With foggy conditions greeting us as we left the harbor and with an on-coming wind and rain forecasted for the afternoon, 11 hardy pelagic birders still had a very successful trip. We really didn?t have many highlights going out in the fog except for a Manx Shearwater seen only by one of the spotters. Just before we reached 5 shrimp boats at about 20 miles from shore we probably had our rarest pelagic bird of the trip. It was a large bird, flying stiffly and hopefully toward land. It was not an albatross or pelican but a Great Blue Heron! We, who keep our 2 mile offshore pelagic list, were very thrilled because it was a first for us. At the shrimp boats, we had thousands of Pink-footed Shearwaters, Sooty Shearwaters and California Gulls. A few Black-footed Albatross, Northern Fulmars and Fork-tailed Storm-Petrels were first sightings for many of the birders. Five sightings of Pomarine Jaegers were the only jaeger/skuas recorded.
Because the winds really picked up and the seas were looking ugly, we had a short chumming time before heading back. One Sabine?s Gull was another highlight for several on board.
The mammal show was perhaps the highlight for many. We had 5 Humpback Whales, one that kept waving his flipper at us and one that kept breaching out of the water at a distance from the boat. In with two of the humpbacks, we encountered 85 Pacific White-sided Dolphins that rode our bow, flipped out of the water and stayed with us for quite awhile. One Northern Fur Seal and a few Harbor Porpoise were also seen.
Our next Westport Seabird trip is this coming Saturday, Aug. 15. There are still spaces available. If interested in joining us for any up-coming trips, please check our website for dates and reservations at www.westportseabirds.com
Leaders for yesterday?s trip were Ryan Shaw, Gene Revelas, Scott Mills and me. Boat personnel and spotters were Phil and Chris Anderson.

Trip list
Red-throated Loon-2
Black-footed Albatross-23
Northern Fulmar-47
Pink-footed Shearwater-3646 (our second highest count of all time)
Sooty Shearwater-11085
MANX SHEARWATER-1
Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel-184
Brandt?s Cormorant-64
Double-crested Cormorant-22
Pelagic Cormorant-15
Brown Pelican-2100
Great Blue Heron-1
Wandering Tattler-7 (at jetty)
Marbled Godwit-150 (in harbor)
Black Turnstone-5 (at jetty)
Red-necked Phalarope-3
Pomarine Jaeger-5
Common Murre-1393
Pigeon Guillemot-15
Cassin?s Auklet-7
Rhinoceros Auklet-48
Sabine?s Gull-1
Heermann?s Gull-5150!
California Gull-2208
Glaucous Winged/Western Gull-272
Common Tern-1

Bruce LaBar
Tacoma, WA