Last week I presented the picture of what kinds of aquatic birds I’ve been seeing these days here in my corner of the PNW from shore: in the quiet bays and wetlands nearby. Today’s presentation is a coda to that: who is offshore in the middle of November.
I don’t get out in the boat nearly as often as I walk along the shore, maybe once every 2-4 weeks, so what I saw is just a small sample. After all birds move around, and it’s a very big area they can do that. I miss plenty of the birds that are out there bobbing around in the surface swells, flying, diving, not to mention silhouettes when I’m looking into the sun. We also need to keep a safe distance from rocks and kelp beds. And I’m bouncing around trying to keep my 300mm zoom steady as the boat negotiates tidal currents (albeit at a slow 6 knots). With all that in mind, here’s my report from a day out on the water offshore, on November 12, starting with a segue from last week’s onshore report.
(All photos are from Nov 12, 2018, except as noted.)
Geese ~
Ducks are fewer offshore than onshore, as they prefer feeding in relatively shallow water. However diving ducks find food along rocks and above rocky reefs. I saw a couple of small flocks of Surf Scoters. No White-winged Scoters yet; when they arrive I’ll likely see them every boat trip. Once in a while I’ll see Longtailed ducks out here but didn’t this trip.
Did see Harlequin ducks at the edge of a rock. This is a better picture than the one I snapped.
No Red-necked grebes on this trip. They are our only deep water grebe. Among the loons, I saw several Common loons and one Pacific loon, all in winter plumage.
But the stars of the day were the cormorants. Lots and lots of cormorants, typical for winter.
We have three kinds of cormorants in the Northwest and they are all here right now. Whereas Double cresteds are common in waters both fresh and salt across the country, they prefer shallow quiet sites and they are almost invariably the ones I see on the docks and buoys near the shore. DCs are much less common out to sea except during breeding season when they use outer islands for nesting. Like gulls, ground nesters.
There are a few DCs in the picture below, with their bright orange faces, but most of those cormorants are Brandt’s, who breed off the outer coast and winter here. They are so numerous on Whale Rock they are cheek by jowl with the Steller Sealions.
There were about 30 Pelagic cormorants sharing the rock with about 120 Brandt’s. Pelagics are smaller, more delicate in appearance, have relatively longer tails, and much brighter iridescence. Can you spot the Pelagics in this view?
All these cormorants are resting and grooming on the rock. From time to time they launch out to sea to go fishing. While all eat fish, they don’t all hunt in the same spots underwater. Double cresteds stay shallower than 24 feet, Brandt’s go no deeper than 40 feet and Pelagics can dive as far down as 100 feet.
At this time of year, we have just Glaucous-winged, Olympics (GW x Western) and Mew gulls. Bonaparte’s are in the general area but I rarely see them here. The Californias have moved on to the open ocean and the Heermann’s have departed, on their way back to the Sea of Cortez for the breeding season.
Kelp rafts are a handy and safe spot to rest. Even for shorebirds. I can’t tell what kind of shorebirds these sleeping ones are, possibly peeps based on their size.
Amongst the local alcids, the most numerous were Pigeon Guillemots as always, with a few Common murres and about a dozen Marbled Murrelets. Didn’t see any Rhinoceros auklets; they are typically scarce in winter.
All the alcids are fully into winter plumage.
Eagles are returning from their mainland interlude, feasting on spawned out salmon along the major rivers. I saw several this day. Often eagles are in pairs, and are probably starting to think about the coming breeding season. Soon it’ll be nest refurbish time.
The Dawn Chorus is now open for your birdy reports from the past week.
Who have you been seeing these early winter days?