Manx Shearwater  rspd.com.uk

While I may never rise to the level of Passion of the Birders I am meeting here, I certainly can admire them and encourage their ardor. As Patrick Merrell wrote,

“Birds are one of the most successful animals the world has ever seen. They have survived for over 100 million years, singularly mastering without aid the land, sea, and air. They live in almost every environment the planet has to offer, from harsh Antarctic expanses to barren deserts, from bustling cities to remote and unforgiving seas.”

Today, many species are in peril and even facing extinction.  It’s only because of  people like I am meeting here that our feathered friends will survive to fly another day.

As will I. In spite of the Bobcat  who crossed my path, leaping over my hiking shoes, yesterday, as I was alone and finishing up a Birding Field Trip at Montana de Oro State Park!  A story for another day.