[Tweeters] Westport Seabirds Trip Report August 3

[Cara Borre via Tweeters]

Westport Seabirds was joined on August 3rd by a well rounded mix of
participants including several veteran seabirders as well as a few
first-timers.  Our trip was full of surprises with the first spotted by 12
year old Ethan, who pointed out a bird swimming around a boat while we were
still docked at Float 10.  The bird turned out to be a Pink-footed
Shearwater which we typically pick up well out to sea.  The bird did not
seem injured, but quite disoriented as it attempted to climb aboard a
neighboring boat.  That incredible sighting marked the start of more good
things to come.

We crossed a bit of a bumpy bar closer to the Ocean Shores side of Grays
Harbor and headed out under overcast skies. We passed the usual species on
our way into open water including Brandt’s Cormorant, Rhinoceros Auklet, a
single Marbled Murrelet, as well as a couple of Harbor Porpoise and a Gray
Whale.  As typical we encountered Sooty Shearwater and hundreds of Common
Murre early on and oriented the first timers to these reference species.
We saw our first Pomarine Jaeger not long afterward and we would end the
day with a staggering 40 sightings of this crowd pleaser.  Phalaropes were
also plentiful throughout the day, with small groups at first, consisting
solely of Red-necked, followed by larger groups later in the day with nice
looks at Reds as well.

This trip was most memorable due to its collection of storm-petrels and
interesting deviations from our typical sightings.  Our region is known for
Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel and a Westport Seabirds trip is probably the
easiest way to add this species to one’s life list.  We can usually find
this species on most of our trips and at times, such as today, in
magnificent numbers (1878 for the day).  During the summer months we can
also add Leach’s Storm-Petrel to our trip tally as this normally deep water
species can be found within our tour range forging closer to its breeding
islands.  What has been interesting on the last couple of trips is we are
seeing Leach’s further inland from the continental shelf, and on this trip,
at about the same time we first spotted Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel.

Progressing westward we came upon a group of shrimping boats and one had a
nice collection of birds in tow.  We got fabulous looks at our “big”
target, Black-footed Albatross (50 at boat) and two Laysan Albatross, our
first of the year for that species.  One Laysan Albatross had a leg band
which indicates it originated from the growing colonies off the western
Mexican coast.  We also had large numbers of Pink-footed Shearwater at the
boats and one or two Northern Fulmar.  We got nice looks at a couple of
Long-tailed Jaegers checking out the bird activity at the boats.  We had
steady fly bys throughout the day of beautiful breeding adult Sabine’s Gull
as well as several Arctic Terns.  On the way to our chum spot we noticed a
South Polar Skua advancing on our stern and everyone was able to get great
looks at this bulky brute.

Once into deep water we spotted a dark storm-petrel with a different flight
style than a typical Leach’s.  It approached the boat and flew along our
starboard side headed for the bow.  We alerted everyone on board to watch
and ideally photograph this bird as it may indeed turn out to be a rare
species. Captain Phil did a masterful job keeping up with the bird as it
flew in front of the boat allowing longer visualization and opportunity for
photos.  The bird was dark and its rump patch was darker than the typical
Leach’s we see and the tail was shorter and not as deeply forked.
Photographs and even some video shot by spotter Ryan Merrill are still
being studied and we have yet to see all participants photos of this bird.
Due to the similarity of dark, white-rumped storm-petrels and variability
in the rump patch appearance within species, this bird may well remain
“dark storm-petrel sp”, but we are intrigued at the possibility of a
positive ID that could prove to be a new bird for our region.  Given our
collective observations and field notes, as well as the photos and video we
have evaluated so far, Townsend’s Storm-Petrel appears to be the best fit
for this bird.  Townsend’s Storm-Petrel breeds off the western Baja
California Peninsula in Mexico and ranges north to southern California and
further south along the Mexican coast.

This exciting and unusual day of seabirding was matched in quality by the
other pelagic species we saw.  It was a great day for Humpback Whale with
multiple surfacing animals and a distant breach seen by the lucky few
gazing in the right direction.  Speaking of breaching, you probably
wouldn’t believe that a very large ocean sunfish can propel itself out of
the water in a thunderous water displacing side slap, but some of us saw
that incredible behavior too. We had several visits from small pods of
Dall’s Porpoise with one group riding our bow for a good while.  Pacific
White-sided Dolphins made a distant appearance during our chum stop but
weren’t interested in us enough to come investigate.  Our mammal highlight
was from a group of four transient (aka Bigg’s) orcas who we saw repeatedly
surfacing and tail flicking near some crab pot buoys on our way back in.
We stopped to watch them and capture photos to see if we can put names to
the individuals we observed.

Thank you to everyone who shared this special day on the sea with Captain
Phil Anderson, First Mate Chris Anderson, spotters Bill Tweit, Ryan
Merrill, and me.  If you were on the trip, please remember to upload any
photos, particularly of the interesting storm-petrel, to your eBird
checklist.  The approximate time of this sighting was 10:07am which may aid
you in finding your photos of this bird among any Leach’s you photographed.

Hope to sea you out there!

Cara Borre

Gig Harbor
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