Laysan Albatross off San Diego

Thirty-one days, thirty-one blog posts for August. I have now caught up with my better photos, showing what I shot in the last week or two. In July I was showing photos from March, so that's where I started. From April 2017 to April 2018 I posted much less frequently. Then I decided to post better bird photos, even if I didn't have much to say about them. When I started this blog I didn't want it to be just about birds, but it is. Mostly. I don't get many comments on my posts, even if over 100 people a day visit my pages. So I'm not sure if people want more or less of certain topics. If you read this and have an opinion, please let me know! Thanks.

These bird photos show a rare Laysan Albatross only 12 miles off San Diego on the August 19th pelagic trip. There are only 3 to 5 accepted records of this species in San Diego county waters. My first in San Diego waters was May 2015 (details here). The first photos show the bird back in our wake eating popcorn in the setting sun. But it soon caught up to the boat and made for some fantastic shots!

There is no apparent wear or wing molt anywhere on this bird. Thus, though there are no plumage differences between adults and juveniles, this bird appears to be only about 6 months old. It possibly is from one of the new breeding colonies off Baja Mexico, rather than the outer Hawaiian Islands where there are 20 million or so. But seabirds can travel surprisingly far in a short amount of time.

Banded albatross. "3R4" white lettering on red band on left leg.

Laysan Albatross. 12 miles off San Diego, California. August 19, 2018.