Hey All,
Sorry I didn't get this out sooner, but I'm really busy. Excited from the reports of the Sooty's elsewhere I fit in a drive to the hook, in hopes of getting my county Sooty Shearwater. The viewing conditions were excellent, without a ripple on the water. I meandered my way east on the drive, stopping to count gulls and look for shorebirds. When I reached the tip and set my scope up, the first bird I saw was a Sooty Shearwater. It threw me for a loop sort of, since it barely glided at all, but with no wind what so ever, none of the birds were doing their sloping glides, but flapping strongly, with intermittent flat glides. Most of the birds I observed were about 500 meters out, definitely not making any Short-taileds out, but had a few birds come close enough to definitively call them Sootys. In about 10 minutes I watched approximately 75 fly west, with some taking part in the ephemeral gull frenzies that transpired, but mostly it seemed that
they were on the move. I was late, or I would have stayed all day!
Fewer California Gulls today
Fun Stuff,
Drew Wheelan
Port Angeles, WA
Check out my Mt Baker Banked Slalom Video at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PggfAB1d2o
and,
stay tuned for www.soccerzulu.org
and
www.drewtube.net
it's gonna be off the hook!