Hi Tweets,
On Thursday, September 10th, Westport Seabirds had a very enjoyable and interesting trip offshore. The regional wildfires and persistent easterly winds meant we were in smog/haze all day and it created a surreal sky and orange/red sun. So the Covid masks we all wore served a dual purpose. Fortunately, visibility was generally not that bad most of the day, and was it actually the worst (down to about one mile) farthest offshore. Before getting to the seabirds, we ended up with seven passerines for the day, a Fox Sparrow circled the boat about two miles offshore and both Kinglet species (the Ruby-crowned landed on a birder for a bit) and a Townsend's Warbler were seen well offshore, as well as five other songbirds that could not be identified. These migrants were obviously pushed seaward overnight by the east winds and struggling to find land. Sadly, their fate was likely sealed given the wind direction and other hazards (e.g., Jaegers).
The sea was nearly flat all day and we enjoyed the many non-passerine migrants more typically seen on Westport pelagic trips including, with total counts for the day in ( ): Red-necked (178) and Red (4) Phalaropes, Sabine's Gulls (100), South Polar Skuas (5), Pomarine Jaegers (9), Parasitic Jaegers (4), and 5 jaeger sp. (the ones that got way). For alcids, we had good numbers of Common Murres (809, plus 28 chicks) and Cassin's Auklets (185), which was good to see as their numbers were down earlier summer/fall, and Rhinoceros Auklets (39). For the pelagic birds that most folks come to see, we had good looks at, but usually low numbers of, Black-footed Albatross (4) and Northern Fulmars (3) and we speculated that they were with fishing boats that were north or south of us and beyond our reach. We did not encounter any fishing boats on this trip. Nonetheless, we had very good numbers of Pink-footed (1156) and Sooty (838) Shearwaters, and a handful of both Buller's (8) and Short-tailed (4) Shearwaters. Incredibly, we ended with 899 Fort-tailed Storm-Petrels for the day, encountering several large flocks resting on the water in the light winds.
The mammal show also entertained us with views of Humpback Whales (5), Dall's (11) and Harbor (10) Porpoises, and a noteworthy 21 Northern Fur Seals, most of which appeared to be large, adult males. We also saw both California and Steller's Sea Lions just outside the harbor and in the marina.
Also, in the harbor and marina, we added several hundred Brown Pelicans and Heerman's Gulls, all three cormorant species, an estimated 1000 Marbled Godwits, and on the jetty, an unexpected Spotted Sandpiper and both Black (6) and Ruddy (1) Turnstones. We ended up with 7115 total birds for the day. The final numbers and complete species list is posted on Westport Seabirds.com and the trip lists are on ebird. Spotters for the trip were Bill Tweit, Jim Danzenbacker, and me. Captain Phil Anderson and first mate Chris provided their usual great customer service, including extra health and safety efforts related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Our 2020 season runs through the first weekend in October, the final trip may still have a few spots open. Finally, we really appreciate everyone's interest in and patronage of Westport Seabirds trips in this crazy year of 2020. We certainly hope to see more of you in 2021 and beyond.
Stay Safe,
Gene Revelas
Olympia, WA
Gene Revelas | Senior Consultant
Tel: 360.705.3534,418 | Cell: 360.870.4950
1205 West Bay Drive NW | Olympia | WA 98502
grevelas at integral-corp.com | www.integral-corp.com
[cid:Integral-Logo_9733dd41-3a5c-4af6-b821-47718bfb1269.jpg]
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <
http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/pipermail/tweeters/attachments/20200914/b401c5bc/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Integral-Logo_9733dd41-3a5c-4af6-b821-47718bfb1269.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 10595 bytes
Desc: Integral-Logo_9733dd41-3a5c-4af6-b821-47718bfb1269.jpg
URL: <
http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/pipermail/tweeters/attachments/20200914/b401c5bc/attachment.jpg>
