Manx Shearwater

Table

Manx Shearwater – Accepted
1. 25 Jul 1993		Monterey Bay MTY	1994-081	19	ph., Roberson (1996), Mlodinow (2004) with incorrect year
2. 29 Aug 1993		~2 nmi. w Pt. Joe MTY	1993-132	19	ph., AB 48:161, Howell et al. (1994), Roberson (1996), Erickson & Terrill (1996)
3. 31 Aug 1993		Southeast Farallon I. SF	1993-138	19
4. 05 Sep 1993		Monterey Bay MTY	1994-016	19	video
5. 22 Sep 1993		~1.5 nmi. w Cypress Pt. MTY	1994-015	19
6. 29 Aug 1994		~5 nmi. w Davenport SCZ	1994-131	20
7-9. 21 Sep–05 Oct 1994	≤3	Monterey Bay MTY/SCZ	1994-152/ 1994-162	20	ph., Roberson (1996)
10-11. 02 Oct 1994	2	off Morro Bay SLO	1994-140	20	ph.
12. 17 Dec 1994		~2 nmi. w Table Rock SCZ	1995-036	20
13. 30 Dec 1994		Monterey Bay MTY/SCZ	1995-002	20
14. 22 Mar 1995		Southeast Farallon I. SF	1995-141	21
15. 12 Aug 1995		Monterey Bay MTY	1997-057	22
16. 10 Sep 1995		Monterey Bay MTY	1995-122	21	ph.
17. 15 Oct 1995		~0.5 nmi. s Southeast Farallon I. SF	1995-135	21	ph.
18. 29 Oct 1995		Monterey Bay MTY/SCZ	1995-110	21	ph.
19. 10 Feb 1996		Monterey Bay MTY	1996-036	23
20. 14 Apr 1996		Pt. Piedras Blancas SLO	1996-094	22	one of six reported in spring 1996
21. 04 May 1996		Pt. Lobos SF	1998-020	22
22. 05 May 1996		Pigeon Pt. SM	1996-077A	24
23. 11 May 1996		Pigeon Pt. SM	1996-077B	22
24. 21 Aug 1996		Pigeon Pt. SM	1997-042	22
25-26. 21 Sep 1996	2	Monterey Bay MTY	1997-058	22
27. 12 Oct 1996		Monterey Bay SCZ	1997-044	22	ph.
28. 12 Oct 1996		Monterey Bay MTY	1996-142B	22	video
29. 20 Oct 1996		Monterey Bay SCZ	1999-028	25
30. 20 Oct 1996		Monterey Bay SCZ	1997-001	22	ph.
31. 20 Oct 1996		Monterey Bay MTY	1996-142A	22
32. 19 Jan 1997		~7 nmi. sw Morro Bay SLO	1997-043	23
33. 16 Apr 1997		Monterey Bay SCZ	1997-104	23
34. 10 Aug 1997		Monterey Bay MTY	1997-152	23
35. 13 Sep 1997		sw Pt. Año Nuevo SM	1997-202	23
36. 14 Sep 1997		Monterey Bay MTY	1997-192	23
37. 17 Sep 1997		Monterey Bay MTY	2001-044	26
38. 20 Sep 1997		Monterey Bay MTY	1997-168	23
39. 27 Sep 1997		Monterey Bay MTY	1997-158	23	ph.
40. 28 Sep 1997		Southeast Farallon I. SF	2001-035	26
41. 02 Oct 1997		~12 nmi. wsw Southeast Farallon I. SF	1997-161	23
42. 31 Dec 1997		vic. Otter Pt., Pacific Grove MTY	1998-095	23
43. 11 Jul 1998		Cordell Bank MRN	1999-144	24
44. 08 Aug 1998		Monterey Bay SCZ	1999-021	24
45. 08 Aug 1998		Monterey Bay SCZ	1999-022	24	ph.
46. 08 Aug 1998		Monterey Bay SCZ	1999-134	24
47. 03 Oct 1998		Southeast Farallon I. SF	1999-032	24
48. 25 Oct 1998		Monterey Bay MTY	1998-186	25
49. 18 Jan 1999		Monterey Bay MTY	1999-068	25
50. 13 Feb 1999		Monterey Bay SCZ	1999-069	25
51. 28 Apr 1999		Pt. Piedras Blancas SLO	2001-160	26
52. 15 May 1999		Monterey Bay MTY	1999-105	25
53. 21 May 1999		Pigeon Pt. SM	1999-110	27
54. 31 Jul 1999		Monterey Bay MTY	1999-146	25
55. 11 Aug 1999		Monterey Bay MTY	1999-132	25
56. 06 Sep 1999		Monterey Bay MTY	1999-147	26
57. 14 Sep 1999		Monterey Bay MTY	2001-045	26	ph.
58. 19 Sep 1999		off Emma Wood State Beach VEN	1999-152	25
59. 09 Oct 1999		Monterey Bay MTY	1999-166	25
60. 09 Oct 1999		Monterey Bay SCZ	1999-191	26
61. 23 Apr 2000		Pigeon Pt. SM	2000-111	26
62. 09 Oct 2000		Monterey Bay SCZ	2000-142	26
63. 17 Mar 2001		~5 nmi. nw Pt. Vicente LA	2001-067	27
64. 27 May 2001		Pt. Piedras Blancas SLO	2002-007	30
65. 31 May 2001		Pt. Piedras Blancas SLO	2001-103	27
66. 24 Sep 2001		Capitola SCZ	2002-005	29
67. 07 Oct 2001		Thornton Beach SM	2003-078	29	ph., found dead, specimen not preserved
68. 17 Oct 2001		Southeast Farallon I. SF	2002-009	27
69. 17 Dec 2001		Monterey Bay MTY	2002-059	28
70. 17 Feb 2002		3 nmi. w Pt. Pinos MTY	2002-151	28
71. 23 Feb 2002		4.5 nmi. nw Palos Verdes Pt. LA	2002-041	28	ph.
72. 04 Mar 2002		off West Cove Pt., San Clemente I. LA	2002-063	28	one of two reported
73. 12 May 2002		Pigeon Pt. SM	2002-099	28
74. 02 Jun 2002		Ft. Bragg MEN	2002-106	28
75. 09 Aug 2002		Monterey Bay MTY	2002-145	28
76. 16 Aug 2002		Ft. Bragg MEN	2002-149	28
77. 08 Sep 2002		Santa Maria R. mouth SBA/SLO	2002-210	28
78. 17 Mar 2003		Pt. Vicente LA	2003-077	29
79. 25 Oct 2003		2–3 nmi. off Oxnard VEN	2003-179	29
Manx Shearwater – Not accepted, identification not established
27 Aug 1977		Monterey Bay MTY	1979-029	10,23
28 Oct 1977		Pt. Pinos MTY	1982-082	9
28 Dec 1980		off Carlsbad SD	1982-092	9
early Sep 1985		Monterey Bay MTY	1994-168	19
29 Aug 1993		~145 nmi. ssw San Nicolas I. VEN	1994-067	20
24 Oct 1993		Monterey Bay MTY	1994-067	19
05 Nov 1994		Bodega Canyon SON	1995-047	20
03 Aug 1996		Monterey Bay MTY	1997-060	23
13 Sep 1996		Southeast Farallon I. SF	1997-041	22
21 Sep 1997		Southeast Farallon I. SF	2000-084	25
20 Sep 1998		vic. Santa Cruz I. SBA	1998-143	24
20 Mar 1999		Pigeon Pt. SM	1999-109	25
26 Aug 1999		Monterey Bay MTY	1999-137	25
07 Oct 1999		Monterey Bay MTY	1999-164	25
07 May 2001		Pt. Piedras Blancas SLO	2001-102	29
20 Sep 2001		Salinas R. Mouth MTY	2001-157	27
18 Dec 2002		La Jolla SD	2002-219	29
25 Oct 2003		vic. Santa Cruz I. SBA	2003-184	30
Manx Shearwater – Not submitted
autumn 1993	≤4	Monterey Bay			AB 48:147, see table entries 1, 2, 4, 5
04–05 Oct 1994		Pacific Grove/Monterey MTY			FN 49:96
16 Feb 1995		Monterey Bay MTY			FN 49:193
12 Aug–29 Oct 1995	3	Monterey Bay MTY/SCZ			FN 50:110, see table entries 15, 16, 18
02 Apr–02 Jun 1996	5	Pt. Piedras Blancas SLO			FN 50:332, see table entry 20
02 May 1996		Pt. Pinos MTY			FN 50:327
04 Aug–21 Oct 1996	5	Monterey Bay MTY/SCZ			FN 51:114, see table entries 25-31
05 Apr 1997		Monterey Bay MTY			FN 51:922
15 Sep–09 Oct 1997		Southeast Farallon I. SF			Richardson et al. (2003), FN 52:119
09 Aug 1998		Monterey Bay MTY			NAB 53:100
21 Aug 1998		Monterey Bay SCZ			NAB 53:100
fall 1999	4	Monterey Bay MTY/SCZ			NAB 54:100, see table entries 54-57, 59-60
24 Feb 2000		Monterey Bay MTY			NAB 54:217
17 Sep 2000	2	Cordell Bank MRN			NAB 55:98
15 Jan 2001	2–3	Monterey Bay MTY			NAB 55:223
17 Mar 2001		Monterey Bay MTY			NAB 55:352
25 Aug 2001		off Sunset State Beach SCZ			NAB 56:101
21 Oct 2001		Pigeon Pt. SM			NAB 56:101
23 Oct 2001		Pigeon Pt. SM			NAB 56:101
27 Oct 2001		Pigeon Pt. SM			NAB 56:101
25 Nov 2001		off Monterey MTY			NAB 56:101
Dec 2001/Jan 2002	3	Monterey Bay MTY			AB[2002]:86
04 Mar 2002		off West Cove Pt., San Clemente I. LA			NAB 56:356, see table entry 72
24 Mar 2002		off Monterey MTY			NAB 56:352
09 May 2002		Bolsa Pt. SM			NAB 56:352
fall 2002	several	Monterey County			NAB 57:113

Figures

Figure 63. Distribution of 79 Manx Shearwaters accepted through 2003, all since 1993. Monterey Bay accounts for nearly half (36 of 79), and only a handful have been found more than a few miles from shore.

Figure 64. Seasonal occurrence of the Manx Shearwater in California through 2003, showing distribution of records across most of the year, with a peak between August and October. A dearth of records in November and late June may, in part, reflect the timing of pelagic trips.

Manx Shearwater

MANX SHEARWATER Puffinus puffinus (Brünnich, 1764)

Accepted: 79 (81%)	Treated in Appendix H: yes
Not accepted: 18	CBRC review: all records
Not submitted/reviewed: 46+	Color image: none

This small shearwater breeds in the North Atlantic—abundantly in the British Isles—and ranges primarily to waters off eastern South America from October through January (Lee and Haney 1996). In the early 1970s, the breeding range expanded to include islands off Newfoundland, Massachusetts, and probably Rhode Island. The range stretches along the Atlantic seaboard south to Florida, and extralimital records extend through the Gulf of Mexico west to Texas and from there south to Belize, Puerto Rico, and Grenada. A bird recovered alive on the shore of Lake St. Clair in southeastern Michigan on 23 August 2000 had been banded in Northern Ireland (BJ 10:227); one was found dead on 26 August 2001 in southeastern Ontario (BJ 10:226-227); and one was photographed on 30 May 2004 in western Montana (NAB 58:403, 404).

As summarized by Mlodinow (2004), the Manx Shearwater is very rare, but increasing, along the Pacific coast, with a small number of records off Oregon and many off Washington. The species is now encountered regularly off British Columbia, with evidence of potential breeding at Triangle Island, 25 nautical miles off Vancouver Island’s northern tip (fide R. Toochin). After numerous reports off southern Alaska since 1975, the species was finally added that state’s main list in 2005 with breeding suspected (NAB 59:640). Mexico’s first was seen off northwestern Baja California on 6 February 2003 (San Miguel and McGrath 2004).

California’s first acceptable Manx Shearwater was photographed on Monterey Bay, Monterey County, on 25 July 1993. Within a span of two months, four more Manx—including some initially identified as Townsend’s Shearwaters (P. auricularis)—had been found on Monterey Bay (Erickson and Terrill 1996, Roberson 1996). These records and those off Washington in 1992 stand as the first thoroughly documented occurrences of the Manx Shearwater in the North Pacific (see Roberson 1980, Dunn 1988). By all accounts, an earlier 27 August 1977 record from Monterey Bay probably refers to a Manx. This controversial sighting, which involved several CBRC members, was reconsidered by the Committee in 1999 but received only two votes of acceptance (Rottenborn and Morlan 2000). The species has occurred annually in California since 1993, primarily from Southeast Farallon Island south to San Luis Obispo County, and most records are from Monterey Bay (Figure 63). The sudden influx of records in the northeastern Pacific Ocean suggests population increase and range expansion. This species and the Broad-billed Hummingbird are the only ones documented in California more than 50 times without a specimen record.

Manx Shearwaters have been recorded in California during every month but November (Figure 64). Late summer/fall records predominate, as 48 of 79 have occurred between 11 July and 29 October, with a peak in September and October; see also Appendix H. Field identification of birds in the Manx Shearwater complex is not simple, and care should be taken to document adequately all individuals that do not appear to be Black-vented Shearwaters, some of which have white undertail coverts (Roberson 1996). See papers by Dunn (1988), Howell et al. (1994), and Erickson and Terrill (1996) for additional information and details of various California records.

[TOWNSEND’S SHEARWATER Puffinus auricularis Townsend, 1890 – see hypothetical section]