Westport Pelagic Feb 27, 2016

After several weather cancellations with both Oregon Pelagic Tours  and Westport Seabirds this February , I finally made it out on the ocean with Westport Seabirds.  The weather was iffy up to Friday.  The forecast improved and the trip was a go.  The bar crossing heading out was the main concern, but with a little good luck and the zig zag exit strategy of the crew on Monte Carlo we made it out with no real big bounce.

The cool part of going offshore were all the Long-tailed Ducks we saw.  I saw two flocks fly by with about six birds each.  One flock had a beautiful male.  This Long-tailed Duck was in the harbor upon our return.

We headed out on a more southerly course than normal, so if the stronger southerly winds arrived in the afternoon, we would have a dry down wave run home. It paid off well, the ocean was not as bad as predicted and the ride home was a nice sleigh ride.

When we arrived at our destination, a canyon about 34 miles off (I think) Leadbetter Point, we started our chum slick.  We quickly gathered a nice group of albatross.  One of the first to arrive was this Laysan Albatross.

The first Laysan left, a question arose when this next Laysan arrived.  Was it the same bird or a different bird.  I think the next set of photos are of the second bird.  These photos were taken 17 minutes later.  For those on the trip, I think this is the second bird:

I know these birds can change their wing shape, and thus the pattern underneath should change as well.  So one bird or two?

After the Laysan Albatross arrived the Black-footed Albatross arrived in numbers.  Usually during the summer and fall their plumage is old and tattered looking.  These alabatross were beautiful in nice fresh plumage.

These pictures do not capture the frenzy at a chum spot.  The motion of the ocean, the rocking of the boat and the dashing around of the birds makes it a fun and challenging event.  Here is my first video attempt that sort of works.  I gave up trying to focus camera manually, I turned off noise to protect the passengers comments and just pointed camera in general direction of the birds.

I also tried to film one flying:

Most gulls offshore were Herring Gulls, not sure what is up with the back gull, its tips are not very black.  The front gull does not look like a full mature gull, note the black in the coverts.

Black-legged Kittiwakes were common, always fun to get pictures of them.

One of these is a Thayer's Gull the other is a Herring Gull.

Will the Thayer's please raise its wing!

A pure Glaucous-winged Gull, they way they are supposed to look:

This one was thought to be a Herring x Glaucous-winged hybrid.  Primary tips too dark for Glaucous-winged, bird not dark enough to have Western in it, tail did not look pure either.

We saw one Short-tailed Shearwater, a few Sooty's a few Sooty\Short-tailed pick'ems  and one Pink-footed!  Strange just seeing one Pink-footed in a chum slick.

I spent all day looking for Parakeet Auklet, none seen, but there were tons of Cassin's Auklets.  So I had great practice watching Cassin's fly away while looking for a Parakeet in the group.  Common Murre were an easy spot and far easier than trying for Cassin's.:

Coming back across the bar, the ocean put on a great show crashing onto the underwater extension off the south jetty.

Dunlin over rocks.

Common Loon, hard to confuse the loons if you can see the bill.  Common have an obvious turn at the gonydal, Pacific Loons have a bill where the top and bottom parts taper down to meet at the tip.

Sorry for a few blurry photos, thanks to Monte Carlo, the crew and the spotters.  I'll post the eBird list when they send it out.  We saw Pacific White-sided Dolphin, Gray Whale, Humpback Whale a few unknown big whales ( no good view of back) ,  Northern Fur Seal and both Sea Lions.

Westport pelagic--inshore, Grays Harbor, Washington, US
Feb 27, 2016 7:05 AM - 7:30 AM
Protocol: Traveling
3.0 mile(s)
Comments:     Westport Seabirds pelagic trip.  Leaders are Bruce LaBar, Bill Tweit, and Bill Shelmerdine.  This segment includes counts from the jetty end to the outer buoy, three miles offshore.  The bar crossing was fairly rough, winds were calm, sky was a high overcast.  Saw 2 Northern Fur Seal, 1 Harbour Seal and 10 Stellers Sea Lions.
11 species (+1 other taxa)

Brant  6
Surf Scoter  25
White-winged Scoter  15
Long-tailed Duck  2     Two flying into the harbor.
Red-throated Loon  1
Common Loon  1
Western Grebe  10
Brandt's Cormorant  8
Pelagic Cormorant  2
Common Murre  1
Mew Gull  6
Western/Glaucous-winged Gull  X

Westport--Offshore waters, Grays Harbor, Washington, US
Feb 27, 2016 7:30 AM - 8:00 AM
Protocol: eBird Pelagic Protocol
7.0 mile(s)
Comments:     Westport Seabirds pelagic trip. Leaders are Bruce LaBar, Bill Tweit, and Bill Shelmerdine. This segment includes counts from the outer buoy, three miles offshore, heading SW to the Pacific County line.  Cloudy skies, swells were 8' from the west, winds were SW at Beaufort 2, and SST was 51F.  Saw four Gray Whales nearshore.
12 species (+2 other taxa)

Surf Scoter  1
White-winged Scoter  2
Long-tailed Duck  12     Two groups flying past us a couple of miles past the outer buoy, a group of 5 and a few minutes later, a group of 7.  Mostly males.
Pacific Loon  1
Western Grebe  2
Northern Fulmar  3     One light and two dark phase.
Sooty/Short-tailed Shearwater  1
Pomarine Jaeger  1     One light phase adult with full tail spoons flew past our bow.  Fairly strong neck collar, large wing flash, bulky body, long central tail feathers with twisted blunt tips.  Photo shows winter plumage face pattern.
Common Murre  2000     Abundant.  A mix of breeding and winter plumages.  Several individuals close to the boat were too full to take flight, and simply plowed away from us before diving.
Black-legged Kittiwake  3
Mew Gull  4
Herring Gull  1
Thayer's Gull  1
Western/Glaucous-winged Gull  2

Westport pelagic--Offshore Pacific County, Pacific, Washington, US
Feb 27, 2016 8:00 AM - 9:40 AM
Protocol: eBird Pelagic Protocol
18.0 mile(s)
Comments:     Westport Seabirds pelagic trip. Leaders are Bruce LaBar, Bill Tweit, and Bill Shelmerdine. This segment includes counts from the Grays Harbor county line to Willapa Canyon.  Winds were SW Beaufort 3, seas were 8-9' from the west, cloudy skies and SST was 51F.  Marine mammals were surprisingly plentiful, with 30 Pacific White-sided Dolphin, another 75 distant porpoises that were probably also PWSD, one Humpback Whale and one unidentified large whale that had a tall blow and apparently lacked a dorsal fin.
14 species (+2 other taxa)

Pacific Loon  1
Black-footed Albatross  12     Careful count.
Northern Fulmar  6     Dark phase.
Pink-footed Shearwater  1     One crossed our bow.  A large shearwater with mostly white underparts, light underwings with ragged dark borders and dark along the flanks, uniform brownish upperparts.  Too distant to see soft part colors, but flight style was clearly PFSH.
Sooty Shearwater  1
Short-tailed Shearwater  1     One made several close passes to the boat, easily noted the small bill, more rounded head shape, darker underwings, and agile flight.
Sooty/Short-tailed Shearwater  2
Pomarine Jaeger  1     Seen from bow by Bruce LaBar and others.
Common Murre  503
Pigeon Guillemot  1
Cassin's Auklet  53     Several had difficulty taking flight, simply flapping over the water to get away from the boat, apparently too full to fly.
Rhinoceros Auklet  12     Most in breeding plumage, some with full plumes.
Black-legged Kittiwake  26
Mew Gull  3
Herring Gull  1
Western/Glaucous-winged Gull  3

Willapa Canyon (Pacific Co.), Pacific, Washington, US
Feb 27, 2016 9:40 AM - 11:25 AM
Protocol: eBird Pelagic Protocol
5.0 mile(s)
Comments:     Westport Seabirds pelagic trip. Leaders are Bruce LaBar, Bill Tweit, and Bill Shelmerdine. This segment includes counts from Willapa Canyon, including the hour and 25 minute chum stop at the west end of the canyon.  Saw one large whale (sp.) blow several times about a mile north of the chum site.  At the chum site, we noted lines of small whitish invertebrates on the water, which appeared to be very small Velella when we dipped some up in a bucket.
11 species (+1 other taxa)

Laysan Albatross  2     Photos of the Laysans at the chum stop showed two different birds, based on differences in the thickness of the black rear margin on the underwing.  Seen about 5 minutes apart from each other.
Black-footed Albatross  37     Most were in very fresh plumage, a couple still showing some old feathers on the face.  The albatross at the chum stop were quite aggressive for both suet and fish.  One had a yellow band left, with code AH87, and silver USFWS band right.  Another had a blue band left, and silver right, but could not get the alpha code.
Northern Fulmar  20     One light phase and 19 dark phase.
Pink-footed Shearwater  1     At the chum stop, circled through the area several times over five minutes.
Pigeon Guillemot  1     Single bird in partial breeding plumage flying south.
Cassin's Auklet  3
Rhinoceros Auklet  20
Black-legged Kittiwake  65
Herring Gull  15
Thayer's Gull  1
Glaucous-winged Gull  2
Herring x Glaucous-winged Gull (hybrid)  1

Westport pelagic--Offshore Pacific County, Pacific, Washington, USFeb 27, 2016 11:25 AM - 1:00 PM
Protocol: eBird Pelagic Protocol
15.0 mile(s)
Comments:     Westport Seabirds pelagic trip. Leaders are Bruce LaBar, Bill Tweit, and Bill Shelmerdine. This segment includes counts from Willapa Canyon NE to the Grays Harbor county line. Partly cloudy, winds were SW Beaufort 3-4, seas were 9-10' from the west,  and SST was 51F.  Saw 1 Gray Whale and 3 Pacific White-sided Dolphin.
9 species (+2 other taxa)

Pacific Loon  1
Black-footed Albatross  53     Careful count, birds in view for most of the transect.
Northern Fulmar  42     One light phase, and 41 dark phase.
Sooty Shearwater  2
Sooty/Short-tailed Shearwater  1
Common Murre  53
Cassin's Auklet  49
Rhinoceros Auklet  12
Black-legged Kittiwake  19
Herring Gull  1
Western/Glaucous-winged Gull  11

Westport--Offshore waters, Grays Harbor, Washington, USFeb 27, 2016 1:00 PM - 2:05 PM
Protocol: eBird Pelagic Protocol
15.0 mile(s)
Comments:     Westport Seabirds pelagic trip. Leaders are Bruce LaBar, Bill Tweit, and Bill Shelmerdine. This segment includes counts from the Pacific County line to the outer buoy, three miles offshore.  Winds were SE Beaufort 3, sky was partly cloudy, and seas were 8' from the west. Saw 1 Stellers Sea Lions.
12 species (+2 other taxa)

Surf Scoter  1White-winged Scoter  1
Red-throated Loon  2
Pacific Loon  4
Northern Fulmar  5     Dark phase.
Sooty Shearwater  2
Sooty/Short-tailed Shearwater  1
Brandt's Cormorant  1
Common Murre  120
Rhinoceros Auklet  1
Black-legged Kittiwake  7
Mew Gull  7
Herring Gull  1
Western/Glaucous-winged Gull  18

Westport pelagic--inshore, Grays Harbor, Washington, USFeb 27, 2016 2:05 PM - 2:50 PM
Protocol: Traveling
7.0 mile(s)
Comments:     Westport Seabirds pelagic trip. Leaders are Bruce LaBar, Bill Tweit, and Bill Shelmerdine. This segment includes counts from the outer buoy, three miles offshore, to the boat basin. Clear skies, winds SE at Beaufort 3, and swells crashing over the outer half of the jetty combined with high tide kept the jetty birdless. Saw 7 Stellers Sea Lions on buoys off the jetty and 50 California Sea Lions on floats in the marina.
25 species (+2 other taxa)

Greater Scaup  6
Lesser Scaup  2
Surf Scoter  50
White-winged Scoter  3
Long-tailed Duck  1     In the boat basin.
Bufflehead  1
Common Goldeneye  1
Red-breasted Merganser  9
Red-throated Loon  1
Pacific Loon  3
Common Loon  6
Horned Grebe  1
Western Grebe  20
Brandt's Cormorant  5
Double-crested Cormorant  28
Pelagic Cormorant  25
Great Blue Heron  1
Long-billed Curlew  1     Single bird roosting on the boat basin wall at high tide.
Dunlin  2000     Several flocks flying along the jetty, at high tide.
Western Sandpiper  5     A couple of birds in the DUNL flocks flying along the jetty.
Common Murre  10
Black-legged Kittiwake  14

Thanks much for the visit!

Walk on the Beach: Red-legged Kittiwake

I was eager to get out of town and do some birding after an eternity of heavy storms and a tree falling on my house (all okay).  I was hoping for a window to get down to Corvallis and explore the EE Wilson WMA and look for some longspurs south of there.  However I was also thinking of hitting the coast to see the stormy seas.  I decided on the coast after I saw a gap in the weather at 10 am today, Sunday the 13th, and a low tide. Also a challenge was thrown down by a coastal birder to get out and to see what could be found along the beaches.  Clatsop County was being well covered today by the Seaside/Astoria gang, the fine folks in Tillamook currently have their beachfront a few miles inland of where I usually go.   So that left my second favorite beach town on this planet (next to Barnegat Light), Newport, Oregon.  

I arrived right at 10 am as the rain let up.

I tried to go out onto the South Jetty but the gate was locked.   I decided to go to South Beach State Park and to attempt to walk the beach north back up to  the South Jetty.   It would be a short walk , but good enough with the tide rising on a log-strewn beach under storm conditions.

When I got to the beach, I saw a group of birders up north.  I knew they were looking for a Mountain Plover that has been on beach for a number of days.  They found it before I got to them.  Good thing, I would have walked right by it as they had when they first looked for the bird.

The decline in the population of Mountain Plover has been dramatic.  Or has it?  I always wonder about politics and scientific reports at government agencies.  Do they bounce species on and off watch lists at a whim or is it real science.   Based on info available at the time, O'Brien, Crossley and Karlson in The Shorebird Guide (2006) said there were less than 9,000 birds alive.  By 2011 , the Fish and Wildlife Service said there were actually 20,000 birds and that local declines did not represent overall condition of the species.

Latest info I could find.

I started walking up north to the jetty, I saw a flock of gulls on the beach.  I had not noticed it yet, but note the bird sitting off to right.  It is at the bottom of a line of  gulls. From this distance ( at full zoom) I did see the Black-legged Kittiwake to the front and left of the bird.

I was studying a number of Black-legged Kittiwakes in the group. 

While I was tracking the Black-legged Kittiwake in the center, I noticed the small black-backed gull off to the right.  It also had short legs!  Short red legs to be exact..

It spent all the time cleaning itself, the wind was howling right in my face and I could see a serious squall heading my way.  But I could see the all dark primary tips on the underside of the wing and the darker back than the Black-legged, so I went quickly to a Red-legged Kittiwake.  I wanted to see a tiny pale bill but it did not cooperate. 

While I had my camera on it, it stopped once and turned its head a bit.  A tiny pale bill.

Back to cleaning it went. I was having trouble getting a perfect shot in the wind. I decided to swing-wide and move up wind of it to get a face shot before all hell broke loose with the coming squall.  I did not move in time, I was blasted by hail, I had to cover my face and get myself and my dog, Huck,  to cover.  A tidal surge, helped along by the wind blast, sent water roaring up the beach and all the gulls were gone. 

This is Oregon's 11th Red-legged Kittiwake, the third if you do not count dead and dying birds. It is the first living Red-legged Kittiwake (assuming accepted) found on land in Oregon.  The other two were off-shore sightings.  Lifer!

I have read about Red-legged Kittiwakes in case I ever found one, I knew they were darker than Black-legged Kittiwakes, but I never bothered to compare them to Western Gulls.  I thought I would be seeing a bird slightly darker than a Black-legged Kittiwake.  According to Howell's Gulls of the Americas, the Red-legged has a back that is Kodak 8.5 to 9.5, Black-legged are 6.5 to 8, Western Gulls are more variable, but from 8.0 to 9.5 for our northern subspecies.  This Red-legged was obviously the darkest gull on the beach except for a few Westerns.  Below is one of the Black-legged Kittiwakes that was sitting by the subject, taken in same light with same settings on camera.   Much paler bird.

I saw 6 Black-legged Kittiwakes in the area.

I saw 6 Snowy Plover.  I tried to capture the bands on all.  Here is what I was able to get:

Left leg: Red-Yellow-Red  Right leg: Dull yellow?

Left leg: Orange-Green  Right leg: Green

Left leg: Green-Yellow  Right leg: Dull Yellow?

This was a different bird, had a green over yellow, but never saw other leg.

Same here, could not see leg without disturbing bird, but looks like top band was purple or light blue?

The beach was littered with stressed-out-but-seeming-to-be-doing-okay  Red Phalaropes.

Nice thick-billed Red Phalarope.

.

Typical view if you go on a pelagic, minus the waves and a bouncing platform.

A number of Harlequin Ducks were hugging the jetty.  I pointed this one out to some storm watchers, much to their delight.

The tip of the north jetty.

The bar had huge breakers coming across.

The Coast Guard swept by, these beaches are dangerous as the tide comes up.  One big wave and you are in a death dance with all the moving logs.

The beach had little room for the expired.  Not many located.

Expired Cassin's Auxlet.  One seen.

Red Phalarope.  One seen.

Western Grebe.  2 seen.

I did stop by EE Wilson on the way home, just to give Huck a longer walk.  Not much activity. A heron wondered why I was out in the rain.

Thanks much for the visit.