Westport Pelagic May 20, 2017

I went on my third pelagic trip of the year last Saturday (5/20/17) out of  Westport, WA  (Westport Seabirds).  It was by far the most pleasant trip of the year.  On and off sunny skies and a gentle breeze set the stage for a great trip.  Albatross usually show up by 8:30 am on these trips, nothing magical about that time, just leave at 6 am cruise off shore and you hit their home at 8:30.  On Saturday, 8:30 came and went, finally we spotted a Black-footed.  My streak of always seeing an albatross continues.  At one spot we had a Laysan Albatross fly by, it did not stop at our chum, apparently it had a place to go.

It is separated from other black and white albatross by the smaller size, the black back that extends down the back a bit (forming a white U), and..

a variable smudgy underwing and a pink bill with a nice blue tip.

Lots of Red Phalarope were seen.  It is easy to separate these from Red-necked in breeding plumage even at a great distance, Red have dark bellies,

while Red-necked have white bellies and the white cheek.

One very cooperative Tufted Puffin was spotted.

Pink-footed Shearwater were common farther off shore.  They molt their wings Apr-Aug, non breeders molt earlier.  I spent the day trying to see which primaries were being molted. Shearwater, like others, shed their inner primaries all at once. So I think this bird just started its molt since I do not see any new primaries poking out from the coverts yet.

Most of the birds I studied were the thousands of Sooty Shearwater we spotted.  Here I think I see the new inner primaries growing in, those darker feathers on inside of the gap.  Once molt reaches the middle primaries, the coverts are shed.  This creates that bold white wing stripe, those are the bases of exposed feathers.

I think this one just started on the inner primary molt.

When I saw this bird, I thought I had found a bird with no molt, so I was thinking a first-year bird.  But when I looked at the photo, I think I see  new middle primaries?  So this one is well into its molt,  I think I see new coverts growing in as well. If I read things write, a bird this far along might be a non-breeder or a second-year bird?  All this molt stuff might be complete bull, trying to figure it out myself.  In any case there is always lots of  interesting things to look for on these trips.  I thought I saw other birds with no molt, but no good photos obtained.

Two Parasitic Jaegers did a fly-by for us.

My goal on these trips was to find a petrel offshore, none seen this year.  A nice plus on Saturday's trip were all the mammals we saw.  I can't recall when we saw them first, but I would guess from 20ish miles offshore out to 35 miles or so offshore, the ocean was packed with whales and dolphin.  So while scanning the skies for a petrel, the mammal show kept me entertained.

You can see the hump where the dorsal fin sits on this Humpbacked Whale. 

Pacific White-sided Dolphin were everywhere, out enjoying the day. 

I am always amazed at how stream-lined they are, they can come a good ways out of the water without actually breaking the surface.

One of my favorite beasts is the Northern Right Whale Dolphin. they have a beautiful white patch on their underside.

And, like whom they are named after, the Northern Right Whale, they lack a dorsal fin.

At one point I spotted some high dorsal fins in the water, I thought small Orca, but they seemed a tad small.  Risso's Dolphin is the other option.

Some were resting on the surface, they stayed in an eerie pattern, I felt like I was watching a sea monster from Pirates of the Caribbean. 

Their backs and bodies become scarred from their fellow dolphin's teeth or from the squid that they feast upon.  The older they get, the paler they get.  That is an older one in front.

We saw well over 100 of these amazing dolphin. Their dorsal fin usually remain dark.

They always have very striking patterns on their bodies.

Overall the boat (Monte Carlo) traveled 87 miles, I did not see a tern until mile 86.999, just as we were getting back to marina.  Common Tern.

Thanks to the boat, the crew, Phil and Chris, and the spotters, Bill, Bruce, Scott and Mike. Will post ebird results once they are done.  Thanks for the visit.  Ochocos next weekend then Malheur in 9 days!

A Fun Day Shorebirding

I am in a rut when it comes to blogs, I keep showing reports of same areas, same birds.  Will try to spice it up a bit in weeks to come.  But in spring I do have a routine I do as to areas to visit.  Sauvie Island has been flooded, I was hoping to describe a great loop I do around island, but the whole are is under water, perhaps a canoe trip instead this weekend to see if any shorebirds are hidden out on all those islands.

Any hoot, the first weekend in May is always one of the best weekends for spring shorebird migration. My spot to visit is the beaches of Clatsop county.  I headed down Saturday, May 6th.  Tempting to go to Lincoln County to see the Bar-tailed Godwits, but I saw one up in Washington and had not seen any reports of activity in Clatsop.  I found a total of 16 different species of shorebirds last Saturday, not bad.

It was a dark morning when I arrived, a rain storm was heading my way.

It got darker as the morning progressed.  I could see it would be a short squall so I was not concerned for the day.

Six Bald Eagles were sitting around this tasty object, the eagle in charge was taking its sweet time with breakfast.

A high contrast chin patch locks this id in as a Red-necked Phalarope.  A Wilson's is less contrasting.

A Mew Gull waited out the rain storm as the sun came out.

Sheer numbers were lower than last year, I had a total of two Ruddy Turnstones this year.

Out of all the Western, I did manage to find one Least Sandpiper.  Least were in better numbers over in the bay.

Favorite shorebird, Black-bellied Plover.

After the beach I went to Parking Lot C, I walked to the river beach,  the rocks you pass are a fav place for peeps to hide.  They blend in well and it takes a close inspection to pick them out.  Western Sandpiper.

A well hidden Least.

Last year Red Knot were in good numbers, this year I saw two, both on river beach.

After river beach, I went to the ocean beach just south of the jetty, another good spot for shorebirds.  Bonaparte's Gulls were common.

I found a group of four dowitchers.

Left bird is a Short-billed.  Note the pale edges of the back feathers go high up the sides of the feathers, it creates a very colorful pattern.  The Long-billed Dowitcher on the right has pale tips to the feathers, a darker back.

I called both of these as Long-billed since they both have pale feather tips to back and frosty white edges to orange underparts.

Long-billed Dowitcher, I think this one even has a long bill!

Sometimes when Long-billed Dowitcher flush they can flash very white underwings.

One feature Long-billed always have are white lesser wing coverts, you can see the white patch on front part of very inner wing.  Look at Sibley, he shows this as well in his drawings.

I called this a Short-billed Dowitcher since it has pale edges coming up the sides of the feathers.  There was a Long-billed in very similar molt, and as the birds moved around, there wings would pop out from under their scapulars, so the appearance changed slightly each time I looked at them.

The same bird with open wings.

Same bird. Short-billed have more uniform patterned underwings, the lesser coverts are not white, you can see the overall even pattern here.

I keep repeating myself, but no Common Ringed Plover found.

A trip to the airport area got me a Greater Yellowlegs.

I called these Long-billed Dowitchers.

After checking out Wireless and finding lots of Whimbrel and a Long-billed Curlew, I went out to the Skipanon River.  Map of access and where this is.

Some views of the river mouth, lots of flats available for birds. Not sure if this area is as productive as it was in the past.

Lots of Whimbrel and plover, the big one to left is a Marbled Godwit.

The Black-bellied Plover walking to the left had me going, it is a very brown bird.

Hope this guys right wing is okay.

Caspian Terns like the Skipanon River mouth.

I'll try to find a new area to blog about, but I need to visit Wasco once more time this spring, so suffer on a bit longer. I have a great idea for a Steens Mtn area with no ebird reports that looks great to explore, so that will be at end of month/early June.

Thanks for the visit.