[obol] Re: repositioning cruise report for Oregon, Washington, and California
- From: "Robert O'Brien" <baro@xxxxxxx>
- To: "jeffgilligan10@xxxxxxxxx" <jeffgilligan10@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 5 Jan 2019 15:02:14 -0800
at the risk of offending non mammalists I would love to see the photo of
the BB whale posted Bob O'Brien
perhaps there's a stray bird in the photo?
On Saturday, May 13, 2017, Jeff Gilligan <jeffgilligan10@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I will just add a few mammals: We twice had Short-finned Pilots Whales
off Oregon, one of which was photographed by a fellow form England. He
also had a stunning photograph of a pod of Northern Right Whale Dolphin.
We also had two sightings of Baird’s Beaked Whales (one photographed by
me). In the approximately 50 repositioning cruises that I have done off
Oregon, these were only the second and third times that I have seen pilot
whales, and the third time I have seen Baird’s Beaked Whales. We also saw
the usual number of Humpbacked Whales (maybe 50 or so), an Elephant Seal
off central California, a few Northern Fur Seals, and California Sea Lions.
Jeff Gilligan
On May 13, 2017, at 7:55 PM, Tim Janzen <tjanzen@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Dear All,
Four birders from Oregon (Jeff Gilligan, Bob Stites, my wife Rachel, and
me) just returned from a cruise on the ship Emerald Princess. We were
joined by 6 other birders from various parts of the country (Georgia,
Florida, New York, Minnesota, and Texas) who happened to be on the same
ship with us. Kim Risen was the birder from Minnesota and he was leading a
trip with 3 other birders. The cruise left Los Angeles on May 10 and
arrived in Vancouver, BC this morning. On May 11 we were off California
and on May 12 we were off Oregon and Washington. On the morning of May 12
we were about 50 miles off Douglas County near Reedsport at dawn. We
passed into Washington waters at about 1:15 pm and were entering the Strait
of Juan de Fuca just after sunset. The highlight of our time off Oregon
was 4 MURPHY’S PETRELS that were each seen as single birds. I believe that
two of the birds were off of Lincoln County, one was off of Tillamook
County, and one was off of Clatsop County. All four birds were seen
relatively close to the ship and crossed the bow in front of us. There
were large numbers of LEACH’S STORM-PETRELS (totaling at least 1000 birds)
which were seen almost the entire time we were in Oregon waters,
particularly off of Lane and Lincoln Counties. At times we had as many as
10 birds in view. Numbers thinned out as we moved into Washington. We saw
at least 100 FORK-TAILED STORM-PETRELS in Oregon as well. BLACK-FOOTED
ALBATROSSES were seen fairly commonly, probably at least 75 or so in
Oregon. Alcid numbers were low off of Oregon. Several COMMON MURRES and
at least 3 RHINOCEROUS AUKLETS were seen in Oregon. Alcid numbers were
higher off of Washington. We saw at least 3 TUFFED PUFFINS off Washington
and one off Oregon. At least 10 CASSIN’S AUKLETS were seen off Washington
and several ANCIENT MURRELETS were also seen off Washington. A large flock
of at least 350 SABINE’S GULLS was seen along the edge of a rain squall off
northern Washington. Birding was generally slower in California than in
Oregon and Washington. We did see 3 MURPHY’S PETRELS and one LAYSAN
ALBATROSS off central California. We saw small numbers of PARASITIC
JAEGERS and LONG-TAILED JAEGERS off California, Oregon and Washington.
Shearwaters were seen in relatively low numbers. We saw scattered SOOTY
SHEARWATERS and PINK-FOOTED SHEARWATERS off California, Oregon and
Washington, primarily off Oregon and Washington. A WESTERN KINGBIRD
circled the boat a number of times off California. Scattered ASHY
STORM-PETRELS were seen off California. Weather conditions were fairly
good the entire trip and the seas were generally fairly calm, which aided
our efforts to see alcids and storm-petrels. Jeff or Bob can add any other
details I didn’t mention.
Sincerely,
Tim Janzen
Portland
Other related posts:
