Breakfast was interrupted by Rich shouting down from the pilot house that an adult Short-tailed Albatross was flying past us. No one was able to get up top in time to see it, but it got everyone to finish breakfast quickly. Soon everyone was in the pilot house or on deck looking for another one, but we didn’t see any at first.
There was a small fishing boat on the horizon, so we switched course to see if there were any birds around it. There wasn’t, but in the course of a radio conversation, that boat’s captain said we weren’t in a good area for Short-taileds. We knew we were in a good area — we were approaching Seguam Pass, a hotspot for them — so it was a nice ‘I told you so’ when we spotted the next Short-tailed within sight of that boat.
Over the next several hours, we encountered more Short-taileds. As we passed through the west side of Seguam Pass, the Short-tailed count approached 10.
Some may have been spotted more than once, but we probably had at least 7. Ages varied from all brown juveniles to older subadults.
The west side of Seguam Pass was a huge tidal rip and birds were everywhere. There were thousands and thousands of Fulmars, hundreds of Laysan Albatrosses, more than a handful of Black-footed Albatross, and various alcids, but only one Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel. The waters calmed as we reached the east side, and there were fewer birds.
We then passed Seguam Island and entered Amukta Pass. This pass is deeper than Seguam Pass. We had fewer birds here, but there were still lots of fulmars and now many Fork-tailed Storm-Petrels.
Tomorrow should be the final day of the trip.
Hello Pukuk!
Hearty congratulations on the Solitary Snipe and all your awesome birds on land and sea! I’ve been following your amazing journey from here in Unalaska and send huge thanks to you for sharing it all with us!
Please relay to Rich that I’ll be here with bells on to hear about the trip if he has time ashore before flying home to Kodiak.
Good sailing!
Suzi