Alan Richards writes:

>
>In Naselle, Pacific co., there were two reports of Leach's
>St-Petrel, both 12/12/95. One found dead on a back porch ('still
>warm,' according to person who gave us the remains), another
>found still alive, kept warm overnite, and released to fly
>away the next day.
>.............
>-- Alan Richards / Naselle WA USA / alanr at ednet1.osl.or.gov

On a back porch?! Like a lot of lost confused seabirds and even other birds
at sea during adverse weather, that LESP I'd guess was either attracted to
the porch light (if lit) or lights in the house shining through the windows.
Thanks for sharing, Alan.

At sea, this happens all the time, birds attracted to the lights of the ship,
especially moonless foggy or stormy nights. Moonless is a key element even
when foggy or overcast. Storm Petrels, especially LESP in the Pacific are
most frequent as well small alcids. There was a great story with a photo
years ago regarding thousands of crested auklets (I think, correct me if I'm
wrong) that poured onboard a small fishing boat in Alaska one foggy night.
They piled up to the tops of the gunwales, three feet deep or more and the
vessel began to list and sink. The crew was frantic, shoveling birds
overboard. Then someone thought: *Turn off the lights!* At that, the
invasion abruptly stopped and the vessel was saved. I'll see if I can find
the reference if you're interested. If anyone else knows, or has more
accurate details please go ahead and post it. It's a great read!!

I've never witnessed ANYTHING like that but have had my share of interesting
moments with live goodies in the hand ranging from whiskered auklet (AK) to
red-billed tropicbird and swallow-tailed gull (tropics) and an assortment of
Antarctic and southern ocean birds that went bump in the night. Most
seabirds are usually alive and well and we just release them. Migrant
shorebirds and passerines are often seen flying around sometimes in large
numbers at night during adverse weather hundreds to thousands of miles from
land. In some cases, many wind up dead on deck having struck the mast or
something (e.g. golden plovers, sharp-tailed sandpipers, Siberian
rubythroats, etc. in the mid-north Pacific south of the Aleutians).

Twice, I've been in the Gulf of Panama when large numbers of fall migrant
North American passerines were knocked down during incredibly violent
thunderstorms. Each flash of lightning revealed a sky full of thousands of
birds with the night air around our NOAA research vessel, when not crackling
with thunder, filled with zits, chips, peeps, tweets, you name it. They
fluttered around the lights by the hundreds, and steadily rained on to the
deck after having hit something. Think about that for a moment, and think
about how many other ships are out there. I thought about that alot in the
Gulf those nights when there were many large vessels all over the place
stacked up waiting for their turn at the Canal.

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