Seawatch Report - Dec 7

Today felt like a standard late-season, light wind day at the Seawatch: subdued loon, scoter, and alcid movement overall; frequent Black-footed Albatrosses popping up on the horizon--and sometimes closer than the horizon. Other highlights were a flyby Marbled Murrelet, a Black-legged Kittiwake (an adult), and a Red-necked Grebe.

We ended the day with 327 Surf Scoters (we're at nearly 42,000 for the season--low, with just a week to go), 52 Rhinoceros Auklets, 672 Common Murres, 88 Ancient Murrelets, 77 Red-throated Loons (we're at 11,319 Red-throats for the season, which is a record high), and 1193 Pacific Loons (season is 91,142, also low).

The tubenoses were enjoyable today: one of the closest Short-tailed Shearwaters I've seen at Seawatch; albatross appearances during 4 hours with at least 3 individual birds present; 5 Pink-footed Shearwaters, 2 Sooty Shearwaters, and 28 Northern Fulmars.

The morning started off with a moderate east wind that died by mid-morning and never picked back up, though there was a very light west wind during the late afternoon. The swell was fairly large, visibility was good save a fast-passing fogbank in mid morning, and there was no precipitation.

See the full checklist here: https://ebird.org/tripreport/299125

-Alison Vilag