Every season has its own birdy pleasures and that’s also true cruising around in our boat, just offshore where we live on an island in the center of the Salish Sea. Fair warning, this is a watery Dawn Chorus!
The Salish Sea is a bioregion that includes the inland waters of northwest Washington state and the watersheds that feed these waters.
I like to track the phenology of animal activity from year to year, who is around and what they’re doing. Fall is a time when breeding is over and birds are fledging, dispersing, migrating and molting.
We go out in our 25-foot Albin, a slow heavy Swedish motor cruiser that is perfect for nature watching: we don’t go far or fast, the boat is very stable, it has lots of handholds and it’s shaded.
green line shows approx route
We usually take an 8-mile route winding around rocks and islands about a mile offshore. The main island is to our north, the Strait of Juan de Fuca is to the south, and the Pacific Ocean is 100 miles to the west. We round Whale Rocks and then return. Those rocks are at the entrance of a narrow channel and tidal currents are usually ripping through there. Birds and pinnipeds love currents and reefs, so there’s always somebody to see as we cruise along. A few caveats though for birdwatchers: photo’ing from a bumpy boat is iffy and usually birds are quite a ways off, often hidden behind choppy swells, plus half the time I’m looking south into the sun, so my pics aren’t great. But I use my camera as a way to see what’s out there, since birds are not always identifiable at the time. I use a lightweight bridge camera, a Canon Powershot SX50 which gives me pretty good zoom, and it weighs only 1.5 pounds including the battery.
So, what have we been seeing as summer transitions into fall this year? Here’s a pictorial report from the boat with highlights from the past few months. No Dramamine needed!
July 31:
Rhinoceros Auklets in full breeding plumage
Mix of gulls and Steller sealions. Note the white heads of the Heermann’s gulls (w orange bills) — they arrive in mid July like that and then quickly molt into all grey.
One of several thousand California gulls. These guys migrate through, stopping here for a couple of months en route from breeding sites inland to the open coast for the winter.
August 13:
Brandt’s cormorants have arrived, still in breeding plumage: note their bright blue chins. Brandt’s breed on the open coast and come here to stay well into winter.
Hundreds of Brandt’s pack Whale Rocks. I see more on these rocks than anywhere else.
Glaucous-winged and Olympic gulls (GWGUxWEGU), our only resident breeding gulls, are fledging and starting to disperse. That little island is a legally protected site.
Not all the gulls nest on the several protected breeding islands. Some nested on this tiny islet. These chicks still have a ways to go
Pair of Marbled Murrelets, still in breeding plumage
August 22:
We just got a new chart plotter: bigger screen. easier to see, better resolution, current data. We depend on it to navigate reefs and kelp beds. On this trip we had both going for comparison, before removing the old one. It’s hard to see the depth at this angle but it reads over 50 feet deep right here about 30 feet from that island. In some spots the land goes straight down, in others reefs are just below the surface.
Pair of Black Oystercatchers, probably their nest site up there
Brown Pelican! These birds migrate north as far as Washington but they stay out on the open coast. A few wandered down the Strait this summer. This is a juvenile.
A few of the thousand Common Murres we saw that day, a congregation of post-fledge families. Still in breeding plumage.
Mix of gulls, cormorants and alcids on a baitball
For those of us who love gulls, this is the best time of year, with the most kinds around. In this photo: Glaucous-winged, California, Heermann’s. Also around: Mews, Bonaparte’s. For some reason we rarely get Herring or Ringbills out in the islands although they are common on the mainland.
August 29:
Pelagic cormorants, more delicate in profile than the other two species around here
Double-crested cormorants are mostly closer to shore but these were enjoying this deadhead that’s been firmly anchored in a kelp bed for months. Boaters beware.
September 6:
Heermann’s gulls bathing.
Pigeon guillemots starting to molt out of their handsome black breeding plumage.
September 19:
Fledgling GWGU begging
Baitballs were good this year. Note the Common murres in foreground
Winter plumage murres
Pigeon guillemots, also in winter dress. The mottled grey and white coloring is excellent camouflage on winter choppy seas.
Marbled Murrelets, same, winter plumage. Early fall is the only time I see MMs in flocks like this, a post-dispersal phenomenon like the Murres. All the rest of the year they are in pairs. There were about 40-50 in this flock.
October 2:
First of Season of Surf scoters! Scoters migrate in cohorts. This one is females.
First of season Common loons. Still mostly in breeding plumage
Rhinoceros Auklets, molting. These alcids are around all year but less common in winter.
Heermann’s will depart by the end of the month. Sad face.
October 14:
Loons have now almost completely molted into the look they’ll have until next spring
Here’s an example of not knowing who was there until I looked at the picture. Hen Surf scoters yeah, but also…?
Long-tailed ducks! Yay. These are not common around here and only visible by boat, never from shore for some reason.
The Brandt’s have lost their summer blue, back to tan chins. Adults and juvs.
Rhinoceros Auklet as it will look all winter. Inconspicuous.
This was NOT a baitball. Turns out a seal had caught a fish and was tearing into it at the surface. Gulls are looking for scraps.
I rarely take videos from the boat because it’s so bumpy, but I did capture a little of that action. The seal and fish are on the left:
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Screenshot from video: I think it’s a salmon.
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That’s a wrap! Fall has just started, still lots of ducks to arrive, and I’m expecting Red-necked grebes and Pacific loons soon too out there. There’ll be fewer calm dry days to go boating but we’ll squeeze in a few trips.
Whale Rocks. Sealions, Brandts + one DC cormorant, gulls
Dawn Chorus is now open for your birdy reports of the week.
