[Tweeters] WESTPORT SEABIRDS PELAGIC TRIP, APRIL 28, 2022

[Bruce LaBar]

Captain Phil Anderson saw the weather forecast for the 29th looked iffy and changed the date to the 28th. 
Fourteen birders were able to make this rescheduled trip. This was a great change because we had excellent seas all day with no rain. 
Many of the birders were new to pelagic trips and saw many species of birds and 10 species of mammals! 

Our first few hours were somewhat slow in numbers of birds, but this was a good time to focus on the more common species, 
such as Sooty Shearwater, Common Murre, hybrid gulls, Rhinoceros Auklets and many migrating Pacific Loons. 
As we got out into deeper waters, closer to the shelf, we started getting the true pelagic birds that most came to see. 
Pink-footed Shearwaters, a few Short-tailed Shearwaters, Northern Fulmars, Cassin’s Auklets and 16 PARAKEET AUKLETS that most got to see, however, always flying away from the boat. 
Further out we came across two shrimp boats using large baskets lowered into deep water. We then encountered our first Black-footed Albatross and Fork-tailed Storm-Petrels. 
The week before, we had few migrating phalaropes and Sabine’s Gulls. However, in this area and out by our chum spot, 
we got good numbers of both Red and Red-necked Phalaropes in breeding plumage, and migrating Sabine’s Gulls.  
One of the highlights, near here, was the sighting of 15 Risso’s Dolphins(Grampus grisieus) that fed very close to the boat. 
Their rounded bent dorsal fin and all the body scarring were key identifying marks. We didn’t observe any last year. 

Our trip back, we had another mammal highlight when we spotted roughly 250 Pacific White-sided Dolphins. 
Phil slowly motored into the area and we had dolphins everywhere, surely a highlight for many. 
The bird highlight was a flying Tufted Puffin that was hoped for by many of the birders. 
Also a Parasitic Jaeger zipped by that only a few saw. In shore we had our first Heermann’s Gull of the year and six Brown Pelicans just returning for the summer. 

Some numbers of birds observed: Black-footed Albatross-31, Northern Fulmar-5, Pink-footed Shearwater-28, Sooty Shearwater-962, 
Short-tailed Shearwater-9, Fork-tailed Storm Petrel-23, Red-necked Phalarope-136, Red Phalarope-65, Common Murre-126, 
Pigeon Guillemot-4, Cassin’s Auklet-18, Rhinoceros Auklet-126, Sabine’s Gull-31, Bonaparte’s Gull-12, Arctic Tern-1.

Mammal numbers: Humpback Whale-1, Gray Whale-5, Harbor Porpoise-1, Dall’s Porpoise-17, Harbor Seal-2, Elephant Seal-1(observed by Scott), California Sea Lion-3 and Steller’s Sea Lion-24. 

For complete numbers of all species seen on this trip, to make reservations and any other information, please visit our website at www.westportseabirds.com
Most up coming trips are already full, however there might be some extra added in August.  A huge thank you to all that came on the trip!

Spotters were: Scott Mills, Gene Revelas and myself. Boat personnel and spotters were Phil and Chris Anderson.
On behalf of Westport Seabirds, 
Bruce LaBar




























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