[obol] Boiler Bay State Wayside, Oct 26, 2014 -- Our eBird report and some commentary
- From: David Irons <llsdirons@xxxxxxx>
- To: OBOL Oregon Birders Online <obol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 27 Oct 2014 04:57:16 +0000
Greetings all,
Despite high hopes, our four-hour seawatch at Boiler Bay today yielded no
stunning rarities and there was no "southerly" component to the list of species
that we racked up. That said, the dozen or so birders who gathered to take in
this spectacle were hardly disappointed. In terms of pure numbers, today's
flight was exceptional (see counts below). The constant inshore/overland stream
of gulls that passed us may have numbered in excess of 100,000 birds.
Similarly, there was a constant offshore stream of loons, Cassin's Auklets,
more gulls and phalaropes, many far too distant to identify to species. Again,
what we counted is often only a fraction of what we witnessed. The flight of
Cassin's Auklets was the largest that we've ever seen and I believe the largest
ever seen by Phil Pickering, who lives nearby and spends many days per year
tallying the flights past Boiler Bay State Wayside.
Those of you who follow OBOL closely may have seen Phil's report posted earlier
today. In many ways this report and his are nearly identical, but it is
important to recognize that the experience one has at this sort of seawatch is
very much an individual one even though those doing the observing may be
standing mere feet from one another. Phil was about 5-6 birders down the row
from where we stood and much of what he saw, we didn't. As a rule, I think Phil
focuses his attentions a bit farther offshore than we do/did. Given that the
number of hours he has spent seawatching far surpasses the seawatching hours of
most other birders, he surely processes birds faster and is comfortable
identifying birds at greater distances than others might be. Even standing
side-by-side it is impossible to get your birding partners on every bird that
you see and vice versa. Birds are flying by, moving in and out of troughs, and
there are generally few points of reference other than clouds on the horizon to
use when trying to get others on a bird. Today, there were no fishing boats
out, nor any crab pot floats to use as reference points, and the swell and wind
chop were considerable.
The list of species and counts below were entered into the eBird database
(checklist and notes below). It was a very fun day and one we would gladly
repeat any time. The weather was far better than expected. By sunrise the winds
were modest and sea spray was not an issue. The rain cells that came ashore
during our watch seemed to end either to the north or south of us and by late
morning the sun came out and layers were shed.
Dave Irons and Shawneen Finnegan
Portland, Oregon
Boiler Bay State Wayside, Lincoln, US-OR
Oct 26, 2014 8:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Protocol: Stationary
Comments: Sea watch following a big storm with winds that were less
westerly than forecast. No shockers. 48 species (+2 other taxa)
Brant 18
American Wigeon 2
Mallard 2
Northern Pintail 60
Green-winged Teal 25
Greater Scaup 200
Surf Scoter 25000
White-winged Scoter 800
Black Scoter 20
Long-tailed Duck 1
Red-breasted Merganser 2
Red-throated Loon 3000 -- There were many more thousands of loons
streaming past the entire time that we were present, but they were not all
identified to species. In all we believe that perhaps as many as 80,000 total
loons passed during our 4-hr seawatch.
Pacific Loon 20000 -- Massive movement. Constant stream all the way to the
horizon. There were many more thousands of loons streaming past the entire time
that we were present, but they were not all identified to species. In all we
believe that perhaps as many as 80,000 total loons passed during our 4-hr
seawatch.
Common Loon 2500 -- Biggest flight of Common Loons we have ever seen. There
were many more thousands of loons streaming past the entire time that we were
present, but they were not all identified to species. In all we believe that
perhaps as many as 80,000 total loons passed during our 4-hr seawatch.
Horned Grebe 1
Red-necked Grebe 8
Western Grebe 20
Northern Fulmar 5000 Conservative estimate. At times up to 40/min were in
view and they were mostly passing south and did not seem to be circling back
and forth. Nearshore birds were almost entirely dark and intermediate morphs.
Farther offshore, there was a significant percentage that were light or
double-light types.
Pink-footed Shearwater 2
Sooty Shearwater 4
Brandt's Cormorant 500
Double-crested Cormorant 2
Pelagic Cormorant 80
Brown Pelican 150
Black Oystercatcher 6
Dunlin 80
Red Phalarope 300 -- This tally is limited to the birds that we saw well
enough to identify to species, which was a tiny fraction of all the phalaropes
that were seen over our 4-hr seawatch.
Red-necked/Red Phalarope 10000 -- Extremely conservative, presumed Reds.
Many distant flocks of what appeared to be phalaropes were too far offshore to
identify. All nearshore phalaropes that we saw well were identified as Reds.
Pomarine Jaeger 2
Parasitic Jaeger 5
Common Murre 2400
Marbled Murrelet 5
Cassin's Auklet 30000 -- Part of the massive movement of birds seen
streaming south after major storm. Constantly going south. All counts are
conservative. There may have been twice this count, but many distant flocks of
apparent small alcids and phalaropes were not identifiable to species.
Rhinoceros Auklet 3
Black-legged Kittiwake 25
Sabine's Gull 4
Bonaparte's Gull 300
Heermann's Gull 7500 -- Part of the massive movement of gulls seen
streaming south after major storm. Constantly going south. All counts are
conservative.
Mew Gull 5000 -- Part of the massive movement of gulls seen streaming
south after major storm. Constantly going south. All gull counts are
conservative.
Ring-billed Gull 1
Western Gull 300
California Gull 20000 -- Part of the massive movement of gulls seen
streaming south after major storm. Constantly going south. All gull counts are
conservative. There was a constant stream passing almost directly overhead and
behind us over land and we paid little attention to makeup of these flocks.
When we did, about 80 percent of the movement–200-300 per minute for four
straight hours–were this species.
Herring Gull 1000 -- Part of the massive movement of gulls seen streaming
south. All gull counts are conservative. There was a constant stream passing
almost directly overhead and behind us over land and we paid little attention
to makeup of these flocks–200-300 per minute for four straight hours.
Glaucous-winged Gull 500 -- Part of the massive movement of gulls seen
streaming south. All gull counts are conservative. There was a constant stream
passing almost directly overhead and behind us over land and we paid little
attention to makeup of these flocks–200-300 per minute for four straight hours.
Western x Glaucous-winged Gull (hybrid) 500 -- Part of the massive
movement of gulls seen streaming south. All gull counts are conservative. There
was a constant stream passing almost directly overhead and behind us over land
and we paid little attention to makeup of these flocks–200-300 per minute for
four straight hours.
Elegant Tern 1 -- Seen by Dave. Numbers have been waning. Identified
primarily by shape and size, along with flight style. Clearly a tern that was
larger and longer-winged than Common/Arctic/Forster's and smaller and narrower
winged than Caspian. Long wings and flight style were consistent with Elegant,
which have remained in Oregon in good numbers up to the present. I also saw the
bill, which appeared orangish. At the distance that I saw the bird, the bill of
a small tern would have not been seen and the bird clearly did not have the
bulk of a Caspian Tern. I am very familiar with this tern and I have seen
thousands this year in Oregon and more recently in California.
Peregrine Falcon 1
American Crow 2
Golden-crowned Kinglet 1
Song Sparrow 1
View this checklist online at
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S20349427
This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org)
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