Subject: [Tweeters] Westport Pelagic Trip May 19 2012
Date: May 20 11:09:51 2012
From: Bruce Labar - blabar at harbornet.com


With an unbelievably calm sea and a low glare day, 19 pelagic birders plus leaders, Bill Shelmerdine, Michael Donahue, Ryan Shaw and I, enjoyed a fantastic day of birding.

The highlights include the following:
Black-footed Albatross-50
Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel-9
MANX SHEARWATER-1
Pink-footed Shearwater-17
Wandering Tattler-3, on rocks at jetty
Surfbirds-3, on rocks at jetty
Red Phalarope-100 plus, many in breeding plumage!
Sabine's Gull-40
Heermann's Gull-3 on the Westport jetty, my first of the year.
Common Tern-50
Ancient Murrelet-4
Cassin's Auklet-23
Tufted Puffin-1
Our mammal highlights were 1 Humpbacked Whale, who kept surfacing several times next to the boat, 6 Orca and a few Dall's Porpoise. My personal highlight was a large Salmon Shark,that due to calm waters stayed visable for all to see for several minutes!
The complete list of species and their numbers, plus excellent photos by Ryan Shaw, can be found on E-bird, our Facebook page and on our website: www.westportseabirds.com
Our next pelagic trip is scheduled for June 30th starting at 5:30 a.m. Reservations and any other information can be found on our website.
Come out and join us for an exciting adventure off our wonderful coast!

Bruce LaBar
Tacoma, WA
blabar at harbornet.com