Westport Seabirds had a great day offshore yesterday, with an impressive diversity of species, and even more impressive numbers of birds. Sea and wind conditions were calm, and for the first time that I can remember, no one was seasick! There were no mega-rarities sighted, and for only the second time in 30+ years of running these trips, no albatross were seen. (The first time was on February 16, 2002.)



Only 12 NORTHERN FULMARS were tallied, which is a very low number for winter. However, 25 PINK-FOOTED SHEARWATERS, 2 FLESH-FOOTED SHEARWATERS and 89 SOOTY SHEARWATERS were both unseasonal and in unprecedented numbers.

We also had 7 SHORT-TAILED SHEARWATERS.



The real highlight of the trip was the alcid show: we tallied 9100 COMMON MURRES, and had 3100 CASSIN'S AUKLETS over Grays Canyon!! 37 ANCIENT MURRELETS were also spotted over the canyon.



Other species: 3 POMARINE JAEGERS (another good showing) and 400 BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKES.



Complete trip numbers will be posted on the Westport Seabirds web site (www.westportseabirds.com) in the next few weeks. The web site also has trip reports dating back to 1998, photographs of pelagic birds and mammals, and the 2003 trip schedule. Note that the March 8 trip is being rescheduled for later in the month; the exact date should be posted shortly.



Mike Donahue

Seattle

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