Tweeters,

As a follow-up to Dave Hayden's earlier message, my wife and I also
encountered huge numbers of Sooty Shearwaters in Gray's Harbor County
today. While walking the beach from Moclips to Pacific Beach, we observed
a steady passage of shearwaters flying northward just beyond the surf line
about a hundred yards offshore. The birds were streaming by when we
arrived at 10:50 a.m. and continued non-stop for the entire hour and 45
minutes that we were on the beach. During the first hour, I would
estimate a minimum of 25 birds per second, or 1,500 birds per minute, were
flying by. This would be a minimum of roughly 90,000 birds. During the
last 45 minutes, numbers eventually declined to about half this volume for
roughly another 40,000 birds.

We then drove to Griffiths-Priday State Park at Copalis Beach about 6
miles to the south and found shearwaters passing by steadily there also
between 1:10 and 1:30 p.m. in what was surely part of the same long line
of birds flying northward. I estimated a passage rate of 5-10 birds per
second, or 300-600 birds per minute. I'd conservatively guess there were
several hundred thousand shearwaters in the area today, and perhaps many
more. It was a very memorable sight.

Can anyone tell me if this is normal behavior for shearwaters at this time
of year? Does anyone attempt regular shearwater counts along the
Washington-Oregon coast?

Gary Wiles
Tumwater, WA
wilesharkey at yahoo.com


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