A Pelagic Trip with an Albatross

Another pelagic today.  As you'll recall we did some pelagic birding on the trip from Ventura over to Santa Cruz Island last Sunday.  But today's boat trip was exclusively for the birders on board which helps.  There were about 50 birders on the boat and we departed from the dock pretty close to 7:30am.  It took some time to get out of the harbor and into the open ocean where we found the conditions a bit rough.  A couple people fell.  But eventually we got out to the Nine-Mile Bank where the boat turned and the seas got better.  We got great looks at three species of shearwater (Black-vented, Pink-footed, and Sooty), three alcids (Cassin's and Rhinoceros Auklets and Xantu's Murrelet), two jaegers (Pomarine and Parasitic), Red Phalarope, and the surprise for the day was Black-footed Albatross (web photo).  We also had a fin whale close in as well as California Sea Lions.
After we got back to shore, John and I went to Imperial Beach to see if any Elegant Terns had arrived.  They hadn't.  We walked the area near the refuge and got a great many large shorebirds like Marbled Godwit, Willet, Long-billed Curlew, and Whimbrel.  A Belding's Savannah Sparrow was viewed running mouse-like from one seaweed patch to another.We also nearly stumbled on some Snowy Plovers scrunched down in the sand.  Our dinner tonight was Thai and I enjoyed it even though I've got a cold.  Tomorrow we plan to bird east of San Diego.  The species total is now 396.