From Los Angeles to Vancouver on a Cruise Ship

The songs of my backyard's wintering white-crowned sparrows were still playing in my ears when I left my Phoenix home for a week-long, cruise.  It was a one-way, early-spring sailing from the port of Los Angeles to Vancouver, British Columbia.  I must have been attuned to the sparrows' plaintive melodies to quickly recognize the same calls and birds at most of the stops, namely in San Francisco; Astoria, Oregon; and Victoria, British Columbia.  However it was sea birds I was mostly seeking out, with one in particular, the tufted puffin, highest on my list. 

Before setting off from Los Angeles I observed one unique sea bird right in the port: a lone western grebe.  It was floating and diving in the shadow of the colossal Grand Princess, my cruise ship for the journey.  The surrounding industrial complex that handles more cargo than any other seaport in the United States didn't strike me as ideal habitat for this elegant creature.  Squawking gulls and barking sea lions seemed more at home in the busy sea lanes noisy with the clanking and banging of cranes loading intermodal containers.  

Western grebe on my cruise.

At our first stop the next morning off the coast of much more idyllic Santa Barbara, I encountered another western grebe.  It swam off of Stearns Wharf close to the city beach, where brown pelicans also floated in the calm waters sheltered by a marina and a long sea wall.  Sandpipers scurried along the shoreline while dark-eyed juncos and California towhees populated the trees lining the town's streets.  

Late in the afternoon as the Grand Princess began its departure from the scenic coastline, scores of sail boats crisscrossed the seascape in breezy, balmy weather.  Equally numerous were the flocks of brown pelicans, some of whom dived for fish.  I spotted a whale's spout in the distance.  I even thought I had photographed a pod of dolphins only to discover later it was a group of three sea lions.  

View of Santa Barbara from the Grand Princess.

Brown Pelican off of Santa Barbara.

Sailing slowly up the California coast all the next day didn't offer any notable wildlife sightings.  Looking out the window from the ship, I thought I spied a boobie but couldn't confirm it.  I was up early the next morning when the ship sailed under the Golden Gate Bridge. The sun was only beginning to rise with fog nowhere in sight.  Unsurprisingly, the harbor was teeming with pelicans, gulls, and sea lions.  I even saw another western grebe close to the Embarcadero where we berthed for our day in San Francisco.  

Heading toward the Golden Gate Bridge on the Grand Princess.

Passing under the Golden Gate Bridge on the Grand Princess.

Along the sidewalks and paths bordering the wharfs, marinas, and parks were additional white-crowned sparrows along with more towhees.  I wasn't surprised to hear the scratchy squeaks of hummingbirds amidst the blooming landscape.

The next day was another sea day and delivered, by my best estimation, the third roughest seas I've ever encountered while on a cruise ship.  High waves and strong winds kept the outside decks closed throughout the day.  The conditions also kept the ship pitching and rolling well into the early evening, forcing passengers to hold on to handrails when walking the decks.  At least the skies remained clear and I never lost my appetite!

The following morning was still cloudless and the seas were placid as we entered the mouth of the Columbia River in route to Astoria, Oregon.  From the Grand Princess's outside Promenade Deck, I photographed many crowded flocks of surf scoters.  There were also small groups of common murres.  As we sailed closer to Astoria, double-crested cormorants began to outnumber the gulls.  I was amazed to spot the spout of a whale, and then to watch it breach several times.  It turned out to be a lone gray whale when I finally studied my photos. 

Gray whale spouting as we entered the Columbia River.

Flock of surf scoters near the entry to the Columbia River.

As workers tied the ship to the pier, I identified a number of either greater or lesser scaups, both male and female, floating near the empty neighboring berth.  Pairs of pigeon guillemots flew wide ellipses several feet above the water.   Occasionally, the heads and flippers of sea lions broke through the water's surface.  

Either a lesser or a greater scaup in Astoria.

Pigeon guillemot in Astoria.

I walked into town on the Astoria Riverwalk - a route shared with the town's tourist trolley - passing under the Astoria-Megler Bridge, the longest continual truss bridge in North America.  It spans the lower Columbia River, connecting the states of Oregon and Washington via U.S. Highway 101.  Recently the bridge has become famous for the colony of cormorants that reside there. 

View of Astoria from the Grand Princess.

Double-crested cormorant colony on the Astoria-Megler bridge.

On the river near the protruding pylons of abandoned docks, I spotted many buffleheads along with a few American coots, American wigeons, mallards, and scaups.  On land I paused to observe some crows and violent-green swallows.  I snapped a shot of a Canadian goose to remind myself how frequently throughout the trip I was seeing this ever-present bird.  

Three male buffleheads and a single female scaup in Astoria.

It was approaching breeding season for the puffin which famously nests on Haystack Rock off Cannon Beach twenty-five miles to the south.  I made a late day stroll on the Promenade Deck as we sailed back into the Pacific Ocean in a vain hope to find one these migrating birds flying by.  Alas, I had no luck.  

We started to enter Canadian waters early the next morning as we sailed toward Victoria via the Strait of Juan de Fuca, an ocean inlet  that defines part of Washington's northern border.  I could see the snow-capped peaks of the Olympic Mountains to the south, on the starboard side of the ship.  

Canadian tug with a view of the Olympic Mountains in Washington.

As I circled the ship alone on the chilly morning, flocks of birds, possibly scoters, crossed our path far ahead of the bow.  After photographing a pair of birds and studying the pictures, I was thrilled to capture my first brants, a species of small goose.  I also stumbled upon a ship's steward reaching over the Promenade Deck's railing and wrapping a towel around a dark bird as he grabbed and foisted it from its perch.  As I watched the bird glide toward the sea and out of sight, I asked the steward what kind of bird it was. He said it was just a sea gull.   

Brants in the Strait of Juan de Fuca between Washington and British Columbia.

The bird was too black and small to be any kind of gull I'd seen so far on the trip.  My guess was that it was something closer to a storm petrel or another sea bird that might have stopped overnight on the ship for a rest or collided with us while we sailed in the Pacific Ocean.  The episode reminded me of the time when I was on a ship that docked in nearby Seattle for the day and I discovered a red-necked phalarope, unable to fly and sheltering on an open deck at the stern.   That ship's crew assured me that it was cruise line policy to alert a local animal welfare group about any distressed wild animals on board.  Unfortunately I was too late to remind the Grand's steward that he should have waited until we were in Victoria in a couple of hours to follow Princess Cruises' own wildlife policy.  

Victoria turned out to be an excellent destination for birdwatching. A short walk in sunny, pleasant weather from the port along Dallas Road, with pauses at Driftwood Beach and Holland Point Park, rewarded me with some new sightings.  I saw two male Anna's hummingbirds, coincidentally the most common hummingbird in my Phoenix backyard.  Again I encountered the white-crowned sparrows I had left at home along with song sparrows singing from high branches.  Another easy-to-find bird in Arizona that I witnessed were great blue herons.  

Great blue heron in Victoria.

Anna's hummingbird in Victoria.

View of the port and the Grand Princess from Holland Point Park in Victoria.

Peering down from the bluff along the sidewalks and paths, I saw a few waterfowls diving and dabbling near clusters of kelp.  Like in Astoria, there were quite a few buffleheads.  But I also saw female common mergansers.  I was especially excited to see harlequin ducks, not only because of the male's striking beauty but because the last time I saw this sea duck was two and a half years ago near Haystack Rock at Cannon Beach, where I had been, of course, seeking out puffins.  I next started reasoning that if the puffins breed on a steep rock formation rising from the ocean, why couldn't they breed on the rocky embankment I was hiking along.  I was desperate; it was the last full day of the cruise, and the last few hours I could devote to birdwatching.  

Male harlequin duck in Victoria.

Female common merganser in Victoria.

In the end, regrettably, there were no puffin stories percolating in my head as I flew home from Vancouver the following day.  And sadly there were no more white-crowned sparrow songs emanating from my backyard the following day when I awoke in my own bed.  However right after Easter, I discovered a Gambel's quail nest with eleven eggs sheltered in a large outside pot.  It was planted with aloe vera plants and elephant food and lay close to where I was occasionally feeding those migratory sparrows over the winter.  Sure I was disappointed not to see my first puffin, and I would miss the sparrows until they returned late in the autumn.  However I had a brand-new quail family to soon welcome to the neighborhood.