Shorebird Festival - Pelagic Trip 8.25.12

My first Pelagic trip ever!  Lets get right to it!

Near shore - Red-Necked Phalaropes.  Much further in we saw Red Phalaropes (no pics, unfortunately).

The end of the jetty.  (had to add some color in all the grey-ness :)

A big splash.  It was hard to hold the camera still, we were rocking so hard the whole time.  My sides are still sore and I fell down at one point.

I'm hoping this is a Marbled Murrelet.  We saw one, but we also saw numerous Common Murre.

A trio of.... some stuff... Shearwaters, other..? Do'h! 

Sooty Shearwater

Sooty Shearwater

Northern Fulmar 

A shearwater and juvenile gull compete for center stage.  As you can see, a wave behind them won out, as it's the only thing in focus. hehe.

Black-Footed Albatross!!! It's 7 foot wingspan was dwarfed by the expansive ocean.

Black-Footed Albatross.

And again! :D

Fork-Tailed Storm-Petrel!  This guy was so fast, small and flying around like a mad man, I cannot believe I caught him.

Twice! Yay!

Juvenile Gull - either Western or California, I think... 

A frenzy of feeding back near the shore.

Brandt's Cormorant. 

Not mentioned:

• Western Gulls 
• Double-Crested Cormorants
• American Crows
• Pigeon Guillemots 
• Common Loon
• Rhinoceros Auklet
• Black Scoter
• Cassin's Auklet*
• Pink-Footed Shearwaters*
• Parasitic Jaeger* 
• Pelagic Cormorants
• Pomarine Jaeger*
• Black Turnstones
• Brown Pelicans
• Pacific Loon*
• Sabine's Gull*

*Lifers! Soooo many.

Coos Bay - Bandon Port 8.26.12

Who:  Cousin Brandon, Elvira, the shorebird festival group, including super expert guides, myself.

• Black Turnstones
• Eared Grebes
• Barn Swallows
• Double-Crested Cormorants
• Pelagic Cormorants
• Wandering Tattler*
• Peregrine Falcon
• Pigeon Guillemot
• Brown Pelican
• Purple Martins*
• Killdeer
• Belted Kingfisher - female
• Caspian Tern
• Red-Necked Phalaropes
• Ruddy Turnstones*
• Turkey Vulture
• Glaucous-Winged Gull
• House Sparrows
• Mew Gull - juv*
• Canada Geese
• Cooper's Hawk

Wandering Tattler with his Black Turnstone buddies.  (I know, best picture ever! ;))

Purple Martins

Ruddy Turnstone (back) and Black Turnstone (front) both in non-breeding plumage.

Glaucous-Winged Gull (back), Western Gull (middle) and juvenile.

Everyone went running when the Ruddy Turnstone showed up. Several more not pictured.

Near Bandon Port, Bandon Pond:

• American Wigeon - non-breeding plumage
• Snowy Egret
• Great Blue Heron
• Mallards
• Osprey
• American Goldfinch - male
• Spotted Sandpiper
• Pied-Billed Grebe
• Wrentit - by call only.  I looked and looked but never saw it, so I'm not counting it as a lifer.  I know many would, but at least for the first time, I would rather see it.  Maybe if I was one of those super ear birders, like The Big Year character, Greg Miller, then I would count it. :)  

Near Bandon Pond, Bandon Marsh:

• Band-Tailed Pigeons
• Cedar Waxwing
• Black-Belled Plover - breeding plumage - The first time I've seen them like that!
• Short-Billed Dowitchers
• Semipalmated Plovers
• Red Knot* - non-breeding plumage
• Western Sandpipers
• Least Sandpipers
• Northern Harrier
• Greater Yellowlegs
• Red Shouldered Hawk

Lots-O-Peepers.

Black-Belled Plover in breeding plumage.

Next was the Jetty:

• Brewer's Blackbirds
• Brown-Headed Cowbirds
• European Starlings
• Snowy Egret
• Wimbrels*
• Peregrine Falcon

Jetty

Jetty

Camera hog Gull.  

Snowy Egret

Wimbrels

Peregrine Falcon

And Coquille Point:

• Surf Scoters
• Brandt's Cormorants

Last stop: China Creek Beach to see the Snowy Plovers.

• Snowy Plovers*

Best I could get of a Snowy Plover, just happy I got to see them! 

*Lifers-lots!

Coos Bay - OIMB - where we stayed 8.24.12-8.26.12

• Rufous Hummingbird
• Black Phoebe*
• Song Sparrow
• House Finch

*Lifer!

Near our dorms, where we saw the Black Phoebe (photo thanks to Elvira :))

Florence - N. Jetty of the Siuslaw 8.24.12

Another stop on our way to Coos Bay.  Nothing groundbreaking, it was nearing siesta time for the birds.

• American Crows
• Brown-Headed Cowbirds - juvs.  My recent confusion with these guys came in quite handy.
• Pelagic Cormorants
• Western Gulls
• Brown Pelican
• Mallard
• Sanderlings
• Red-Necked Phalarope

Juvenile Brown-Headed Cowbirds foraging among trash.

Fern Ridge 8.24.12 - On our way to Coos Bay

Day one of our epic trip to Coos Bay.
Who:  Cousin Brandon, Elvira and myself.
We stopped for a bit in Eugune at Fern Ridge.  There we ran into a couple really awesome birders, one of which we birded with and learned a lot from.

• Great Blue Heron
• Violet-Green Swallows
• Red-Winged Blackbird - male
• Turkey Vultures
• Barn Swallows
• Greater Yellowlegs
• Cedar Waxwing
• Pied-Billed Grebe
• Mallards
• Least Sandpipers
• Green Heron
• Song Sparrow
• American Coots
• Great Egret
• Western Grebe
• Prairie Falcon**
• Ring-Billed Gull*
• Red-Necked Phalarope
• Lesser Yellowlegs*
• American White Pelicans
• Black-Bellied Plovers - in non-breeding plumage
• Canada Geese
• Semipalmated Plovers
• Northern Harrier

*Lifers!!

**My 200th bird!!

Also, I'd like to point out that I came so very close to having the Ring-Billed Gull for my 200th bird (a much less impressive bird, in my opinion), seeing it just a moment after, And what is hilarious about that, is when my cousin got his 200th bird, the Rhinoceros Ackulet, a moment later we saw a Heermann's Gull, and he came ridiculously close to having a Gull for his 200th bird as well.

A Turkey Vulture came pretty close to us.

An excellent lesson to show the difference between Greater Yellowlegs (middle) and Lesser Yellowlegs (sides).

The wonders of Sauvie Island

I just got done birding at Sauvie Island with my dad and uncle.  There were several things that showed up too briefly to identify.  One of them, I actually got a couple pictures of.

It seems like a Song Sparrow, but it has no tail.  My uncle saw 2 of them.  I just saw this one.  Anyone have any ideas?

We also saw:

• Osprey
• Double-Crested Cormorant
• American Crow
• American Robins
• Western Scrub-Jay
• Barn Swallows
• Great Egret
• Cedar Waxwings
• Song Sparrows
• Orange-Crowned Warblers
• Yellow Warblers
• Downy Woodpeckers
• Mallards
• Black-Capped Chickadee
• American Coots
• Red-Winged Blackbirds
• American Goldfinches
• Violet-Green Swallows
• House Finches
• Turkey Vultures
• Purple Finch
• Great Blue Herons
• Brewer's Blackbird
• White-Crowned Sparrow
• Snow Geese

Congratulations...

 to my cousin for his 200th bird!!!  The Rhinoceros Aucklet!

Shorebirds at Fernhill Wetlands

Birding this time of year can get sorta tricky, what with the juveniles at various stages of development and late migrating birds and whatnot.  Throw shorebirds into the mix and then we really have a problem.  


A recent trip to Fernhill nearly had me running for the nearest exit, overwhelmed with so many similar looking shorbirds. Checking my book for current ranges wasn't going to solve this problem. In this strange sort of area, that is the Willamette Valley, where weather conditions vary, and the rules of the birds tend to bend quite a bit, makes it rather difficult, but I found that it IS common to see birds I wouldn't normally expect.


The main issue of the trip was the Dowitchers.  At first glance, I didn't know what to think.  A passerby said they were most likely Long-billed Dowitchers.  I had seen Short-billed there before, but questions still remained.  I hung around for a long period of time, taking pictures and did a full scale investigation when I got home.  (Oh yeah, and don't be fooled by the names "short-billed" and long-billed", there is only a slight difference in the length of only the female long-billed.)


Here's what I found.

At first glance, this Dowitcher could be anything, as far as I was concerned.

This is the same Dowitcher, notice the black and white tail feathers - more white than black.  Next, check out the breast - it's slightly rufous and fades to white.  These features indicate a Short-billed Dowitcher. (Another distinguishing difference between the two is their calls, which for me, is a lost cause.)  

On this one, the tail feathers are more black than white.  Think of it as a black feather with white stripes and the other as a white feather with black stripes.  Again, check out the breast.  In this case it's evenly rufous from neck to underbelly.  Lastly it has barring on the sides.  This one is a Long-Billed Dowitcher.

Here's a fun mix of shorebirds.  a = Short-Billed Dowitcher. b = Long-Billed Dowitcher. c = Least Sandpiper. d = Western Sandpiper.

I was really surprised to see a Red-Necked Phalarope there!

The only Red-Winged Blackbird I saw there.  A young, splotchy male. 

Young Great Blue Heron

We watched this Osprey dive into the water and catch a catfish! 

Quite a pleasant surprise on the way out of the wetland! :D 

The full list of birds we saw (my dad and I that is):

• Barn Swallows
• Great Blue Herons
• Western Sandpipers
• Least Sandpipers*
• Mallards - females only (Lately I've only been seeing females, but today on the way up the hill to my family's house in Scappoose, I saw 2 male Mallards standing near the road. Also weird because I've never seen any sort of water fowl around there!)
• Canada Geese
• Eurasian Collared Dove
• Killdeer
• Brewer's Blackbirds
• Brown-Headed Cowbirds
• Red-Necked Phalarope
• Osprey
• Tree Swallows
• Red-Winged Blackbird - young male
• Song Sparrows
• American Goldfinches
• Cedar Waxwings
• Green Heron
• Short-Billed Dowitchers
• Long-Billed Dowitchers*
• American Robins
• Bald Eagle
• Norther Harrier

*Lifers!

7.16.12

Puffin Cam!

Another great bird cam to enjoy, check it out! 

http://explore.org/#!/live-cams/player/puffin-loafing-ledge-cam

Aren't they darling? :)