Greetings all,

Well the final Westport Seabird Pelagic Trip for 2002 went out with a bang.
The weather was pretty decent offshore with it being overcast for much of
the day, with a few periods of wind, but overall the seas were calm. We had
a good crew of spotters on board. Actually, every single leader for
Westport Seabirds was on the boat, including Bill Tweit, Bruce LaBar, Gene
Revelas, Scott Mills, Michael Donahue, Bill Shelmerdine, and myself. So
there was no way we were going to miss any birds in the area,
(Theoretically) with a 2.5:1 ratio of trip participants to spotter ratio.
(We all gathered for the final trip to discuss next year's schedule).
The highlight of the trip, definitely has to be a Brown Booby we encountered
sitting on a floating log over Gray's Canyon. It appeared to be an adult
bird, and NOT the brewsteri race.
Heading due west to Grays Canyon, we passed the bird sitting on a log at a
distance. And since it was so calm, we were able to pick the log out with
the strange bird sitting on it. So we turn the boat around, and head for
it. At a distance, we didn't know what to expect looking at a large bird in
an upright posture. Was this some hawk sitting on a log out in the middle
of the ocean? I thought to myself.... Then we get closer to the bird, and
Bruce says, while still at some distance with the birds back to us "I think
its either a Frigatebird or a Booby" I concur, with the Booby part, I can
see the bill fairly well, and ran for my camera mumbling to the other
spotters. "we have a brown booby, we have a brown booby!" Getting louder
each time I say it.
We get closer, and maneuver around to see the front of the bird, and get
fairly close to the bird without spooking it. An interesting shade of
yellow to the beak and feet, and highly demarcated line separating the brown
upperparts with the bright white belly. The bird appeared to be an adult,
but we need to do more research on race, examining photographs and digital
video taken of the bird. We watched it for quite some time before finally
backing off. It was a very special bird for both Bruce LaBar and Bill
Tweit, as it was their 400th State bird! Congrats you two!
As we began to depart the booby, it took off, so we were able to view the
bird in flight which was really neat. Only the 2nd state record for
Washington, and a 1st for Westport Seabirds. Funny thing is, about a month
ago, we made up a top 10 list of potential new birds for Westport Seabirds,
and Brown Booby wasn't even an afterthought.... Oh well.
The rest of the day was pretty decent. Lots of Cassin's Auklets and
Rhinoceros Auklets. Northern Fulmar was the most common Tubenose with
several hundred birds seen, with the first flying parallel with the Westport
Jetty as we headed out, and many more very close to shore. A few
Flesh-footed Shearwater, 6 South Polar Skuas, a handful of Pomarine Jaegers
and Parasitic Jaegers. Almost more Buller's Shearwaters than Sooty
Shearwaters (around 120 Bullers,) 90 or so Black-footed Albatross and a few
Fork-tailed Storm-Petrels and Sabine's Gulls.

I'll get the final numbers up within a week.
Look for a revised webpage for Westportseabirds coming soon.
Cheers and Good Birding
Ryan Shaw

----Ryan Shaw
----Lacey, Washington
----rtshaw80 at hotmail.com
----(360) 491-1084
----AIM: RTShaw80


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