San Mateo County, California
October 18, 2009 - An extremely rare White-chinned Petrel (Procellaria aequinoctialis) was spotted on the Sequoia Audubon Society pelagic trip out of Half Moon Bay, San Mateo County, CA. The bird was identified by Alvaro Jaramillo. When accepted this will be a state first and only the second record from North America. More news and photos will be posted as available.
Read Alvaro Jaramillo's exciting announcement on the Birdchat list archive.
Posting on this sighting on the ABA's Peeps Blog.
Alvaro Jaramillo's page on this sighting with photos.
Map of the Oct. 11 & 18 pelagic trips which included petrel & albatros sightings.
John Sterling's photos of this White-chinned Petrel.
Gunnar Engblom's blog entry on Alvaro Jaramillo and these pelagic finds.
Article in the Half Moon Bay Review newspaper on these sightings.
Third-party Information on this species:
Wikipedia article on White-chinned Petrel.
BirdLife International fact sheet on White-chinned Petrel.
Duke University Project Global page on White-chinned Petrel.