We had 2 (two!) Short-tailed Ablatross with a flock of over 100 Black-footed Albatross and at least 5 Laysan Albatross, for the albatross trifecta. The overall trip was very good, great weather, relatively calm seas, unusual for a March trip, partly sunny skies, and an extraordinarily talented group of leaders and participants on this boat. Still, the story of the trip was that we had 2 individual Short-tailed Albatross, of a species where in my lifetime there were only an estimated 40 or so birds living, none of them adults of this species. These birds nest exclusively on islands off the coast of Japan, and were nearly hunted into extinction by the late 1930’s when a total hunting ban started to be enforced. The population declined from millions of birds in the 1800’s, with a documented 5 million killed over 17 years in the early 20th century for their eggs, oil, and feathers.

Now per Bill Tweit, who is going to be my guest on The Bird Banter Podcast this week, the population has increased to approximately 2400 birds. So we saw just less than 1/1000th of the birds on earth together yesterday!

These are really big birds, making our common Black-footed Albatross seem relatively small in comparison, and have an outrageous bubble-gum pink bill that identifies them at a glance if seen well. I even recognized It was al first-time sighting before the trip leaders called it out by the huge pink bill.

We also had about 8 Laysan Albatross on the trip, with 5 in the flock by a fishing boat where the flock of albatross was located. These are themselves uncommmon birds in Washington and off the continental U.S. I saw my lifer ALAL only 2 years ago on a repositioning cruise, and my WA state bird last spring on a Westport Seabirds trip. To see 8 on one trip was really extraordinary.

To top off a terrific trip was a Manx Shearwater seen early in the day, 12 miles off shore on out way out. It was distant, giving good looks for maybe a minute as it flew away from the boat, much to distant for photos.

Four Tuften Puffins, over a hundred Black-legged Kittiwakes, and good numbers of Northern Fulmars, Cassin’s Aucklets, and a surprisingly few Sooty Shearwater rounded out the species list.
This for a birder and a lister like me was an epic trip, great long looks at a rare and endangrered albatross made for a memorable day.

It was also Ken Brown’s birthday, see The Bird Banter Podcast #2 and #6 for more with and about Ken.
Good birding! Good day!