This is scheduled to post at 6am, the usual hour, although I won't be around to comment for a while. Please share your own bird observations from the week in the comments!
It was over a month since I was last out in the boat (long story) and even though the day was cloudy, we took a jaunt around the offshore rocks near my home in the Salish Sea up in the northwest corner of Washington state. Photography per se was not that great, but at least I was able to document what's happening out there at this time of year.
Hall island is a wildlife preserve for nesting birds. It's been empty all winter but Glaucous-winged gulls are starting to stake out nesting sites now. One of the many eagles I saw this afternoon perched on top as they commonly do. Eagles prey on gull eggs and young.
Not far past Hall island I saw another eagle fly off its rock and swoop over a raft of swimming gulls some distance away, stirring them up into a tumult in the air. The eagle then flew back to its rock. No idea why.
Fair number of diving birds. Two flocks of Surf Scoters, and a group of the more rare White-winged Scoters, here flying off.
(all photos by me, in lightbox...click for better resolution)
The Rhinoceros Auklets have been scarce this winter. I saw two pairs now in breeding plumage. Between the grey sky and backlighting, it's hard to see, but their summer "horns" are now evident.
Whale Rocks were our destination, to see if the Steller sea lions are still here. They migrate back to the open ocean shore of British Columbia or Alaska for the breeding season. At first glance the rocks looked empty,
which is when I noticed the eagles perched there. Altogether, I counted five immature bald eagles of various ages based on their plumage and beak color (3 are in this photo). Never seen anything like this before!
Rounding the rocks, we found about 20 sea lions lounging and fishing in one corner. Between fall and winter there were at least a hundred at a time here. These are bulls, females and youngsters.
The tide was ripping around the corner of this rock, which makes for great fishing. There were several Harlequin ducks here too.
I was so engrossed in watching the sea lions I took my eyes off the eagles. Mistake! Mr O called out: Eagle incoming! One flew right over the boat and snatched a fish right out of the current by the boat. I couldn't lock focus on it quick enough, rats! Photo of a lifetime, just a blur. All I got was a butt photo as it flew away, with two more young eagles after it, also butt shots. Oh well. That was a big fish, possibly a salmon. Nice catch!
There were about 40 Brandt's cormorants out here too, which is somewhat unusual at this time of year. Usually they depart to breed out on the open ocean shore. Some have their breeding plumage, a bright blue throat patch.
The books describe their neck as straight when they fly, but that's not what I saw. I got a good look at this one when it landed, and lightening the shadows up, you can see the breeding colors, along with the white plumes. Not a Double-crested cormorant. I did see about 20 Pelagic cormorants on this trip also, with their white breeding back patches.
Making another pass around Whale rocks, I saw 3 immature eagles there: the same ones back, or others I missed on the first pass? I'm can't be sure so I only claimed the five on eBird. They did hop from one crag to another, and seemed friendly with each other.
An adult perched on its own nearby rock.
As we left here, I saw 3 young eagles with one adult together at the end of the rock. I'd be very interested to know what this behavior is all about.
The other side of Hall island had about 160 Glaucous-winged gulls, along with several oystercatchers and Canada geese. There was a large flock of Horned grebes rafted together nearby. They will be departing for the summer soon.
A 3rd year GWG:
About 40 Pigeon Guillemots, most in their black breeding plumage, some still mottled grey:
The Common loons are still around, also mostly molted into breeding plumage.
This is mid-spring in the Salish Sea, a time of transition. I'll be taking more trips out to these offshore waters to see the changes as we move into summer.