[Tweeters] Westport Seabirds trip report for 8/14/2025

[Charlie Wright via Tweeters]

Hello All,
After being rescheduled by high winds the previous day, Westport
Seabirds participants were treated to good-to-excellent sea conditions
on the 14th of August, with sometimes-glassy seas and high overcast
most of the day -- no squinting! The crew for this trip were Captain
Phil and first mate Chris Anderson, and spotters Scott Mills, Bruce
LaBar, and me.

The "shrimpers" (pink shrimp trawling vessels) were concentrating to
the south of Grays Canyon, so that too is where we headed. Not long
after crossing the bar, our first South Polar Skua of the day was
observed being persistently chased by a California Gull - interesting
to see the tables turned, but perhaps more in the way crows mob eagles
than a reversal of roles.

'Tis the season for "first of season". As we clipped southward, a
Buller's Shearwater made an exhilarating close pass by the bow.
They're just arriving along our coast from toiling in the open North
Pacific, now taking a circuitous route back to breeding islands in the
Southern Hemisphere near New Zealand.

At last we reached the shrimpers, and behind them we found some big
flocks of Pink-footed Shearwaters and a good number of Black-footed
Albatross, mainly resting on the water, conserving energy and waiting
for the winds to pick back up (they wouldn't have to wait long, as a
front arrived in the late afternoon).

As we arrived at the edge of the continental shelf, a Leach's
Storm-Petrel made a very distant flyby, seen by only a couple onboard.
As is often the case on windless and pleasant days, chumming was not
adrenaline-inducing, but it did afford us some nicer, stationary views
of Fork-tailed Storm-Petrels and Sabine's Gulls.


>From our chum spot, a floating log could occasionally be glimpsed

between troughs on the horizon, about 2 miles away. Initially the log
was lined with Arctic Terns. The terns dispersed at one point, some of
them flying directly over the Monte Carlo, and when we started
motoring over to check out the log we could see why. They had been
replaced by 3 gorgeous Long-tailed Jaegers. This trio allowed Phil to
position them in good lighting before taking to the air. There was an
adult with intact tail streamers, an adult with missing streamers, and
another adult (uniform underwings) that had already begun molting into
nonbreeding plumage with a splotchy face and dark breast. Like the
Buller's Shearwater, these were the first of their species on 2025
Westport trips.

The calm seas also aided our alcid search. We had several unusually
good views of Cassin's Auklets and a cooperative Tufted Puffin in
addition to many murre chick + adult pairs. Our final shrimper visit
of the day provided point blank views of a Short-tailed Shearwater
(after a number of quick flybys). Veterans of Westport pelagics like
myself are still in shock that this has become an expected August bird
in our waters -- no longer do we have to wait until those late fall
trips.

Finally it was time to head back to the harbor. Back inshore, while we
were taking in the classic sight of a gray bird on a gray rock with 5
Wandering Tattlers sleeping on the Point Brown Jetty, a juvenile
Franklin's Gull was suddenly hovering over us. This is only the third
time Franklin's has been seen on a Westport Pelagic, with the 2nd
record being a breeding plumage bird this May.

It was a pretty quiet day for mammals, with several humpback and gray
whales that did not feel like cooperating for close views. Even the
Dall's porpoises showed no interest in playing. Quite a few good-sized
Mola sp. were seen, including a large breaching individual.

eBird checklists with species totals and photos:
Leaving Grays Harbor -- https://ebird.org/checklist/S268316327
Outbound thru Shrimpers -- https://ebird.org/checklist/S268316374
Continental Shelf, chum -- https://ebird.org/checklist/S268316361
Transit back, more Shrimpers -- https://ebird.org/checklist/S268316499
Entering Grays Harbor -- https://ebird.org/checklist/S268316390

Hope to see you on the ocean this fall!
--
Charlie Wright
Tacoma, Washington