[Tweeters] Westport Seabirds May 13 Trip Report - Manx Shearwater etc.

[bill shelmerdine]

Last Saturdays Westport Seabirds trip featured beautiful weather, sunny with a NW breeze and a nice relief to the heatwave on shore.  It was a fun trip with a great group of people.

The action started early with an impressive show of birds feeding at the harbor mouth.  With so much activity in this area, tallying numbers was a real challenge (both on the way out and on the way in!).  Most impressive were the numbers of Common Tern, with more than 2,000 circling and diving around the harbor entrance.  A light-phased adult Parasitic Jeager put on a good show here with aerobatic pursuit of the feeding terns.  A few Black-legged Kittiwakes (3) were picked out close to the boat on the way out.


With the Hake (Whiting) fleet fishing well to the north, and shrimp season not yet open, there were no commercial fishing boats around to attract or concentrate birds on the other shelf.  Skipper Phil chose a NW track which helped make for a smooth ride on the return trip. Our route stayed north of Grays Canyon out to the deep water beyond the edge of the shelf.


Most of the spring regulars were found in the deeper water of the outer shelf, though Jaegers were a bit hard to come by and Northern Fulmar proved elusive for the day.  A close flyby Short-tailed Shearwater was a treat, while a few other more distant birds had to remain as Sooty/Short-tailed.  As usual, Sooty Shearwaters were distributed throughout, while numbers of Pink-footed Shearwaters seemed on the low side, mostly on the outer shelf.  Small groups were found around some of the many Humpback Whales encountered.


The deep-water chum stop produced good looks and many photo opportunities for several species including Black-footed Albatross, Fork-tailed Storm-Petrels, Sabines Gull and a fly-by Tufted Puffin in fine breeding plumage.  Highlights on the return trip included a close fly-by Manx Shearwater where we slowed to count rafts of Common Tern several miles offshore and N of the harbor entrance.  The return trip also produced good views of Cassin’s Auklet (finally), and our only Pomarine Jeager of the day. Once again, we encountered concentrations of birds outside the harbor entrance.  The large number of mixed species and especially the rafts of resting and feeding Common Terns were nothing short of fantastic and a bit overwhelming to count.  The most abundant species here Included Common Tern, Brandts Cormorant, and Pacific Loon; most in striking breeding plumage.  Four Gray Whale feeding just beyond the South Jetty added to the fun.


Marine mammals for the trip included Humpback (21) and Gray Whales; Harbor Porpoise; Harbor and Northern Fur Seal; and California and Northern Seal-Lion.  Final numbers have been entered into eBird and will be posted on the Westport Seabirds webpage.

Phil and Chris Anderson provided expert boat handling and customer service; spotters for the trip were Bill Shelmerdine, Bill Tweit, and Cara Borre.  Thanks to the crew and participants that made this a truly fun trip.


Bill Shelmerdine

Westport Seabirds

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