Ancient Murrelets exiting La Jolla Cove

[All photographs copyright, Gary Nunn 2014] – With almost windless calm conditions at Point La Jolla this morning the outlook did not look promising for seabirds. But around 7:45 a.m. I suddenly caught sight of a very close Ancient Murrelet Synthliboramphus antiquus passing south around the point. I almost missed it looking farther away out on the ocean! With barely a north breeze blowing the Ancient Murrelet flew by relatively slowly and I managed to train the camera on it quite quickly. The cloudy light conditions were not fantastic but the gray back and darker upper wing can be seen nicely as well as the black and white bicolored face and under parts. The pale bill tip is clearly visible. A short while later, at 8:30 a.m., a second individual came flying out from the cove on an almost identical track to the first, going west. The second individual looked more clean white plumaged on the underparts than the first individual and lacked the spotty dark under part feathers like the initial bird. Both of these Ancient Murrelets were much closer to the point than others I have seen here this winter. It appeared to me they were exiting La Jolla Cove and they passed only 30-40 yards from the rocky point. Clearly the incursion of this species into southern California is continuing and there appears to be good chances of close views from headlands along the coast if one has patience!