The Goal: 60 Species in 2 Days

Day 2

Canon Beach

5.19.12

My cousin, husband, brother (I just love getting new people involved in birding!) and I.

• House Sparrows
• Barn Swallows
• Western Gulls 
• Bald Eagle
• Pelagic cormorants
• Surf Scoters
• Common Murre
• Pigeon Guillemot*
• Brant's Cormorant
• Harlequin Ducks - males
• Tufted Puffins
• Tree Swallow
• Violet-Green Swallows
• American Crow

58 species (8 new species at Haystack Rock)

Well, we needed 60 species to meet the goal, and not only that, but we've only just begun birding for the day, we needed to hit up at least one other spot.

Harlequin Ducks (on the rocks)

Gull of sorts

Unlike the last trip to Haystack Rock, the place was swarming with birds.

Cannon Beach Settling Ponds (One of those waste water treatment centers.. I wasn't expecting a lot out of it, but I was in for a surprise!)

• Red-Necked Phalaropes* - a lifer, right off the bat!  The place was looking good!
• Mallards + 2 duckling sets
• Red-Winged Blackbirds
• Spotted Sandpipers
• Yellow Warblers - Lots of them! 
• Black-Capped Chickadee
• Barn Swallows
• Violet-Green Swallows
• Song Sparrows
• American Robins
• Brown-Headed Cowbirds
• Steller's Jay
• Wilson's Warbler
• Wood Ducks
• Common Raven
• Eurasian Collared Doves

Add 6 more species to the list..

Grand total:

64 Species!  We made our goal, and with 4 lifers!!!

*Lifers!

Red-Necked Phalaropes

Spotted Sandpiper

Red-Winged Blackbird

Mallard - female with curious ducklings <3

Song Sparrow

Male Mallard in floating algae water

American Crow

Yellow Warbler - male

Wilson's Warbler - male

Red-Necked Phalarope

Sauvie's Island

This was a ground breaking birding trip for me.  We saw a wide variety of species, several of which I have yet to see since then.  I was into it enough the first trip to buy a bird identification book.  Smithsonian Handbooks Birds of North America Western Region By Fred J. Alsop III.  Not your typical field guide, but I highly recommend it, particularly for beginners.  We bumped into another birder with a scope who said he saw a Golden Eagle up ahead.  My cousin said that can't be.  Well we saw it and took down every detail of it.  During the debrief we explored our books to figure out for sure if this was indeed a Golden Eagle.  It came down to, among several key factors, a detail I found in my book about the flight pattern.  Something clicked with me right then that this is something I liked.

• Bald Eagles, including juveniles
• Sandhill Cranes*
• Ring-Necked Ducks*
• Lesser Scaups*    
• Golden Eagle*
• Northern Harrier*
• Red-Tailed Hawk
• Ring-Necked Pheasant* - male 
• Bufflehead
• Great Blue Heron
• American Coots*
• Mallards*
• Northern Shovelers*
• Spotted Sandpipers*
• Pileated Woodpeckers - male and female

*Lifers

Ring-Necked Pheasant (Digiscope photos)

Golden Eagle

Pileated Woodpecker