Greetings All,



Yesterdays Westport Seabirds trip was an excellent trip by several measures. We encountered great conditions with calm seas, good birds, and one of the best marine mammal experiences I?ve had. I will just recount a few highlights here, official results will be posted to the Westport Seabirds Website within a couple of weeks. This trip was one of the outer slope trips, intended to spend additional time in the deeper water beyond the shelf edge. At this location and time of year, the main target species is Leaches Storm Petrel.



The trip out started on the slow side. It took a while to encounter the first Sooty Shearwaters, which seemed to be a bit further offshore than usual. Eventually we passed through a number of large flocks, and scanning into the distance produced a few thousand birds. In this area we usually find large numbers of Common Murres, yesterdays numbers were remarkably low. Pink-footed Shearwaters showed up as we got further out on the shelf. We found South Polar Skua early, with couple of very cooperative birds sitting on the water. We tallied 8 for the day, a good June total. Near the shelf edge we found Black-footed Albatross, Fork-tailed Storm Petrel, and Northern Fulmar. Many were attending a commercial fishing boat (whiting). Beyond the inner edge of the canyon we encountered more storm petrels, Cassin?s Auklets, and couple of cooperative Tufted Puffins in their full breeding attire. The first Leaches Storm Petrels showed up near 125 and the traditional chum spot. We continued several miles to see what the deep water would produce. It was a pretty quiet chum stop.



We left the deep chum spot around 1100. At this point we had already seen most or all of the expected species and had run up a pretty good mammal total. About 3 miles in from the chum spot we noted a lot of activity on the water and few sterna terns in the distance overhead. Turning the boat to investigate, we quickly came upon a basic plumaged HORNED PUFFIN that stayed on the water for great looks. While distracted by the puffin, we noticed that we were pretty much surrounded by marine mammals. Over 100 Pacific White-Sided Dolphin, 80 Northern Right Whale Dolphin, Several Humpback Whales, and a Northern Fur Seal were in the immediate area. The dolphins (both species) gave us quite a show with plenty of aerobatics and approaches right up to the boat. This was a hard place to leave. (We never really did get onto the terns, though we did have one Parasitic Jeager chasing a tern in the distance).



You could say the trip back was anti-climatic but I wouldn?t. We pretty much had birds all the way back with a good variety of species and good numbers. Some spectacular feeding and breaching displays by Humpback Whales added a lot to the experience. A summary of the mammals included Humpback Whales (25-30), Minke Whale, Pacific White-Sided Dolphin, Northern Right Whale Dolphin, Dalls Porpoise, Harbor Porpoise, Northern Fur Seal, Steller?s Sea Lion, Elephant Seal, and Harbor Seal. (This does not even count the large California Sea Lion bull hanging out in the boat basin.). Fish included several Blue Sharks (some quite large) and Mola Mola. All and all, it was a great day on the water. Who says June is the slow month? Thanks to skipper Phil Anderson and Chris Anderson for a great trip. Spotters for the trip included Scott Mills, Mike Donahue, and me.



Bill Shelmerdine

Olympia WA

mailto: georn1 at hotmail.com

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