South Jetty of the Columbia River, Clatsop Co., OR
14 June 2001 1000-1115hr

It was alcid city off the SJCR this morning.

I did about 20 mins worth of timed seawatching when the XANTUS'
MURRELET flew by at which point I abandoned the protocol and
walked an additional 0.5km out on the jetty to see if I could
relocate it (I didn't).

I don't think I've ever seen so many RHINOCEROS AUKLETS off the
jetty before. They were in groups of 2-6. There was a group of
3 CASSIN'S AUKLETS, a flyby group of 4 MARBLED MURRELETS and a
surprise flyby RED-NECKED PHALAROPE.

SOOTY SHEARWATERS were going by in numbers normally associated
with the fall movement. I am also quite amazed at the persistance
of BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKES (including a few adults) this late
into the season.

Todd Thornton, who was leaving as I arrived (and is currently
off line due to a computer failure), saw a SHORT-EARED OWL
hunting over the shorebird ponds and a PARASITIC JAEGER.

Tide:low
Weather: Wind W 10-15; Temp 50F

Common Loon COLO 4
Pacific Loon PALO 10-30/min; several 100 on the water
Sooty Shearwater SOSH 250-300/min
Brandt's Cormorant BRCO 10+
Pelagic Cormorant PECO 3
DC Cormorant DCCO 15
Brown Pelican BRPE 5
Surf Scoter SUSC 8
White-wing Scoter WWSC 2
Black Scoter BLSC 1
West Gull WEGU
GW Gull GWGU
WxGW Gull WExGW
Ring-billed Gull RBGU
California Gull CAGU 400 (just on beach; others not counted)
Blk-leg Kittiwake BLKI 17+
Caspian Tern CATE 1000+
Red-neck Phalarope RNPH 1
Common Murre COMU 1000+
Pigeon Guillemot PIGU 15
Rhinoceros Auklet RHAU 16+
Marbled Murrelet MAMU 4
XANTUS' MURRELET XAMU 1
Cassin's Auklet CAAU 3

Details on the Xantus' will follow.

--
Mike Patterson Alas, to wear the mantle of Galileo,
Astoria, OR it is not enough to be persecuted
celata at pacifier.com by an unkind establishment,
you must also be right.
---Robert Park
http://www.pacifier.com/~mpatters/bird/bird.html