[Tweeters] August 14 and 15 Westport Seabirds combined trip report - long

[Jim Danzenbaker via Tweeters]

Hi Tweeters,

I was lucky and felt privileged to be on the Westport Seabirds trips on
August 14 and 15.  I think the combined total of 36 passengers plus 5
guides who were on at least one of these trips probably felt the same.
Although every pelagic trip is special in its own way, these two trips had
superlatives sprinkled throughout the day and included the birds, marine
mammals, and insanely calm weather!

This trip report won't follow the conventional hour by hour travelogue but
will be a comparison of observations between August 14 and 15 (numbers in
parens) by groups of birds and mammals.  Not all species seen on the trips
are mentioned.

The weather on both days was pretty much flat calm with no wind chop so
viewing conditions were excellent.  Both days were under a high overcast
sky (with some light drizzle on the 14th) giving way to mostly sunny
conditions, in other words, perfect conditions for those wanting to avoid
mal de mer!  We generally followed the same route on both days and
encountered one shrimp boat on the 14th with about 150 birds in attendance.

Those seafaring wanderers, the tubenoses, were well represented on both
trips.  Sooty Shearwaters from Australia put in a great showing (2,889,
736) on both days.  Most of these were within about 5 miles of land and
were in fairly good sized flocks seen both on the way out in the morning
and upon return in the afternoon.  Presence of large flocks indicates how
rich these waters are and we hope it continues.  Pink-footed Shearwaters
from Chile continue to be seen in lower numbers than usual (99, 108) but
this is probably because of their propensity to be around the fishing
fleets which were off Canon Beach, Oregon on these two days.  When this
fleet heads north, Pink-foots are sure to follow.  The season's
first Buller's Shearwaters from New Zealand arrived on the 14th with 2 but
the number grew to 18 on the 15th.  So wonderful to see this species again
- my favorite shearwater and, by what I was hearing from fellow passengers,
a favorite of others too!  Single Short-tailed Shearwaters were encountered
on both days but just fleetingly which kept us wanting another view.
Northern Fulmars (5, 4) were recorded on both days in their usual fairly
low numbers for mid summer but also because of the lack of a nearby fishing
fleet.  Just watch the trailers for Deadliest Catch and you'll see the
propensity of fulmars to hang out around fishing boats!  Fork-tailed
Storm-Petrels (35, 337) had an interesting spike from one day to the next.
Most of the birds on the 15th were in fairly compact rafts and were birds
with no discernable molt.  I concluded that these were probably all young
of the year birds as I think most if not all adults are currently
undergoing molt.  This has to be confirmed though. Black-footed Albatross
from the leeward chain of the Hawaiian Islands and Midway were higher on
the 14th compared to the 15th (85, 63) probably due to the one shrimper
that we encountered on the 14th that had 50 albatrosses behind it.  Amazing
to think that these birds are on multi day foraging runs and the young
birds probably won't see land for 5+ years!

Alcids were highlighted with the expected throngs of Common Murres (671,
2,739) within 5 miles of the coast with Rhinoceros Auklets (63, 167) also
in attendance.  A few murre chicks were also seen.  Offshore waters yielded
an increase in the number of Cassin's Auklets (16, 199).  Many of these
were close and easy to observe and were obviously successful in feeding as
they bounced along the water ahead of the Monte Carlo.  I think the
increased number on the 15th can be partially attributed to the ripple free
water so one could spot auklets a mile away!  Although missed on the August
14 trip, we found two Tufted Puffins on the 15th.  Always a crowd pleaser
and today was no different.

Gulls, terns and jaegers are always a highlight for me and we were blown
away by their showing on both days.  Strikingly plumaged adult Sabine's
Gulls (16, 71) were seen well and were accompanied by the season's first
juveniles.  These birds are migrating through from their high arctic
breeding grounds to the Humboldt Current off Ecuador, Peru, and northern
Chile.  They have a long way to go!  The mega highlight for me were the
number of Arctic Terns that we encountered on both days (96, 156).  The
number seen on the 14th was a daily high for Westport Seabirds which stood
for 24 hours until the 15th! These were not birds seen at a distance but
ones that flew close by us (some vocalizing) including right overhead so
all field markas were seen well.  At one point on the 15th, it seemed like
every floating inanimate thing in the water had an Arctic Tern on it and
when there wasn't anything to perch on, groups of terns lit on the water's
surface.  Truly magical! This species, en route from the high arctic to
their wintering grounds on the edge of the Antarctic pack ice, are
migration champions and make other species, in contrast, seem like locals!
With the number of Arctic Terns and Sabine's Gulls that we encountered, we
knew there would be Long-tailed Jaegers too and we weren't disappointed.
We marvelled at no less than 9 Long-tailed Jaegers in a loose flock on the
14th and 4 on the 15th.  Some of these were vocalizing as they knifed
through the sky chasing each other (when they weren't klepto parasitizing
the Arctic Terns).  What a show!  Sturdy Pomarine Jaegers (6, 6) with
maximum spoonage were seen well on both days but we weren't so lucky with
Parasitic Jaegers with only one found on the 15th.  South Polar Skua (aka:
SKUAAAA), were seen on both trips with 1 cooperative individual (many
pixels spent) on the 14th and 4 on the 15th.  Any day with a skua is a good
day (unless you are a gull or a shearwater).

Phalaropes put in a respectable showing with Red-necked being the expected
common species (107, 115) followed by Red (32, 11).  Some unidentified
phalaropes too which isn't unusual. We were very fortunate to have one
flock of Red Phalaropes on the 14th land on the water and, under Captain
Phil's excellent navigational prowess, managed some fairly close viewing.
As one guide mentioned, Red Phalaropes swim very upright and seem like
miniature gulls in the water!

For many, the mammals, especially on the 14th, were the main course with
the birds as side dishes.  The show was spectacular with no less than 4
individual Humpback Whales (12. 4) doing full multiple breaches out of the
water!  Nothing like seeing a huge whale (~40 feet long and ~40 tons) lift
itself into the air with the accompanying mighty splash of whitewater when
it comes back down.  Lots of pectoral flippers flapping too! Just a
total mega moment even if you've seen Humpback Whales many times before.
Captain Phil was even instrumental in saving a Humpback Whale on the 14th
that had gotten entangled in crab pot lines.  The whale wasn't doing well
as we approached and Captain Phil called the appropriate people who could
help.  We learned the next day that marine mammal rescue personnel had
successfully cut away the lines that had bound the whale and it swam
away under its own power.  We certainly hope that it found nearby food and
made a complete recovery.

In a word, the dolphin show was ... WOW!  On the 14th we found a mixed
species dolphin pod which included 360 Northern Right Whale Dolphins (NRWD)
and Pacific White-sided Dolphins (140, 75)!  Many of the NRWD were jumping
5 feet out of the water - a truly marvelous sight!  This species is the
most acrobatic of our regularly occurring cetaceans but, even for them,
this was a WOW! If that wasn't enough, both species came by and bow rode
much to the delight of all on board.  Many pixels were used and videos
filmed!  Dall's Porpoises (16, 20) were also evident with multiple
sightings of rooster tailing individuals paralleling the *Monte Carlo*.
Fur Seals were encountered on August 15 with singles of Northern and
Guadalupe and 2 unidentified.  To me, the sighting of a Harbor Seal at 30
miles offshore seemed weird but not unprecedented.

Not to be outdone, we had multiple encounters with huge Ocean Sunfish (4,
21) on both days including one that fully breached out of the water on the
15th.  Looking at how inanimate they appear in the water (other than their
twitching fin), it's hard to wrap one's brain around it actually becoming
airborne!  Blue Sharks (2, 30) were evident too as well as jumping albacore
in the deeper Arctic Tern waters.

A little asterisk should be added for the passerines of the day: a
Brown-headed Cowbird on both days and a Rufous Hummingbird that zipped by
at 13 miles offshore on the 15th.  I don't know how many people adjusted
their binocular focus from the Pomarine Jaeger and Buller's Shearwater to
the Rufous Hummingbird!

The usual hordes of Brown Pelicans, 3 species of cormorants, and Heermann's
(among other) Gulls met us at the outer jetties.  Several Pigeon Guillemots
(8, 5) were between the jetties.

Westport Seabirds thanks all of the enthusiastic participants who made
these trips such rip roaring successes. Your enthusiasm (and the wildlife)
is what spurs us on!  Also, thanks to Captain Phil and first mate Chris for
their consummate professionalism, natural history knowledge, bright smiles,
and ginger cookies!  Also,a big thanks to our guides Bill Tweit and Gene
Revelas on the 14th and Bill Shelmerdine and Bruce LaBar on the 15th, and
your trip reporter.

Even though the Westport Seabirds schedule (
http://westportseabirds.com/2023-schedule/) shows all trips as full, it's
always a good idea to think of pelagic opportunities for this year (last
minute openings happen) and next year!

I hope to see you onboard!

Jim Danzenbaker for Westport Seabirds.

-- 
Jim Danzenbaker
Battle Ground, WA
360-702-9395
jdanzenbaker at gmail.com
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