Subject: pelagics-amphitrite point
Date: Oct 13 13:13:42 1997
From: Don Cecile - dcecile at mail.sd70.bc.ca


Hi tweets: Saturday afternoon I headed for the Tofino-Ucluelet region on
the west coast of Vancouver Island. I had small hopes of seeing the
Tropical Kingbird that was present earlier in the week. I decided to visit
Amphitrite Point because a storm was passing through and the winds were fierce.
Amphitrite Point is the location of the Ucluelet lighthouse and coastguard
station, located just north of the entrance to Barclay Sound.

Sooty Shearwater 7
Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel 3
Killer Whale a family of three (delighted us by jumping out of the water,
flapping tails on water....)

I watched as the fishing vessels approached the shore and kept an eye out
for seabirds and gulls. The seabirds were generally far from shore and the
boats were followed only by gulls. Still some Heerman's Gulls around BTW.

Sunday Oct. 12

I had spent the morning (in the rain) birding the Tofino area and turned up
the following:

Yellow Warbler 2
Orange-crowned WArbler 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler 1
*Black-headed Grosbeak* (after chasing it all over town, since I kept
hearing its dry <chink< note but it rarely fielded a view)
Sanderling 1063 (a local record high count)
Lapland Longspur 1

Then the Pelagics:

I decided to try my luck again at amphitrite point approx. 4pm.

The following numbers are conservative (some big time) since I was
identifying rather than counting. One should also note that more skilled
observers would most likely have had a more impressive list in both numbers
and in diversity!

Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel 15
Sooty Shearwater 300
Northern Fulmar 200 (incl. 10 light phase)
Black-legged Kittiwake 5 one 1st basic
Brown Pelican 2
Red-necked Phalarope 3

many of these birds were very close to shore after having followed a
dragger. I have no idea how often such a sight may occur at this location,
but I know I will be watching much more closely. There were two other
birders present who had seen other pelagics earlier in the week ie. Sabine's
Gull, Leach's StormPetrel, ...

cheers,

Don Cecile
dcecile at cln.etc.bc.ca