Great report as always!
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On Aug 25, 2019, at 2:13 PM, Cara Borre <cmborre1 at gmail.com> wrote:
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We had a very memorable trip yesterday out of Westport. We left the dock at 6am with increasing daylight in a light drizzle. The bar crossing was uneventful and sea conditions were pleasant with gentle swells at a comfortable interval. We had a varied group of birders consisting of pelagic veterans from near and far, and those on their first seaward wildlife adventure. The participant mix, along with the variety of birds and ocean inhabitants we find, makes every trip unique. This trip included two notable visiting birders, Amar Ayyash, a gull expert from Chicago and Kirk Zufelt, a birder/photographer from Canada on a quest to see all the seabirds on the planet! To learn more about these birders, and more about gulls and seabirds, visit Amar's website, www.anythinglarus.com and Kirk's website, www.pelagicodyssey.ca. Incidentally, Kirk has just published a book with seabird authority Steve N.G. Howell called "Oceanic Birds of the World, A Photo Guide". We give it two alula's up!
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Motoring into the Common Murre (69 - all numbers in parentheses are day totals) and Sooty Shearwater (173) zone beyond the harbor, we encountered increasing rain and most of the group sought temporary shelter under the canopy and in the cabin. Nothing was missed as the bird numbers here, as they would be throughout the day, were atypically low. As we moved further west, toward a clearing sky, we approached a line of shrimp boats. As if on cue, the rain ended once we arrived at the boats where we found many of our targets including Black-footed Albatross (31), Northern Fulmar (5), Pink-footed Shearwater (892), Buller's Shearwater (29!), Short-tailed Shearwater (3) and completing our coveted five shearwater day, our first of the year Flesh-footed Shearwater (1). Those who have sought the rarer Flesh-footed Shearwater in our waters understand the frustration of having to locate this one bird in a sea or sky of similarly plumaged seabirds. This cooperative bird flew by our stern on multiple passes as Captain Phil tossed fishy offerings to the flock. Perhaps the lower bird numbers had actually provided an advantage to this viewing as most of our veterans agreed this was their best Flesh-footed experience to date.
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Sabine's Gull (50) put in a good appearance at the shrimpers and the deeper waters we would continue onto. Along the way we had good looks a South Polar Skua (2), a Parasitic Jaeger (1), and nice examples of both dark and light morph Pomarine Jaegers (3). Alcids ranged from Pigeon Guillemot (7) including a couple further offshore, Rhinoceros Auklet (67), Cassin's Auklet (26) and an obliging, breeding plumaged, Tufted Puffin sitting on the water. Deeper waters increased our Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel (103) viewing experience with a large group found sitting on the water. A calm chumming wind brought us 60 or so birds for our efforts before turning back toward Westport.
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On our return trip we were treated to a visit from a large pod of charismatic Pacific White-sided Dolphin (100). As we slowed the boat, the dolphins seemed to conform to our speed providing excellent, just underwater views while riding the boat's wake. We watched them wave surfing, porpoising, chasing Pacific saury fish who jumped out of the water during the pursuit, and experienced a couple distant dolphin jumps. It seems this species enjoys accompanying a boat underway as much as we enjoy our encounter with them. Other marine mammals sightings were scarce, but a couple of us got to see distant Humpback Whale (4) breaches which are always jaw dropping.
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Terns were well represented for the trip with good views of Arctic (6), Common (30ish), and the harbormaster Caspian (5). We also got good, but short, looks at Red (2) and Red-necked (2) Phalarope on the water. Despite low overall bird numbers, incredibly as well as seeing five species of shearwater, we ended the day completing another pelagic birding goal, the "Skua Slam", adding a Long-tailed Jaeger (1) gracefully winging by just over our bow.
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Many thanks to a great group of birders, my fellow spotters Bruce Labar, Gene Revelas, and Scott Mills, Captain Phil Anderson and First Mate Chris Anderson, for another great adventure on the water.
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For information on our trips please see www.westportseabirds.com. Looks like we still have some availability on the last 3 trips of the year.
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Hope to sea you out there!
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Cara Borre
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Gig Harbor
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