It had rained quite heavily during the night and when we set off this morning the forecast was for heavy showers. The plan was to backtrack north up the coast to Canon Beach, around 40 miles or so and a great place to see the sadly declining Tufted Puffin.
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| Tufted Puffin - Canon SX at full digital to get these record shots of a nesting pair! |
On route we stopped off at a couple of view points to check out the cliffs and off-shore waters and our first species of note were some nesting
Violet-green Swallows, these along with several
Cliff Swallows right below. On the water whole rafts of mainly
Surf Scoter with smaller numbers of
Black Scoter mixed in. Further scans produced many
Common Murre and nesting on the cliffs good numbers of
Pelagic Cormorant. While we were observing a
Red-tailed Hawk flew in behind, perching low on the pines but in direct sunlight with no chance of a decent photo.
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| Tufted Puffin aerial display! |
At Canon beach we spent a very enjoyable hour watching the nesting
Tufted Puffins, which would often fly out from the rock face and circle before heading back. The rock was also a favourite nesting place for many
Common Murre and
Pelagic Cormorant. While there a single
Black Oystercatcher and several
Barn Swallows before I managed to drag Dee away!
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| One of thirty Red-necked Phalarope! |
After coffee at Canon Beach, which is a very friendly and quaint American town we headed back towards Tillamook and our next stop, Nehalem Bay Sewage Ponds.
Slightly off topic, a fuel stop on route was a real eye opener, $37 to completely fill a Cherokee Jeep, unleaded here is $2.89 A GALLON!! At the sewage works there is a gate in the fence for birders to access the ponds but the area is only open during the week.
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| Killdeer on arrival into the car park |
Spring migration is now in full swing and there are literally birds to be found everywhere. As we drove into the car park a
Greater Yellowlegs and brace of
Killdeer seemed to be having a set-to and as we arrived at the first pond 30
Red-necked Phalarope were feeding. Three more
Greater Yellowlegs, (24)
Western Sandpiper, along with a single
Dunlin also noted.
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| Western Sandpiper - One of around two dozen |
We headed off around the two ponds and on the water recorded: (35)
Lesser/Greater Scaup, (2)
Ruddy Duck, (4)
Bufflehead, (2)
Gadwall + 8 young, (4)
Pintail, (7)
Green-winged Teal, (5)
Northern Shoveler, single
Bonaparte's Gull and a pair of
Cinnamon Teal.
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| American Pipit - A real variation in plumage with these so thanks to Derek Killby my buddy in Vancouver for the ID help tonight! |
The surrounding rocks held
Savannah Sparrow and
American Pipit, plus overhead
Peregrine Falcon,
Turkey Vulture,
Bald Eagle,
American Kestrel and circa (30)
Greater White-fronted Geese.
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| Two for one! Lark Sparrow (left) and Savannah Sparrow! |
While heading off along the perimeter road two more species of note were
Northern Harrier and
Lark Sparrow. Finally, and I apologise for the length of the post (so much to fit in) a stop off at Barview Park produced two final birds on an amazing day:
Common Tern and
Whimbrel, the latter my first in North America! Oh and should mention our first Coyote of the tour today, when one almost ran out in front of us!
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| Whimbrel - A great end to one amazing days #birdingoregon |
