Westport Pelagic 8-13-16

Today, 8/13/16, I went out of Westport, WA with Westport Seabirds.  I drove up from Portland via Astoria.  This White-winged Scoter was along the jetty at Parking Lot C at Fort Stevens on Friday afternoon.

The trip left the dock at 6 am.  The morning was foggy.  It did not take long to get out of the fog and into the sunshine.

We saw a handful of Tufted Puffin.  Hatch-year Tufted Puffin have dark bills and a dark eye.  The puffin develop ornamental plates in Feb-Apr and shed them in Sept.  It takes three or four years to get the full adult bill and all the plates. Based on the sketches in Pyle's book, Vol II, page 788, this looks to me like a second-year or third-year bird.  It has a light eye and a bill that does not look as bulbous as an adult.  Please add any info or corrections.

An adult bill that, as far as  I can tell, has not shed any of its plates.

We spotted a number of Mola Mola.  They hold the record for the world's heaviest bony fish.

Website dedicated to these cool fish:  Ocean Sunfish

A face only a parent could love.

Fishing boats pulling in their nets are pelagic birdfeeders.  Only thing that compares on land is a yard full of hummingbird feeders.

 Most of the birds we saw were behind these shrimpers. The most common birds out there today were California Gulls and Sooty Shearwater.  Next in line was the Pink-footed Shearwater.

To be a successful shearwater you need to race to eat the chum before a California Gull lands on top of you and grabs the fish.

The dark-white-dark underside of a Pink-footed.  This one is racing along the water to launch into air. Today was another great day to study the flight differences between Sooty and Pink-footed.  You need to know these birds well to ever hope to find a rare one.

Most of the birds I saw appeared to be in nice new plumage.

A nice hatch-year California Gull.  All of the Cal Gulls we saw out there were hatch-year birds.  It was explained the older birds are molting and prefer to stay closer to shore.  This was verified on the way in where adult gulls were everywhere.

This gull ID was debated as to what it was.  The bird did not look bulky enough to be an Olympic Gull (Western x Glaucous-winged), it was thought to contain some Herring.

Bulbous bill and a pale eye.

My favorite bird was this Arctic Tern sitting on a log.  Often the only view you have is one flying overhead or far away.

It was still in alternate plumage.

Short legs, the wings were an even gray.

40-50 Black-footed Albatross were seen.  My streak of always seeing an albatross continues.

Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel were seen through-out the day.

Once we got offshore, about 40 miles or so, we stopped to chum. We hoped to draw in a good bird.  Only birds that appeared were Fork-tailed and Leach's Storm-Petrels.  It was a great chance to study the nighthawk-like flight style of a Leach's.  They were free from dodging the larger birds.

 Their shape is different than a Fork-tailed.  They have longer,  narrower wings.

You can see the line that divides the white patch. This line varies on Leach's, easy to see on some , impossible on others.

Nice open wing of a Leach's Storm-Petrel.

Back in the harbor we saw a flock of Marbled Godwits.  Kind of a pale photo, but can you see the other bird?

This Bar-tailed Godwit was known to be in the Marbled Godwit flock.  We thought the tide would be too far out and the birds would not have roosted in the harbor yet.  Good thing it was not a real low tide.  All the godwits were in the harbor.

It looked to me to be the same size as a Marbled but shorter legs, the bill looked short with binoculars, but I can see now it was very long. It looks streaked on the side, and pale gray in color.  I thought it was an adult in molt.

Tons of Heermann's Gulls were on the jetty and in the harbor.  No hatch-year birds.  How many nesting failures can they endure before we see a drop in population?  I was thinking maybe the nesting failures do not take such a toll on the adults as compared to raising a chick.  Maybe they live longer so the species will make it through these tough periods?   

Thanks to the Monte Carlo, the crew, and  the guides for another great trip.

eBird lists:

Westport pelagic--inshore, Grays Harbor, Washington, USAug 13, 2016 6:00 AM - 6:53 AM
Protocol: Traveling
7.0 mile(s)
Comments:     Foggy for a while in morning, then clear for most of the day, overcast as we came close to shore on way back. Winds were calm then picked up as we got further out. Beaufort 2-4 later. Lead was Scott Mills, Spot 1 was Jim Danzenbacker, Spot 2 was Cara Borre. Bruce LaBar was also spotting. Boat personal and spotters were Phil and Chris Anderson.1 Humpback Whale
11 species (+1 other taxa)

Sooty Shearwater  2
Brandt's Cormorant  4
Brown Pelican  262
Red-necked Phalarope  17
Common Murre  340
Pigeon Guillemot  4
Marbled Murrelet  4
Rhinoceros Auklet  11
Heermann's Gull  700
California Gull  36
Western x Glaucous-winged Gull (hybrid)  202
Caspian Tern  1

Westport--Offshore waters, Grays Harbor, Washington, US
Aug 13, 2016 6:53 AM - 8:55 AM
Protocol: eBird Pelagic Protocol
30.0 mile(s)

1 Humpback Whale
11 species (+1 other taxa)

Black-footed Albatross  1
Pink-footed Shearwater  34
Buller's Shearwater  1     Our first of the year
Sooty Shearwater  245
Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel  5
Parasitic Jaeger  1
Common Murre  255
Cassin's Auklet  8
Rhinoceros Auklet  1
Tufted Puffin  2
California Gull  13
Western x Glaucous-winged Gull (hybrid)  1

Westport pelagic--Offshore Pacific County, Pacific, Washington, US
Aug 13, 2016 8:55 AM - 9:55 AM
Protocol: eBird Pelagic Protocol
15.0 mile(s)

Encountered 3 shrimp boats. One Pacific Sun Fish.
11 species

Black-footed Albatross  10
Northern Fulmar  1
Pink-footed Shearwater  400
Buller's Shearwater  1
Sooty Shearwater  100
Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel  20
Scripps's Murrelet  2     spotted by Scott Mills.
Cassin's Auklet  5
Rhinoceros Auklet  1
Sabine's Gull  6
California Gull  350

Westport pelagic--Offshore Pacific County, Pacific, Washington, USAug 13, 2016 9:55 AM - 12:10 PM
Protocol: eBird Pelagic Protocol
35.0 mile(s)
Comments:   This was a transect between Willapa and Grays Canyon in deep water to 125W. All in Pacific County. We also put out a chum at 125W. Two sun fish.
10 species

Black-footed Albatross  2
Northern Fulmar  1
Sooty Shearwater  33
Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel  10
Leach's Storm-Petrel  8
Long-tailed Jaeger  1     Our first of the year
Cassin's Auklet  14
Rhinoceros Auklet  7
California Gull  3
Arctic Tern  2

Westport pelagic--Offshore Pacific County, Pacific, Washington, USAug 13, 2016 12:10 PM - 1:50 PM
Protocol: eBird Pelagic Protocol
25.0 mile(s)
Comments: Encountered three shrimp boats heading back. 1 sunfish.
9 species

Black-footed Albatross  30
Northern Fulmar  5
Pink-footed Shearwater  535
Sooty Shearwater  89
Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel  18
Rhinoceros Auklet  7
Tufted Puffin  1
Sabine's Gull  3
California Gull  506

Westport--Offshore waters, Grays Harbor, Washington, USAug 13, 2016 1:50 PM - 3:00 PM
Protocol: eBird Pelagic Protocol
15.0 mile(s)
Comments: 7 species

Pink-footed Shearwater  2
Sooty Shearwater  619
Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel  1
Common Murre  172
Rhinoceros Auklet  5
Tufted Puffin  2
California Gull  4

Westport pelagic--inshore, Grays Harbor, Washington, US
Aug 13, 2016 3:00 PM - 4:02 PM
Protocol: Traveling
7.0 mile(s)
Comments:
Mammals seen as we came in: 1 Humpback Whale, 12 Harbor Porpoise, 3 Harbor Seals, 4 Calif. Sea Lions and 7 Steller's Sea Lions.
16 species (+1 other taxa)

Sooty Shearwater  600
Brandt's Cormorant  89
Pelagic Cormorant  40
Double-crested Cormorant  50
Brown Pelican  200
Bar-tailed Godwit  1     in boat basin with 700 Marbled Godwits. photos
Marbled Godwit  700
Black Turnstone  4     on jetty
Red-necked Phalarope  12
Common Murre  515
Pigeon Guillemot  3
Rhinoceros Auklet  8
Black-legged Kittiwake  1
Heermann's Gull  1800
Mew Gull  1
California Gull  33
Western x Glaucous-winged Gull (hybrid)  1200

Thanks for the visit.

Newport Pelagic Aug 30, 2015: Jaegers

It has been a bouncy ocean this year for pelagic trips.  Weather has cancelled a few already.  I went on my fourth trip this past Sunday (second one out of Newport, two from Westport).  The gale that hit just the day before was working its way out of the area.  We had a dry trip except for one rain cloud that hit us on the way out,  And to tell the truth, I liked it since it washed all the salt off that had gathered on my pelagic rain gear the past few trips. 

First a bit off-topic.  The small fin is a Ocean Sunfish (Mola mola).  I learned from a cousin this summer of a website where you can report sightings of these fish.  The link is up top on my header.  But here it is again:

Ocean Sunfish

I entered the sighting.  It looked as if these California Gulls were cleaning parasites off this rather small version of these cool fish. Mola mola are the largest boney fish in the world. This one has a lot of growing to do.  I assume it is a mola mola and not one of its cousins.

The normal group of albatross, shearwater (Pink-footed, Sooty and a few Buller's) and storm-petrel (Fork-tailed) were found.  Not as many as expected by me, but enough of all species seen to have good views. Here is a Black-footed Albatross hanging out in our chum slick.

Young California Gull. 

I was bummed this turned out blurry.  It is a nice Arctic Turn showing its well defined black primary tips.  Arctic Terns heads do not project out as far as Common Terns. Sort of like Sharpies compared to Cooper's Hawks.  It is not always easy to separate Common and Arctic terns.  Some terns went unidentified, they were classified as "Comic"  Terns.

My favorite part of the trip was all the great views of the jaegers.  My normal view is of a bird high in the sky flying by the boat, or a quick low fly-by that gives one only a brief glimpse.

We saw all three, the Pomarine Jaeger we had best views of was a fly-by on the way home, I was sitting trying to rest my back and missed a photo.  But the Long-tailed and Parasitic put on a nice show.

This is a Long-tailed Jaeger.  The black cap is neatly defined.  No breast band in summer. The outer  primary shafts on jaegers are white.  Because of the way the feathers overlap, only the outermost white shaft can be seen from below. From the topside the shafts can be seen. Long-tail usually show two white shafts.

But they can show more.  P8-P10 can be white. You can see how far up the gray comes on the belly yet the chest is bright white, a mark seen from a long way off.  I read Long-tailed can develop a breast band in winter, but that plumage would be rare in N America.

This Long-tailed appeared to be an adult that had molted its ornamental tail feathers. I thought it was adult due to the lack of barring on the underwing coverts.

I tried to get a photo showing the contrast between the gray coverts and darker flight feathers,  The dark secondaries on Long-tailed are supposed to show more of an obvious black trailing edge.   I can see contrast here but no great photo of a trailing edge.

I just looked at Jen's photos of the trip, she caught the trailing edge of the Long-tailed in the 14th photo down.  Here you go :  tales-from-Oregon-pelagic

Kind of a fun shot with a long-tailed Long-Tailed Jaeger in the background and a short-tailed Long-tailed Jaeger in front.

It is always fun to see how skilled at flying birds are.  The jaegers have the power to chase down a tern for its food, and yet can come into a slick like a Storm-Petrel and carefully pluck a bit of food off the surface.  I wonder if a Pomarine Jaeger would do this.

I think this is either a second-year or third-year bird.  Seems the primaries have distinct white bases and the thin outer webs do not seem to have any markings.  The barred underwing coverts are not present in adult plumage.

Ah, an obvious nice calm ocean in the background :).

I also was trying to get a photo of a Parasitic and a Long-tailed in the same position as seen from below so I could compare structure.  Long-tailed are slimmer and even with their ornamental feathers lacking, they appear to be long tailed. Between the Long-tailed below and the Parasitic underneath it, seems the Long-tailed is less robust in the neck and chest.

In Pyle's Identification Guide to North American Birds Part II, he gives the length of the forearm of the two species.  The Long-tailed has a shorter forearm length. He mentions proportion of forearm length to wingcord is likely diagnostic.  I looked for the short inner wing of Long-tailed.  It seems the Parasitic below does have a longer inner wing.  More study needed before I can tell if I can see this in field or is it a feature only a bander with bird in hand can see.

Note on this Parasitic Jaeger the less well defined cap, the white mark above the bill, and the pointed ornamental tail feathers. The breast band seems smooth as is all the coloring on the undersides. Pomarines have a larger hood, wider wings, a scruffier appearance to undersides and a pale base to bill. Also no barring on the underwing coverts, so it is an adult.

Here you can see the white crescent above the bill.  Seems like the white primary shafts are probably not a good way to separate jaegers. Not sure if in the field you could tell this upperwing from a Long-tailed.  Seems better to watch for the contrast on Long-tailed.  I see less contrast between the upper back and primaries and secondaries.

The day before I was at the mud flats behind the Hatfield Marine Science Center, the HMSC is a very fun place to visit BTW. In the heavy wind I saw this bill as very short and pointed.  All I saw was the shiny top of bill, the bill appeared to end where that  grass is stuck on the outer half.  Plus its head had a very clear split supercilium.  I did notice the lack of longer primaries and everything else looked fine for a young Least, so I was well into the Least Sandpiper camp.  It flew like a Least and sounded like a Least.  But that pointed bill and head pattern had me wondering. Not until I hunkered down behind a pine tree to send a photo of it to Alan C did I clearly see the photo and the entire bill.  Perfectly normal Least Sandpiper.

Many thanks to Tim, Shawneen, Tom, Jim and Dave. Also thanks to Enterprise ,  Dave and crew.

Three more pelagics to go for me this year, two out of Newport on Sept. 19th and Oct 3 and one out of Westport this Labor Day Sunday (6th).  

Thanks for visiting.

The eBird reports:

Newport pelagic--Yaquina Bay, Lincoln, Oregon, USAug 30, 2015 7:13 AM - 7:38 AM
Protocol: Traveling
1.5 mile(s)
Comments:     Oregon Pelagic Tours 8 hour pelagic.Mammals: California sea lion (2); harbor seal (25).
17 species

Surf Scoter  1
Western Grebe  1
Brandt's Cormorant  25
Double-crested Cormorant  10
Pelagic Cormorant  40
Great Blue Heron  1
Osprey  1
Wandering Tattler  2
Whimbrel  1
Least Sandpiper  10
Western Sandpiper  20
Common Murre  4
Pigeon Guillemot  6
Heermann's Gull  1
Western Gull  30
California Gull  50
Caspian Tern  1



Newport pelagic--northwest route 0-5 miles offshore, Lincoln, Oregon, USAug 30, 2015 7:38 AM - 8:45 AM
Protocol: Traveling
7.0 mile(s)
Comments:     OPT pelagic.  North toward lighthouse looking for murrelets, then out.  Mammals: gray whale (2, one close); harbor porpoise (2).
14 species

Surf Scoter  15
Pacific Loon  5
Common Loon  1
Pink-footed Shearwater  4
Sooty Shearwater  10
Brandt's Cormorant  20
Pelagic Cormorant  35
Red-necked Phalarope  8
Common Murre  20
Pigeon Guillemot  6
Marbled Murrelet  1     1, seen by few.
Rhinoceros Auklet  1
Western Gull  5
California Gull  40

Aug 30, 2015 8:45 AM - 10:55 AM
Protocol: Traveling
16.5 mile(s)
Comments:     Oregon Pelagic Tours 8 hour pelagic.  5 miles to chum stop at 21.6 miles offshore. Other fauna: Steller's sea lion (1), northern fur seal (1); ocean sunfish (1, seen by few).
18 species

Pacific Loon  1
Black-footed Albatross  5     1st one seen about six miles offshore.
Northern Fulmar  2
Pink-footed Shearwater  40
Buller's Shearwater  8
Sooty Shearwater  10
Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel  4
Red-necked Phalarope  16
Red Phalarope  3
South Polar Skua  1
Parasitic Jaeger  1
Long-tailed Jaeger  2
Common Murre  6
Cassin's Auklet  2
Rhinoceros Auklet  5
Sabine's Gull  2
California Gull  15
Arctic Tern  6     Some very close views.

Newport pelagic -- NW route (combined locations), Lincoln, Oregon, US
Aug 30, 2015 10:55 AM - 12:05 PM
Protocol: Stationary
Comments:     OPT 8 hour pelagic -- chum stop at furthest point offshore (21.6 miles).  GPS: 45.61121 N, 123.40031 W. Great views of most species. Other fauna: ocean sunfish (1, small, seen by few).
15 species

Black-footed Albatross  16
Northern Fulmar  10
Pink-footed Shearwater  20
Buller's Shearwater  2
Sooty Shearwater  4
Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel  25
Red Phalarope  2
South Polar Skua  1
Parasitic Jaeger  1
Long-tailed Jaeger  5     Mostly adults (7/8), several had molted streamers.
Rhinoceros Auklet  1
Sabine's Gull  2
Western Gull  2
California Gull  30
Arctic Tern  1

Newport pelagic--northwest route 5-22 miles offshore, Lincoln, Oregon, US
Aug 30, 2015 12:05 PM - 2:10 PM
Protocol: Traveling
16.5 mile(s)
Comments:     OPT 8 hour pelagic.  Return from chum spot to 5 miles offshore. Other fauna: Steller's sea lion (1);  northern fur seal (1); blue shark (1, seen by few), ocean sunfish (1, seen by few).
16 species

Black-footed Albatross  10
Northern Fulmar  3
Pink-footed Shearwater  35
Buller's Shearwater  7
Sooty Shearwater  15
Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel  8
Red-necked Phalarope  4
Red Phalarope  16     Nice comparisons of both pelagic phalarope species in mixed flocks.
South Polar Skua  1
Pomarine Jaeger  2
Parasitic Jaeger  1
Long-tailed Jaeger  4
Cassin's Auklet  2
Rhinoceros Auklet  4
California Gull  20
Common Tern  3

Newport pelagic--northwest route 0-5 miles offshore, Lincoln, Oregon, US
Aug 30, 2015 2:10 PM - 2:38 PM
Protocol: Traveling
5.0 mile(s)
Comments:     OPT pelagic, returning. Mammals: Steller's sea lion (1).
10 species

Pink-footed Shearwater  6
Sooty Shearwater  25
Brandt's Cormorant  20
Pelagic Cormorant  10
Red-necked Phalarope  20
Common Murre  10
Marbled Murrelet  2     Seen by few.
Cassin's Auklet  2     Seen by few.
Western Gull  20
California Gull  30

Newport pelagic--Yaquina Bay, Lincoln, Oregon, US
Aug 30, 2015 2:38 PM - 3:00 PM
Protocol: Stationary
Comments:     Oregon Pelagic Tours -- return.  Mammals: gray whale (1 in channel, seen by 1); harbor seal (2).
13 species

Harlequin Duck  2     Females.
Brandt's Cormorant  40
Double-crested Cormorant  15
Pelagic Cormorant  30
Turkey Vulture  3
Wandering Tattler  1
Black Turnstone  5
Surfbird  0
Common Murre  4
Pigeon Guillemot  4
Heermann's Gull  1
Mew Gull  1
Western Gull  35
California Gull  50