*Westport Seabirds headed out on another trip Saturday, July 14 with the
team of Captain Phil Anderson, First Mate Chris Anderson, my fellow
spotters Scott Mills and Bill Shelmerdine, and 20 birders. Though bar
crossing conditions were a bit exciting due to an outgoing tide and seas a
bit bumpy on the way out, it was a beautiful, sunny, almost windless
day.Our first treat was a long, close look at a juvenile Cassin's Auklet on
the water, a species often hard to see well as they fly away from the boat.
We had our first close looks at many "usual" species, including
Black-footed Albatross, Northern Fulmar, Pink-footed Shearwater, and
Fork-Tailed Storm-Petrels at a shrimp boat near the edge of the continental
shelf. These mid-summer pelagics are great for storm-petrels and this trip
was no exception. Later we had excellent looks at good numbers of both
Fork-tailed and Leach's Storm-Petrels visiting our chum in deep water. Our
South Polar Skua experience was also quite remarkable. We ended up with 6
sightings, the most memorable two being one that flew directly over the
boat and another which landed very close to the boat. We all enjoyed great
looks and photo ops of this striking bird. The most unusual bird we had
for the day was a Short-tailed Shearwater which was seen near a shrimp boat
on our way back. Short-tails are not uncommon in the winter or fall off the
Washington coast, but quire rare this time of year. Here's the complete
trip list for the day:Surf Scoter-8White-winged Scoter-1 Black-footed
Albatross-90 Northern Fulmar-150 Pink-footed Shearwater-106Sooty
Shearwater-2176 Short-tailed Shearwater-1Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel-96Leach's
Storm-Petrel-71 Brandt's Cormorant-104Double-crested Cormorant-7Pelagic
Cormorant-16Brown Pelican-1149Western Sandpiper-25Red-necked Phalaropes-11
South Polar Skua-6Pomarine Jaeger-1 Common Murre-141 Pigeon Guillemot-20
Cassin's Auklet-3 Rhinoceros Auklet-31 Sabine's Gull-1Heermann's Gull-454
California Gull-17 Glaucous-winged/Western Gull-585 Small tern sp-2Harbor
Porpoise-1Harbor Seal-5Northern Fur Seal-1Elephant Seal-1California
Sea-Lion-1 Steller's Sea Lion-3Blue Shark-2 The next Westport Seabirds
pelagic trips are scheduled for July 25 and August 4. To inquire about
reservations, schedules, and all other information, please visit our
website at www.westportseabirds.com <http://www.westportseabirds.com/> Hope
to sea you out there soon!Cara BorreGig Harbor, WA *
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