Subject: [Tweeters] re: stream of birds
Date: Aug 8 22:59:30 2012
From: Dianna Moore - dlmoor2 at coastaccess.com


Hi all...The stream of Sooty Shearwaters has claimed the attention of many
people; several postings have appeared here in the past few weeks. This is
a yearly occurance...at least in the 14 years I have lived here in Ocean
Shores...but this year the numbers seem to be greater than any I can
remember. After taking a few days off (too many people on the beach all
weekend), I have been out there around 5PM-ish each evening, and they are
still streaming by in huge numbers. This afternoon they were headed north,
and even with my binos I could only see a few headed south. But just behind
the mass of flying birds was a large number resting on the surface of the
water. Last night (Tuesday) I watched as they flew south.

For those unfamiliar with their habits, they also stream into the mouth of
Grays Harbor and have been known to go upriver/East towards Aberdeen as
well as "around the bend" into the North Bay, though I am only going on
hearsay with the east-flying birds.

I asked the folks at COASST about this a few years back and was given the
link to an interesting article out of UC Santa Cruz about their migration
patterns. http://currents.ucsc.edu/06-07/08-14/shearwaters.asp There is a
little bit about their feeding patterns, but they don't really talk much
about the numbers here in Washington as much as off the coast of
California. Still, it is an interesting article about these remarkable
birds.

Dianna Moore
Ocean Shores, Wa.
dlmoor2 at coastaccess.com
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