Cape Flattery Seawatch
18 July 2007
0515-0650 hrs.
Fog over the strait but generally good visibility from Tatoosh Island to the
south. Seas just two feet with virtually no wind. Time between 0600-0650
mostly spent counting Cassin's Auklets as they streamed by heading N.

MANX SHEARWATER (1) white undertail and face pattern seen well in prolonged
flight view
Brown Pelican (11)
Double-crested Cormorant
Pelagic Cormorant
Surf Scoter (~30)
White-winged Scoter (~10)
Peregrine Falcon (4) one had a small dark seabird, Cassin's Auklet?
Black Oystercatcher (7)
Whimbrel (13)
Western Sandpiper (14)
Parasitic Jaeger (1)
Heermann's Gull (~40)
Glaucous-winged Gull
Common Murre (1000+)
Pigeon Guillemot (50+)
Marbled Murrelet (12)
Cassin's Auklet (1011) flying north in small flocks ranging from just one up
to forty birds
Rhinocerous Auklet (hundreds)
Tufted Puffin (14)
Black Swift - several present & calling overhead most of the time, no more
than three seen/heard at once
Red Crossbill (10) several present & calling most of the time
-------
Sea Otter (1)
Harbor Porpoise (1)
Steller's Sea Lion (20+)


Some other highlights from the past few days:
7/17
LEACH'S STORM-PETREL - 1 mid-morning in fog bank N of Tatoosh Island. While
they do breed on Tatoosh, they are generally only present in the middle of
the night and spend their days far offshore.
Wandering Tattler - 1 at Point of Arches
-------
Orca - 40+ near Point of Arches

7/18 - Bottle Beach at high tide
Semipalmated Plover (1)
Short-billed Dowitcher (15)
Marbled Godwit (5)
Whimbrel (3)
Greater Yellowlegs (2)
Western Sandpiper (400) one was caught by a Sharp-shinned Hawk and carried
off
Least Sandpiper (5)
Dunlin (1)

7/19 - Grays Harbor mouth
Wandering Tattler - 3
Common Murre - 8774


Good Birding,
Ryan Merrill
Kirkland, WA