Subject: coastal bird notes
Date: Oct 21 12:52:25 2001
From: Netta Smith - nettasmith at home.com


Hello, tweeters.

Netta and I came back from Portland yesterday (10/20) via the outer coast
and saw lots of birds, although nothing rare.

The most striking thing was the numbers of some species. We popped out to
the coast at Seaside and visited the beach at several places between there
and the South Jetty of the Columbia. Everywhere we went to the beach there
were large numbers of Surf Scoters flying north. Hundreds and hundreds in
little flocks of from a few to 30 or more birds. I saw a couple of
White-winged Scoters with them, but very few. There could have been Black
Scoters mixed in, but I never saw any for sure. Only two others species
were doing the same thing, small numbers of Pacific Loons and Brown
Pelicans. Larger numbers of Brown Pelicans were flying south in little
groups.

At one beach stop north of Gearhart there was a big wheeling flock of 70 or
more Brown Pelicans fishing way out past the surf, a tremendous focus of
activity, reminding me of booby flocks I've seen in the tropics, with birds
going up into the air and diving almost immediately, sometimes 5-10 diving
at once. Gulls were wheeling around and feeding with them, mostly
California and Heermann's but a few larger Herring, Western, and
Glaucous-winged and a few Black-legged Kittiwakes. Loons and cormorants
would arrive at intervals and stop at the site.

I was impressed by the number of Herring Gulls resting on the beach and
flying around, more than I usually see on the WA coast, but it may be this
is the peak of their migration along the coast.

Farther north, at the platform overlooking the South Jetty, there was a huge
flock of 1500-2000 birds feeding in the same zone, a sight I've seen usually
behind fishing boats way out at sea. The flock was mostly Sooty Shearwaters
and California Gulls, but there were many, many Brown Pelicans and
Heermann's Gulls as well and smaller numbers of Brandt's and Pelagic
cormorants, Pacific and Red-throated loons, Common Murres, large gulls, and
kittiwakes. The shearwaters were a spectacular sight, as dozens would dive
into the water at once, and there was a constant milling about as the fish
school(s) moved slowly southward in front of us. I looked 'til I thought my
eyeballs would freeze for little black-and-white shearwaters or anything
else out of the ordinary, but no luck.

In this area many of the Surf Scoters were on the water, although many
continued to fly past heading north, and it was interesting to see that the
big flock of shearwaters, gulls, and pelicans caused the scoters to deviate
in all directions, flaring up into the air or farther out over the ocean -
no way they were going to fly through all those guided missiles.

At another stop, in a little estuary, I counted 125 Brown Pelicans sitting
on a sand bar along with hundreds of gulls, mostly California.

We drove around to the North Jetty, finally in Washington, and observed from
there for a while. There was very little activity in the Columbia River
(except see below), but with the spotting scope I could see a flock off the
end of the South Jetty similar to the one we had seen from the Oregon
viewing platform - perhaps the same birds. On the South Jetty was a long
line of Brown Pelicans and cormorants, hundreds of each I would say, with
the big dark triangles of sea lions scattered all through them. We saw a
few California Sea Lions near the North Jetty, and I think that's what was
on the south side.

The most prominent bird in the Columbia, all along it from Astoria west, was
the Brown Pelican. There were birds resting on the river, flying over it in
small flocks, and soaring high in the sky along with gulls (oh yes, also
lots of Double-crested Cormorants). I estimate we saw around 700 pelicans,
and I felt we were getting only a sample, that there must have been surely
in the low thousands in the area.

Finally, perhaps the biggest surprise of the day was in a flock of about 100
Ring-billed Gulls roosting on a land fill at South Bend - about 15 Caspian
Terns, 1/4 of them juveniles. This seemed quite late to me. We tried to
get the car closer to take photos of their wings (several researchers are
interested in their molting pattern), but all the terns lifted off the land
fill, as the gulls sat there in a ho-hum mode, and went out over Willapa Bay
to look for dinner.

Dennis Paulson
--
Netta Smith and Dennis Paulson
1724 NE 98 St.
Seattle, WA 98115