It was a great day offshore this past Saturday August 20th from Westport
Washington. The Monte Carlo left the dock at 6:00AM with overcast skies and
good sea conditions. There was hardly any wind as we made our way over the
bar of Grays Harbor.

SOOTY SHEARWATERS were observed leaving the harbor as flocks of HEERMANN'S
GULLS began feeding in the rip tide. A recently arrived BLACK-LEGGED
KITTIWAKE flew over the boat as several PIGEON GUILLEMOTS flew by in the
distance.

After we crossed the bar, we started encountering large flocks of COMMON
MURRES. SOOTY SHEARWATER numbers remained high up throughout our voyage
westward. At about 20 miles out, we encountered our first HUMPBACK WHALES
breaching, rolling on their sides waving their pectoral fins, and lunging
out of the water with their mouths open.

After observing the whales for about 20 minutes, we continued on westward
finally encountering our first PINK-FOOTED SHEARWATER of the day quickly
followed by the first BULLER'S SHEARWATER gliding gracefully by. Soon we
motored up towards a shrimp boat which had a variety of seabirds behind it,
including our first BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS of the day. Several NORTHERN
FULMAR were also behind the boat amongst an increased number of PINK-FOOTED
SHEARWATERS and a few BULLER'S SHEARWATERS.

Leaving the shrimper and heading farther west, a dark shearwater was soaring
towards the boat in a way that didn't resemble a Sooty Shearwater. As it
got closer, its pink bill confirmed my suspicions in it being a FLESH-FOOTED
SHEARWATER, our first of the year! It landed on the water, being harassed
by a young CALIFORNIA GULL which allowed all on board to get some great
looks.

After watching the fleshy for a while, we proceeded westward once again and
encountered a longliner at the edge of the undersea Gray's Canyon. Just
past the boat, there was a great spectacle of thousands and thousands of
SOOTY SHEARWATERS streaming by, one "cloud" contained at least 35 thousand
alone! A SOUTH POLAR SKUA put in an appearance briefly as a couple of
SABINE'S GULLS flew through the flock.

We finally stopped at our chum spot at 125 degrees west longitude and put
out a slick of cod liver oil and suet, which attracted a fair number of
shearwaters and gulls. A subadult PARASITIC JAEGER joined the fray landing
in the midst of the slick, and later on a RED PHALAROPE and FORK-TAILED
STORM-PETREL flew through it.

Heading back we encountered the same boats once again, observing
BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS, FULMARS and several species of SHEARWATERS. A young
of the year FORK-TAILED STORM-PETREL was observed well as we motored up
quite close to it sitting on the water. Closer in shore we hit a few rafts
of RED-NECKED PHALAROPES and finally back towards the Westport jetty where
several BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKES keping the 3 species of CORMORANTS company
along with a few rock shorebirds. All in all a great day at sea!

Offshore Numbers

Black-footed Albatross 33
Northern Fulmar 217
Pink-footed Shearwater 450
Flesh-footed Shearwater 4
Buller's Shearwater 85
Sooth Shearwater 67000+
Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel 5
Red-necked Phalarope 70
Red Phalarope 4
Pomarine Jaeger 1
Parasitic Jaeger 1
Jager sp. 1
South Polar Skua 4
California Gull 1063
Glaucous-winged/Western Gull 660
Sabine's Gull 19
Arctic Tern 4
Common Murre 4851
Rhinoceros Auklet 16
White-fronted Goose 20 (migrating offshore)
Northern Pintail 28 (migrating offshore)
Western Sandpiper 20 (offshore)
Least Sandpiper 3 (Offshore)
Brown-headed Cowbird 1 (juvie offshore at the shrimper)

Inshore
Common Loon 1
Brown Pelican 354
Double-crested Cormorant 5
Brandt's Cormorant 15
Pelagic Cormorant 25
Surf Scoter 1
Heermann's Gull 1010
Herring Gull 1
Black-legged Kittiwake 9
Pigeon Guillemot 69
Black Turnstone 12
Ruddy Tunrstone 2
Wandering Tattler 1

Mammals
Humpback Whale 11
Elephant Seal 1
Northern Fur Seal 1
Harbor Seal - 1
Harbor Porpoise 15
Dall's Porpoise 1

Fish
Blue Shark 15
Ocean Sunfish (Mola Mola) 8

For Westport Seabirds,

Ryan Shaw
Rtshaw80 at hotmail.com
www.westportseabirds.com