Bill, Tweets,



Roberson?s Rare Birds of the West Coast (pg. 214) lists two earlier
hypoleucus records for Washington, a specimen 7 Aug 1947 and a sighting 11
Sep 1978. I distinctly remember the 1978 sighting but couldn?t find my notes
on it until today. We were at the shelf edge on a Terry Wahl trip when we
spotted three pairs in quick succession. Quoting my brief note: ?Xantus?
Murrelet (race hypoleuca!) 6 (3 pr, noted white in front & over eye). They
were feeding actively, diving but staying up for a decent length of time for
good viewing. The next trip offshore that year (October 8, 1978) recorded
nine pairs of Xantus?s Murrelets, all scrippsi. Roberson links these records
to a warm water regime in the late 1970s. A well known birder from Chicago
was on the boat and took photos, but he died not long thereafter. I can?t
recall his name. I made a sketch for the record, which I am still searching
for. The specimen record was apparently unknown to Jewett et al. It should
be in the WBRC archives.



Gene Hunn



?Three pair of Xantus' Murrelets, 40 mi off Westport Sept. 11 (TW, ?EH) were
studied at close range. The white under-wing was noted and the face pattern
sketched. All were the Guadelupe [sic.] I. form, B hypoleuca hypoleuca, for
the second Washington record and the northernmost ever. The nine pairs of
Xantus' seen on the Oct. 8 trip off Westport were all B. h. scrippsi (TW,
EH).? American Birds 33(2): 208, March 1979.





From: tweeters-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu
[mailto:tweeters-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of bill
shelmerdine
Sent: Friday, June 22, 2012 5:48 AM
To: tweeters
Subject: [Tweeters] Regarding Xantus's Murrelet in WA



Thinking about Charlie Wrights recent message to the Tweeters list serve
regarding Xantus's in Washington and changing status for ebird.... To the
best of my knowledge, nearly all of the Xantus's Murrelets that have been
seen well (as in other than a couple of brief fly-bys) in the past 15 years
or so on Westport Seabirds trips, have been of the Scripps's type. The lone
exception I know of is 2 birds seen on July 19, 2003. These were of the
hypoleucus type and are shown that way in ebird currently. I know of one
much older record for hypoleucus from Roberson 1980, but apart from that one
that is all the documented hypoleucus I know of. Anyone else know of other
hypoleucus sightings?

Bill Shelmerdine,Olympia
georn1 at hotmail.com