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Returned late last eve from Graysmarsh, and although that was not so
eventful for rarities, the 4th annual Port Angeles-to-Victoria ferry CBC,
held on Sunday, December 14th, was. This year I was accompanied on the
ferry ride by Ann Marie Wood of Mtlk. Terrace. We enjoyed pretty decent
weather on the way over, but had driving rain/wind shortly after the boat
left Victoria on the return, not letting up until we were about 3/4 of the
way back to PA.

The trend of this run producing hot rarities in December continues: I had a
brief view of a winter-plum. adult RED-FACED CORMORANT about 5-6 miles due
south of Victoria (and thus in BC waters), at the edge of a feeding flock of
175-200 Brandt's Cormorants and several hundred gulls in open water. I had
known RF Cormorant from AK in the 80s, and most especially from
Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskii, Kamchatka in the Russian Far East in the 90s,
when it was common from April to the end of October (and a few make it into
early winter). Although not generally known to be migratory on our side of
the Pacific, it is clearly so in the n.w. Pacific.

The view was brief but diagnostic: filtered/hazy sunlight caught the
irridescent dark green on the body, and I noted the long, bright
straw-yellow bill, the same color of a winter-plumaged YB Loon's, with a
dusky tip. The bird had a posture like Pelagic with head/bill pointed
upward. It was equally obvious that this bird sat as tall in the water as
the Brandt's with it; the head and bill were clearly larger than on Pelagic,
and the neck was plainly thicker as well, although interestingly, I had no
nearby Pelagics to compare it with--the flock was pure Brandt's otherwise.
The reddish face/lores were dull and not nearly so apparent as on a breeding
bird, but this is typical in winter plumage.

The bird was about 25 yards off the port side of the bow (at about 11:00
p.m. in callout terms), but quickly fell behind us, as the M/V Coho is fast,
going about 18 knots over flat open water. After quickly recognizing this
rarity, I shouted out to Ann covering the starboard side, she came over
quickly but was unable to spot the bird, which was no surprise given the
general melee of seabirds both in flight and over the water, and because it
was a matter of seconds before the bird passed by.

Other notable birds from the 40-species list seen on the run:

N. Fulmar 6 (2 light, 3 dark morphs, 1 intermediate; most in the middle
waters)
Red Phalarope 1 (spotted by Ann, middle waters)
Ancient Murrelet 8 (down from previous years)

Brandt's Cormorant was way up for numbers and there were more divers than
usual in Port Angeles harbor. Thayer's Gull was down some from recent
years. We had a sea-lion, sp., Harbor Seal, and significant counts of
Harbor Porpoise, which several times spotted the vessel and made for it, in
order to engage in their usual criss-crossing antics just ahead of the
fast-moving hull.

A last note for those considering the M/V Coho run: customs seemed to have
improved somewhat from the last two Decembers, the waiting line moving
quicker than previously.

Scott Atkinson
Lake Stevens
mail to: scottratkinson at hotmail.com

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