Hi all -- No replies necessary -- I'm beyond the reach of E-mail until
October (at least) and AOL dumps unread mail more than 30 days old. This may
be of greater interest to Alaskan subscribers (Tweeters) but may be of
general interest to others anyway as well as the SEABIRD group.

Just blowing through town on a quickie rest stop, en route from the Bering
Sea and Dutch Harbor, exchanging baggage (from cold to HOT), and outa here
for San Felipe, Baja, and Vaquita (porpoise) study in the upper Sea of
Cortez and mouth of the Colorado River -- from the "refer to the furnace" so
to speak -- expecting 110-120+F (40-50C) temperatures down there for the next
few weeks. Anyone want to come along?!?? ugh!! A metabolic catastrophe
alert (i.e. 'melt down') goes into effect in just a few short hours.

Great marine mammal research cruise on the Seattle based NOAA R/V "Miller
Freeman" with Bob Pitman and Cyndy Tynan, as we tagged along on the first leg
of a dedicated line transect hydroacoustic pollack survey -- only three weeks
(July 16 - August 6) in mostly shallow shelf waters (less than 200 meters) of
the SE Bering Sea and Bristol Bay -- over 400 cetacean sightings (NOT
counting the pinnipeds, mostly fur seals) including a group of 5-7 **NORTHERN
RIGHT WHALES** from which photos and biopsy tissue samples for genetic
analysis were obtained.

The North Pacific stock of the Northern Right Whale is among (if not THE)
rarest and most endangered cetacean stock in the world with only a handful of
sightings this century. The few survivors existing today in the eastern
North Pacific appear to be very old adults and quite likely the very last
individual remnants that managed to escape the harpoon and slaughter. No
calves have been positively identified in recent memory so the long term
outlook and hopes for recovery are bleak. We are eager now to compare the
genetic (DNA) material with the North Atlantic Right Whale stock to determine
if eons of geographic isolation may have been sufficient to elevate the North
Pacific stock to higher taxonomic status. This was the first time (and
possibly the last) that an opportunity to obtain such samples has ever
availed itself.

We encountered an encouraging number of other large whales -- Fin, Sei,
Humpbacks; also Minke, Killer (including one huge aggregation of about 200,
high estimate ~250), one surprise group of Pacific White-sided Dolphin way
back in Bristol Bay, lots of Harbor Porpoise (especially the middle of
Bristol Bay where widespread and numerous), Dall's (of course). No Gray
Whales -- everyone asks. Wrong place, wrong time.

A few 'floaters' were noted including one dead Baird's Beaked Whale (very old
male), and seven dead Walrus. The Walrus carcasses were initially throught
attibutable to probable natural mortality given the relative close proximity
(60-100nm) to the huge Round Island rookery in northern Bristol Bay.
However, now in light of concern regarding dead seabirds and current very
warm waters in the Bering Sea this summer {SEE ALSO: Tweeters Digest Website
(8/07) -- ["Dead seabirds baffle experts"] from the 8/07 'Anchorage Daily
News'} makes me reconsider that something more sinister may be going on; the
current El Nino a contributing suspect. Casually stumbling across 7 dead
walrus in just a few days seems like quite a few and suggests that there were
many more floating around out there. Sea temperatures 61F (13C) in coastal
Bristol Bay?!?! 10F (~6C) above normal! Indeed. That sounds pretty hot for
'ol Wally. A few dead seabirds, mostly fulmars, shearwaters, and murres were
seen belly up, but these seemed like a natural kind of mortality with the
encounter rate subjectively not thought to be unusal in these waters where
seabird densities can be phenomenal.

Incredible weather during the first half -- often flat becalmed mirror-like
Beaufort 00 with nary a ripple from horizon to horizon in an extensive area
of eerie and bizarre aurora-aqua green water (looked like an over chlorinated
swimming pool) which no one can seem to explain at the moment, except that it
was warmer (59F / 12.3C) and less saline than surrounding sea water outside
this visually well marked and extensive zone -- maybe a dome of plankton
soup and pack ice melt(?) ...but if so, why 'warmer'? ...or run-off, but from
where? -- there are no large rivers or glacial drainage feeding into that
area to create a feature as vast as this, but it was in just these waters
where the greatest concentrations of large whales and Harbor Porpoise were
including the Right Whales and that unexpected group of White-sided Dolphins.
Anyway, after analysis of water samples and a little more investigation, we
should get it sorted out eventually. This water was so pale and bizarre that
it reflected off the overcast, creating a feature reminiscent to "ice blink"
of polar ice edge, but here, turning the clouds aqua and horizon a purple
haze. With 80,000+ hours at sea over the past 25 years, I've never seen
anything like it. This was so weird with a greasy feel as to border on
nauseating at times. Conditions were more "typical" Bering Sea during the
second half -- always overcast, off and on foggy, drizzly, and a 15-20-knot
wind chop.

Seabirds were all the usual suspects often in vast and countless numbers and
variety except for probable Tropical Storm "Scott" assisted Solander's (1),
Black-winged (1), and a dozen or so Mottled Petrels near the Pribilofs (13nm
W to ~50nm SW) all on Aug 3 & 4. The remnants of TS "Scott" rapidly tracked
NE direct into the Bering Sea from Guam. This was the only storm of the
cruise -- and not so bad really, despite southerly gales of 35-55 knots.
There were *NO* Short-tailed Albatross sightings (important negative data),
and only a couple Black-footed and four Laysan. Big-time albatross country
is on the south side of the Aleutian Islands and Gulf of Alaska.

This was NOT a seabird cruise, so no systematic data was collected or
recorded. Seabirds are just the unavoidable fringe benefit of spending up to
12-14 hours per day glued to the 25X150mm "big eyes" searching for marine
mammals and by the virtue of just being there and being a captive audience.
Comments following are generalizations and impressions which may only be
relevant to this particular cruise.

Ubiquitous everywhere at any given moment were the euphausid feeding swarms
of Short-tailed Shearwaters (cumulatively, tens of thousands) -- no Sooties
by-the-way (probably were a few, but who's got time to sort through all the
Short-taileds), and scavenger hordes of Northern Fulmars (just thousands;
i.e. abundant but less so than the shearwaters) which showed up in ravenously
greedy force especially during fish trawls. The storm petrel of the Bering
is the Fork-tailed; uncommon in Bristol Bay east of 165W, common and
widespread west, and locally abundant (rafts, feeding flocks, and
aggregations of hundreds to thousands) near the shelf break south of the
Pribilofs. Leach's, not particularly numerous in the Bering anyway, were
encountered only a few times, and then mostly during brief excursions in the
somewhat deeper slope waters.

Among alcids, Murres dominated overall, with mostly Common's in Bristol Bay
(east of Unimak Pass and 165W longitude) and Thick-billed's west of 165W.
Tufted Puffins were in sight almost constantly -- they like to make a few
passes around the ship, often circling around and around, at eye level often
only a few meters away. Horned Puffins too, but most of those were nearer
the Pribilofs.

The most uniformly common, widespread, and distributed small alcid overall
were Ancient Murrelets, especially in all areas of Bristol Bay (cumulatively
probably a few thousand), many in little family groups (two adults, two
chicks), family aggregations (10-30) with the kids, and in some cases,
"creches" (if that's the right word) of chicks. Some of these chicks are
nothing more than little ping-pong balls of fluff bouncing around out there.
Just cute as a button. :-))) [...sorry -- couldn't resist]. Behind Ancient
Murrelets in abundance were Cassin's Auklets (a few hundred), followed by
Marbled and Kittlitz's Murrelets (a few dozen each), mostly in Bristol Bay,
east of 165W, tapering off dramatically west of there. Parakeet, Crested,
and Least Auklets were briefly abundant only near the Pribilofs, especially
during one close pass 1-3nm off St. George, but decidedly uncommon elsewhere.
Where ever it was that the reknowned Pribilofs multitudes go to feed was
somewhere we weren't. No Rhinoceros or Whiskered Auklets were seen anywhere
as the cruise track wasn't in favorable areas for encountering them.

Kittiwakes break down to probably a 50:50 split between Black-legged and
Red-legged, and seen almost daily in small numbers in most areas, especially
west of 165W, with occasional sightings east of there and in Bristol Bay.
Red-legged, however, generally outnumbered Black-legged around the
Pribilofs, especially to the SW near the shelf break where a fairly
impressive SW-NE flight was observed during the morning of 8/04. By-the-way,
an adult Red-legged Kittiwake perching on the rail on the bow is a most
exquisite sight, adding a startling splash of vivid color to a world
otherwise measured in shades of gray. The only large larid "seagull" was a
mere handful, maybe 10 or so, Glaucous-wingeds. There were a few Sabine's
around daily, perhaps migrants, and one gorgeous adult Black-headed Gull on
7/29, ~50nm ENE St George Is., which hung around for a couple of hours.

Other things scattered around here and there, foraging or migrating and
mostly in small numbers were Pomarine, Parasitic, and Long-tailed Jaegers,
Arctic Terns, Aleutian Terns (15-20) all in Bristol Bay, east of 165W), and
Red Phalaropes. No Red-necked Phalaropes but they aren't really much
expected anyway in the open sea away from near coastal waters. Miscellaneous
stuff, migrants or wanderers, included a few Harlequin Ducks, Ruddy
Turnstones, Wandering Tattlers, Rock, and Western Sandpipers, Pacific Loon,
and White-winged Scoter. No passerines.

Had I not a 'hot' date with destiny in the blast furnace of hell, ...oops...
I mean Baja shortly, staying aboard for Leg 2 in the Bering could have been
very very very interesting, especially considering the potential for god
knows what in the migrant Asian stray and vagrant department by late August
and early September. The hydroacoustic polluck survey is continuing as I
write (minus now, a bird/whale watching contingent), and is proceeding
westward in the central and far western Bering all the way out there to the
outermost fringes of what's still vaguely and officially North America, along
the Russian/U.S. boundary and beyond even. Ships make much better and
manageable "islands" than slogging around vast areas of remote and rugged
Attu and other Aleutian Islands for those sought after and 'expensive'
goodies. Those slogs are a fun and fabulous experience in their own right,
but don't be deceived by the little blops on the map. Those islands are in
no way tiny from either the bird's or the birder's point of view, and except
for capitalizing on the tiniest fraction of birding potential, are mostly
inaccessible! At least on a ship, you can just sit there and the little
dicky birds come to you (I'll have another Margarita please, ...and would you
get that Little Bunting out of my hair, ...thanks). I've had a few good
moments out there along these lines years ago, but *nothing* like some of the
mouth watering tales I've heard with drooling envy back a decade or two,
where "hundreds" of birds of all sizes, shapes, colors, and descriptions are
descending on huge factory trawlers in the Bering during the "right time" in
the Spring and Fall. Unfortunately, these casual in passing, bring it up
over a beer, reports have always come from non-birder fishery observers who
couldn't help but notice and be impressed by all these "pretty little birds"
flitting around all over the decks. Sigh... Oh well..... dream on. Maybe
another day or in another life.

Yikes! No more time to kill. Gotta go -- taxi's here. See you all on the
flip-side of summer and maybe just in the nick of time to catch the start of
the autumn rainy season back here in green and glorious Fungus Corners.
That's what the TV weather guy in San Diego calls the Pacific Northwest --
LOL!! Cheers!! Bye.

Richard Rowlett
My Shurgard Storage Unit, USA
(Pagodroma at aol.com)