Washington and British Columbia Trip ~ September 13, 1986

I boarded a boat early Saturday morning for a pelagic trip out of Westport. The trip would go about 25 miles out into the Pacific Ocean. It was my first time on a pelagic trip. I hadn't even done one on the East Coast, so I didn't know how I was going to do with seasickness, especially given the fact that I have a fairly bad case of motion sickness even when riding in a car. As we headed out into the Pacific, one of the local birders said that the seas were really calm by Washington standards. Needless to say, I was happy to hear that. I was fine while we motored forward, but started having trouble when the boat stopped to check out birds on the water. After adding some chum to the waters, I slept most of the way back into port, but I really did great bird-wise as the trip netted me 15 life birds. Here's the list by order seen and their approximate numbers.

Black-legged Kittiwake (3)
Common Murre (~40)
Sooty Shearwater (~1000)
Brown Pelican (~15)
Pomarine Jaeger* (~30)
Rhinoceros Auklet (5)
Common Loon (~10)
Northern Fulmar* (~10) (both "dark" and "light" phase birds)
Buller's Shearwater* (~15)
Black-footed Albatross* (~25)
Pink-footed Shearwater* (~35)
Cassin's Auklet* (~10)
Sabine's Gull* (~10)
Northern "Red-necked" Phalarope* (~10)
Arctic Tern* (~10)
Flesh-footed Shearwater* (2)
Long-tailed Jaeger* (1)
Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel* (~20)
South Polar Skua* (1)
Parasitic Jaeger* (1)
Tufted Puffin* (3)

Other interesting sightings included Steller's Sea Lions, Dall's Porpoise, and Sunfish.

Here are some identifiable photos I managed to get during the pelagic.

Sooty Shearwater on the pelagic trip out of Westport, Washington.

Sabine's Gulls on the pelagic trip out of Westport, Washington.

Northern Fulmar on the pelagic trip out of Westport, Washington.

Buller's Shearwater on the pelagic trip out of Westport, Washington.

Black-footed Albatross on the pelagic trip out of Westport, Washington.

Black-footed Albatross on the pelagic trip out of Westport, Washington.

South Polar Skua on the pelagic trip out of Westport, Washington.

After the pelagic, I had enough time to bird the South Jetty at Westport where I got my last 'lifer' of the trip---a Surfbird.

From Westport, I drove back to Seattle and stayed there overnight. It still seemed like the bed was moving back and forth like the boat.

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