Newport to Florence

Today I was going to head to Coos Bay for a pelagic trip on Sunday, but weather cancelled the trip so I decided to grab the dog and head over to the coast anyway.  I have not birded south of Newport in eons, my plan was to hit any fun looking spot from Newport down to Oregon Dunes near Florence.


A female Brown Booby was spotted in Newport, I decided to look for it as my first stop.  I was looking too far up the bay, some other birders spotted it down on the second set of range markers.

Lots of Common Loons were in various stages of molt.

I stopped at Ten Mile Beach to look at a huge flock of gulls.   A few adorable Mew Gulls were mixed in to the flock.

I explored the deflation plain at the Oregon Dunes National Rec Area.  I had a fun hike around the area.  This Peregrine Falcon was chasing some crows, or they were chasing it, I never did figure out who won.

A first-year Northern Shrike was working its way along  the edge of the plain.

I tried a few brief seawatches, lots of scoter out in the surf, no eider or shearwater were noticed.  The Heceta Head Lighthouse is beautiful.

A nice day, thanks for visiting.

Sauvie Island CBC

My second Christmas Bird Count (CBC) of the year was the Sauvie Island count in Columbia county Oregon on December 21, 2014. . The atmospheric river (What is that?) that has been over Oregon was supposed to dump more rain on me during the count.  The weather turned out overcast and threatened rain but I made it through the count without any raindrops.  

The idea of a CBC is simply to identify and count all the birds in your assigned area.  One of my favorite areas is north of Rentenaar Road. I have surveyed this area for the past few years.   The area is bordered by a dike to the west and north, Rentenaar Road to the south and the Columbia River to the east.  Some of it is private, so not accessible.  However most is wildlife refuge. We are given permission to access the area by the refuge manager for this count.  Usually all except Rentenaar Road is closed during the winter to protect the waterfowl.

The shaded area is where I surveyed.

My camera allows me to take movies as well. I need to practice using this feature so I can post videos from my upcoming pelagic trips.  For some reason my view finder does not work on the movie setting.   I need to hold camera out in front of me and look at the screen.  Here are some dancing Sandhill Cranes.  I can use my 500 mm zoom lens while taking movies, which you would think should get me some great videos..

I will need to get much better at holding the camera still if I want to take a video on a bouncing boat! 

A Peregrine Falcon was keeping an eye on all the ducks in the area.

Lincoln Sparrow's are one of my favorites.  Hard to get a good photo of one.  

Here is my complete bird list for the area.

Greater White-fronted Goose  1

Cackling Goose  1600
Canada Goose  120
Canada Goose (occidentalis/fulva)  150
Cackling/Canada Goose  200
Tundra Swan  130
American Wigeon  12
Mallard  43
Northern Shoveler  25
Northern Pintail  110
Green-winged Teal  10
Canvasback  14
Ring-necked Duck  250
Bufflehead  12
Common Merganser  5
Double-crested Cormorant  4
Great Blue Heron  3
Great Egret  3
Northern Harrier  4
Sharp-shinned Hawk  1
Bald Eagle  3
Red-tailed Hawk  2
American Coot  190
Sandhill Crane  220
Greater Yellowlegs  32
Herring Gull  1
Western x Glaucous-winged Gull (hybrid)  5
Eurasian Collared-Dove  4
Mourning Dove  26
Belted Kingfisher  1
Downy Woodpecker  1
Northern Flicker  8
American Kestrel  3
Peregrine Falcon  1
Western Scrub-Jay  7
American Crow  9
Black-capped Chickadee  12
Brown Creeper  3
Pacific Wren  1
Marsh Wren  3
Bewick's Wren  4
Ruby-crowned Kinglet  5
American Robin  2
European Starling  90
Spotted Towhee  5
Savannah Sparrow  6
Fox Sparrow  4
Song Sparrow  30
Lincoln's Sparrow  7
Golden-crowned Sparrow  41
Dark-eyed Junco  35
Red-winged Blackbird  150
Western Meadowlark  6
Brewer's Blackbird  100
House Finch  15

Thanks much for visiting and have a great day!