Northern Fulmars in the North Pacific

I was still in the Salish Sea, heading west through the Strait of Juan de Fuca on the Ruby Princess. Hours earlier, the naturalist on my morning whale watching tour out of Victoria, far to the east behind me, told me that the waters around Port Renfrew were great for wildlife viewing. Sea otters, marine birds, and yes, orcas, all took advantage of the nutrient-rich waters I'd soon be entering, just a few miles from the open Pacific Ocean. As a result I roamed my ship's outside Promenade Deck all afternoon, waiting for the Ruby to enter this thriving wildlife habitat.

Light fog didn't help the visibility; I wouldn't get a clear view of land until reaching San Francisco in a day and a half. Nevertheless, I added to the long list of common murre and sea gull sightings I compiled from the morning. I also saw what might have been a marbled murrelet. Finally, a large fish, possibly a salmon, made several leaps out of the water. Alas, no marine mammals, which meant no orcas.

Undeterred, I spent much of the next day, a sea day and the last day of the cruise, walking the same outside deck, scanning the ocean for whales and the sky for birds. Even though we were somewhere off the coast of southern Washington or northern Oregon, the weather was San Diego-like, sunny and pleasant. At the very least, the exercise and fresh air were doing wonders for my health.

Lucky for me, however, steps on my smartphone weren't my only accomplishment: I identified my very first northern fulmars. The three or four birds gathered off the rear and port side of the ship were actually the only wildlife sightings of note that day. They swooped and glided with stiff wings, often diving under water.

Thanks to my photos I could just make out their nostril tubes, which help the birds remove salt from their systems. The fulmars share similar ducts with albatrosses, petrels, and shearwaters, cousins that are also pelagic, all mostly feeding and living only on the open sea.

While I was hoping to find orcas on my cruise to the Pacific Northwest, new finds like the fulmars were hardly disappointing substitutes. As Emerson wrote, "It's not the destination, it's the journey." And counting the harlequin ducks, western grebes, common murres, and marbled murrelets, mine was a journey filled with bird discoveries.