Greetings all,

The Westport Seabirds pelagic trip yesterday made it all the way out but we had some severe fog conditions for the entire trip, which made viewing very difficult as the birds were flying in and out of the fog.? As a result of the conditions, we did not keep a formal census, but we did have satisfactory views of most of the regularly occurring species save a few species of jaegers and alcids we normally see this time of year.?

The sea conditions were also a bit more rough then past trips this year and a total 180 degree turn from the calm seas of last weekend.?
However, we did have an impressive number of Leach's Storm-Petrels and Fork-tailed Storm-Petrels given the circumstances.? We also had a cooperative South Polar Skua which we kept running close to and flushing off the water before settling down a quarter mile ahead of us.? A few Sabine's Gulls and Arctic Terns broke through the fog long enough for most everyone to get decent looks and a couple of cooperative Humpback Whales were show stoppers, including one breaching several times about 100 yards away from the boat!

Offshore numbers:
Black-footed Albatross - 30
Northern Fulmar - 160
Pink-footed Shearwater - 80
Sooty Shearwater - 400
Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel- 220
Leach's Storm-Petrel - 60
Red Phalarope - 24
Sabine's Gull - 6
Arctic Tern - 5
South Polar Skua - 2
Rhinoceros Auklet - 6

Full estimated numbers will be up on the website soon.

For Westport Seabirds,

Ryan Shaw

www.westportseabirds.com
www.facebook.com/westportseabirds