Thursday, January 14, 2016

Oregon Coastal Birds

Back to Summer House Stitche Workes' "Sophia".  I am determined to finish up all the fiddly stitching this week so I can start on the owl.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I did manage to do a little bit of birding while at the Oregon Coast.

As might be expected, there were gulls everywhere!

The Yaquina Bay South Jetty proved to be a good spot for birds including Golden-crowned Sparrows... 

...and a White-crowned Sparrow.

The calm waters along the jetty attract many different types of birds.
I got to cross out another "Must-See Bird of the Pacific Northwest" - a Surft Scoter.

The males have very large bills and look like ocean-going clowns. 

I've spent a long time trying to ID this bird. 
I think it is a Brandt's Cormorant.

Here's a Brandt's Cormorant on the jetty.  They have quite a thick muscular neck.

The Glaucous-winged Gulls are one of the three common Oregon coastal gulls.

Winter is the only time one can see a Common Loon in Oregon.
Pretty cool, huh?

I was pretty excited to see a pelican flying along.

And even more excited when I realized there were Brown Pelicans wintering along the jetty. 

Their heads and bills are much more colorful than those of American White Pelicans. 

I was pretty thrilled to add them to my Birding Life List.

Besides the Gray Whales, I was able to see a pair of Harbor Seals in a cove along Yaquina Head.

Love those eyebrows!

So clever how they glide along with their nose up out of the water.

Ah!  That's the life!

8 comments:

  1. Love the wildlife pictures. Especially like the pelicans - lovely!
    Liz

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  2. Wow! How very, very, very cool your pictures are. Love them.
    Sophie's Owl is really neat Beth. Keep at it!

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  3. Your stitching project is lovely; love the colors.

    You're right, Surf Scooter is a GREAT name! And your description of the male looking like an ocean-going clown is too funny.

    The Cormorant is an interesting combination of lovely (the blue undertone of the feathers) and kinda eerie (his eyes! Yikes). And I had no idea that the US hosted pelicans that aren't all gray. Such gorgeous colors on the Brown Pelicans.

    All of your photos are fantastic, as always. Thanks for sharing them!

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  4. Beautiful stitching and lovely pictures xx

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  5. Great great pictures
    All is wonderful
    Fantastic places and animals

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  6. How exciting to see brown pelicans! I have the owl pattern & fabric in my stash & hope to get to it this year. Yours looks lovely.

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  7. Seeing those brown pelicans is so special. We saw them when we visited Ocean Shores one winter.

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  8. So that is what a Brandt is!! People here have reported them around here,but their pictures are so distant, I did not know they were Cormorants! Our 'usual' pelicans are the browns, and lately there have been sightings of lots of white--totally opposite from your coast! Growing up in SF, we had a place called Seal Rock that was always covered in those seals. Their antics were so amusing, kept us entertained. Thanks for sharing your Oregon coast birds!

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Thank you all. I appreciate that you've read my blog and are taking the time to comment.