Oregon in April

Last week, I drove up to visit Steve and his family in Newport, Oregon. The weather was quite variable - and so were the birds (foreshadowing).

I awoke to falling snow on Tuesday morning.

The drive to the coast follows the stunning beauty of the Umpqua River.

After reaching Newport, Steve and I checked out the action at Yaquina Head. Steve said that this time of the year, Common Murres should be nesting at their colony on two offshore rocks. There were no Murres on the rocks, but we thought we saw a few flying around offshore. There were plenty of Cormorants and seals on the smaller rocks.

Next, we drove down to Yaquina Bay to do a little birding. We were amused by this sea lion and the seals holding their toes in the air. We started to pick out various waterfowl.

Common Loon, riding low.

This is only a part of a large group of Brants, a kind of small goose.

Brants moving in unison.

We were astounded by two Western (?) Gulls who were swallowing rather large starfish whole - ouch!

Goin' down...

Yum!

Meanwhile, gull number two was eating a starfish nearby.

This Surf Scoter, with the outlandish bill, is a breeding male.

Surf Scoters are expert swimmers in roiling surf, but getting airborn is not so easy (female here).

A pair of Red Breasted Mergansers in the back, Surf Scoters in the front.

A male Bufflehead swimming with the Brants.

On Wednesday, Steve took me on a geological tour. Apparently, there are some vast areas of land that are steadily sliding toward the sea north of Newport. He showed me giant crevices up in the woods, at least a quarter mile from the ocean, that were opening up as the land downhill moves away from the hillsides. The picture above shows some once seemingly safe homes about to be deposited on the beach below. Notice the manhole for a sewer that is dangling over the edge.

Want to buy a house cheap?

Looking out to sea with binoculars, we were blown away to see a virtual river of Murres floating in the water. They were side by side in a swath that was easily a half mile long. They were still not on the rocks at the colony site, however.

We drove back to Yaquina Bay, and went a little further inland this time. These are Greater Scaups - a male, female, and two with there heads under water dabbling for food. We also saw a Whimbrel - a kind of Curlew.

On Thursday, it was back out to check on things at Yaquina Head - good thing we did!

Holy shit! The Murres have landed!

There were still thousands in the water as well as thousands on the two rocks.


They were in the air. One rock emptied most of the Murres as they made their way to a jump off point, which took about twenty minutes. They flew around in big crazy circles for awhile, then plopped down, presumably in their same spots, which took another twenty minutes or so.

Murres are the Northern Hemisphere counterparts of penguins, and are in the same family as puffins. Their legs are near the end of their bodies, and they live at sea except when they come to land to breed. Their eggs are shaped like stretched pears so that they roll in tight circles rather than rolling off ledges into the sea or rocks below.

From a distance, they remind me of sunflower seeds. The colony at Yaquina Head has 25,000 Murres on the two rocks, according to a sign. This makes them particularly vulnerable to an oil spill, and if a colony is wiped out, it would take many years, if ever, to re-establish.

I am used to seeing only one or so at a time at IBRRC. This is insane!

It is funny how they land. They fly in fast, flip up into a slight hover, and then fall clumsily to the land with feet stretched downward.

Well, it was time to head back, and do a little surf check in the process. You can barely see a guy paddling out. Getting to the water here is not for the faint of heart.

Steve knows most of the guys who surf here, or so it seems.

One of Steve's friends doing a stylish, backside cutback.

Saturday morning I had to leave. This is the Haceta Head Lighthouse down the coast from Newport.

As I turned inland up the Umpqua River Valley, I stopped to look at these Elk at the viewing station. They sure look well fed - like cows or something. Well, it sure was a pleasure to spend time with Lorie, Logan, Aaron, and Steve - and in such beautiful surroundings!