Date: 8/22/25 2:48 pm From: Charlie Wright via Tweeters <tweeters...> Subject: [Tweeters] Westport Seabirds trip report for 8/14/2025
Hello All, After being rescheduled by high winds the previous day, Westport Seabirds participants were treated to good-to-excellent sea conditions on the 14th of August, with sometimes-glassy seas and high overcast most of the day -- no squinting! The crew for this trip were Captain Phil and first mate Chris Anderson, and spotters Scott Mills, Bruce LaBar, and me.
The "shrimpers" (pink shrimp trawling vessels) were concentrating to the south of Grays Canyon, so that too is where we headed. Not long after crossing the bar, our first South Polar Skua of the day was observed being persistently chased by a California Gull - interesting to see the tables turned, but perhaps more in the way crows mob eagles than a reversal of roles.
'Tis the season for "first of season". As we clipped southward, a Buller's Shearwater made an exhilarating close pass by the bow. They're just arriving along our coast from toiling in the open North Pacific, now taking a circuitous route back to breeding islands in the Southern Hemisphere near New Zealand.
At last we reached the shrimpers, and behind them we found some big flocks of Pink-footed Shearwaters and a good number of Black-footed Albatross, mainly resting on the water, conserving energy and waiting for the winds to pick back up (they wouldn't have to wait long, as a front arrived in the late afternoon).
As we arrived at the edge of the continental shelf, a Leach's Storm-Petrel made a very distant flyby, seen by only a couple onboard. As is often the case on windless and pleasant days, chumming was not adrenaline-inducing, but it did afford us some nicer, stationary views of Fork-tailed Storm-Petrels and Sabine's Gulls.
From our chum spot, a floating log could occasionally be glimpsed between troughs on the horizon, about 2 miles away. Initially the log was lined with Arctic Terns. The terns dispersed at one point, some of them flying directly over the Monte Carlo, and when we started motoring over to check out the log we could see why. They had been replaced by 3 gorgeous Long-tailed Jaegers. This trio allowed Phil to position them in good lighting before taking to the air. There was an adult with intact tail streamers, an adult with missing streamers, and another adult (uniform underwings) that had already begun molting into nonbreeding plumage with a splotchy face and dark breast. Like the Buller's Shearwater, these were the first of their species on 2025 Westport trips.
The calm seas also aided our alcid search. We had several unusually good views of Cassin's Auklets and a cooperative Tufted Puffin in addition to many murre chick + adult pairs. Our final shrimper visit of the day provided point blank views of a Short-tailed Shearwater (after a number of quick flybys). Veterans of Westport pelagics like myself are still in shock that this has become an expected August bird in our waters -- no longer do we have to wait until those late fall trips.
Finally it was time to head back to the harbor. Back inshore, while we were taking in the classic sight of a gray bird on a gray rock with 5 Wandering Tattlers sleeping on the Point Brown Jetty, a juvenile Franklin's Gull was suddenly hovering over us. This is only the third time Franklin's has been seen on a Westport Pelagic, with the 2nd record being a breeding plumage bird this May.
It was a pretty quiet day for mammals, with several humpback and gray whales that did not feel like cooperating for close views. Even the Dall's porpoises showed no interest in playing. Quite a few good-sized Mola sp. were seen, including a large breaching individual.
