Vancouver to Los Angeles cruise: September 23, 2013

Just to let you know, there is a 3-day Princess cruise this fall that will spend most of the day 60 miles off Oregon and central California in daylight hours. The Golden Princess has a walk-around bow for unobstructed forward seabird viewing on the Promenade deck. Interior rooms from $249 per person double occupancy (plus $70 tax).

Good possibility for Cook's Petrel, perhaps Hawaiian Petrel, Scripps's Murrelet, other rarities and common seabirds and marine mammals.

I don't think I'll be attending, and I've got to renew my passport, too. Perhaps the perfect get-away for some deep water pelagic birds and a non-birding spouse? You are on your own if you decide to go, but I wouldn't be surprised if there are other West Coast birders on board.

More info on the Princess Cruise line page.

More info from this blog on birding on cruise liners off the West Coast.

p.s. The Golden Princess has better viewing on the bow than Coral Princess. Both ships make the same cruise that same week. Other ships make a 2-day run from Vancouver to San Francisco. Look for the covered walk-around promenade deck on the bow. Otherwise you'll be forced to watch birds only from one side of the ship, not the front.

You've got to be kidding

How many pelagic birders does it take to...?

Sounds like a joke, doesn't it?

The answer is 1120--that's one-thousand one-hundred and twenty. Pelagic birders. On one boat!

That's about 5 years worth of birders on all our ocean birding trips combined!


This trip out of South Africa packed most of a cruise ship for this tour.

Trip report is here: http://naturenerdonthego.wordpress.com/2013/04/19/birdlife-flock-at-sea-2013-pelagic-sea-birds-at-their-best/

More about the event with photos that just flabbergast me: http://justjohnimages.blogspot.com/2013/03/flock-at-sea-2013.html

I thought that Lands End at Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, Mexico was one of the most distinctive coastal harbors on the planet. But the photos of Cape Town, South Africa (above) rival it.

Scripps's Murrelet recovery on Anacapa Island

A new video by the Channel Islands National Park describes the recovery of lizards, deer mice, and seabirds, specifically Scripps's Murrelets, after the removal of rats from the islands 10 miles offshore from Ventura, California.

View the video, Achieving Balance: Anacapa Island Ten Years After the Removal of the Black Rat.