Tufted Puffins - billing

Tufted Puffins on Haystack Rock, Cannon Beach, Oregon 8/22/24. They are "billing" - a courtship display. They form long-lasting pair bonds, and both adults incubate their egg, then feed and protect their chick while it stays in the nest for 40-55 days until it fledges.

Tufted Puffin - Puffling

A young Tufted Puffin (which is called a Puffling) peeks out from inside the burrow while an adult stands outside, at Haystack Rock, Cannon Beach, Oregon in early August.

Pufflings spend about six weeks in the nest, being fed by their parents. Then they leave at night when it is safer from predators. The young birds are fully independent after leaving the nest, and will spend the next few years out at sea, only returning to the breeding colony when they are fully grown. -https://birdfact.com/articles/baby-puffins

Red Knots

When I arrived at Trestle Bay (Ft. Stevens, parking lot D), around 3:30pm, there was a lot of sand exposed, allowing me to walk almost all the way out to the trestles (below).

But an hour later, the water was quickly filling back in (below).

Here is the view looking back towards the bunker and parking area when I first arrived and walked out there (below).

The water started to quickly fill in about an hour later, perhaps driven by the west wind (below). No one photo captures all of the birds. I counted about 600 birds in this photo (plus David Bailey & daughters in the background).

Dowitchers

Long-billed Dowitcher
Adult in breeding plumage. Rufous belly; barred not spotted on sides of breast. White not running up as far on sides of lower covert feathers (compared to Short-billed Dowitcher). White fringe to feathers on breast and flanks

Short-billed Dowitchers
Adults in breeding plumage. White belly; spots on side of breast. More white running up sides of feathers on lower coverts (than on Long-billed Dowitcher).


Long-billed Dowitchers are a statewide migrant, and they also winter along the Oregon coast. Short-billed Dowitchers are seen during migration along the Oregon coast (and west of the Cascades) and they are rare in the rest of Oregon.

The birds in these photos were with a flock of about 70 dowitchers in Holbrook Slough, Warrenton, 5/8/21

Dowitcher Identification

Oregon Big Year

Christmas Bird Count

I participated in the Christmas Bird Count in Astoria yesterday, counting every bird I could find all day long, for a total of 59 different species and 1,290 individual birds.

Anna's Hummingbird

Townsend's Warbler

"Begun in 1900 as an alternative to the traditional hunts of anything that flew during Christmas Day, hundreds of Christmas Bird Counts are now conducted throughout the Western Hemisphere, and they continue to contribute valuable scientific data to the longest existing records of bird population trends." -Portland Audubon website

Lincoln's Sparrow

Spotted Sandpiper

Ecola Creek Forest Reserve

Northern Pygmy-Owl

White-throated Sparrow

Hermit Thrush

Road Trip!

Took a 2-week road trip to try to see some new Oregon birds, escape wildfire smoke (not entirely successful), and visit family in Colorado.

Summer Tanager, at a fruit stand in Kimberly, Oregon (near the Painted Hills and John Day), that had been around for about 2 weeks already. I searched for 30 minutes and got one glimpse, then continued searching. Finally, Alan purchased some fruit, and that did the trick! The bird immediately appeared on a branch above the fruit stand.

Plumbeous Vireo, rarely seen in Oregon, at Page Springs Campground near Malheur NWR. This species was also seen at Page Springs around the same time in 2017, 2018, and 2019. I tried several times before finally seeing it. On 9/22/20 around 10am, I heard it faintly call a couple of times near the river, so I crept closer to the sound and was looking for a place to stand in the shade, when I noticed the bird sitting on a branch about 3' off the ground, and only about 8' away from me!

Common Nighthawks

Amazing show of Common Nighthawks at the Cannon Beach settling ponds at dusk the last few nights.

Malheur May 2020

Mountain Plover

Mountain Plover, working the wrack line just north of the mouth of the Necanicum River, on Gearhart ocean beach. An OBRC review list bird, found by Steve Warner the day before.

Necanicum Estuary, on a cold winter morning.

Rounding out the Year

Hooded Oriole, 6th Ave., Seaside, 12/30/19

Red-shouldered Hawk, along Biz. Hwy 101, just south of intersection with Wireless Road, 12/30/19

Eurasian Wigeon, Mill Pond, Astoria, 12/30/19 (probably the same one I saw during CBC 12/15/19).

Christmas Bird Count

Counting birds in Astoria in a Christmas Bird Count 12/15/19, a tradition started in 1900 by the Audubon Society. Over 77,000 people participate in CBCs each year in the US, Canada, and Latin America.

Highlights included finding Eurasian Wigeon in two different places (above) and also finding Common Goldeneye (below) in two places (a species that only we found).

One of the unique birds that only we found was a Great Egret, way off in the distance. Scoping proved that it was indeed an egret, and not just a plastic bag.

Another unique bird, that only we found, was Orange-crowned Warbler (above), at Bucky's feeder on 6th near Exchange, across the street from where a goat lives (below).

It was foggy all morning, and only warmed up to the low 40s all day, but at least it didn't rain!

We found two Lincoln's Sparrows in a the brambles in a big field along the Columbia River, in the morning fog.

Diana in the CBC (with sky as imagined by Alan).

Nehalem Bay State Park

20 Snowy Plovers were nestled in the sand
along the upper beach, near access point 23.

(Trail starts in north part of campsites.)

A flock of Snow Buntings flew by and landed briefly.

Sanderlings flew back and forth.

Looking north from Nehalem Bay SP,
near a high tide in December.

Looking south from Neakahnie Mountain,
towards Manzanita then Nehalem Bay SP.