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| A juvenile Western Gull with something in its mouth ,possibly plastic |
On our way back to Camas, WA, the second stop was in Newport, OR. We have been there once before, which we enjoyed tremendously. We went to many of the same birding spots as last time. We saw many birds, old ones and new ones alike.
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| Brown Pelicans and juvenile Heermann's Gulls |
The first place we visited was Devil's Punchbowl. While we were on the trail that overlooked the punchbowl, we saw a Black Oystercatcher. I think it is prettiest among all the shorebirds; a perfect black body, an interesting red beak, and a pair of yellowish eyes. We were a bit surprised when we saw the tidepools. The part closer to us was clean, but the part closer to the sea was filthy with seaweed. There was so much seaweed on top, we couldn’t even see the tidepools. After taking some pictures of the limited tidepools, I cautiously strayed into seaweed territory, and joined Dad, who had already started scanning the rocks for birds. We saw a pouch of Brown Pelicans diving into the water ever so clumsily. A huge gulp of cormorants on the distant rocks, plus some Common Murres, and PIgeon Guillemots. I saw a bird in the water with a long bill, so I originally thought it was Western Grebe. After I took some pictures to double check, it turned out to be a juvenile Pacific Loon. While watching the Pelicans dive, as soon as the Pelicans made the dive, it would immediately be mobbed by these grayish colored birds. They would ride on the poor Pelican’s back, stealing away its hard-earned meal. We had many theories about what these birds were - at first, we thought they were Storm-Petrels, but the head shape was different. We finally settled on the idea that they were Shearwaters. Even then, me and Dad didn’t have a consensus on what type of Shearwater it was. He thought it was the more common Sooty Shearwater, but I thought it was the rarer Flesh-footed Shearwater. After some debating, I finally convinced him, because the Flesh-footed has a pale bill. The only thing we didn’t understand, however, was that the Flesh-footed has pink feet (hence the name), but the birds we saw lacked this feature. Extremely puzzled, we submitted the checklist anyway. Not a few hours later, ebird sent an email, saying that our observation was mistaken. The birds turned out to be juvenile Heermann’s Gulls, which do look very similar. Another thing was one of the Pacific Loons turned out to be a juvenile Common Loon, which is a lifer for us! So, the Flesh-footed Shearwater goes on our ”Temporary Lifers list.” I hope we will actually see it someday.
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| Brown Pelican in midair, preparing for a dive |
The second place we visited was the Yaquina Head Lighthouse. The tidepools there were a lot better, although because we came later, the tide was higher. Besides the tidepools, the birding was exceptional. I got superb pictures of Oystercatchers, and a female Harlequin Duck. I was a little forlorn by the fact that we failed to see a male Harlequin Duck, which is quite vibrantly colored. Sadly, the female is much duller than the male. We also saw a Wandering Tattler poking around on some rocks. It is considered a vagrant in Taiwan, so I was enraptured by the find. Even though we have been to Newport before, this trip was still delightful and new. The whole Pacific coast is really intriguing, and I hope we will be able to explore new places the next time we visit.
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| Black Oystercatcher |
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