Hi Tweets,

For those of you who missed out on today's pelagic out of Westport, I =
just wanted to tell you that you missed the Laysan *and* a live Cook's =
Petrel. Unfortunately, I can't, as we didn't see any such =
things.......

The trip was postponed from yesterday, due to high seas predicted for =
Saturday - left over from last week's storm. I understand that there =
were 20-foot swells on Friday! Today dawned beautiful and red: as in =
"red skies at morning, sailor take warning"? It did cloud over by =
mid-morning, but the seas remained relatively calm - =
3-foot-plus-or-minus swells and not much chop by afternoon. We left a =
little after 4 a.m. on the F/V Monte Carlo out of Westport. Full speed =
to 125 degrees West by about 8:30, then on out to about 60miles. =
Chummed for an hour or so, with about 70 Fork-tails, and a smattering of =
other species. Got back around 5-5:30 p.m.

There was much hope for Pterodromas, but, alas, none were seen. No =
weird alcids. No unusual procellariiforms. Not really much in the way =
of variety. Here's what was seen - I got the species list (hope I got =
them all...) from Bill Tweit, but didn't write down numbers, sorry. =
Also, Terry Wahl was not well and was unable to go today - hope you're =
feeling better soon, Terry.

Red-throated, Pacific and Common Loons. Fair numbers
Western Grebe: Mostly around the jettys
Black-footed Albatross: Maybe we saw 200 or so - including about 40 near =
a trawler
Fulmar: Both light and dark phase
Sooty Shearwater: Common, but not really abundant
Fork-tailed Storm Petrel: Quite a few
Leach's Storm Petrel: 3 - two on the way out, and one a couple miles =
west of the jetty!
Double-crested, Brandt's and Pelagic Cormorant: Mostly In-shore
Surf Scoter: Large numbers on the move
White-winged Scoter Several small groups
Bonaparte's Gull: Lots, just off the Grays Harbor south jetty
Herring Gull: A few dozens
Thayer's Gull: One, out at 60 miles (may have been others?..)
Sabine's Gull: One seen by some (not me :-( )
Glaucous-winged/Western Gull: From one extreme to the other - many near =
the jettys
Common Tern: A few near the south jetty
Red-necked Phalarope: Several
Red Phalarope: Quite a few - some in bright red alternate plumage
Common Murre: Common - most in alternate plumage
Pigeon Guillemot: A few near jettys
Cassin's Auklet: Uncommon
Rhinoceros Auklet: Scattered all the way out
Tufted Puffin: One - seen by some
Ancient Murrelet: Two - seen by some
Dabbling ducks: Saw strings of these moving north all the way west of =
125 degrees
Included shovelers, wigeon, a pair of mallards, pintails
Brant
Canada Geese: Couldn't make out subspecies, but a flock that flew over =
us when we landed=20
in Westport were Cacklers.
Couldn't tell if we were seeing any White-fronted Geese in the =
skeins....

One Yellow-rumped Warbler circled the boat when we went past a freighter =
at 125 west.

Also seen:
One Sunfish (Mola mola)
One Elephant Seal
A few Harbor Porpoise (near the jettys)
Lots of Northern Fur Seals
Grey Whales - near the jettys
A couple groups of Dall's Porpoise


What did I miss? I've probably forgotten some important stuff, but hey, =
I've been up since 1:00 a.m. and I'm getting rummy.... Suffice it to =
say that, even though we didn't score any exciting records, it was still =
a great day to be out on the water with a bunch of good birders. Beats =
the heck out of staying home and doing yard work.

Finally - a few of us checked out the Brady Loop Road, off Highway 8 =
east of Montesano, on the way home. The flood waters on the Chehalis =
(3rd fifty-year flood of the year) are receding, and there's lots of =
water in the fields. In with the ring-billed-plus gull flocks, we saw =
about 450 Whimbrels! Pretty neat.

Jon. Anderson
Olympia, Washington
festuca at olywa.net