Wednesday?s pelagic trip was attended by the VENT tour company, with 12 birders and their leaders Bob Sundstrom and Kevin Zimmer. They picked a wonderful day with plenty of sunshine and calm seas. Though the numbers of seabirds were down, we still had great views of many of the species that were sought. One of the highlights was 71 Red Phalaropes that broke our previous record of 22 for the last half of September. Other highlights were 4 Short-tailed Shearwaters with one on the water for comparisons with Sooty, two Pomarine Jaegers, 3 Parasitic Jaegers, 36 Sabine?s Gulls and a Peregrine Falcon flying 20 miles off shore!
Again, this year has been spectacular for mammal highlights. We encountered two huge groups of Pacific White-sided Dolphins that we estimated to be 450 in one and 400 in the other. They looked like a huge wave of surfers coming at us. Several rode at the bow of the boat for all to get excellent looks at these beautiful marked animals. Later several breached completely out of the water, which is spectacular to watch.

BIRDS
Canada Goose-12, flock flying 30 miles offshore
Green-winged Teal-4
Surf Scoter-55
White-winged Scoter-17
Red-breasted Merganser-1
Red-throated Loon-2
Pacific Loon-15
Common Loon-10
Pied-billed Grebe-1, in the marina waters
Western Grebe-13
Black-footed Albatross-53
Northern Fulmar-4
Pink-footed Shearwater-256
Buller?s Shearwater-1, seen by only a few
Sooty Shearwater-214
Short-tailed Shearwater-4
Fork-tailed Storm Petrel-7
Brandt?s Cormorant-52
Double-crested Cormorant-47
Pelagic Cormorant-12
Brown Pelican-173
Marbled Godwit-500(no Bar-tailed seen with them) at Coast Guard piers.
Black Turnstones-4, among the Marbled Godwits
Least Sandpiper-50, seen flying, when in the harbor
Red-necked Phalarope-7
Red Phalarope-71
Pomarine Jaeger-2
Parasitic Jaeger-3
Common Murre-749
Cassin?s Auklet-58
Rhinoceros Auklet-47
Sabine?s Gull-36
Heermann?s Gull-155
Ring-billed Gull-1
California Gull-391
Herring Gull-13
Glaucous-winged x Western Gull-670
Caspian Tern-1
Peregrine Falcon-1

MAMMALS
Humpback Whale-2
Pacific-white-sided Dolphin-850
Harbor Seal-1
Northern Fur Seal-2
California Sea Lion-3
Steller?s Sea Lion-5

and 77 Pacific Ocean Sunfish(all small young)

We have two pelagics coming up this Saturday and Sunday and three in October to finish our season. For reservations and any other information, please contact www.westportseabirds.com
Leaders for this trip were Scott Mills and myself. Boat personnel and spotters were Phil and Chris Anderson.
Hope to see you on the ocean soon,
Bruce LaBar
Tacoma, WA