[Tweeters] Westport Seabirds Trip Report Friday May 30th

[Cara Borre via Tweeters]

Westport Seabirds had a fantastic outing on Friday, May 30th despite a
couple of challenges we overcame.  This trip was originally scheduled for
Saturday, but the predicted weekend winds forced a shift to Friday.  We
lost a few participants who weren’t available on Friday, and picked up a
couple lucky birders who were able to make last minute plans to join us on
what ended up being a very memorable journey.

The weather on Friday was perfect, clear skies, calm seas, and smooth
sailing once we crossed the bar.  We had the usual complement of nearshore
birds on the way out including all 3 cormorant species, Common and Pacific
Loons, Common Murre, Rhinoceros Auklet, and Pigeon Guillemot.

Our plan was to intersect some shrimp boats about 15 miles offshore.  As we
motored out we encountered an area with more than a few deadhead logs which
forced us to slow our progress.  We felt a small thud at our stern while
Phil was navigating the obstacles, but the Monte Carlo appeared unfazed and
it was full steam ahead as we proceeded westward.

Within a couple of hours we arrived at the fleet of 5 shrimpers.  We were
rewarded with huge flocks of birds trailing the boats.  We had only
encountered 5 Sooty Shearwater and no Pink-footed Shearwater on the way
out, so we were thrilled to find 20,000 and 2,000 respectively of these
species attending the boats.  As we had veteran and newbie pelagic birders
onboard, this was a great opportunity to show off the differences between
our two most common shearwaters side-by-side.  Our most common albatross
did not disappoint either.  We counted 25 Black-footed Albatross at these
boats and got great looks at these giants on the water as well as in
flight.  Also near the boats we discovered a Smart Car-sized Ocean Sunfish
and took the time to examine its odd features in the clear water.

Under way again and heading west to deeper water, we noticed a distant
South Polar Skua on our starboard side circling close to the water.  We
called the participants' attention to this bird hoping it would approach or
that we might approach it.  While that was going on, a couple of us
happened to look at our port side and saw a Laysan Albatross bobbing
strangely in the water in front of us.  We redirected everyone’s attention
to this bird and watched it bob in the water like a buoy a few seconds
longer before lifting off and taking flight.  We saw it glide back and
forth a few times from the stern, and like the skua, it eventually
disappeared from view.

After the Laysan’s exit, Phil joined us at the stern with some
unanticipated news.  He explained that the thing we hit earlier in the trip
had likely wrapped around our propellers and was now impairing our ability
to move efficiently.  The Monte Carlo, like most boats of its size, is
equipped with two engines and propellers.  Phil worked the engines forward
and in reverse in an attempt to clear the props.  We noticed blue filaments
in the water and finally a short length of frayed line.  Eventually he
regained sufficient power, apparently freeing one propeller, but the other
remained locked up tight.  Down a prop, we were forced to abort our journey
into deeper waters and made an early departure bound for Westport.

On the way back, we did manage a few flybys of Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel, a
species we typically see well at our chum stop in deeper water.  We
considered ourselves lucky that everyone saw this species on a day we had
to skip the chumming.  We also paused for a small pod of Pacific
white-sided dolphin with good close views.  Other mammals included humpback
whales and nice close looks at several gray whales feeding near the mouth
of Grays Harbor.

Though fate sent winds and pesky stray crabbing rope (that’s what the diver
removed from our props) to complicate our plans, we managed a very
successful trip to everyone’s delight.  Captain Phil Anderson, Firstmate
Chris Anderson, spotters Bill Shelmerdine, Scott Mills, and I want to
extend a big thank you to all who accompanied us on this most memorable
voyage.  Kudos to Captain Phil for great decision making, troubleshooting,
and as always, giving us an opportunity to explore the sea.


Hope to sea you out there!


Cara Borre

Gig Harbor
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