Greetings Tweeters,
Yesterday morning on the way to Forks I stopped off briefly along the coast north of Kalaloch. Several recent posts to Tweeters had noted large numbers of birds (probably sooty shearwaters) streaming north through this area. I also got a phone call last Friday from a friend who mentioned phenominal numbers of birds (probably shearwaters) along with a lot of activity (Orca, etc.) in this area. Evidently this has been going for a while and cerainly prior to this recent weather change and onshore push.

Anyway I stopped at the unnamed turn in along Highway 101 north of Beach 4 and the big cedar tree. There were large numbers of Sooty Shearwaters moving northward just offshore. The main concentration (and perhaps all) spanned a relatively narrow band from just beyond the breakers to about 1/2 mile out. I estimated about 4,000 birds per minute passing my viewing area, and watched for about 30 minutes without seeing the beginning or end of this line. I felt that 4,000/min was reasonable, but if anything on the low side. So that would indicate that at a minimum 120,000 birds passed with no end in sight on either side. Pretty amazing. In the group that I observed were 2 different MANX SHEARWATERs (seen well), and 1 completely white headed Sooty. This marks about the 4th or 5th time I have noted Manx in this vicinity, making it possibly the best place to search for this species from shore in my opinion.

A caution to would be Manx searchers, in a mass of birds like this a Coomon Murre could suggest that species initially and with less than optimal looks. The real thing should not be a problem with decent views. By the way, the usual suspects are also out there in typical numbers, but are overshadowed by the shearwater show. There are also good numbers (thousands) of gulls on the beach at Kalaloch and the beach to the north. I did not have time to stop and sort through them. Who knows what might be in there with them.

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