Trip Reports

Hello birders (morning report):
We arrived at Isla Socorro at at daylight today. We experienced some tropical weather to start –20 knot winds and heavy rain. It was a tropical welcome to the island! We checked in with the Mexican navy at their base here, and gave them all the proper documents needed. Then we headed to the southern side of the island, anchored at Grayson Cove and put the skiffs in the water. Almost everyone went out in the skiffs for a coastal cruise. They saw the endemic Socorro Wren from the skiffs!
After lunch we plan to go offshore a few miles and look for the Townsend’s shearwater. Wish us luck!
This is a spectacular island and we are really glad to be here. The photo is our skiffs in Grayson Cove on a coastal cruise.
Team Searcher

Hello birders (day’s end report),
We had success this afternoon finding Townsend’s shearwaters! Windy conditions made it a bit difficult to photograph them close up, but everyone had a chance to see the bird. Approximately 30 shearwaters were seen today along with several Masked, Brown, Red-footed and Blue-footed boobies; Magnificent and Great frigatebirds, Noddy terns, and Socorro wren. We are spending another day here and then we will head towards Cabo tomorrow night.
Team Searcher

Hello birders,

Another day at sea and a good day with light winds and calm seas. With 82 degree sea temp and warm air as well, we are definitely in the tropics! We stopped twice today to put a fish oil slick out and we saw more Leach’s storm-petrels. They have quite a range. We had Red-footed, Masked and Brown boobies joining us from time to time during the day with the occasional Pink-footed shearwater, Jaeger and Red-billed tropicbird.

The highlight for me was a group of Rough-toothed dolphin. We saw a barrel floating with a few dolphin around it and as we got closer, we identified them – a first sighting for me and for the crew. The crew also wanted to see a Red-footed booby and they had lots of opportunities today.

Hello birders,
We ended our day by creating another fish-oil slick and multiple storm petrels came in to our view. Then we enjoyed a small group of common dolphins and a green flash at sunset. After a great dinner of chicken parmesan, salad, and boat-baked bread, we turned off the lights and slowed down to do some star gazing. It was spectacular since we had such clear skies! A few people knew their constellations well, so everyone enjoyed the night sky.
We are headed for Isla Soccorro and are due to arrive tomorrow night.
Team Searcher

Hello birders,
We arrived at Alijos Rocks after lunch today. We motored around the rocks and found a spot to drop the anchor with the correct lighting to see the rocks. We looked at Layson albatross; Red-billed tropicbirds; Frigatebirds; and Masked, Blue-footed and Brown boobies. A few California sea lions and a hammerhead shark came by the boat as well.
We went off the rocks a couple of miles, into deep water, and put out a fish oil slick and attracted several storm petrels, Northern fulmar, Glaucous-winged gull and another albatross.
We are headed back to the rocks to anchor for dinner, and then we will continue southeast towards Isla Socorro, arriving Friday night.
The photo shows people on back deck with Alijos Rocks in background. Lots of room back there with the bait tanks removed!
Team Searcher

Hello birders,
One of the target birds everyone hoped to see came to us! It is an Ainsley’s storm-petrel. We didn’t see any yesterday offshore, but after anchoring at Isla Guadalupe at the south end, we had several come aboard the Searcher! Everyone had an opportunity to see and photograph them. Since this bird is only seen around Isla Guadalupe, it is very special to see it.
We left Isla Guadalupe at 4 am to be offshore at daylight. We stopped just after daylight about 25 miles southeast of the island. We started a fish oil slick and stayed close by for 3.5 hours. There was no sign of Ainsley’s in this area but we see a Layson albatross, Cooks petrel, Leach’s and Least storm-petrels along with some more Northern fulmars. A good morning!
Pictured is the fly bridge where a few passengers were watching the slick just off the bow.

More later,

Team Searcher

Hello!
We started our day 50 miles northeast of Isla Guadalupe at a seamount that rises out of 2000 fathoms, and comes up to 200 fathoms. We laid a large chum slick of Rice Krispies and fish oil. We stayed with the slick for 2 hours and had some good looks at Least, Black and Leach’s storm petrels, along with several Northern fulmars. We left that area and headed to the island of Guadalupe. We stopped at the north end to view the northern elephant seals hauled out on the beach. We counted around 125 seals  including six adult males and five adult females with pups.
Our photo is of people on the fly bridge looking at the beach with northern elephant seals.
Team Searcher
p.s. An exciting call came in around 8 p.m.: Many Ainley’s storm-petrels were flying around the boat. This is one of the main target species for this trip, so there was much celebrating on board, including by the leaders Chris Collins and Steve Howell!

Hello friends:
All is well here on our first day!  We entered Mexico smoothly. Then we saw a breaching humpback whale outside of Isla Todos Santos.  Then we spotted several Cassin’s auklets, Black-vented shearwaters, and a few Brown boobies.
The weather is good, with light winds. We are headed toward Isla Guadalupe, with a stop at a seamount northeast of the island. We should be there at daylight. And we should arrive at the island after lunch.
Team Searcher

We are proud to host the historic Mexico Pelagic Tour, sponsored by WildWings, which left today. Leaders aboard are Chris Collins and Steve Howell. Stay tuned to this blog for daily reports from the field. Their first stop will be Isla Guadalupe.