Subject: Mottled Petrel at Ocean Shores
Date: Nov 26 20:53:53 2000
From: Alan J. Knue - bluecrow at home.com


Hello Tweets:

Today Alan Grenon and I drove in the rain to try and find Short-tailed
Shearwaters off of Ocean Shores. We arrived around 9:40 am at the Ocean
Shores jetty, where we watched from my car in the parking lot. The
weather: low clouds, mid to upper 40's and slight to heavy rain. Soon
after arriving we saw an identifiable Short-tailed, crossing from south
to north. Several Black-legged Kittiwakes were also seen then, including
two or three first-winter birds. In the next hour, as the tide poured
into Gray's Harbor, we tallied more shearwaters, most too low over the
water or too far out to identify. We also saw our first Northern Fulmar,
a fairly dark mottled individual. A short time later a light-phase
fulmar flew by in its 'slow', arching manner. Then, a close Red
Phalarope, more fulmars (we saw at least 6), kittiwakes, and our first
really good bird- an immature Sabine's Gull- flying right along the
jetty from the harbor towards the jetty point. At this point we knew it
was a pretty special day, and hung around to see what else showed up...

Good thing we did. Around 11:00, a bird flew by swiftly, in a very high
arching manner, its general form suggestive of a fulmar- thicker bodied,
bigger headed than the shearwaters; although we didn't get the best
look, this bird had what appeared to be a dark 'm' across its wings and
back. Not long after, another bird flew by in the same swift,
rollercoaster-ride manner, but this one was much closer, and this bird
definitely had a very distinctive dark-grey 'm' across its wings and
back, reminiscent of an immature kittiwake. I wasn't sure as to this
bird's identity, although I thought I glimpsed a dark smudgy belly,
contrasting with its white chin and throat. I thought to myself, yeah
right, a Mottled Petrel this close inshore. I mentioned this possibility
to Alan, and we laughed it off as one of those that got away...Boy, were
we wrong. Around 12:00, as huge waves were crashing over the jetty and
the tide surged into the harbor, a group of tubenoses flew toward the
jetty, in the same high-arching manner of those two early birds.
Immediately we noticed that all of these birds were the same species,
and that there was seven of them. Later the same birds or others- we saw
at least ten at one time around 1:45, but were never sure how many total
Mottled Petrels we saw (see below)- flew at varying ranges affording us
good to excellent looks.

Description: A medium sized tubenose, cigar-shaped, somewhat large
headed; short, stout dark bill; longish pointed wings; and medium
length, tapering tail. Appeared longer-tailed and smaller in size than
Northern Fulmar; heavier bodied and stouter billed than shearwaters.
Flight characterized by very fast high arching flight, subject to quick
changes in direction and height, like on a rollercoaster.

Upperparts: medium grey from forehead to rump, upper tail coverts and
lesser and medium wing covets, broken by a dark bar across the lower
back. There was a darker smudge on the ear coverts, and the upper
surface of the tail seemed a shade darker than the rump and tail
coverts. The upper wing was dark grey from the outer primaries and outer
forewing to the wrist and across the greater secondary coverts to the
lower back, forming the distinctive 'm'; the inner primaries were a
slightly lighter grey than the outer primaries; the secondaries were a
shade lighter than the general medium grey of the upperparts.

Underparts: smudge of dark grey across the belly, contrasting with the
bright white of the chin, throat, chest, undertail coverts, and most of
the underwing. Also present was a contrasting dark grey bar formed by
what appeared to be the primary coverts to the middle secondary coverts.

Bareparts: The bill and eyes were blackish.

What were these birds doing so close to the shore? Good question. The
birds did seem to suddenly appear when the tide and wind was at it's
highest, and then disappear just as suddenly when the tide began to flow
swiftly out of the harbor- by 2:30 the birds that we could still see,
identified by the height they'd reach at the top of each arch, were too
far out to identify, had we not known what they were... maybe they were
following a food source- we saw at least one drop down to pick something
off of the water.

How many were there? Because of the wind and rain, we couldn't stay
outdoors for long, so if all of the petrels kept circling back from
north of the jetty, which we know some did, we are not sure. In any
case, we did count 10+ at one time.

What a truly bizarre experience. Never had either of us dreamed of
seeing a Pterodroma from land, getting as good views as we did and for
such an extended period of time. By the way, we did try calling the
Birdbox around 2:00pm, in case others could swing by and see the birds.
Unfortunately the phone at the resort close to the jetty wasn't working
well or at all, and when we went back to look at the birds one last time
before heading into Ocean Shores, the birds were beginning to move
further out to sea. By 2:30 we could barely see them. We returned to the
jetty around 3:30-3:45, and we didn't see a single tubenose.

I'm curious to know if they show up tomorrow around high tide-
unfortunately I will not be able to follow-up on this sighting. Good
luck to those who may try!

Cheers, Alan K.
--
______________________________
Alan J. Knue
bluecrow at home.com
Seattle, WA