When I relocated to Washington state, something kinda weird happened. I stopped doing as much local, in state exploring as I had in California. I didn't stop enjoying roaming about, but when I moved here almost 7 years ago, there was SO MUCH needed doing it got me out of my nomadic ways. I hereby declare my stationary days are over, damn it!
Decided to go on an all day Pelagic Birding trip with Westport Seabirds in Gray's Harbor County. It's 3 hours south and It was fun viewing the local folk... some with red glowing eyes....
I arrived in Westport, WA early Friday afternoon, stymied when GPS insisted my motel was in the center of a cluster of Industrial buildings. Called the hotel, and they kindly told me where they were hidden. After setting up my hotel room, I scouted out where the boat pier was so I would not freak out at 5 AM, searching for where one boards the birding boat.
The boat wasn't gigantic (kind of a plus!) and there were maybe 16 co-birders plus the crew, captain and more importantly, 3 pelagic guides. The Guides' jobs were to spot the cool oceanic birds and get us 'onto them', i.e., point out where the birds were so we could get our binoculars onto them.
It was a beautiful day, lots of sun, although the waters seemed gray much of the day. I hoped to see two new lifer birds - Parakeet Auklet, and Manx Shearwater.
A Manx Shearwater, unseen by 'moi'
No Parakeet Auklets showed up. Where the EFF are they hiding? We weren't a half hour out of port and a Manx Shearwater, 2 of them were seen... sadly, not seen by me.
One thing learned in birding is you can neither make birds show up because you want to see them, and even if they show up, you personally may not manage to see them. I stared where the guides pointed as they called out 'ABOVE THE HORIZON AT 1 O'CLOCK!' and BELOW THE HORIZON AT 3 O'CLOCK!" Despite the helpful shouts I could not 'get on the bird' with my binoculars to save my life. Oh well. Some times the magic works, and sometimes the magic doesn't work. *sigh*
Here's a few birdies I managed to see and photograph.
Herring Gulls
Black-footed Albatross
Black-footed on the lam
Sabine's Gulls
Common Murres
Flotilla of Common Murres
Common Murre
Yes, even more Common Murres
Any pelagic birding outing can turn into a Whale watching opportunity. Early in the trip Gray Whales were seen, and *sigh* I missed seeing them. But the gods were with me for two other species.
HUMPBACKS! This one is headed into a dive...
That means it's TAIL UP!
This Humpback has mostly dark flukes, with slight white markings at the ends. Betcha if this photo were sent out on line, there's a registry of individual humpbacks based on their fluke patterns.
Bye bye!
YAY! A small pod of Dall's Porpoises popped up. I bet it's been 20 years since the last time I saw any. Used to see them on various pelagic trips to the Farallon Islands out of San Francisco. Dall's are shaped like big fatties and are slightly faster than the speed of light. Ok, almost that fast, lol.
Dall's Porpoise (headed left)
Hoped they'd 'ride the bow' but they did not. One did swim past quite close and was able to look to see one of these speed demons zip by about 15 feet below me.
Dall's Porpoise
Fun has to end at some point, and mid afternoon, the good ship Blitz headed back towards dock ten. First we passed buoys loaded down with boys & girls of the Steller's Sea Lion persuasion.
Headed dock-ward, Double-crested Cormorants were on hand. Note the Double-crested have orange skin on their faces. On the right top is a Brant's Cormorant on its nest - it has blue skin on its face.
Cormorants sunning and nesting on harbor marker
The cormorant below is a Pelagic Cormorant. They have skinny necks and long thin-ish bills. Some of the year they have white flank patches (normally how I identify them). If you can see it, this species has a little red skin around the eyes and bill. Can't see that on this one.
Pelagic Cormorant
Now here's a weird thing. There are no Brown Pelicans where I live and I'm not very far from the Pacific Ocean, and am smack on the San Juan Straits. Still, no pelicans and wow, do I miss them. Thought they would be common here, but not so. They show up maybe one at a time, once in a bit. But they are totally common around Westport, south to Mexico. Such graceful and greedy giants.
Brants Cormorant on the wing
Double-crested Cormorant, and you can see the double-crest on its noggin
Heading back into port, as we neared the dock, folks lined the pier because today is officially CRAB DERBY day!
And as the Blitz headed into its pier, bubbles floated over the bow. You can see the bubbly source in the short vid below.
Our tour guide Wolfgang assured us Ngorongoro would be the most luxurious hotel of our trip. So excitement peaked when we reached the Inn.
Walkway into the lodge
We were greeted by the lodge's hostess for an introduction to the facilities.
We stayed in the Mufasa Bungalow
As promised by Wolfgang, our Mufasa room was the fanciest we'd encountered. An large bedroom with a pair of queen sized beds, and a luxury bathroom, the same size as our bedroom. There was a massive bathtub and not one, but 2 showers stalls: one indoor, the other outdoor. All that separating you from the world being a patio wall. No. I was too chicken to try the open air shower. Here is a video of the Mufasa Suite, lasting a mere 20 seconds.
We had much of the rest of the day to explore the grounds of the Ngorongoro O'Ideani Mountain Inn. No surprise, I was on the lookout for new birds and I wasn't disappointed.
Area set aside for birding and strolling
Speckled Mousebird
Rattling Cisticola
Back at the main building of the grounds a Pigeon whose eyes looked like it had stayed up too late the night before, rested on rafters outside the main building.
Speckled Pigeon
Red-throated Crag Martin
Fisher's Lovebirds
The lovely walk through the main hall to the dining room
Thanksgiving feast table - a visit to
My little spot at the table
Bread sticks and dinner buns
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Creamy Farmer's Soup
Appetizer: Crispy green banana fritters (Bhajia) with sweet chili sauce
Main Entree I chose: Marinated Braised Lamb Shoulder
Dessert was a choice of either Chocolate Cake, Creme Caramel or Seasonal Tropical Fruit. Shockingly, I chose the fruit platter then wished I'd gone for the chocolate cake. Oh well! Maybe next time.
Following our thanksgiving feast, Ila and I headed back to our Mufasa bungalow, and am happy to report we managed that without getting carried off by lion, leopard nor, pack of hyaenas. A wonderful end to a fascinating and beautiful day.
Our guide Wolfgang said today should be quite a long one. We headed out early from the Ngorongoro O'Ideani Mountain Lodge. Along the way we stopped just off the main road so we could peer under a road culvert. As Wolfgang suspected, the shaded culvert was cluttered with a pile lion cubs, mostly snoozing.
Six mostly snoozing cubs
Awww... look at the cute murder kittens....
Today's objective is to view the earth's largest group of migrating animals. Each November/December the migration starts off in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. The migration moves west, then north, headed for Kenya's Mara River. The Migrating animals are mainly Wildebeests and Zebras. Here is a 2.33min video, featuring Wolfgang filling us in about migration basics.
On the road again, we passed through one of the entryways of Serengeti National Park.
In the following photo I appear to have just been released from captivity, but there you go.
We were headed for the Ngorongoro Crater. Along the way, Wolfgang pointed out a local village. Each group of houses were inside fencing together, as were areas for housing livestock. The fenced areas are called Bomas. Imagine having your own compound (think Kennedys) and it involving no mortgage payments because the land has been in your family for eons. Cool, eh?
Arriving at the Ngorongoro Crater all were able to stand at the edge of the cobblestoned roadway and look down into the enormous Ngorongoro Crater.
While our guide went to the Ngorongoro HQ to sort out paperwork for our entry, all were able to get out, stretch the legs and explore a bit.
Crater-top view of the Ngorongoro
Looking up from the bottom of the Ngorongoro
The Ngorongoro is a World Heritage Site. This is not the first UNESCO site I've ever visited, as they are found world wide. I kind of wished they had stamp-able passport books in the manner of the U.S.'s National Park passbook because I'd have quite the stamp collection by now.
The Crater is chock full of wildlife of all sorts.
Least and Greater Flamingos
Red-billed Ducks napping in the foreground
Hyena, hoofing it through the muck
Cape Buffalo with its companion Red-billed Oxpeckers
Double-banded Courser
Early on it proved to be a very 'birdy' day. Honestly, other than the birds pointed out by Wolfgang, I wasn't able to ID most of the feathered beings until late in the day with my internet ID guides.
Sacred Ibis (L) and African Spoonbill (R)
Kori Bustard
Black Rhino and Impala
It was lunch time and Wolfgang drove us the short distance to Magadi Lake. There were all sorts of birds everywhere I looked. Marabou Storks floated by overhead for their size they obviously break the universal laws because nothing that frickin' huge should be able to achiever flight.
One of the storks tried to invite itself to lunch with an amiable tourist.
Male Ostrich
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A Black Kite kept flying low over the picnicking humans
Folk had to guard their lunch
Greedy birds. And one weaver bird tried to hitch a ride, hoping to wind up at the local KFC (Kenyan Fried Chicken), hopefully as a guest and not an entree.
Hitchhiking Baglafecht Weaver Bird
There were plenty of other birds for me to stare at while I ate my lunch.
Fan-tailed Widowbird
Great White Pelican
Rufous-tailed Weaver
And sitting lakeside a Little Bee-eater
But wait! That's not all. Wolfgang drove us up and out of the Ngorongoro Crater.
A last look at the Ngorongoro Crater
Tonight our lodging is at the Ngorongoro O'Ideani Mountain Lodge. Wolfgang assured us the hotel was the finest of all the hotels we will have experienced on this trip. Did I mention back in the States it is Thanksgiving day? Dinner is going to be quite the surprise whatever we are dine on.
