Saturday, March 11, 1995
pelagic trip out of Newport, Oregon

Well, after Thursday's gale, with winds to 95 knots, the seas
calmed down quite a bit. It was still a rough trip for the 17
birders who braved Oregon's winter/early, early spring waters.

We left dock about 7:30 AM with light showers which lasted about
5 minutes, then had 20 minutes of no rain, until the pattern repeated
for the first 2 hours. We made our way slowly out the bay, watching
RED-THROATED (seemed to be migrating) and COMMON LOONS, HORNED and
RED-NECKED GREBES, all 3 SCOTERS, PELAGIC and BRANDT'S CORMORANTS,
and many bay ducks including BRANTS.

It was a rather rough bar crossing, and it wasn't only 5 minutes
before we saw our first BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKES, COMMON MURRES, and
PIGEON GUILLEMOTS. A few miles out we started seeing RHINOCEROS
AUKLETS, but then it was slow for a while.

About 10 miles out we went from the green winter seas to the gray
seas typical of summer (the gray summer water is actually colder
than the green winter water). The seas smoothed out, and the clouds
nearly disappeared.

At 15 miles, exactly on schedule, we saw our first BLACK-FOOTED
ALBATROSSES. We spotted a few distant SHEARWATERS, but were
unable to chum in any gulls. We soon found out why.

At 20 miles we saw hundreds of KITTIWAKES and RHINOS sitting on
the water and circling around. We started chumming again, and
poured out a fish-oil slick. In came the birds....

The oil slick was a recipe that appeared on Birdchat several years
ago. We used 2 gallons of cheap vegetable oil, 20 pounds of ground
beef fat, and the contents of a squeeze-bottle of herring oil. This
sat overnight so the fat would absorb the delicious aroma! Beef fat
floats, while fish scraps (which we also had) sinks immediately.

Even in the 5-10 foot seas, this oil slick held together for over
an hour. It made the sea smooth and shiny, and we drifted the boat
through it until the wind blew us beyond it, then we circled around
upwind again.

Soon a JAEGER came in causing some discussion (as jaegers always
do). Eventually we had up to 5 POMARINE JAEGERS in view at once.
We tossed out large tuna scraps to several BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSSES,
which obligingly landed about 15 feet behind the boat to retreive
the snack. It was immediately bombarded by WESTERN GULLS, and the
gulls were then attacked by the POMARINE JAEGERS -- quite a show.

The jaegers also harrassed the KITTIWAKES, as those sea gulls fed
off the beef fat.

Why were there so many KITTIWAKES and RHINOCEROS AUKLETS? Radar
revealed large schools of "bait fish" (Herring and Anchovies?)
below us.

Final numbers for the birds in the 20-25 miles (50 fathoms) area:
(necessarily gross estimates, as we and the birds circled for
3 hours):

Black-footed Albatross 15
Sooty Shearwater 60
Short-tailed Shearwater 8
Pink-footed Shearwater 3
Pomarine Jaeger 10
Black-legged Kittiwake 350
Rhinoceros Auklet 100
Cassin's Auklet 1

Rather unexpected were the Pomarine Jaegers, April being the usual
migration time. But this may also reflect the VERY FEW March pelagics
in Oregon. The Short-tailed and Pink-footed shearwaters were also
on our "possible" list.

Birds which we were rather expecting, but which weren't out there
included Northern Fulmar and Ancient Murrelet.

We were also expecting (hoping?) for Laysan Albatross.

Nothing terribly exciting, but good numbers of birds finding ample
food, after 2 days of gale force winds and more expected Monday.

I would like to acknowledge the good spirits of those brave bird
watchers who went out with me. I've only seen it rougher on one
other occasion. The bar crossing coming back in was even a bit
frightening for the skipper -- we had some 15 foot waves pushing
us into the jetty, while a strong surf ran sideways. We had some
trouble with seasickness, but everyone recovered rapidly inside the
bay.


Next trip: April 9 and May 14.

4 hour "beginner" trips for alcids in June and July (dates not
set, but probably the 2nd Sunday of the month).

--
Greg Gillson <guide at teleport.com>