A beautiful sunrise, sunshine throughout the day and mild winds made for a wonderful pelagic trip. Nineteen seafaring birders (five from Sweden, one from Canada and several from out of state), were entertained by hundreds of seabirds and 14 sightings of Humpback Whales.
As we left the marina and headed out just past the Westport jetty, the highlights were 100 Greater White-fronted Geese, 41 White-winged Scoters, 20 Pacific Loons (in beautiful breeding plumage), 13 Bonaparte's Gulls and 12 Common Terns.
Traveling some 30 miles out into deeper water, we encountered a flock of 22 Brant, 160 migrating Pacific Loons, 2 Black-footed Albatross, 22 Pink-footed Shearwaters, 601 Sooty Shearwaters, 1 Short-tailed Shearwater (identified by Scott Mills), 179 Red-necked Phalaropes, 39 Common Murres, 6 Rhinoceros Auklets, 12 Sabine's Gulls (in breeding plumage) and 3 sightings of Humpback Whales.
After going about 40 miles out to Grays Canyon and in about a depth of 2000 feet of water, we stopped the boat to put out a chum. This is a mixture of vegetable and cod liver oil, some suet and some pieces of fish. When we stopped, there was only a few gulls nearby. Seabirds have a tremendous sense of smell and we hoped to attract many with this chum. Almost immediately Phil Anderson called out "LAYSAN ALBATROSS"! The Laysan came right to the boat, gave us a look for a few minutes then continued on its way. We think we just happened to cross paths with it as it didn't seem to pay attention to the chum. However, right after that sighting, we started getting many birds landing right behind the boat. We had 15 Fork-tailed Storm Petrels (our first of the year), 34 Black-footed Albatross on the water, next to the boat, baying like donkeys, 8 Northern Fulmars, 9 Pink-footed Shearwaters, a few Sooty Shearwaters, 68 Red-necked Phalaropes just before the chum, 2 Cassin's Auklets(seen briefly) 5 Black-legged Kittiwakes, 28 Sabine's Gulls (several that landed in our slick), 5 Arctic Terns (2 that also were on the water) and 4 more sightings of Humpback Whales before we stopped. The chum really worked for us and gave many birders great opportunities for close up photos.
Leaving this area, we headed toward a group of shrimp boats a little farther north of us. When these boats start pulling their nets up, hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of seabirds are attracted to the possibility of by-catch from the nets.
We saw many gulls including 60 California, 16 Herring and several hundred Glaucous-wing/ Western. A few Black-footed Albatross, over 600 hundred Pink-footed Shearwaters (the most we saw in one area), many Sooty Shearwaters and other seabirds. Continuing back towards Westport, we had 1 excellent sighting of a adult Pomarine Jaeger, chasing every bird in sight, a flock of 144 Common Terns and 7 more sightings of Humpback Whales (several that were breaching out a far distance).
Just before the jetty, 2 breeding plumage Marbled Murrelets ,stayed floating on the water for all to see. Entering the harbor 12 Brown Pelicans were roosting on the rocks close to the marina. Our first of the year.
Many thanks to all, especially Avi Fauna Nature Tours that came all the way from Sweden.
Spotters for this trip were Scott Mills and Bruce LaBar. Boat personnel and spotters were Phil and Chris Anderson.
Our next trip is scheduled for May 19th. To make reservations and to get more information, please visit our website at www.westportseabirds.com
Bruce LaBar
Tacoma, WA
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