[Tweeters] Westport Pelagic Trip, Aug. 31, 2022

[Bruce LaBar]

Eighteen birders, including a group from Vancouver Audubon, led by Randy Hill and Cindy McCormack, met us on board the Monte Carlo at 0600. 
After instructions, we headed out into a foggy morning. The bar between Ocean Shores and Westport jetties was choppy, which made sighting birds difficult. 
Continuing for the next hour the wind scale was around 4 with fog still around. Finally, around 0800 the wind and fog settled and visibility was restored! 
We headed for several shrimp boats a little north. The boats had lots of birds around them including Albatross, Shearwaters, a few storm-petrels, jaegers, and Sabine’s Gulls. 
The amazing absence of juvenile California Gulls has been noted on most of our late summer trips. They are often are most numerous species around the fishing boats. 

Our chum site in deeper water was not that productive because of lack of wind, with only a few Fork-tailed Storm-Petrels. 
So we headed back towards the shrimp boats, which had the most birds. 
After a very productive visit we experienced a surprising southeast wind that increased to a wind scale of 5 with spray which made for a unpleasant trip back. 
However, by that time,  we had seen most of the seabirds that were wanted. 

The highlights include: LAYSAN ALBATROSS-1(same banded bird from Mexico that we had seen in a previous week). 
It came to the back of the boat and hung around for everyone to get excellent photos. BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS-30, PINK-FOOTED SHEARWATER-6177! (one of our highest numbers) 
BULLER’S SHEARWATER-14, SOOTY SHEARWATER-7066, SHORT-TAILED SHEARWATER-316(continuing big numbers throughout the summer), 
FORK-TAILED STORM-PETREL-10, RED PHALAROPE-8, TUFTED PUFFIN-2, SABINE’S GULL-206(great number),
and the jaeger/skua slam that included SOUTH POLAR SKUA-1, POMARINE JAEGER-11, PARASITIC JAEGER-5 and LONG-TAILED JAEGER-3. 

In the marina we found the MARBLED GODWIT flock which numbered around 1,000. 
We couldn’t pull out the Bar-tailed Godwit, which has been with them for several weeks. 
We did however, have 2 Willets and 3 Whimbrel.

Mammal highlights: Humpback Whale-2, Northern Fur Seal-1 and Guadalupe Fur Seal-1

For the complete list of all the birds and numbers on our trip, check our website at www.westportseabirds.com. Many thanks to all who made this trip so successful. 

Spotters: Scott Mills, Bill Tweit and myself. Boat Captain-Phil Anderson and First Mate-Chris Anderson. 

All our remaining trips are full; if you’re interested in getting on a waiting list, please check our website for contact information. 

On behalf of Westport Seabirds,
Bruce LaBar  
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