On 31 July 1988 we started a day of birding at the mouth of the Whitewater River at the north end of the Salton Sea, Riverside County. At about 0630 we waded across the rivermouth to check the area to the west of the river. When partially across the river we stopped on an exposed sandbar and looked over the open water to the south. Almost immediately Webster spotted a procellariiform flying toward us from the southwest and pointed it out to McCaskie. As we watched the bird flying toward us we initially considered the Flesh-footed Shearwater (Puffinus carneipes) since the uniform dark coloration of the bird, along with its slow manner of flight, closely matched that species.