Hi Tweets -- I've just returned to the PNW having completed for the 6th
consecutive 2-1/2 month long spring season monitoring the gray whale cow/calf
and coastal seabird migration on the central California coast at Point
Piedras Blancas Lighthouse, San Luis Obispo Co., near San Simeon and across
the road (rt.1) from the Hearst Castle.

It's been a strange strange Spring! COLD and windy! ...thanks to the 'La
Nina' storm tracks targeting the PNW. It's amazing to me how we can go so
quickly from one extreme to the other -- the warm 'El Nino' last year to a
frigid 'La Nina' this year.

We are at a loss to explain anomalous gray whale cow/calf migration.
Exceptionally late and numbers about 1/5th of last year. Usually, the
migration peaks during the last week of April. By the end of April, we were
running 1/10th of the 1998 season! Only a late May surge (relatively
speaking!) brought our daytime counts up to just over 100 cow/calf pair
compared to 500 by this time last year. Normally, by the last two weeks of
May, the migration is over and zero days are to be expected.

The gray whale is an amazing success story, recovering from the brink, to be
delisted and currently running at perhaps maximum carrying capacity at about
26,000. Why such low calf production is a dilemma open only to speculation
at this point. 26,000 may strike some as a relatively low number considering
the size and breadth of the Pacific Ocean. Not so. The gray whale is
strictly a coastal shallow water species and there are limitations with
regard to suitable food resources and feeding areas in these relatively
constricted regions of the Bering and Chukchi Seas of Alaska. At (or
exceeding) maximum carrying, there may not be enough to go around or what is
(or was) available has crashed for some undetermined, perhaps environmental
reason. The whales may be starving -- witness the numbers washing up on West
Coast beaches including Puget Sound, and the extraordinary feeding frenzies
on a massive krill bloom observed and documented by a National Geographic
team in Monterey Bay this Spring. Typically, or so we generally thought,
gray whales feed during the summer months in Alaska, then fast for the rest
of the year during the long round trip to and from the calving grounds in
Baja.

In contrast to 1999, the 1998 migration was early and with record numbers
then dwindling to virtually zero after early May. (1) In 1998, the calving
waters off Baja were exceptionally warm, and perhaps the cows dropped their
calves and left early before any mating could occur as may have occurred with
non-pregnant cows that would have been cyclic ready for mating. This would
certainly be reflected in the lack of calves this year. We observed an
unusually high number of calfless cows throughout the migration period, far
higher numbers than should ever be expected in April and right through to the
end of May. (2) The southbound migration this past fall/winter was also slow
and late and concentrations seemed to linger in the Gulf of Alaska much later
than expected. There didn't seem to be the usual urgency to get to Baja just
as there doesn't seem to be a great urgency to return to Alaska. Perhaps,
somehow the whales 'know' that the outlook in Alaska is bleak and they need
to employ other strategies and take food where ever they can find it. There
may be other factors or a combination of such, and all of this is just
speculation at this point and will require further in depth study and
evaluation.

Don't ask what I think of the Makah gray whale hunt. Ten straight hours of
coverage by NW Cable News?!? Jeeeezus! Don't these people have anything
better to do or report? I can just imagine the pitiful, anticipatory, and
speculative dead time in all the hours of waiting for something dramatic to
happen and a public getting sucked in by it all. I know how awful that can
be; I was a 'victim' of the "New Carissa" episode during the winter I'm
embarrassed to say. Pathetic! The Sunday May 23 Editorial Section of the
'Seattle Times' must have been a big one. Good God Almighty! I perused it
all on the web and was utterly appalled by some of the letters to editor.
This was a grave milestone for Seattle and the 'Times' for publishing some of
the most outlandish RACIST reading in history! I'm afraid I'm coming to
formulate a renewed and deteriorating view on the quality of life in the
Pacific Northwest and it is no longer cracked up to what it used to be. For
this and a myriad of other reasons, it may be time to seriously consider
moving on to greener pastures (California! -- beyond the stereotype, most of
it IS remote and minimally populated). Yea, one less car to clog the
freeways you say :-) ...although I'm not really in town often enough to
really do that.

Okay, moving on -- BIRDS -- phew!

The coastal seabird migration which I've been monitoring along the SLO County
coast since 1994 like the gray whale migration has been rather strange if not
anomalous. It would be interesting to see how some of these observations
compare with those observed in 'tweeterland'. Diminished significantly were
the loons, brant, and scoters, all running at about HALF the usual numbers.
I don't think they were passing further offshore; they were just down. There
were no massive Pacific Loon flights which typify previous seasons where on
some days in mid to late April, uninterrupted Pacific Loon flights can pass a
fixed point at a rate of 300+ (600-1000 maximum) per minute, sometimes for
several hours (45,000 in one such flight in 1998). An estimated 600,000
Pacific Loons have passed Point Piedras Blancas each Spring since 1994. This
Spring, maybe half.

Bonaparte's Gulls were notable by their virtual absence. I didn't even see
my first one until April 26th! Horribly late, the migration of Bonaparte's
should have been starting to wind down by then instead of just starting.
Even with the late 'arrival date', subsequent sightings or even flights of
significance never materialized. Maybe they all took the 'inland route' up
I-5? :-)

The Red-necked Phalarope migration was 'normal' (tens to hundreds of
thousands per day) between late April and mid-May. However, for the first
time, not a single Red Phalarope was detected amongst them or anywhere from
shore all season! Ditto, all jaeger species.

So while numbers of almost everything was down, by contrast and historically
unprecedented for California was the massive irruption of BLACK-LEGGED
KITTIWAKES. Not a single day passed without recording this species.
Throughout the month of April, up to 5,000+ were concentrated just off the
point and with individuals being routinely seen sitting on the beaches and
surrounding rocks. They weren't apparently migrating; they were just there
and sedate. First signs of a northward push started toward end of April and
through mid-May there was steady stream of several hundred per day. Another
big onslaught occurred on May 9th, with ~2,500 seen in a 90-minute period.
After that, the numbers gradually diminished to a few hundred per day and
down to <10 per day by the last week of May. How did wintering kittiwake
numbers in Washington / Oregon waters compare to previous years? More than
usual or fewer?

Franklin's Gulls, always few and far between, were seen in 'normal' numbers
with 9 sightings sprinkled through May. A gleaming adult LAUGHING GULL
heading north on May 17th was my first record for the site and a rarity
around here. The usual numbers of shearwaters (Sooty and Pink-footed) and
Black-footed Albatross were seen regularly from shore. The only MANX
SHEARWATER, and first since 1996 passed north 800-1000 meters from shore on
April 28.

A few things many birders might not notice, but it was also my perception
that northbound migrant Glaucous-winged Gulls were vastly more numerous than
previous seasons at this central California site -- about 10X above the
previous 5-year average.

And another thing PNW birders might want to watch for when birding the coast;
Brown Pelicans and Heermann's Gulls. Have any arrived yet? I'd almost be
surprised if either has. In a typical Spring, squadrons of Brown Pelicans
dispersing from Baja are moving north daily and always heading north past
Piedras Blancas through the month of May. None apart from locals are heading
south. On some days, there would be a northward push of Brown Pelicans. On
others, all these same tight squadrons would be seen moving SOUTH. Hundreds.
It was almost like they were finding the water much too cold for their
liking and there was much reluctance to the idea of going north at all. The
'La Nina' effect? So, it might be of interest to pay attention to Brown
Pelican penetration levels at the usual PNW localities during 1999, noting
arrival dates and numbers to see how they compare to past years and
especially the 'El Nino' year (1997-98). Mike Patterson; this is in your
department as you monitor the Columbia River jetty area and to others in the
Gray's Harbor / Westport / Ocean Shores area.

Ditto, Heermann's Gulls. Scores are usually passing Piedras Blancas by the
end of May. They were exceedingly scarce at this location all Spring this
year. This despite the reported NESTING of this species near Monterey this
Spring!

Point Piedras Blancas is a magnet for the unexpected. Stray passerines and
other things tend to pop in and pop out and seldom linger long. Some
highlights for the 'yard list' this season included White-fronted Goose,
Harlequin Duck, Cattle Egret, Calliope and Costa's Hummingbird, Yellow-headed
Blackbird, Great-tailed Grackle, Lawrence's Goldfinch. These aren't rarities
of great significance, but their occurrence on this isolated wind swept point
of land is notable.

However, the winner for the season was the presence of an adult male INDIGO
BUNTING which illuminated my back yard feeding station which consists of the
entire a 20X20 foot mowed portion of the yard from May 26-28. It's munchie
of choice was millet. Any blue bird in my yard amidst the usual assortment
of House Finches, White-crowned Sparrows, and blackbirds is a startling and
immediate eye-catching contrast, especially one as electric neon blue as an
adult male Indigo Bunting which was also my first record of the species for
the site. Fortunately for the SLO County 'year listers', this one was
accommodating enough to stay put in plain and easy view for all to see to
their satisfaction.

I'm in town through June as I continue to figure and sort out my life again,
then off for Alaska (right whale investigations in Bristol Bay) in July, and
dolphin surveys in the Eastern Tropical Pacific 'til mid-December. I'm
currently NOT receiving 'tweeters' postings but follow it all on the web.
The Xantus's Hummingbird flame wars these past months has been 'entertaining'
....at others expense. No comment. Any death threats yet???? :-))) Later
kids --- Richard Rowlett

Richard Rowlett (Pterodroma at aol.com)
Bellevue, WA