July 2024
Pacific Northwest
Red line is our route from the bay through reefs and islands, around Whale Rocks at the mouth of San Juan Channel, and back home
A week ago we took the boat out to see who was offshore, since it’s been super quiet by the beach in recent months. It was near a full moon, which means very high and low tides. When you get out into the islands and reefs just offshore here in the Salish Sea that translates into a tremendous amount of water sluicing through narrow passages, creating chaotic tide rips. That’s not a bad thing for marine birds and mammals though since it stirs up fish prey. It does make for some rough boating in places however, so out of the thousand or so photos I took while hanging on with one hand, I only got a small number good enough to ID birds. But that was enough. There was some great activity, and signs of the changing season. Peak summer breeding season is past. Join me in the photodiary below:
Heading out of the bay, in quiet waters:
Double crested cormorant
A juvenile Black oystercatcher with parents (juves have dark beak end and no orange eye ring). It takes 5-6 weeks from hatching to fledge so this bird has not been out and about long.
After rounding the headland we entered a zone where the incoming (flood) tide swirls around toward the main channel. We got a big boost of speed there.
Marbled murrelets. The brown ones are in breeding plumage and it’s too early for molting into nonbreeding so I think the one on the right is a newly fledged juvenile (that’s their plumage). According to Birds of the World juveniles are independent after fledging but the two on the left are definitely other MMs, whatever their relationship
Migratory gulls are arriving now, joining our resident Glaucous-winged gulls.
These rocks were covered with Heermann’s gulls. They migrate up here from the Sea of Cortez, are here from mid summer to fall.
I saw just a few California gulls out there. That’s the one in front. Notice how the Heermann’s gull behind still has a white head. By August they’ll be molting to grey.
Rhinoceros auklets were by far the most abundant alcids this day. There were groups of a dozen or so all along our route.
Rhino auklet bookended by juvenile and adult California gulls
Our Rhinoceros auklets are resident. They nest in burrows on Protection island 20 miles south off Port Townsend (and to a lesser extent on Smith island 9 miles south). These tiny alcids, closely related to puffins, are the size of rock doves. They fly up here to feed and to collect fish to take back to their chicks. There are about 60,000 Rhinos in the Salish Sea, though their population varies from year to year depending on the sand lance population, which is the kind of forage fish they primarily feed on.
In bad years there is mass mortality of auklets and other marine birds due to starvation. The marine heat wave of 2014-6, called the Blob, resulted in hundreds of thousands of dead birds washing up on Pacific Northwest beaches in 2016. Warm water is less productive, which caused the forage fish population to plummet. Global warming kills seabirds.
This year the local sea temperature is not too bad, thankfully. Good numbers of fish for baby auklets and other creatures.
Rhino auklets right now are still in their stunning breeding plumage: huge orange bill, white plumes, and horn. You wouldn’t recognize them in winter: uniformly brown, small dull bill, no horn. That horn looks grey to us, but to other auklets it glows like a beacon since they can see in the ultraviolet.
The farthest we go in the boat is out to Whale Rocks near the entrance to San Juan channel. The underwater bathymetry is varied and steep, and a kelp bed surrounds the rocks. The Rocks are suitably remote, a mile from shore, making them a great spot for birds to perch and mammals to haul out. Rounding the Rocks from north to south, I could see lots more Heermann’s gulls and also quite a few Glaucous-winged gulls, some of whom were nesting. Their babies haven’t fledged yet.
A quiet spot in the lee of the current
Soon enough we were bouncing around in a very strong tide rip, as was this Rhino auklet
We had to stay a ways from the rocks because it was just too rough. Hold on!
The diagram below does not show water height, but rather the speed of the current. The brown interval is the flood tide, the green is the ebb. At slack tide, when water changes direction from flood to ebb (and vice versa), the tidal current goes to nothing. Maximum current is halfway into the ebb or flood, when water is pouring out or into the channel. We were at the Rocks against the peak of the flood, with the current over 4 knots. Our boat goes 6-7 knots so we were barely making headway.
We were out there around 3pm
The tidal current swirls around in three dimensions over underwater reefs and channels creating a lot of tide rips. Water being forced through the narrow channel here increases its speed. However the Rhino auklets were having no trouble at all. Great fishing conditions.
Closeup of a few auklets. You can see in the one on the right how their legs are attached at the back of their body, streamlining them for diving. Underwater, they use their wings to propel themselves, essentially “flying” through water.
This photo is zoomed in as far as my camera is able. Besides all the gulls, there were cormorants, which are harder to distinguish at this distance. I IDd a few Brandt's and quite a few Pelagics but most were too far a positive ID. Pelagics nest inside the Salish Sea but the Brandt’s are mostly out on the open coast right now. Large numbers winter in this area and these rocks are a favorite spot for them.
Rhinoceros auklets on the wing. They fly super fast! and right above the surface. I almost never catch a photo like this.
Once around the rocks the water flattened out quite a bit. In this view looking behind you can see where the strongest tide rip races past the Rocks.
Also visible are three seaplanes
These are two of the seaplanes. This is peak tourist season and the airline, Kenmore Air, schedules a lot more flights to and from Seattle. It’s a 50-minute flight vs 5 hours minimum driving and on a ferry (assuming the ferries are running) (and reasonably on time) (which is iffy at best at this season)
A deadhead on the left, seal on right. Deadheads are floating logs; hitting one can take out your prop or rudder. You can even sink. Watching out for deadheads is one of Mr O’s jobs driving the boat while I’m looking for wildlife.
There are two other alcids I see in summer. Common murres, like this one, are not very common any more. More abundant are Pigeon guillemots (didn't get any decent photos of them but they are also still in breeding plumage)
Looking south across the Strait of Juan de Fuca toward the Olympic mountains, there were yet more Rhinoceros auklets, but also two other very unexpected birds floating with them.
the auklets
Bonaparte’s gulls! I see them off and on in winter, in flocks, but I have never seen them in summer or in breeding colors like this. Bonaparte’s breed in northern forests and return to our coastal waters in early fall. They must not be too rare in July since eBird did not flag my report, either early arrivals or non-migraters. But it was sure a surprise to see them.
Best I could do for a photo in these seas
Heading back into the bay, we passed a designated breeding island, part of San Juan Islands National Wildlife Refuge, where a posted sign warns boaters to stay 200 yards away. It’s a major Glaucous-winged gull and Double-crested cormorant breeding site, as well as a haulout for young Harbor seals and their moms at this season. Until 30-40 years ago it was also the last breeding site in San Juan county for Tufted Puffins, whose numbers in Washington as a whole have plummeted 90% since then. The Salish Sea’s remaining puffins nest now solely on Protection and Smith islands. The only time I have personally seen Tufted Puffins in our nearshore waters was in 2015: seven of them bathing and grooming.
Hall Island breeding colonies
Altogether, when I posted my report at eBird there weren’t a huge number of species, but the birds I did see made for a rewarding day out on the water. I don’t like to let too much time go by between boat trips. Birds are very seasonal here, in presence and plumage. It’s easy to miss a whole species or look, like the brief elegant white headed phase of the Heermann’s gulls.
The Dawn Chorus is now open for your birdy reports of the week.
