Lillian Boyd, Dana Point Times
Dana Wharf Sportfishing & Whale Watching is now offering monthly four-hour pelagic birding trips out of Dana Point Harbor.
The diversity in pelagic bird species inspired Donna Kalez, the general manager of Dana Wharf Sportfishing & Whale Watching, to roll out the new trip.
“We are so excited about offering bird watching trips, we have to get the word out to keep them running,” Kalez said. “A few years ago, we started putting rare pelagic bird sightings on our website. We also took note that some birders that go with us frequently on our whale watching trips starting logging what they see.”
Each trip offers a local bird expert on board. This birding tour is the perfect outing for the beginning birder or the expert or for anyone that just loves the longer adventure, Kalez said.
In a birding trip last month, a naturalist aboard logged sightings for a total of 91 birds, comprising 14 species, including Red-necked Phalarope, Royal Tern, Pomarine and Parasitic Jaeger, Cassin’s Auklets, Common Murre, Heermann’s Gull, Western Gull, Elegant Tern, Black Storm-petrel and Pink-footed Shearwater.
Rare booby birds have recently been sighted in the Dana Point area. Captain Frank Brennan of Dana Wharf Sportfishing & Whale Watching reported seeing either a Nazca or Masked Booby—a rare bird known for living in the tropics—on July 25.
For more information on the birding trips, visit danawharf.com, call 1.888.224.0603, or visit Dana Wharf Sportfishing & Whale Watching, 34675 Golden Lantern, Dana Point.
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