I went on my first pelagic trip ever

lookin’ for birds in the ocean

I rode in that boat on the left

MISTY

Weather was perfect

Seas were a bit rough

It was a 10 hour tour

I only felt sea sick for 10% of the time

Red-necked Phalarope

Nonsensically small bird to live in the ocean

Weighs 1.2 ounces

Photo taken about 17 miles out

So tiny, how are they not food for everything?

Angry looking dinosaur

But not a dinosaur

A Rhinoceros Auklet

The little horn at the base of its beak gets bigger

Brings in all the ladies

Black-Footed Albatross

The main reason for the trip.

Oregon’s Largest seabird

With a 7 foot wingspan

Though one of the smallest Albatross species

The majority of them breed in Hawaii

Then they spend their winters in the pacific

The closest they get to us is 35+ miles off the coast of Oregon

Just waiting for strangers to boat by

And feed them popcorn

And maybe some beef fat

Though they mostly eat squid, fish eggs and plastic

They glide majestically over the waves

And have a very good sense of smell

Allowing them to find food from afar

But they can drink water whenever they want

They have a desalinization gland in their head

That pulls the salt out of the sea water they drink

And then a highly salinated solution drips out their nose

I love them.

This Albatross is being investigated by a South polar skua

Whereas the Albatross nests in Hawaii, these guys nest in the South Pole!

And they all winter far out in the Pacific

South polar Skua visits a gull

They are cleptoparasites

Literally parasites by theft

If they see gulls, terns, or fulmars with fish

They just bite them and shake them until they drop it

They also just kill and eat baby penguins.

COOL!

In the foreground a smaller type of Skua

The juvenile Long-tailed jaeger

Inspecting a juvenile California Gull

These Jaegers also harass and steal food from birds

Though my understanding is that it is usually from smaller birds

Little bullies (I love anthropomorphising stuff!)

Buller’s Shearwater

I don’t really know anything about them

Other than that they are beautiful

Clean white pattern underneath

Outlined in black

This was a bird I wanted to see on the trip, but wasn’t a sure thing

I was very happy to see it

This is a Pink-footed Shearwater

not to be confused with Flesh-footed Shearwater

Who names these things?

The more common of the large shearwaters

Having to only fly from Chile, not New Zeland, to get to waters off of Oregon

Incredible journeys made by all

Last but not least

Northern Fulmars

They come in two flavors:

Dark morph, and Light Morph

Both salty.

These guys also have the desalinization gland

Though their nostrils are on the top

Their beaks appear to have been broken

then super glued back together by a child

They can live to be 30+ years old

And return to their same nest site every year

Though they don’t start mating until they are between 6-12 years old

I saw other birds too

But these are the best of the best photos

Taking photos with a super zoom lens

On a ship that is rocking very erratically

IS SUPER HARD

But I had a good time, and I would love to try again

OH YEAH HOW COULD I FORGET I SAW AN INCREDIBLE WHALE!!!

Grand Finale

Humpback Whale Breaching

Jumping

Spinning

Doing Pec Slaps

Look at the barnacles on his chin!

like some weird goatee

These are called Coronula diadema

And it is a species of barnacle that only lives on Humpback Whales!

WEIRD, I guess kinda like a STI

But for whales

It is smiling!

You can see its baleen

And I think that little dot in the bottom center

That is its eye

I always take photos mid-blink

The whale was doing “Pec Slaps”

Just smashing its pectoral fins into the water

Making huge splashes

And we all loved it

A final Jump

And a final splash

The trip was incredible

The whale display may have been a once in a lifetime event

Though I hope that’s not true

I had a great time, got 13 new lifers

14 new Oregon birds, & 18 new Lincoln County birds

Oh yeah, and a majestic Humpback whale

Perhaps the best bird of the trip.