May 26, 2018
Salish Sea, Pacific Northwest
As spring shifts into summer, a different set of birds and mammals occupy the offshore rocks and waters of the Salish Sea. We went out a few days ago for the first time in a month and it was clear by the wildlife there that we’re moving into summer season.
It was a rough day, with wind chop added to a 3 knot tidal current, so many birds were hidden in the waves, but even so, numbers were way down. Few ducks or alcids — most are off to breeding sites either inland or out to the open coast.
Lounging on the Rocks are the stragglers of the Steller sealion population that winters here. In mid winter there are about 80 or so on and around Whale Rocks. I see a few bulls but most of these are females and youngsters. In a few weeks everyone will be gone, out at their rookeries on the Oregon, BC or Alaska coasts.
In their place, Harbor seals will use the Rocks as a haul-out. This is a great staging spot for fishing these turbulent tidal waters. No harbor seals here yet.
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Usually Whale Rocks are packed with gulls and cormorants. Just a few this time, although the white guano testifies to the hundreds there before.
The few aquatic birds I did see are all in their handsome breeding plumage. Whereas the Marbled Murrelets are far away breeding in old forests, some Rhinoceros auklets and Pigeon guillemots that breed on islands and rocky bluffs in the Salish Sea are around, fishing.
The vast majority of birds I saw were on breeding islands, like this one. Glaucous winged gulls and Doublecrested cormorants are setting up their nests. It’s already getting pretty loud, audible miles away.
Late spring update on the Rocks.
Bucket’s open for your nature observations.
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