One unsolved mystery about pelagic seabirds in the NE Pacific is the enigma
of the Manx Shearwater. First apparently detected or at least positively
identified in south coastal Alaska in June 1975 (Kessel and Gibson, 1978), it
has become an annual visitor to the North American West Coast albeit generally
regarded as rare and always noteworthy ever since. Most sightings are in
very near coastal waters where it is more often seen right from shore based
viewing locations from California to British Columbia to Alaska than from more
distant offshore waters and pelagic trips, often associated with large moving
masses of Sooty Shearwaters, and sometimes entirely alone and not associated
with anything else. Washington State is certainly no exception given the
number of sighting reports by birders which have been posted on "Tweeters" and
appeared in "WOS News" and other ornithological outlets in recent years.

Thus, it would appear that there are a significant number of Manx
Shearwaters present such that it has become a routine expectation in the NE Pacific
during the Spring and Summer months and lends some logical question as to the
possibility of a small, likely VERY small, yet sustainable breeding colony
having developed somewhere. Indeed, one tantalizing report from British Columbia
was that of an audio tape recording suggestive of a Manx Shearwater recorded
in a burrow on Triangle Island (50.6N, 129.5W) in July 1994 (Force, et.al.,
2006). Maybe so. However, I would like to suggest another possibility that
looks and seems tantalizingly promising. How about Destruction Island, an
isolated island 3-1/2 miles off Ruby Beach and Olympic Coast off Washington
State?

Why Destruction Island? I have just returned from a 2-week marine mammal
and seabird survey of the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary (OCNMS)
aboard the NOAA R/V "McArthur II" where we encountered no less than 6 Manx
Shearwaters all within one half to one nautical mile off Destruction Island on June
17. Five were in a flock flushed from the water off the west side and the
other was a lone bird flying about off the east side. Interestingly, with this
recent 2008 sighting, there were no other tubenose seabirds, not even a
single Sooty Shearwater, Northern Fulmar, or storm petrel within literally miles!
Just a bunch of Manx Shearwaters and a sprinkling of Rhinoceros and
Cassin's Auklets, Marbled and Ancient Murrelets, and Tufted Puffins, and precious
few gulls of any kind, none of which were associated. This is not without
precedence either. In June 2000 and the only other time I participated on this
very same annual OCNMS survey, we encountered a flock of 6-8 Manx Shearwaters
very near that same spot off Destruction Island. The June 2000 sightings
were also flushed from the water and in the company of large rafts of Sooty
Shearwaters. In both 2000 and 2008, these sightings occurred late in the day
around 7pm, and a time of day when some species of procellariforms (tubenose
seabirds) start to flock up and 'stage' for resting and socializing before
heading to their island burrows under the safety cover of darkness.

Having never actually been on Destruction Island, but looking at it from the
sea and more recently perusing both aerial and on island photographs found
online, the island looks perfectly suitable to me. Destruction Island is
presently a part of what is called the Quillayute Needles National Wildlife
Refuge (NWR) and all part of a something called the Washington Islands NWR and
Washington Islands Wilderness. One issue if it still is an issue particularly
on Destruction Island has been the undesirable presence European Rabbits
(_Oryctolagus cuniculus_) which were apparently introduced around 1970 and quickly
became a serious pest altering the island's plant communities and disrupting
the breeding of burrow-nesting Rhinoceros Auklets and anything else that
might be a burrow nester. Recognizing this, attempts to eliminate the rabbits
in the late 1970's using carrots treated with zinc phosphide were apparently
unsuccessful as was reported by Aubrey and West (1984) in a report to evaluate
the impact of rabbits on the island. From Aubrey and West's 1984 report, it
sounded like an ugly scene out there with rabbit pellets strewn over every
square meter, everywhere vegetation clipped close to the ground, and the
island slopes undermined with rabbit burrows and covered over runways. Anyway,
that was 1984 and I am unaware of what the status is out there now and in the
nearly 25 years since, but superficially judging from my view from the ship
and from what appear to be relatively recent photos found online, the
environmental conditions appear improved. I don't know, that's just a guess but I
would imagine that there have been visitations and various research work done
intermittently out there during these past years so maybe someone out there in
'tweeter-land' with connections to WDFW, USFWS, and/or area Universities
would have knowledge or access to updated information they might be willing to
share.

In any event, I think as my first choice, Destruction Island might be worth
closer examination for evidence suggesting a possible small breeding colony
of Manx Shearwaters. If not Destruction Island, there are more than 600 other
islands, islets, pinnacles, and rocklets exposed along the Washington Outer
Coast to explore, but that search could be narrowed down to just a few
including the five other significant islands (Ozette, Bodelteh, Tatoosh, Alexander,
and Carroll) plus perhaps a few of the larger and better vegetated islets
and stacks which may or may not even be humanly accessible.

It would also be interesting to know if anyone else over the years has
encountered multiple Manx Shearwaters seemingly just hanging around in those
nearshore waters off Destruction Island or elsewhere between there and Cape
Flattery. To the various people who apparently are out in our coastal waters from
time to time doing Marbled Murrelet work and likely other things, maybe you
have seen those little black and white shearwaters and never really thought
much about it or them and they weren't recorded anywhere. Perhaps we in all of
our various research and monitoring disciplines should familiarize
ourselves specifically with the Manx Shearwater and prioritize it to a dedicated
watch list similar to that which is done for the Short-tailed Albatross. It
would be quite a nice feather in our cap (no pun intended) if we could actually
solve the mystery of what exactly the Manx Shearwaters are quietly doing in
our coastal waters. The answer might be right on our doorstep.

References cited:

Aubrey, K.B., and S.D. West. 1984. The status of native and introduced
mammals on Destruction Island, Washington. The Murrelet 65:80-83.

Force, M., K. Morgan, and J. Jantunen. 2006. Manx Shearwater in British
Columbia: comments on a pioneering seabird. Wildlife Afield 3:1 (June 2006),
5-11.

Kessel, B., and D.D. Gibson. 1978. Status and distribution of Alaska birds.
Studies in Avian Biology No.1. Cooper Ornithological Society, Berkeley, CA.
100pp.

*******************************
Richard Rowlett
Bellevue (Eastgate), WA
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