Sunday morning, the 6th of
October, I woke with the alarm and made it down to the Newport, Oregon
Bayfront. A beautiful clear morning
boded well for the Oregon Pelagic Tours seabird trip, as it was cool at 45º F, but nice and calm.
The birders
assembled next to Mo’s Chowder House Annex, which dates from 1968. The building is older than that, but Mo’s has
been here since I was a kid, and Dad would stop here for dinner or supper when we visited the Coast. The
main Mo’s Chowder House is across the street.
We were given our
orientation by Pelagic Birder exceptionale Tim Shelmerdine. Tim was a pelagic birding guide with “The
Bird Guide”, which was operated by Greg Gillson until he moved to California in
2013. This was my first time out with
Tim, and I was impressed with the guides today - besides Tim, we were joined by
Russ Namitz, Jim Danzenbaker, Shawneen Finnegan and Dave Irons.
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| Tim greeting the blurry birders . . . |
We left the
harbor shortly after dawn, aboard the F/V Misty, captained by Skipper Rob
Waddell, and steamed west and a little north of Yaquina Bay. We went past the M/V Yaquina, a suction
hopper dredge operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. She’s 60 feet in length with an 18-foot beam,
which makes her pretty efficient at dredging the waterways of the smaller ports
on the Northwest coast. A birder friend of mine, Jay Stene, worked on this ship for a number of years.
We birded our way
west, looking for fishing vessels. En
route today, we saw a number of marine mammals.
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| M/V Yaquina |
Besides the California and Steller’s Sea Lions inshore, we got offshore, and: “Thar
Be Whales!” We saw a number of
Humpbacks, as well as a Fin and a Blue Whale.
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| "The largest animal known to have ever existed" |
A few Northern Fur Seals watched us pass by. Having seen these on the beach last month, it
was nice to see them again here at home.
Around 10 a.m.,
we approached the F/V Pacific Ram, an 84-foot catcher-trawler built at Rockport,
Texas in 1978, now operated by Trident Seafoods. She’s been recently refitted, and is a pretty
good looking boat.
We shadowed the
trawler until she began hauling the nets.
This attracts a swarm of gulls and shearwaters, which we sort through, looking
for the more uncommon species.
While we were
watching the birds around the fishing operation, a Red-breasted Nuthatch, of
all things, landed on Bob Archer’s shoulder!
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| There, on the left shoulder - what is that??!? |
Bob looks nothing like the bird’s preferred habitat of Sitka Spruce
branches, and was likely just taking a welcome rest from its fall migratory
flight. Getting tired when you are 30
miles to sea can be lethal for migrating songbirds.
Leaving the
Pacific Ram a little before noon, we motored south to catch up with other
trawlers, the 87-foot F/V Leslie Lee,
and the F/V Muir Milach.
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| Fishing Vessel Muir Milach |
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| F/V Leslie Lee |
When we’d get
near a concentration of sea birds, such as those behind a trawler, or seeing
some of the tube-noses, Tim and company would lay out a ‘chum’ of popcorn,
flavored with fish oils.
The tube-noses
(Procellariids) are the albatrosses, shearwaters, fulmars, and petrels. They’re called tube-noses because their
nostrils are ‘tubed’ above their bill, and their sense of smell is
amazing.
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| Northern Fulmars' nostrils are quite evident - and effective |
They can detect a bit of fish
oil, the spawn of shrimps or squid, or other foods from miles downwind, and
hopefully the ‘chum’ will pull them in close enough that we birders can get a decent view.
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| Russ keeps a sharp eye for a "good bird" . . . |
Tim uses the
popcorn and fish oil chum, which is a bit different from the suet and fish oil
used on Pelagic trips by Westport Seabirds, but seems to be equally
effective.
We presume that the roughage
of the popcorn is compatible with the digestive system of a Sooty Shearwater or Northern Fulmar .
. . you know that the gulls can handle it.
Finally, we
headed east toward Newport around 3 p.m., and pulled into the slip around 5
p.m., on a fine 60º F afternoon.
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| The Yaquina Bay Bridge was built in 1934-36. It still works. |
It had been a long day, but a
number of people were interested in ‘chasing’ the Orchard Oriole that I’d found
yesterday, as well as a Prairie Warbler that was found in the same area
yesterday afternoon. After the trip, I
went down to the Local Oceans restaurant on the waterfront with Dave and
Shawneen, and Dan Heyerly and his wife Anne.
Good food but a little on the expensive side; I had the calamari salad
with Roasted fennel, poblano peppers, Niçoise olives, orange, shiitake
mushrooms, queso fresco, and a bowl of Dungeness crab soup that was
well-balanced with garlic. I'd eat here again!
Monday morning, I
went back to the neighborhood, and just missed seeing the Prairie Warbler by
minutes, but it wasn’t found again before I called it a day after two hours’
searching.
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| Western Gull |
The trip back to Olympia was
uneventful, and I had time to enjoy the reminisces of a great day on the Ocean
with some great birders.
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| A Common Loon welcomed us back into the Bay |
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