Our annual Westport Seabirds pelagic trip to Quinault and Grays canyon was
one of our best pelagic trips ever!! With a full boat of birders, calm sea
and low glare, we observed some great spectacles. First birdwise was the
first sighting for Washington of a Greater Shearwater. We spotted a group of
shearwaters on the water at about 45 miles out between the canyons. I noticed
one bird that had a darker head than the Pink-footeds that were main species.
We had been looking for Buller's and my first thought was that. We got
everyone on the bird and as we started slowly drifting towards the flock,
Michael Donahue and I noticed that the bird had a very dark cap, black bill
and a white collar, cheek and throat. We both realized that this was not a
Buller's and that it was a Greater. We got to within 50 feet of the bird and
noticed the brownish back feathers with white fringes that a gave it a scaled
appearance, which is classic for Greaters. The bird then came off the water
and we got to see the white band above the dark tail. Several birders got
some good photos.
There has been less than 5 records in Calif. and one record from British
Columbia.
Other birds of note were: 10 South Polar Skuas, all three jaegers, 2 Leach's
Storm-Petrel, several Tufted Puffins, good numbers of Cassin's Auklets, 1
Buller's Shearwater and the rest of the usual suspects.
The other MAIN highlight was observing over 450 Pacific White-sided Dolphins
plunge feeding with over 2000 shearwater following them!!!! The ocean was
just rippling with biomass. We also had a Humpback Whale give us a show next
to our boat for about 20 minutes
If you are interested in joining us on any remaining trips this year, check
our web site at www.westportseabirds.com.

Bruce LaBar
Tacoma, WA.
snyderlabar at aol.com