August 29

We found reasonably calm seas offshore, so made good time heading out. The weather was overcast, with some drizzle/fog in the morning. As we headed west, a couple of Harbor Porpoise were seen near shore, and a little later a pair of Dall’s Porpoise came in to run on our bow. We began encountering both Pink-footed Shearwater and Northern Fulmar surprisingly near shore, and a group of 45 Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel livened things up. With the good water conditions, we got good looks at numerous Red-necked Phalaropes. The first two South Polar Skuas showed up about an hour off the jetties, as did a Long-tailed Jaeger and a Parasitic Jaeger. With the Pomarine Jaegers seen nearer shore, we had our jaeger/skua slam completed before mid-morning. We were headed towards a shrimp trawler fishing just east of Grays Canyon, along with a steady stream of shearwaters, fulmars and albatross headed in the same direction, when a Greater Shearwater flew alongside the boat for a minute, giving most on board good views. We were able to refind the Greater on the water behind the shrimp trawler , giving more leisurely looks. This was Washington’s third record; prior records were 24 August 2002 and 9 September 2006 so this record fits the same timing. After the shrimper, we headed for the canyon, and chummed at the west end. In addition to great views of albatross and fulmar behind our boat at the slick, we were also visited by four Arctic Terns, three Long-tailed Jaegers and a Northern Shoveler that landed on our chum slick for a few minutes. We found good numbers of Cassin’s Auklets over the canyon, many were adult-chick pairs, indicating a good reproductive year. On our way back in, we found the only Sabine’s Gulls of the day and a cooperative Northern Fur Seal. The same shrimp boat was still fishing near the Canyon, and amazingly we were able to refind the Greater Shearwater on the water. This time, all the cameras on bo ard were trained on it!