This from Tim Shelmerdine:

I cannot post to OBOL for some reason, so if you would
forward this, I would appreciate it. Thanks for the
chart you sent; see the GPS coordinates
below.

The BIRD GUIDE'S pelagic trip out of Ilwaco on Saturday,
Sept. 13th, had, as has been posted, a fantastic bird.

Almost directly west of the south jetty of the Columibia,
in 3000 feet of water over Astoria Canyon, we were
fortunately enough to observe a storm-petrel between
approximately 9:55 am and 10:35 am. The bird was only close
to the boat at one point, when it flew about 50' off the
storm as it came in to investigate our chum slick.

I was the first person to see a dark storm-petrel with a
white rump and called out "Leach's Storm-Petrel", as this
is the only white-rumped petrel I thought we might see.
Within a few second's I realized this was not a Leach's
(explanation follows) and I called out "Wilson's Storm-
Petrel." This bird hung around the far edges of the slick
for approximately the next 40 minutes. At least a couple
of people took photos, which may or may not prove to be good
enough to verify this sighting.

Location: about 20 miles west of the south jetty Columbia
River. G.P.S coordinates show this bird was seen in Oregon:
46 degrees, 14.24 ' N and 124 degrees, 24.76' W. This is
below the 46 degree 15.0' line I believe to be the boundary
between Oregon and Washington waters. (Thanks, Mike!)

Description: A small, blackish, storm petrel, with white on
the rump and extending onto lateral undertail coverts. The wings
were essentially blackish above, with no sign of the brownish
carpal bal visib;e on Leach's. The wings were also shorter and
more triangular in shape than the longer, "swept-back" appearance
of Leach's. I myself did not get good views of the underwings,
although what I did see confirmed them to be primarily dark. The
tail was fairly short and squared.

Behavior: This bird flew with a fluttery style, reminiscent of
Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel, although slower and more deliberate.
We saw it hover and patter its feet on the water, which while
not unique to Wilson's Storm-Petrel, is typical of this species,
and a behavior I have never seen in a Leach's.

I have seen 1000's of Fork-tailed Storm-Petrels, 12's of Leach's
Storm-Petrels and 4-5 Wilson's Storm-Petrels (off No. California).
As I mentioned above, I knew what this bird seconds after first
spotting it. I and the other guides are in complete agreement
as to the identification. When I write a report for the OBRC, I
will discuss in more detail how I eliminated other white rumped
storm-petrels.

If you have any questions, please feel free to e-mail me.
We will be posting a full trip report soon.

Next Bird Guide trip, Saturday, Sept 20th, out of Newport.

Sincerely,

Tim

--
Mike Patterson
Astoria, OR
celata at pacifier.com

I do not know which to prefer,
The beauty of inflections
Or the beauty of innuendoes,
The blackbird whistling
Or just after.

- Wallace Stevens

http://www.pacifier.com/~mpatters/bird/bird.html