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Sea Birds, Pacific City, OR, USA (1 Viewer)

Katemail13

Katemail13

Southeastern Utah, USA
Hi, all.

Can any of you help me with an ID of these birds from my crappy photo? They were flying above the water, several flocks of dozens and dozens each. They were smaller than the Gulls, Murres, Guillemots, and Cormorants in the area. I am thinking maybe Sooty Shearwaters?

Pacific City, Oregon, August 7, this year.

Thanks for any help!
 

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Look like shearwaters to me. Left most bird with spread wings shows diagnostic wing shape of a pelagic bird and doesn't point towards waders in my opinion.
 
I remember a trip to Leadbetter Point, Washington State in the summer during the 90s and I was staggered by the Sooty Shearwater flocks literally just offshore in the surf. I spent a wonderful lunch hour sat in the dunes watching the Shearwaters go back and forth right in front of me. Sooty Shearwaters are regular passage birds in this corner of the USA.
 
Having had a closer look at some of the individual birds I can see these being shearwaters - I think I was thrown by the shape and size of the flock.
 
tom baxter said:
Look like shearwaters to me. Left most bird with spread wings shows diagnostic wing shape of a pelagic bird and doesn't point towards waders in my opinion.
Click to expand...

This left bird is what made me think Shearwaters in the first place. Thanks, all. I think for now I will call them Shearwaters. :)
 
I realize others all support Sooty Shearwater here, and that I'm going against majority opinion, but I've never seen a group of any species of Shearwater flying in a tight flock like that. You see tight masses around a bait boil, perhaps, but they don't tend to fly in a tight flock in my experience. Groups moving together tend to stream by more. On the other hand, waders are frequently seen flying in tight flocks like that. As well, the original poster suggests they were smaller than murres or guillemots. The flight profiles, flock behaviour, and OP's impression of size still suggest shorebirds to me over Sooty Shearwater.

A question to the OP: were wingbeats continuous or did you note any gliding? Familiarity with shearwater flight pattern should answer the question if possible...

Cheers and still happy to be proven wrong :)
Josh
 
Kate:

Here is a video of a single Sooty Shearwater flapping then gliding:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPuSCSdg5OY

And here is a video of a lot of Sooties that illustrates a typical flight pattern of flap-flap-flap-glide:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xfaxj1-07X0

Here's what Sooties tend to do when they are moving - they stream by sort of continuously, not in tight flocks:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPELkD_6Jt8

In comparison, here's a video of showing flocks of waders in flight:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F84v0CFN4Pw

Do any of these videos provoke a "that's what I saw" reaction? Once you develop familiarity, flight style will handily separate shearwaters or other tubenoses from waders.
 
Thanks, Josh. Unfortunately, I didn't really get a good look at their flight. I actually just accidentally captured that small flock of birds as I was taking pictures of a Surf Scoter. All I can say for sure is that there were 5 or 6 of similar-sized flocks.

Whatever the case with this flock, I can't really report them, or count them on my life list, since there is no certain ID.
 
Just as an addition... it still sticks with me now over 20 years later the flocks of Sooty Shearwater going through the surf on that particular trip I had to the Pacific NW... Sooty Shearwater have a habit of migrating in these flocks close to shore... when you watch this video of them migrating...
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dPELkD_6Jt8
Not flying in the normal Shearwater way...
 
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Sooty Shearwaters often form swirling gyres of several 1000 birds at feeding frenzies just offshore. Al Jaramillo just posted one on Facebook with estimated 40K birds.
Andy
 
FWIW I saw these as waders too - I think its because they appear to be flying in formation like waders and they are not long winged enough for shearwaters. A few could be foreshortened but not all of them
 
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nobbyball said:
Just as an addition... it still sticks with me now over 20 years later the flocks of Sooty Shearwater going through the surf on that particular trip I had to the Pacific NW... Sooty Shearwater have a habit of migrating in these flocks close to shore... when you watch this video of them migrating...
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dPELkD_6Jt8
Not flying in the normal Shearwater way...
Click to expand...

Kratter said:
Sooty Shearwaters often form swirling gyres of several 1000 birds at feeding frenzies just offshore. Al Jaramillo just posted one on Facebook with estimated 40K birds.
Andy
Click to expand...

Jane Turner said:
FWIW I saw these as waders too - I think its becuase they appear to be flying in formation like waders!
Click to expand...

Certainly not behaving at all like Sooties in the North Atlantic, which are distinctly non-gregarious, typically singles or in small, widely-spaced groups. If this is normal for Pacific Ocean Sooties, perhaps it's time to investigate a potential species split?
 
Nutcracker said:
Certainly not behaving at all like Sooties in the North Atlantic, which are distinctly non-gregarious, typically singles or in small, widely-spaced groups. If this is normal for Pacific Ocean Sooties, perhaps it's time to investigate a potential species split?
Click to expand...

I went on a pelagic from Washington a few years back - Sooties in huge numbers and relatively tight flocks just offshore - completely different to our scenario. Amazing!

Whether DNA been done or just a (major) behavioural difference don't know.

Anyway ...
 
There is also too little body weight ahead of the wings for shearwaters... if I had to pick an ID it would be Knot. Not found a flock at the right angle yet - but the wing and body shape compare favourably to the mystery birds... Sooties less well (below)
 

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Although Sooty's (or Sooties?) flock in somewhat similar manner, the OP did state they were smaller than the other seabirds present ...
 
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