Greetings Tweeters,

Yesterday Westport Seabirds conducted its first pelagic trip of the season.
Spotters were Bill Tweit, Bruce Labar, and Bill Shelmerdine. Bar conditions
were thought to be a bit iffy at the beginning, but it turned out not to be
too bad and overall was a pretty good day offshore. No rarities were
encountered, but most of the regulars put in a show and there were several
remarkable sightings. Probably most unusual were the Rufous Hummingbird
30-plus miles out, the large flocks of Greater White-fronted Geese moving
north, and the pair of breeding plumage Long-tailed Ducks. We had great
looks at the latter two birds stunning! We had very nice looks at
Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel, Black-footed Albatross, and Sabines Gull at the
chum spot out at Grays Canyon.

As far as the pelagics go we encountered the following in what mostly seemed
like fairly typical numbers for the season (though a few species like
Northern Fulmar were in low numbers): Sooty Shearwater, Pink-footed
Shearwater, Black-footed Albatross, Northern Fulmar, Fork-tailed
Storm-Petrel, Red-necked Phalarope, Sabines Gull, Common Murre, Pigeon
Guillemot, Marbled Murrelet, Tufted Puffin, Rhinoceros Auklet, and Cassin's
Auklet. Single Black-legged Kittiwake and Pomerine Jeager were missed by
most, and a couple of sterna type terns were too far off to identify. There
were large numbers of Pacific Loons offshore as we encountered a good
northward push for that species. We had some great looks at some very nice
looking alternate plumaged birds.

A complete list with final species numbers will be put up on the Westport
Seabirds website within a couple of weeks.

Cheers and good birding,
Bill Shelmerdine
Olympia
mailto: georn1 at hotmail.com

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