Subject: [Tweeters] Olympic Peninsula outer coast,
Date: Aug 10 15:34:43 2007
From: bill shelmerdine - georn1 at hotmail.com


Greetings All,

Earlier this week I was in Forks. In transit I spent some time scanning the
outer coast, mostly between Kalaloch and Ruby Beach (Jefferson County). In
summary there is a lot of seabird activity along the coastal nearshore belt,
from at least the mouth of the Queets River to the mouth of the Quillayute
River (La Push). At every stop there were concentrations of birds, mixed
flocks working what I assumed to be schools of baitfish. Among the most
unusual sightings were a MANX SHEARWATER (MaSh) and a CLARKS GREBE (ClGr).
The Clarks Grebe was just beyond the surf line near the mouth of Kalaloch
Creek around 1000 Wednesday morning. The Manx Shearwater was seen from the
un-named gravel pull-in/ overlook between Beach 4 and Ruby Beach, seen from
1545 to about 1610 Thursday. There were a couple of Tufted Puffins offshore
in this same area.

Overall there were a lot of birds in the area, nearshore productivity looked
good. There were thousands of gulls in the area, with the vast majority
split between California and Heerman's Gulls. Aside from gulls, feeding
flocks contained a good mix of species, they were dominated by Rhinoceros
Auklets (RhAu) and Common Murres (CoMu). I estimated that rhino numbers
exceeded murre numbers. There were many individual feeding groups with 300
to 500 birds and continuous passage of small flocks of 5 to 20 RhAu/CoMu. I
estimated several thousand at least and likely into the 10,000 range, but I
did not spend time estimating numbers and there could have been many more.
Rounding out the alcid clan were a few Marbled Murrelets and good (average)
numbers of Pigeon Guillemots. Cormorants (Brant's and Pelagic), Loons
(Pacific, and Red-Throated), Scoters (White-winged and Surf), and Brown
Pelicans were scattered throughout the area.

Loon numbers were a bit of a surprise with 100 +/- Pacific Loons (mostly
basic or young), and a handful of Red-throated's in fine alternate plumage.
Shorebird numbers were low along the outer beach, but I did note several
Red-necked Phalarope offshore. As a side note, the number of young murres
was very low with very few seen considering the number of adult murres
around.

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

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