The day of the pelagic!!! The sky was splotchy blue and very little wind was blowing. Up out of the comfortable bed at the cottage, chug down breakfast, and out the door I go. Golden-crowned Sparrows serenaded from the bushes, and an adult Sharp-shinned Hawk zoomed by overhead. The calls of Orange-crowned, Yellow-rumped, and Townsend's Warblers were pleasant to hear, as well as Golden-crowned Kinglets and CB Chickadees from the loping cedars. A scan of the water waaayyy down below produced dots of two Red-necked Grebes.
We jumped into the car, and headed to the Port McNeill boat docks in high hopes that this pelagic may actually depart!!! I looked up on a telephone wire on the way and was bewildered to see a pair of Eurasian Collared-Doves!!! :O Seriously, their up HERE now, too?!!! Arriving in Port McNeill, I started to see scattered birders heading to the boat docks, which was a calming reminder that we had driven to the right place! We screeched to a halt at the pier parking area, and it is sure beautiful there! Muddy shoreline ( ooh, shorebird potential ), rocky edges, gorgeous parkscape, and of course a stunningly perfect North Vancouver Island boat dock were just some of the sights to be seen! I went straight to the muddy shoreline, and grabbed looks at breeding plumage Dunlin, Western Sandpiper, and Least Sandpiper. The flock of around of 70 of these birds crowded the shoreline. A Greater Yellowlegs was also present, prowling the muddy shore. Here's a picture of the beautiful ( yes, I've used that term a LOT so far ) ripples in the water near the muddy shore. Spot the GRYE.
Suddenly, a Belted Kingfisher burst past, rattlingly calling ( is that a word? ) In the boat dock area, Hooded Mergansers and Bufflehead were swimming about. As we approached the boat that would *hopefully* take me and 33 other birders out to sea, I did a final check : binoculars - check, camera - check, adrenaline - check. The boat that we ( the pelagic birders ) would take was the Naiad Explorer, a crafty and efficient boat, with ample windows and deck space. I was dumb enough not to take a picture of the boat, but it is moreover a 40 foot, two-story, two-tone yellow and gray boat, with two outside deck platforms at the back of the boat.
With two backpacks, and birding equipment in toe : Canon photography equip, binos, notebook, field guide, etc, I jumped from the dock to the Naiad Explorer. Final goodbyes to mom, and I was all ready to go! One of the first people whom I met on the boat was Liron Gertsman, my birding friend who had amazingly organized this whole pelagic himself; and he's only 13 like me! Thank you very much, Liron! I then met the skipper of the boat, Bill Mackay, and his wife Donna, who are wonderful people, and kindly offered their boat for this pelagic. After laying my gear down, downstairs in the bottom of the boat, I climbed back up and scanned the water... aha! There were two Marbled Murrelets out in the bay - a lifer!!! Did you know that Marbled Murrelets choose to nest high up in cedars inland? Their breeding habits were unknown until 1974, when a nest was discovered inland in a park in California. MAMUs are listed as Endangered. Back to the birding. There were Red-necked Grebes there, too; now in breeding plumage, and starting to pair up. As more and more eager people piled onto the boat, it was clear that this excursion was going to leave on time!
Finally, the last birders trickling onto the Naiad Explorer, and the vessel turned on its motors, and pulled away from the dock! Groups of birders clustered to different sides of the boat, to get different angles of the water. I chose the front right corner, behind the bridge. As we pulled away, we immediately noted Common Loon, Red-throated Loon, several more Marbled Murrelets, and a couple 'o Rhinos :
Rhinoceros Auklet in typical viewing position
Double-crested and predominantly Pelagic Cormorants dashed across the bow, stern, and sides of the boat. Two Long-tailed Ducks zipped by behind the boat, which I almost missed. I did get them, though ( year-bird #165 ). While cruising away from port, I met Dave, a veteran of 24 pelagics, and Ed Jordan, a fantastic birder from the Quadra Islands, who is also a pelagic veteran. Directing full attention back to birds, I got distant views at another lifer, Black Scoter, way out in the middle of a SUSC flock. I was then lucky enough to get a little group of Common Murres very close to the boat.... yet another lifer! Spotting a pack of 12 Western Grebes starboard-side was a nice surprise, as well as getting a quick fly-by Red-breasted Merganser.
The seas continued to be calm as we hugged the coast, bound to pick up the rest of the crew at the Port Hardy dock. In the midst of the sea-scanning, someone called "PORPOISE!" Yep, skipping past the vessel were 3 Dall's Porpoises, which are awesome to see. Just a second later, a Pacific White-sided Dolphin was spied near the back of the boat. Zipping up the island coast, we kept seeing Rhinoceros Auklets. Heaps of 'em. The cool ( dare I say COLD ) morning breeze ( dare I say GUST ) kept us very much awake at 9:30 a.m. In around 15 minutes, we reached the Port Hardy dock, where Double-crested and Pelagic Cormorants were abundant, and Red-necked Grebes crowded the harbour; at least 13 of them were counted. We picked up nine more eager birders at Port Hardy, completing the roster for the trip; everybody showed up! This is looking to be a success! We still needed to get out to Triangle Island, though. While the other nine birders were boarding, an adult Bald Eagle gallantly flew over, as well as, um, Rock Pigeons.
Pushing away from the Port Hardy dock, a pair of Common Mergansers were noted swimming in the boat docks. We headed out into open waters, bound for TrIs, and the weather looked promising; only 0.5 metre swells, blue skies, and sun was pelting down from above! The last of the coldness of earlier that morning wore off, and birds were numerous. Our first White-winged Scoter blasted by starboard, keeping pace with the Naiad Explorer's 30 knot speed.
White-winged Scoter - Whoa, that bird's fast! He's clocking around 30 knots!!!
In this section, around Hope Island, the amount of alcids started picking up. Common Murres were getting more numerous, Rhinoceros Auklets were picking up ever more, and Pigeon Guillemot numbers were on the rise. Finally, OPEN SEA IS IN SIGHT!!!.....
Open seas are in sight!!!
..... and it looks calm out there! However, the open seas can be deceiving, and a northern wind could strike at any moment. So out we go, into the big ocean blue, with good friends, and pelagic birds too! Excuse my lame sense of poetry. Here's a Pelagic Cormorant that arrowed past the front of the boat :
In about 30 minutes, we were passing the Scott Islands, and all I could see was water, my first taste of true ocean! And there were birds out there, too! Tons of alcids perused the water; I counted at least 25 Rhinoceros Auklets, 7 Pigeon Guillemots, and 20 Common Murres in a small window of time.
The waves were getting 'somewhat' larger at around 2 metres, but that's nothing, so we powered on, out to even opener seas; while rising up... and falling down into the wave's trough. The amplitude wasn't too bad, though. Birds like P and DC Cormorants fooled us into thinking they were tubenoses or jaegers; example "Oh, there's a jaeger!... oh, another PECO", or "Shearwater! Wait... no, cormorant."
Several minutes later I am wondering when we were going to get some shearwaters. We were pretty far out at sea; already past halfway to Triangle Island. Come on, the swells are only 2 metres high, visiblity is high, and the sun is beating down on our pelagic souls. Finally, finally, I hear the call : "Sooty Shearwater!". Where, WHERE?!! Oh there, the massive flock of dark brown tubenoses portside. Happy dance time! Liron and I's first tubenoses of any kind! Dozens of these dark tubies rocketed by, and were giving us birders some great looks. I tried feebly to get a photo of them, but without a tripod, on a boat, which waves are playing with, it's tough to get a decent shot off! But, persistance pays, and I finally snapped a picture of a Sooty gliding over some soft ripples. Yes! A *picture* of a Sooty Shearwater!
Sooty Shearwater
Hey look, I took a SECOND picture of one! Now I'm really making progress! ~ note the sarcasm ~
Cruising along in the wide expanse of blue, there were Sooty Shearwaters everywhere, mixed with the usual alcids and Pelagic Cormorants. Here's a shot of a group of seabirds :
Group of pelagic birds - Can you count the species?
Superb sea conditions continued, and spirits were high. Our hearts were lifted even more as a Leach's Storm-Petrel dashed by on the left side of the boat!!! This tiny tubenose, resembling a pigeon, or even a Budgerier, skipped above the surface, enlightening our faces, and was yet another lifer for moi - #288 for B.C. After marvelling at this bird for some time as it dipped and fluttered about in the distance, we turned around, and believe it or not, the silhouette of Triangle Island could be seen rising over the horizon - the earth really is round! Although incredibly far away, we could SEE Triangle Island.
Fast forward half an hour.......... I was tediously trying to turn one of them there Sooties into a Pink-footed, but to no avail. Triangle Island continued to loom in the distance, and the waves only increased by half a metre; to 2 1/2 metres. Suddenly, some dark alcids zipped by - Cassin's Auklets!!! And a stocky little black bird with a colourful face - Tufted Puffin!!! Two lifers in quick succession. Alas, no photos; we were clipping along at quite a pace. I spotted a flock of queer little birds flapping rapidly together toward the direction of Triangle Island, which turned out to be Red-necked Phalaropes! There were lots of birds out there as we slowwwly advanced to TI. I mean, there were A LOT of birds, such as several White-winged Scoters, 1 Marbled Murrelet ( a bit far out for them? ), a few Glaucous-winged Gulls doing their very best albatross imitation - arrgghhh, and a massive flock of Brant flying swiftly high up in ( a few ) white clouds that started to dot the sky. A surreal sight, seeing about 120 Brant out in the middle of the sea! :) Quite a moment.
By now, I was starting to feel a bit nauseas; the boat was going up... and down... up... and down. I'm feeling woozy just thinking of it! However it wasn't too bad ( at the moment ), so I sat down and got some more looks at Cassin's Auklets scooting away from the boat; taking off from the water. Whoops! I'm getting a bit long-winded. I'm sure you're half asleep... but I hope you're not! ;)
At long last, we approached Triangle Island, and the views were breathtaking :
A piece of Triangle Island from the boat's perspective
Beautiful, isn't it?
Bill, the captain, powered down the boat, and we coasted along the side of the island slowly. - Nausea update - By this point, I was feeling GREEN. Yep, good ol' sea sickness sucks another helpless passenger into its belly of woe. "I'd better head downstairs to take some Gravol", I thought : no easy task I'm afraid. Woozily descending down the steeeep stairs to the bowels of the ship, I was greeted by the lovely smell of gas from the ship's motor. That didn't really help. Alright! I got to my bag. Gravol taken. Back up to top deck I wander. And then it happened. ( No, an albatross didn't swoop by dramatically ), I let go of my stomach's contents out the side of the ship. Thankfully, it was only water that I disgorged. That did the trick though, and I went back to seeing the sights of the island. Way up on the tippy top of the island was a Pelagic Cormorant / Glaucous-winged Gull colony, which I snapped some pictures of, but they didn't turn out.
Us folks on the Naiad Explorer celebrated, as going into this trip, we had a 1/7 odds of making it to the island. Well, here's to defying odds! To make matters even more pleasant, we viewed a Bald Eagle swoop by overhead, an immature. Also, as we rounded the backside of the island, a Peregrine Falcon was viewed by everyone on board, which was perched atop a peak on the mountain. A Sooty Shearwater caressed the waves beside us, and I snapped away with my camera. Yes! I finally got a keeper! I was genuinely gleeful at getting this shot.
Sooty Shearwater banking
After we had had our lunch, we were more than content with seeing Triangle Island in all its glory ( in the daytime, that is; at night, thousands of storm-petrels head out to sea to feed, as well as Cassin's Auklets, which would be impeccably amazing to see ).
Well, as we turned the last corner of Triangle Island, we decided it was time to start making our way back to Port Hardy. One last look at Tri I...
... and we relunctantly had to say goodbye to this phenominal island.
Stay tuned - our wonderful trip back to our starting berth in Port McNeill is the subject of Part 2. Lots more birds 'n' photos to come!
Logan
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