Hello,

I lingered late at my home at Alki Point this morning specifically to
look for the reported Fork-tailed Storm-Petrels. I wasn't
disappointed. There were probably several dozen in the immediate
vicinity, but it was hard to estimate because most of the birds were
so far away that they faded in and out at 10X. For some reason, most
of the birds were nearer to Bainbridge than to Alki. After I finally
went down and pulled the scope from my car, I was astonished to
realize the full extent of this storm-petrel invasion. Many more
birds were now evident in the more open water toward the Strait. I'm
not sure how many; certainly many hundreds. In contrast to other
reports, most of the birds I observed this morning were feeding, many
along the boundaries between smooth and rippled water.

Just as I was starting to get over the initial shock of realizing how
many storm-petrels were out there, a pod of Orcas came by close. This
is the first time that I have seen Orcas in the 2.5 years I have lived
here. This pod headed out toward Discovery Park, but another pod
arrived shortly thereafter, and lingered for a while out by the large
rock off Bainbridge. A bit later on a third pod came in, and a large
male Orca briefly spyhopped!

Between Orca pods, a herd of Dall's porpoises came by very close to
shore heading south. They looked like they were trying very hard to
be inconspicuous.

Just when I thought I was over the shock of all the storm-petrels, I
casually glanced down from my balcony and saw a tubenose floating
amidst some flotsam in a convergence streak, no more than 100 m away.
It was a Short-tailed Shearwater! It swam around a bit, picking at
stuff on the surface, then gradually drifted away with the ebbing
tide. When I left at about 11 AM, the bird was still on the water,
perhaps half way across to Bainbridge Island.

Wait, there's more:

While watching the pelagic show, an adult Yellow-billed Loon in
partial breeding plumage flew by close with a Common Loon.

Next, a Brown Pelican flew by.

Oh yeah, also a few early Ancient Murrelets zipping south between Alki
and Bainbridge.

A truly astonishing morning!


Bob Russell robert.russell at noaa.gov
Alki Point