All,
The Westport Seabirds crew for the October 1 trip included Skipper Phil Anderson and wife Chris, spotters Mike Donahue, Scott Mills, and Bill Shelmerdine, and guest spotter Bruce LaBar.

We headed out from the dock at the rather civil hour of 0700 with high expectations. There have not been that many October trips in the past (this is the first to get out in the past couple of years), but some really good birds have been found at this time of year. All of the expected species were seen, including what I thought was a really good showing by Cassin's Auklets. Otherwise, species totals seemed to be on the low side. Apparently the previous weeks unsettled weather has stirred things up and dispersed the shearwaters with no really large flocks encountered. A rough tally of species and numbers is included here, I am going from memory (always a bit problematic), as I don?t have the trip log in front of me. Official trip results with final numbers will be posted to Westport Seabirds website within a couple of weeks.

The trip out was a bit squirly with a lot of cross chop and irregular swell. By contrast the return was rather smooth. Downright decent actually, defying predicted weather conditions and producing no rain and little wind. Tubenose species were concentrated around the only fishing vessel encountered in from the outer part of the shelf/inner canyon and at the outer chum spot. Pelagic species included: Black-footed Albatross; Northern Fulmar; Sooty, Pink-footed (low number with less than 50), and Buller?s (3) Shearwaters; Fork-Tailed Storm Petrel; Red and Red-necked Phalarope; South Polar Skua (4); Pomerine, and Parasitic Jeagers; Cassin?s (400+) and Rhinoceros Auklets; Common Murre and one lingering Pigeon Guillemot; and 2 Black-legged Kittiwake in the harbor. Late in the day, Bruce and I noted one probable and decidedly uncooperative Short-tailed Shearwater that slipped away before others could really get on it (most people were tracking a Skua at the time). Marine Mammals included several Humpback Whales, Dall's (bow riding) and Harbor Porpoise, California Sea Lion and Harbor Seal.

We managed to finish out the trip by locating the two Bar-tailed Godwits within the large Marbled Godwit flock at the traditional high tide roost by the coast guard station. All in all a good trip despite no mega-rarities encountered. Thanks to all of the participants who contributed to a fun trip.

Bill Shelmerdine, Olympia
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