While participating in our twice-monthly COASST survey in Ocean Shores
yesterday my partner, Kathleen Wolgemuth and I were startled to see what we
believe were tens of thousands of Sooty Shearwaters about 300 yds offshore.
They were both flying and sitting on the water, but we could not tell if
they were feeding. I had read in Sibley's book that "millions" congregate
but never expected to see the numbers we saw. The conditions were overcast
with wind out of the north/northwest at about 12-15 mph, and the time was
approximately 6:45pm when we first noticed them. We were able to see birds
from our position near the Marine View Dr. access path to at least the north
jetty. I can only scoff at the car commercials that tout the latest
gas-guzzling beast as "awesome". The numbers of birds visible to our
eyes...now THAT was awesome! Does anyone out there know what prompts this
behavior?
Dianna Moore
Ocean Shores, Wa.
dlmoor2 at coastaccess.com