Early on Sunday morning, March 8, 2009, we headed out on the Islas Coronados and Beyond Pelagic Trip (San Diego Bird Festival) to look for pelagic species. It was a wonderful trip with lots of species. The Coronado Islands (Islas Coronados) consist of a group of four islands off the northwest coast of the Mexican state of Baja California. Battered by wind and waves, they are largely infertile and uninhabited except for a small military detachment and a few lighthouse keepers. The islands lie between 25.6 and 32 kilometers south of the entrance to San Diego bay and 13.6 kilometers from the Mexican mainland. Brad photographed this line of Surf Scoters while we were still in the harbor. It was a cloudy morning with temperatures in the upper 50's.