Possible Species / Season

Birds that can be expected on most or all April – October trips:

Black-footed Albatross, Northern Fulmar, Sooty Shearwater, Pink-footed Shearwater, Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel, Red-necked and Red Phalaropes, Pomarine Jaeger, Parasitic Jaeger, Sabine’s Gull, California Gull, Western Gull, Glaucous-winged Gull, Common Murre, Pigeon Guillemot, Cassin’s Auklet, Rhinocerous Auklet, Tufted Puffin.
Other regular species and the best time to see them:

Flesh-footed Shearwater (May, and late September – October), Buller’s Shearwater (late August – October), Short-tailed Shearwater (January-April and late September – October), Leach’s Storm-Petrel (June-July-early August), South Polar Skua (August – October), Long-tailed Jaeger (July – early September), Thayer’s Gull (October – April), Arctic Tern (July – September).

Birds seen less frequently:

Laysan Albatross (increasing, primarily late summer and winter), Manx Shearwater (primarily in summer/fall), Scripps’s Murrelet (usually summer/fall), Ancient Murrelet (winter).

Infrequent but possible in season:

Murphy’s Petrel (April), Mottled Petrel (winter), Parakeet Auklet (winter/spring), Horned Puffin (winter).

Few records:

Short-tailed Albatross, Shy Albatross, Wilson’s Storm-Petrel, Red-legged Kittiwake, Thick-billed Murre

Regularly seen inshore species include: Pacific Loon, Red-throated Loon, Brandt’s and Pelagic Cormorants, Black, White-winged, and Surf Scoters, Long-tailed Duck, Harlequin Duck, Black Turnstone, Surfbird, Wandering Tattler, Rock Sandpiper (October-April), Heermann’s Gull, Mew Gull, Caspian Tern and Marbled Murrelet.

We also encounter a variety of marine mammals during our trips. Humpback Whale, California Gray Whale, Harbor Porpoise, Dall’s Porpoise, Pacific White-sided Dolphin, California and Steller’s Sea Lions, Northern Fur Seal and Harbor Seal are the most frequent. Killer Whale, Risso’s Dolphin (Gray Grampus) and Elephant Seal are encountered annually.