I've read that the equation for happiness is the delta between expectation and reality. I went to bed Friday night expecting a truly miserable day. When it turned out to instead be quite good, the theorem held true. It was a great day.
The pre-dawn drive to Point Pinos confirmed what the weather apps were warning. The early hours of the day would be very rough on the coast. After heavy rain and high winds all night, large cypress branches blocked parts of Asilomar Ave. I slowly drove past road closed signs onto Ocean View, my car shaking violently and rain pelting my windshield. I parked in the Monterey Audubon seawatch parking spot as MAS had negotiated earlier this week (thanks!). A 5K run was scheduled, closing Ocean View for the morning, and the immediate check-ins from the run's support team confirmed they were planning to proceed. With the intense wind and rain just before sunrise, it didn't seem likely. Winds were from the south at about 30 mph and gusting up to 50 mph. I called others who would soon join me and implored them not to start in those miserable conditions. I'd text when it was reasonable.
Fortunately that happened quite soon. The first of many moments of Point Pinos magic happened when an especially close Humpback Whale breached repeatedly, twisting to land on its back, over and over, so consistently I could watch it point-blank in my scope. Magnificent.
By 8:00 a.m. I was joined by the first intrepid sea-watchers and we were surprised how quickly the conditions proved to be nearly comfortable. We viewed from the Crespi Pond parking lot all day with vehicles and cypress trees offering a surprising amount of buffer from the wind, which was also at our backs. This is not the default on good days at the Point! The sun occasionally poked through the near 100% cloud cover and lit up the small numbers of migrants in beautiful light. Close Ancient Murrelets in perfect light are a sight to behold. We didn't have our first loon until 8:43 a.m., but it felt like a day where anything could happen. Many things would. 5K runners jingled by in Santa hats and antlers. A huge full rainbow appeared over the Point and there was much rejoicing.
In the 9:00 a.m. hour we started pulling out some nice birds in the distance. We repeatedly had the thought that we would have spotted more from our normal viewing location. There was a flight line not visible directly in front of us. Instead, it seemed like Rhinoceros Auklets were appearing out of vortex at the leftmost 20% of our viewing line. Just an angle thing, but pronounced from this location. Karen spotted a Marbled Murrelet and our first of two Fork-tailed Storm-Petrels and Catherine spotted a distant Short-tailed Shearwater, one of few shearwaters for the day. Strings of Ancient Murrelets were most striking in these early hours but continued until late afternoon with smaller numbers of Marbled Murrelets.
More pairs of sharp eyes arrived, unable to resist the potential of the strange conditions. These arrivals were well-timed to increasing numbers of loons and alcids, along with novelties to spot among them. Brian Sullivan began spotting dark storm-petrels in the distance, many of them only for moments due to the challenging conditions. The swell was a constant topic, each of us grappling with losing birds so easily (and/or working hard and not seeing them!). Then we'd see the red buoy or a whole gull scrum disappear for long moments, reminding us of how strong the swell was. Over the next few hours we'd log 10+ storm-petrels, two Tufted Puffins, a Manx Shearwater (nice one by Alison, there on her day off, of course!), along with two Black-footed Albatrosses, a few Black-legged Kittiwakes, a late Pigeon Guillemot, and others. Relative numbers of Red-throated vs. Pacific Loons and Common Murres vs. Rhinoceros Auklets shifted several times throughout the day, but things felt lively up until the light was fading at the end of the day. A day like this tends to pair well with IPAs and Guinness, so we tested and verified that theory as well.
Hard to believe this was the penultimate day of the 2024 season. Alison, you are awesome! Congrats on another amazing season!
-Bill Hubick
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