Chris Hill asked of Mike -

>Your report of the carnage of pelagics is fascinating, but why did it
>happen (did I miss something?). Was it weather? Surely that kind of
>numbers of dead tubenoses is not an every day beach find.

I spent the winter of 1983/84 crossing the N. Pacific between N.
America and Japan. This was a stormy winter much like the one this
year (so far). It was my recollection that seabirds were little
affected by storms until the winds got above 70 knots or so, then we
would often see kittiwakes perching on the decks of the ship. But I
distinctly remember marvelling at the tubenoses' e.g. fulmars,
albatrosses ability to be unfazed by winds of any force. Stronger
winds just meant longer arcs and swoops in their flight paths as they
were carried along with the wind. They had trouble making headway
*against* the wind, however.

This brings us to the question of what blasted the Oregon Fulmars.
This likely coincided with the passage of the Polar front (the
Pineapple Express) to the south of the area. Its long fetch from
Hawaii had plenty of time to push pelagics onshore. IMO, the biggest
risk comes from thunderstorm activity along the cold front. Even if
there were no lightning (rare in winter), there is a good chance that
there was some hail or other graupel which bombarded the birds.
Indeed, the strong contrast between the sub-tropical air and the
colder Gulf of Alaska air on either side of the front allowed the
necessary temperature and updraft profile inside cumulus buildups to
support frozen precipitation such as small hail a probability rather
than a possibility. Did any of the birds' feathers appear abraded? Not
that you would be able to pick it out from wind abrasion after a
thousand-mile journey fighting winds. Note that seabirds tend to
become concentrated ahead of cold fronts which would make the
likelihood of them getting caught by the weather along and behind the
front greater if they were stopped in their tracks by a landmass.
Another possibility is sheer exhaustion: unable to land on a roiling
sea for a week or so, the birds simply fell out of the sky from
exposure and starvation. But I think this is less likely.

- Jack



Jack Bowling
Prince George, BC
CANADA
jcbowling at mindlink.bc.ca