Wednesday, October 12, 2011

IMAGES of the DAY by TODD MCGRATH: OCTOBER 8, 2011 MONTEREY BAY



Howdy, Birders,

Leader, Todd McGrath's images of the Shearwater Journeys' October 8, 2011 Monterey Bay trip are below. He has not yet worked through the many images of the Killer Whales. I'll post these, later. All images copyright, Todd McGrath. Please do not use without permission. Enjoy!

Leaving the harbor, we could tell it would be a beautiful day!
Just outside of the harbor, we spotted two PIGEON GUILLEMOTS, calling back and forth to each other. The lighting was beautiful.
The majority of Pigeon Guillemots depart during winter. It was only recently discovered that they spend the winter at the Queen Charlotte Islands.
The piercing scream of a SEA OTTER pup calling for its' mother attracted our attention.
The mother appeared at the surface with a crab. Nearly all of our Monterey Bay trips observe Sea Otters.
Cannery Row, above, does not bear any resemblance to what it once was— home of the largest sardine cannery in the world— until the sardines disappeared. Sardines are making a comeback and there is now a fishery for them, once again.
The beautiful BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS, above.
Prize seabird of the day: LAYSAN ALBATROSS, above.
SOOTY SHEARWATER, above.
BULLER'S SHEARWATER, above and below. We saw good numbers of these.
This LAYSAN ALBATROSS hung around for quite some time. Photographers had a field day! And, it was a Life Bird for more than a few folks on board!
Shearwaters & Auklets Forever,
Debi Shearwater
AKA: "Annie Auklet" as played by Angelica Huston in the movie, "The Big Year" opening on October 14th at a theater near you!

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