Seabirds from boats

Marbled Murrelet, from a boat off Newport, Oregon on 21 February, 2009 by Greg Gillson.

 

Last week's post discussed a seawatch--viewing seabirds from shore. In it, I showed views of seabirds as they would appear using binoculars and spotting scopes.

In last week's post we "magnified" a pair of Red-necked Grebes about a half mile offshore. In the magnified view--a view as would be seen with a spotting scope--we discovered another small speck of a bird that I identified as a Marbled Murrelet in flight.

Over time, a dedicated seawatcher may see many of the Pacific Northwest's oceanic birds. However, many seabirds would be just specks--even with a spotting scope. Without closer-range experience, one would not be able to learn the distinctive flight characteristics that would help identify some birds. And many seabirds rarely come near land off the Pacific NW.

The only way to see these birds better, in the Pacific Northwest, is to board a boat.

Boats do present some logistic challenges: route, instability, expense, and mal de mar (seasickness).

Unless you own your own seaworthy craft, the only way to get the boat to go bird watching is to charter it. Chartering a vessel in the Pacific NW may cost $750 for a small boat ("six-pack," which carries 6 persons on a 20-30 foot boat) or a larger Coast Guard certified vessel that may carry 20-30 passengers on a boat 40-55 feet long for a rate of about $2500 per day. Sharing the cost among the participants is a way to make such a trip affordable--but usually can't be done on the spur of the moment.

In the Pacific Northwest, the only two regular providers of bird watching trips by boat, or "pelagic trips," are Westport Seabirds in Washington State and The Bird Guide in Oregon. Shearwater Journeys operates out of California (primarily Monterey area) with some trips in northern California. There are a couple other providers (often Audubon Societies and dedicated individuals) that offer pelagic trips from Monterey south to San Diego.

Only the larger boats are Coast Guard certified to travel beyond 20 miles of shore--out to the albatrosses and several other more oceanic species. Thus, a dedicated group pelagic trip on a large boat is the most direct way for an individual to view seabirds. A full-day trip may cost $150 per person.

On such a trip, many birds will still be distant. But unlike on a land-based seawatch, you can get closer with the boat. A chartered pelagic birding trip is designed to go where the birds are. During the day, chances are good that you will see thousands of seabirds, many at very close range. On your first such trip you are likely to add 15-20 life birds--species you've never seen before!

Because the boat bobs on the waves, a birder on a regular pelagic trip cannot use a scope and tripod--binoculars are required. Of course, bobbing up and down looking through binoculars is not easy on your equilibrium, leading to queasiness (or worse) for some people. Despite these challenges, a pelagic trip is the best way to see seabirds. They are timed for the best birding and led by expert seabird guides intent on showing you seabirds and helping you to identify them.

 

Happy birders encounter fishing vessels trailing thousands of seabirds (albatrosses, shearwaters, fulmars, jaegers, petrels, and other birds, not to mention whales and dolphins!) on a pelagic trip off Newport, Oregon on 31 May 2003 by Greg Gillson.

 

There are a few options besides a scheduled pelagic trip. These options are less certain than a pelagic trip--you may not see any birds worth mentioning. Or worse--you see lots of birds just a few hundred feet away but the boat won't travel toward them so you can identify them, because... it is not a birding trip. More important, you'll often have to identify the birds yourself.

1) Whale watching trip: From certain ports on the West Coast, specifically at Newport and Depoe Bay on the central Oregon coast, local fishing charters lead out trips to view Gray Whales at $20 per person. These trips will often be right along shore, though in winter they may go out 5 miles. These trips last an hour or two. Gray Whales and Marbled Murrelets feed on the sandy bottom and are often seen together. You might see a Rhinoceros Auklet, Tufted Puffin, or Northern Fulmar. You may see nothing, not even a whale.

2) Bottom or salmon fishing trip: "Deep sea fishing" is not done in the deep sea. Boats rarely go out more than 3 miles for bottom fishing, often less than one mile to "inner reefs." However, if you want to join fishing friends for 4 hours, you can often get a 1/2 fare for non-fishing passenger, or about $35. These won't see any more than on a whale watch trip, but are offered from more ports. Expect lots of cormorants, murres, and Pigeon Guillemots, and probably some Marbled Murrelets and maybe some other nearshore pelagic birds and harbor porpoises.

3) Halibut or tuna fishing trip: These trips go out 20-40 miles and take you into albatross waters. However, once there you are likely either to sit in one place or troll round and round in a small area. These trips are 12-18 hours, cost about $350 per person, and usually do not allow non-fishing passengers. If you like to fish, this can be a great trip. However, there may be hours at a time with no birds whatsoever. The best birds are often seen on the trip out and back, which may be at dawn and dusk. Halibut trips such as these are offered only May and August. The tuna trips are July to early September.

4) Cruise ship repositioning trips: Lasting 3-4 days, these trips on luxury ocean liners are surprisingly affordable ($200). They travel out at 60 miles, beyond large numbers of birds, including albatrosses--out where any bird could be a mega-rare petrel or other seabird. Great whales are often spotted. A 3-day cruise will cost you far less than 3 regular one-day pelagic trips (especially if you include travel, motel, and food for 3 days). You'll have to come up with a bus ($75) or rental car from Vancouver, British Columbia and a flight from either San Francisco ($170) or Long Beach, California. So, maybe $550 per person (from Portland, Oregon), double-occupancy, in a lower-class room. Advantages of a cruise ship include a bed if you get tired, food is included in the price, and you can set up your spotting scope on the deck. You usually bird from a covered deck on about the 7th floor of the bow. In many ways, this is like a seawatch. For the past several years small groups of birders have been arranging these trips--so you may find a trip with other expert seabirders to help spot and identify birds.

This post is co-published on the Oregon Seabirds blog.

Friday Foto: American Coot

American Coot, Commonwealth Park, Beaverton, Oregon, 22 January 2011 by Greg Gillson.

 

Most coots look dark slate gray. This one has highlights of blue and purple.

This photo shows the lobed toes discussed in a previous post about American Coots.

Barely Spotted Towhees Get Super Spotted Visitors

Male Spotted Towhee, Beaverton, Oregon, 19 February 2011 by Greg Gillson.

 

The Spotted Towhee above is typical of the "Oregon Towhee" (Pipilo maculatus oregonus), the subspecies of Spotted Towhee found west of the Cascades in Oregon, Washington, and coastal SW British Columbia. It is the least spotted of all Spotted Towhee populations with reduced white on the wings, scapulars, and tail. Compared to all other races it truly is barely spotted.

 

Female Spotted Towhee, Beaverton, Oregon, 18 February 2011 by Greg Gillson.

 

Above is the grayish-brown female Oregon form of Spotted Towhee. She is even less spotted than the male. Both sexes of the Oregon Towhee have deeper brown (less orange) sides than other forms of Spotted Towhees.

Because the winters are mild where this form breeds, these towhees don't undergo a north-south migration, and most birds are thought to be residents, but there are some seasonal movements in and out of some locations.

These aren't the most artistic photos I have of Spotted Towhees--you can see a piece of the base of the bird feeder in two shots, and I'm looking down on the birds rather than the preferred level photo angle. But there they are, right outside my window. So, I can sit here and type a few lines and stand up, turn around, and snap another photo.... Oops, there, I did it again! I can't get any work done here--I love it!

But I wanted to show you the above birds first, so that I can show you the next photos. The birds below are apparently the "Nevada Towhee" (Pipilo maculatus curtatus), the form of Spotted Towhee found east of the Cascade crest from interior southern British Columbia and Idaho, south to northeast California and central Nevada.

The Nevada Towhee may winter sparsely in their breeding territories, but most seem to migrate to Arizona and southern California, and Sonora, Mexico.

I can find no documented occurences of Nevada Towhees in western Oregon. Thus I present the following photos.

 

Spotted Towhee, Beaverton, Oregon, 18 February 2011 by Greg Gillson.

 

The photo above is an apparent male Nevada Towhee, perhaps the first documented occurence in western Oregon. However, there are two of them. The following bird is even more spotted, super-spotted, if you will.

 


Spotted Towhee, Beaverton, Oregon, 18 February 2011 by Greg Gillson.

 

Notice that these birds have more spots on the wing and scapulars. The outer tail feathers are edged in white and the tail spots are very large. The orange sides are a bit paler than the Oregon form.

You may notice that the primary wing feathers of all these birds are more brownish and worn than other blackish feathers of the wing, back, and tail. These molt limits indicate these are all one-year-old birds. Next fall they will molt their wing feathers and enter full adult plumage, never again to be aged by plumage.

On the female Oregon Towhee and the lower Nevada Towhee, you can see some white pin-feathers in feather sheaths on the face near the eyes, indicating active body molt.

At least for the Oregon Towhee, adults probably remain on their home territory year round. Young of the year venture out and establish their own territories. Thus, it is possible that come spring, these young birds will move on to better breeding territory than my backyard. Since there are no adults here now at all, maybe the habitat is not good enough for breeding. We'll have to wait and see.

The two Nevada Towhees above will no doubt migrate back over to the proper side of the Cascades here in a few weeks.

We have discussed Spotted Towhees before.

Addendum:

This female, and slightly aberrant (see rusty crown patch) Nevada Towhee put in a one-day appearance on 23 February 2011.

 

Spotted Towhee, Beaverton, Oregon, 23 February 2011 by Greg Gillson.

 

Attract birds to your backyard: Part 2: Shelter and breeding habitat

Bewick's Wren, Hillsboro, Oregon, 4 March 2010 by Greg Gillson.

 

In Part 1 we discussed that all life needs food, water, and shelter. Specifically, we looked at a bird's need for water and food. In this post we discuss their need for shelter and breeding habitat.

As in real estate, attracting birds is all about 3 things: location, location, location.

Your backyard, even if only an urban deck, is part of your larger neighborhood. The surrounding neighborhood, then, has a direct bearing on the number and types of birds you can expect in your own bakyard.

Thus, if there is an unmanicured woodlot next door, you might expect wrens, such as the Bewick's Wren above, to visit your yard from time to time. They are primarily interested in insects they can find in the brush or low bushes.

 

A migrant Orange-crowned Warbler hides out in evergreen landscaping, Newport, Oregon, 30 April 2010 by Greg Gillson.

 

Evergreen shrubs provide shelter all through the year. It gives small birds a place to hide when a cat appears. During migration, your evergreen shrubs may host tired and hungry neotropical migrants, such as warblers, vireos, tanagers, buntings, and others.

If you have trees, you will attract even more birds.

 

A Spotted Towhee sings from a fruit tree, Scoggins Valley Park, Gaston, Oregon, 3 May 2009 by Greg Gillson.

 

In whatever neighborhood you live, you can attract the most birds by varying your landscaping. More birds are found in "edge" habitat, than in monoculture. Birds will appreciate an area that combines lawn, trees, shrubs, hedges, and gardens.

But what if you live in a simple residential housing area without large trees or mature landscaping? What can you do to make your yard more attractive to birds if you are renting your property and can't make major landscaping changes?

If your yard is mostly lawn, consider planting a central island of shrubs. How about creating planters or container gardens with small bushes, flowers, or vegetables?

Not everyone can have an old snag in their backyard to attract cavity nesting birds. However, setting up a bird house can accomplish the same purpose.

 

A juvenile Northern Flicker peers out of its nest box, Hillsboro, Oregon, 19 July 2010 by Greg Gillson.

 

Once you have done your best to make your yard attractive to birds with natural food, water, shelter, and breeding habitat, you are ready to set up a bird feeder.

Which foods attract which birds? What options are available as bird feeders, and which are best? We'll discuss these topics in the next two parts of this series.

Part 1
Part 3

Virtual seawatch at Boiler Bay, Oregon

What are these people doing? Looking for Gray Whales at Boiler Bay State Wayside near Depoe Bay, Oregon!

Good viewpoints for whales are positioned not too far above or away from the water. Not surprisingly, good places to view Gray Whales are also good places to view nearshore seabirds. And Boiler Bay is perhaps the best seawatch site on the West Coast.

But if you don't know what to expect, you may be disappointed.

On the rocks near the water you may find Black Oystercatchers, as in the photo below. Click the photo for a view that would approximate what you would see with binoculars. [I suggest you right-click and "open link in new window," so it doesn't take so long to reload the page using your "back" button.]



Time spent scanning for seabirds is called a "seawatch." Seawatches are not very successful with only binoculars. It usually requires a higher-powered (20-60x) spotting scope to bring the birds closer into view.

In fact, the photos presented here are all designed to show you what you would actually see with binoculars or a spotting scope on a seawatch. I took these photos in August 2009, just to see how bad photos of seabirds from shore would be (in general, bad, just as I surmised). Not magazine quality, are they? But they prove useful in teaching about seawatches.

Just beyond the first breakers you may see cormorants. In the photo below, a Pelagic Cormorant leads a Brandt's Cormorant. Click for a view such as you would see with binoculars.



You may also see Common Murres quite near shore. Such as in the photo below. Again, click to view the photo as it would appear with binoculars.



And here is a photo of a Pigeon Guillemot out about 1/4 mile. Click on the photo to make it appear as you would see it in binoculars.



On a seawatch, most of the birds are quite distant and views are usually no where near "field guide quality." It takes practice to identify seabirds and to learn what field marks you can see at a distance. By watching nearer, known-identity, birds fly away, you can learn flight shape and characteristics that will allow you to put a name on more distant birds.

Your binoculars aren't much use for birds more than a half mile distant. But with a spotting scope, you can identify birds 3 miles at sea or more.

For instance, take a look at this fishing boat about a mile offshore. Click the photo to give you a fairly accurate view of what you would see with binoculars.



Do you see the bird just behind the boat? If you watch the flap-and-glide progression of this long-winged bird, you could guess it was a shearwater. However, you need more optical magnification. So, click on the following photo to see what you might see with a 25x spotting scope.



You can see the long-winged bird flying right-to-left. The left wing is pointed right at us, so we can't see it. What we see is the underside of the right wing. The white underwing linings are clearly seen, identifying this bird as a Sooty Shearwater!

Here is another photo of a pair of Red-necked Grebes flying south about 1/2 mile out. Click the photo to see what view you would have of these birds with binoculars only.



Oh, that speck would be hard to identify with binoculars only, wouldn't it?

A lot of time on a seawatch is spent scanning with binoculars, then switching to the more powerful scope when you find something. Scanning with the scope has too small of a field of view--you'll miss more birds than you'll find if you scan with your scope. So find the birds with your bare eyes or with binoculars, then switch to higher power.

For instance, once you spot those flying "specks" in the above photo, get on it with your scope and you'll see something interesting. Click on the photo below to see what you would see with a spotting scope.



Now you can see the white face and white secondary wing patch identifying the two Red-necked Grebes in the lower left of the photo.

But notice what else appeared in our virtual spotting scope view? In the upper right of the photo is a bird flying left with pointed wings bent sharply at the wrist. The throat is pale and the head appears slightly raised on a short neck. Can you make it out? That's a Marbled Murrelet--at least, that's my best guess in this single photograph.

So, to answer your question... yes, seawatchers identify distant birds with only minimal pattern, shape, and flight style clues. Even with spotting scopes the views often are not very good. But scopes do allow you to see small specks of birds about 3 miles offshore or farther, depending upon atmospheric conditions.

Here are some hints to make seawatching more successful.

1) Go at dawn. Seabirds are nearer shore first thing in the morning, then move off. By 2 hours after sunrise activity may be mostly over for the day. In May, that could mean that all the action is over by 8 a.m. On the West Coast, the sun comes up behind you, giving you the best light at dawn.

2) Scan with your naked eye or with binoculars. Only when you find something do you switch to your spotting scope.

3) Go seawatching during spring and fall migration, April-May and September-November.

4) Go during really nasty weather. Those big November windstorms often push seabirds near shore. Go between downpours. Dress warmly. Protect your optics. Head for a hot bowl of chowder afterward.

5) Practice, practice, practice! Identify close seabirds, then watch them as they fly away. What do you see as they get farther and farther away? Learn seabird patterns, shapes, and flight styles.

Andy Frank took some photos of Ancient Murrelets at Boiler Bay in December.

[This article is co-published on the Oregon Seabirds blog.]