I spent the morning hanging out with Troy Guy and Jen Zamon of
NOAA watching seabirds from the North Head Lighthouse. Stiff,
cold wind from the north.

There were remarkable jaeger nummbers today. I lost "official"
count of all the PARASITIC JAEGERS. I saw at least 8. I saw
1 POMARINE JAEGER at least one other was seen. I also saw a very
likely LONG-TAILED JAEGER chasing a Parasitic, so I got a good
size comparison - white belly, pale gray back, no flash to the
upper wings.

I also saw a smallish, short-winged shearwater from way too far
away that flew with rappid wing-beats and very short glides.
I was able to follow it for some time in my scope. My spider-sense
says BLACK-VENTED SHEARWATER, but it was just not a good enough
view at a distance.

Birds seen (in taxonomic order):

Northern Shoveler 17 [1]
Northern Pintail 2 [2]
Green-Winged Teal 12 [3]
Greater Scaup 20 [4]
Surf Scoter [5]
White-winged Scoter [6]
Black Scoter 2
Red-throated Loon [7]
Pacific Loon [8]
Common Loon
Western Grebe
Sooty Shearwater 1 [9]
Brown Pelican
Brandt's Cormorant
Double-crested Cormorant
Pelagic Cormorant
Pomarine Jaeger 1
Parasitic Jaeger 8 [10]
Long-tailed Jaeger 1 [11]
Heermann's Gull
Mew Gull
California Gull
Western Gull
Glaucous-winged Gull
Black-legged Kittiwake 2
Common Murre
Steller's Jay 2
Chestnut-backed Chickadee 6
Brown Creeper 1
Winter Wren 3
Golden-crowned Kinglet 12
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 2
Fox Sparrow 20
Song Sparrow 4
Golden-crowned Sparrow 4
Dark-eyed Junco 2
Red Crossbill 30

Footnotes:

[1] heading south
[2] south
[3] south
[4] south
[5] big numbers, way too many to keep track of
[6] big numbers, way too many to keep track of
[7] southbound
[8] southbound
[9] Troy saw several. I saw one. I also saw a smallish shearwater,
way out, that had a rapid-flap/short-glide flight style
[10] remarkable numbers
[11] probably this species, chasing a Parasitic

Total number of species seen: 37

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

Covering up the cock-up
http://www.surfbirds.com/blogs/mbalame/archives/004114.html