Trip report: Ocean trip out of Newport, Lincoln County, Oregon
July 29-31, 1994

I had the opportunity to be a non-fishing passenger on a tuna fishing charter.
It was a 48-hour trip scheduled for 8:00 p.m. departure on Friday, July 29th
and returning at 8:00 p.m. on Sunday, July 31. The boat was licensed to go
out 100 miles (the limit of the range of a Coast Guard rescue helicopter, and
therefore the limit of insurance coverage).

Arrived early, as did everyone else. Boarded and were underway by 7:30 p.m. It
stayed light until we were about 12 miles offshore. A surprisingly early
BULLER'S SHEARWATER was only 3 miles offshore near a group of 35 RED
PHALAROPE. Another surprise was a BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS only 8 miles from
shore (also about the same distance on the return trip).

Prepared for sleep. There were 10 bunks, and only 7 of us using them, so lots
of room. The skippers were a man and wife team (Berle and Margie). The
passengers besides myself included Berle's brother, 4 other men, and a 77 year
old woman, who had been taking this trip with Berle and Margie for many years.
She couldn't hear, but that didn't stop her from carrying on a lively
conversation. In fact, it's the rest of us who were at a disadvantage, having
to "talk" over the constant drone of the diesel engine and crashing waves. She
had several bird stories from Minnesota: an "Ivory-billed" Woodpecker, and a
"swamp bird that points its bill up in the air and looked like a stick."

The "bunk" was only about 18 inches wide. How do you cling to a nylon bunk
that narrow when you are in your sleeping bag, and the boat is crashing
through the waves? One arm stayed on the floor side of the bunk at all times,
for emergency balancing. I managed to stay in my bunk, while I found others in
the morning asleep on the floor. The second night I chose one of the 3 unused
upper bunks. These were the backs of the benches which swung up and were
secured to the ceiling with straps. These straps held me securely in place,
and I slept better than the others.

Do you keep your surface radar on at night to avoid the floating logs? "Nope,
the radar doesn't see anything that low in the water. We just go slow and pray
alot." That made me sleep much better, I tell you! Visions of Cook's Petrels
helped me doze between the lurching waves which startled me awake every few
minutes.

Woke to the sound(?) of the engines going off. "Water temperature is 61-and-a-
half degrees. We'll sleep here until it gets light." Two hours later the
fishing lines were in the water, the sun was coming up, and the engines were
back on for trolling. We were about 65 miles from shore.

LEACH'S STORM-PETRELS! I was expecting them. I had glimpsed a total of two or
three of them on other pelagic trips, but not good looks: dark ocean birds
zig-zagging away over the waves like a small nighthawk. Now every 15 minutes
one or two would appear. They are not as black as the field guides show them.
Harrison's Seabirds has them correct. The back and wing coverts are brown,
with varying amounts of creamy edges to the coverts, giving some birds a
whitish wing stripe or patch. Variable. Rumps ranged from white to black. Most
were dull white with a gray central dividing line. Others appeared entirely
white. Many birds had reduced amounts of white - restricted to the sides of
the rump or upper flanks. Others appeared all-dark. All flew with the erratic
typical flight, twisting and veering suddenly, so that you never got a good
look at the rump anyway. I never could see the tail well enough to see if it
really was forked. It just looked long. Perhaps the tails are easier to see on
the other Storm-Petrels.

The first morning a juvenile and subadult LONG-TAIELD JAEGER visited the boat.
Only PARASITIC JAEGERS were seen after that. Two FORK-TAILED STORM-PETRELS
appeared briefly. Every hour or so another BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS appeared on
the horizon wheeling above the waves. Those were the birds of the ocean beyond
30 miles.

The boat trolled along about 7 knots. We zig-zagged back and forth about 10
miles at a time, and eventually made our way out to about 100 miles. We heard
that commercial rigs were getting 200 tuna a day out beyond "127." That's 127
degrees west longitude (about 900 miles offshore!). Also, the rumors were that
the water out there was about 74 degrees Fahrenheit, where the swordfish and
Leatherbacks play! [That's sea turtle] Think of the possible birds!

Our boat caught thirteen Albacore Tuna. They were divided among those fishing.
Most of the catches were on the 3 jigs tied to the railing. These were hand
lines, with barbless hooks. They trailed the boat about 100 feet and skimmed
the surface of the water. The jigs on the poles were weighted to be slightly
lower in the water. The fishers took turns reeling in the catches on the poles.

It was Berle's brother's turn near the end of the first day that provided some
excitement. The fish didn't want to come to the boat! This was no 12 pound
tuna. He ended up reeling in a 5 foot long shark! That didn't get shared.
Since it wasn't tuna, he got to keep his catch. Now THERE'S good eating!

Can anyone identify it? Heavy body, smallish dorsal and tail fins. Blackish
above, silvery below. A sharply pointed snout. A mouth full of inch long white
teeth curving backwards. Someone ventured Mako, but I don't really know sharks.

The only potential rarity occured at this time. As we were pulling the shark
in, 3 small shearwater-like birds with brilliant white underparts wheeled up
from behind a trough about 500 hundred feet from the boat and disappeared. The
water was extremely rough, and I never relocated them for a better look. If we
had been 50 miles closer to shore, I would have considered them to be Buller's
Shearwater, although small. But here? My mind kept wondering: could it have
been Cook's Petrel or maybe Manx Shearwater?

We made our way northwest at the end of the first day, shut off our engines
and were rocked asleep. As I mentioned, I was in the upper bunk, and slept
well, though woke several times in the night after a sudden jarring wave. At
these times I took a look out the window to see the moon and stars shining on
the waves (and also to make sure no freighters were bearing down on us!). I
later learned that Margie stayed up all night on watch.

Two tuna were already on board when I awoke just at sunrise. We were about 70
miles from shore, having drifted southeast during the night. We couldn't
anchor, as the chart showed we were in 1545 fathoms of water (x 6 = 9,270 feet,
almost 2 miles of water below us!). The onboard depth gage works down to 150
fathoms. The deepest part of the continental shelf is only 100 fathoms, then
it drops right off to the 1500 fathom abyss. Must be like looking at twice the
depth of the Grand Canyon, but with Asia on the other side of the rim.

We trolled toward port slowly until about noon. Then, since we had no fish
since about 9:00 a.m. and we were in cooler waters (59 degrees) we headed
home. Almost no birds in the 50-30 mile offshore region. We spotted a couple
of small sharks and a small ocean sunfish. Dall's Porpoises accompanied us for
a while. We didn't stop or slow down (something about not having a key to the
freezer which locks at 5:00 p.m.).

Then, there they were ahead: 6-8 dragnetters working the edge of the
continental shelf 30 miles offshore. Depth gage records a bottom below us.
BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS, SOOTY SHEARWATERS, WESTERN GULLS. Look! It's an
Elephant Seal! standing up 5 feet out of the water, then submersing as we
circled around for a closer look. That must be highly unusual in Oregon waters.

We were heading in a beeline for port, but the skipper asked about birds
following the draggers. I spotted one on our route that had birds following it
and pointed to it. He altered course ever so slightly (we had been on
autopilot for hours) and brought us across the path about 4 minutes behind the
dragger. Many birds were still feeding on the water. About 50 SOOTY and the
same number of PINK-FOOTED SHEARWATERS. I spotted a couple of NORTHERN FULMAR.
About 40 BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS were in the area. Then I saw something
strange: a large pale bird in a trough. It looked like a giant Pink-footed
Shearwater from underneath - mottled white and dark. But I didn't get a good
look. There are no albatross with only 5-foot wingspans. Then it was gone. A
few more birds, and another large pale underparted bird! This time there was
no doubt. The bird turned sharply and flashed large white wing patches. Two
light or intermediate-phased SOUTH POLAR SKUAS! This doubles the number I had
previously seen on about 15 pelagic trips in Oregon waters.

Soon we were within 10 miles of shore and COMMON MURRES appeared. I'm happy to
report 12 chicks and 134 adults. This after 2 devestating El Nino years with
no reproduction. The warm water brought onshore by El Nino displaced the
alcids' food fish. I believe Oregon's normal nesting numbers for murre
colonies is 300-500,000. Nine CASSIN'S AUKLETS were ok. Again they didn't nest
for the past 2 years, but these experienced huge die-offs in the past
summers - I am assuming from starvation. Five RHINOCEROS AUKLETS seemed about
usual.

This answered several questions I had about birds off Oregon's waters:

1) What birds are there beyond the 20-30 miles that are reachable in an 8-hour
boat trip and aren't usually seen on those trips?

Answer: Leach's and Fork-tailed Storm-Petrels, and Long-tailed Jaegers.

2) Is it possible to have a good birding experience while riding as a non-
fishing passenger?

Answer: Yes, but don't expect to chase unusual birds, mammals, or non-edible
fish.

3) Would I get seasick being on a boat 48-hours? (This is important research
data! ;-) )

Answer: No, not even queezy. (Others in the group did, but only one person
seemed to be suffering the whole trip.)


I was really enlightened by coming from the deep sea to the edge of the
continental shelf. The "seabirds" are really part of the continent, and not
the open sea.

In 3 weeks I'm leading a trip from Newport to the edge at 30 miles. Now
instead of wondering what's out just a little bit farther, I'll concentrate on
the birds following the draggers, knowing that most of the seabirds are within
reach of an 8-hour trip from shore. Migration will be in full swing. We
probably won't see the Storm-Petrels, Long-tailed Jaegers, or Skuas. But there
should be Sabine's Gull, Black-legged Kittiwake, Arctic Tern, Marbled
Murrelet, Tufted Puffin, Pomarine Jaeger, and others that I missed in the
quick trip nearer shore. Plus lots more shearwaters. I'm ready now!



Sighting details:

Saturday
6:00 a.m. until noon
start: 44 39 73 N
125 45 36 W
67 miles offshore
1554 fathoms
water temp: 61.0 F

Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel 2
Parasitic Jaeger 3
Long-tailed Jaeger 2

***

Saturday
noon to dark
start: 44 43 60 N
125 53 00 W
end: 44 15 28 N
126 14 37
85-100 miles offshore
1584 fathoms
water temp: 61.3 F

Black-footed Albatross 1
Leach's Storm-Petrel 22

***

Sunday
6:30 a.m. to noon
start: 44 13 62 N
125 59 22 W
87 miles offshore
water temp: 59.4 F

Black-footed Albatross 4
Leach's Storm-Petrel 20
Parasitic Jaeger 2

Dall's Porpoise 2
Ocean Sunfish 1

***

Sunday
1:15 p.m.
44 32 45 N
124 51 01 W
36 miles offshore
water temp: 57.8 F

Black-footed Albatross 7
Sooty Sheawater 1
South Polar Skua 1
Western Gull 10

Elephant Seal 1
Ocean Sunfish 1

***

Sunday
1:52 p.m.
44 32 52 N
124 42 99 W
30 miles offshore
water temp: 57.4 F

Black-footed Albatross 5
Sooty Shearwater 3
Pink-footed Shearwater 5
South Polar Skua 1
Western Gull 35

***

Sunday
2:11 p.m.
44 32 86 N
124 38 59 W
27 miles offshore
water temp: 56.p F
depth still > 150 fathoms (limit of depth gage)

near draggers:
Black-footed Albatross 30
Northern Fulmar 3
Sooty Shearwater 70
Pink-footed Shearwater 50
California Gull 1
Western Gull 150

***

Sunday
2:30 p.m.
44 34 59 N
124 33 31 W
water temp 56.4 F
23 miles offshore
80 fathoms

Black-footed Albatross 2
Western Gull 10

Dall's Porpoise 5

***

Sunday
3:45-5:00 p.m.
10 miles offshore to dock
44 fathoms at 10 miles

Common Murre 134 adults + 12 chicks
Cassin's Auklet 9
Rhinoceros Auklet 5

--
Greg Gillson <gregg at tdd.hbo.nec.com>
Hillsboro, Oregon