[Tweeters] Westport Seabirds pelagic 29Aug2024

[Cindy McCormack via Tweeters]

Our originally scheduled trip was for the 28th, but a poor forecast forced
a cancellation and rescheduling for the following day. Unfortunately, that
meant a good portion of the original participants couldn’t make it on the
new date. With such great recent pelagic trips, the roster quickly filled
back up. We had a fun trip with so many familiar names and faces!

Some highlights from this beautiful, sunny day on the Pacific:

The SOOTY SHEARWATER river was flowing well after we crossed the bar. It
was fantastic to be among these birds (all looking quite sharp in fresh
plumage), they were moving quickly and sometimes turning en masse into a
dense vortex. A single MANX SHEARWATER was spotted in this flow, only seen
by a few before it was lost among the shearwater whorls.

FORK-TAILED STORM-PETRELS (1901) were seen throughout much of the
day—including one amazing mass of hundreds sitting on the water. We had to
detour a bit to take a closer look at this spectacle! As we approached,
several on the boat spotted a WILSON’S STORM-PETREL among these birds—what
a treat! Luckily, we spotted a second (!!) Wilson’s Storm-Petrel later that
day to give everyone great views.

We did have several groups of seabirds sitting on the water, including one
fair-sized flock of Pink-footed Shearwaters that exploded into flight in
all directions when two SOUTH POLAR SKUAS dropped in. Wow!  The
skuas—LONG-TAILED JAEGER (5), POMARINE JAEGER (4), and SOUTH POLAR SKUA
(9)-- put on a rather good show today, with many seen exceptionally well by
all (in fact, a late-in-the-day skua flying over the boat failed to get
most people up from their comfy seats!).

Another rather massive natural-feeding group of primarily Pink-foots also
had about 75 PACIFIC WHITE-SIDED DOLPHINS foraging among them. Another
surprise was what at first was called out as our 2nd FLESH-FOOTED
SHEARWATER turned out to be a DARK MORPH PINK-FOOTED SHEARWATER. This is
even more uncommon than seeing a Flesh-footed!

The shrimpers we encountered were not actively pulling in nets, but still
had a good following, adding to our total of 81 BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS and
provided our only brief look at a LAYSAN ALBATROSS for the day.

On the return trip, a single very cooperative molting Tufted Puffin
remained on the water as we approached, delighting all on board, as did the
bow-wave and wake-riding DALL’S PORPOISES. A surprise off-shore HARLEQUIN
DUCK was spotted from the front of the boat.

We ended with a 6-shearwater day, which made for great discussions on
identification.  Wonderful views of the gorgeous SABINE’S GULL (50) and
several ARCTIC TERNS (24) were had by all.

For a more complete list for the day, visit
http://westportseabirds.com/2024-trip-results/ or check the eBird lists for
accompanying photos:

https://ebird.org/checklist/S193798863

https://ebird.org/checklist/S193798862

https://ebird.org/checklist/S193798860

https://ebird.org/checklist/S193798859

https://ebird.org/checklist/S193798858



A great group of birders makes for an engaging day! Thanks to Captain Phil,
first mate Chris, and fellow spotters Bill Tweit and Ryan Merrill for
another great pelagic!

Cindy McCormack for Westport Seabirds

 --



*_________________Cindy McCormackVancouver, WAnwbirderatgmailcom*
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/pipermail/tweeters/attachments/20240903/97042662/attachment.html>