>
>> In total, many thousands. Just along the length of the Long Beach
>> Peninsula, Pacific Co., WA, I counted a steady 40-60 per mile.
>

In a message dated 95-12-21 15:54:51 EST, Lisa Smith writes:

>For those of us armchair birders like me (well, it's not much more than
>armchair for as often as I go out in the field), or for those not familiar
>with how far the Long Beach Peninsula extends in either direction, how
>many miles are you talking about? Were you walking, or counting from the
>boat?
>
>

The Long Beach Peninsula in the extreme SW corner of Washington is ~27 miles
long, from Fort Canby State Park and North Jetty of the Columbia River to
Leadbetter Point. On 07Dec95, I examined ~22 miles of ocean beach between
North Head to ~3 miles short of the north tip at Leadbetter; ~3 miles on
foot, the rest by car -- no boats this time --even I need a break now & then.
Nearly all of the birds were concentrated along the highest tide line.
Whether walking or driving, fulmars (NOFU) were counted with a hand counter
(clicker) and subtotals were recorded after every mile. I'm sure I probably
missed some when driving (not to mention the smaller birds) since some NOFU
were mostly buried in the sand or wrapped up in kelp with only wing tips
sticking up flapping in the wind. The two Laysan Albatross (LAAL) were found
from the car which in both cases I nearly mistook for gulls at first.
...which begs to ask: How many of you have ever seen LAAL, dead or alive,
from your car? ..in Washington? ...or anywhere? I suppose there is bound to
be a few of you out there.

Given the inaccessability of so much of the OR/WA/BC coast, you can begin to
imagine how many there could have been in total. Even if 300 miles of NW
coast line was affected, say 45:N - 50:N not counting coastal irregularities
and rocky shoreline areas where birds were less likely to beach, and being
conservative with just 30 per mile would amount to 9000. You can play with
other numbers. Whatever, that's a mere drop in the bucket when the entire
Alaskan NOFU population was estimated at 2,000,000 in 1978 (Catalog of
Alaskan Seabird Colonies -- 1978). And even in 1978, it was so stated that
the long term outlook was that the population would probably increase beyond
that.

I haven't heard where the southern (Oregon / California) and northern
(British Columbia) extremes were regarding the early December wreck. Anyone
with more information including estimates or systematic counts from other
areas, I'd appreciate hearing about them.

Richard A. Rowlett <pagodroma at aol.com>
Bellevue, WA, USA