The Cosmopolitan Sanderling

Sanderling, Coos Bay, Oregon, 28 August 2011 by Greg Gillson.

 

Flocks of small sandpipers chasing the waves in-and-out on the beach--anywhere in the world--are likely to be Sanderlings. Like wind-up toys they run in quick bursts on stiff legs.

Sanderlings are circumpolar nesters in the remote Arctic of both Siberia and Canada. They winter along nearly all the coasts of North America. But that's not all. Some birds migrate south from their breeding grounds through all continents south to southern South America, southern Africa, Australia, and New Zealand! In other words, there aren't too many places in the world where Sanderlings don't visit.

Sanderling, Coos Bay, Oregon, 28 August 2011 by Greg Gillson.

 

In the non-breeding season they are pale gray; in the breeding season they have a brownish-red plumage. They can sometimes be mistaken for other shorebirds--even the rare Red-necked Stint. However, as you can see by the top photo, Sanderlings lack hind toes, while most other smaller shorebirds have them.

In the Pacific Northwest, Sanderlings are common on the outer beaches from August to February, less common March-May and July. A few non-breeders may be found in summer, but mostly they are absent from the last week of May to the first week of July. Rare inland, nearly all inland records are from August, during the southbound migration.

Western Sandpiper

Western Sandpiper, Gearhart, Oregon, 6 August 2011 by Greg Gillson.

 

In the winter, flocks of small sandpipers chasing the waves in-and-out on the beach are likely to be Sanderlings. However, during spring and fall migration, nearly any shorebird may be found on the beach.

These "peep" (small sandpipers in the genus Calidris, named for their peeping calls) are Western Sandpipers.

I took this photo near sunset while on a picnic at the beach this summer.

What else can we learn from this photo above?

The sandpipers have partial webs between the toes that you can see in these photos as a wedge at the base of the toes. The presence or absence of this feature is important to note for identifying certain rare Asian stints (name of peep in Europe and Asia) that show up from time to time in the Pacific NW. The abundant Least Sandpiper has unwebbed toes--practice seeing this field mark with these two common species so you are better prepared when something unusual shows up!

Sanderlings do not have hind toes. You can clearly see the small hind toe on the one raised foot of the Western Sandpiper above.

There are three bright, colorful, and crisply-plumaged juveniles on the right, one disheveled dull-backed adult on the left with chevrons on the sides of the breast. Most adults start migrating back to the wintering grounds several weeks before the juveniles. This photo was taken during the period of overlap in early August.

 

Juvenile Western Sandpiper, Gearhart, Oregon, 6 August 2011 by Greg Gillson.

 

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ID challenge... Western Sandpiper and Semipalmated Sandpiper

Heermann's Gull

Heermann's Gull, Seaside, Oregon, 6 August 2011 by Greg Gillson.

 

Over 90% of the world's population of Heermann's Gulls nests on Isla Riza in the Gulf of California, Mexico. After the nesting season concludes, Heermann's Gulls join Brown Pelicans moving north into the productive waters of the California Current, as far north as British Columbia. They are often seen feeding together, the gulls stealing food from the pelicans.

The eBird frequency chart (below, click for larger view) shows that a major movement of Heermann's Gulls on the Oregon and Washington coasts begin the first week in July. They are most widespread the first week of August and remain common through October. By the end of November, most are gone.



While Grant in his 1986 book "Gulls" says that Heermann's attains adult plumage in the 3rd year, Sibley indicates that Heermann's may take 4 years to become an adult. Indeed, I believe the bird above is in third summer plumage. The primaries and tail are worn but apparently not in adult plumage, the body plumage does have an adult-like aspect. This bird will likely undergo a full molt into adult non-breeding plumage before it heads back to Baja in November.

What I learned about Ruddy Turnstone from eBird

Ruddy Turnstone, Seaside, Oregon, 6 August 2011 by Greg Gillson.

 

I don't get to see Ruddy Turnstones very often, especially adults in breeding plumage, like this bird.

They breed on rocky coasts and tundra in the Arctic. In the Pacific Northwest, spring migration is primarily mid-April to mid-May. Adults heading south arrive in mid-July, juveniles arrive in mid-August. By October most birds have departed, though there are always a few that winter, especially on the southern Oregon coast.

Unlike many shorebirds, turnstones in the Pacific Northwest are restricted to the outer coast--they are very rare on inland pond edges.

Thus, I was quite surprised to see the range map in the new Stokes guide. It showed regular migration through the Mississippi Flyway. No other field guide shows that.

So I thought I'd check it out in eBird.

Below is the winter range of Ruddy Turnstone in North America, showing the coastal preference of this species (click on the map for a larger view):



Next is the spring migration during May. Note the birds in the Mississippi Flyway and Midwest:



The exact breeding range is a bit hard to determine from eBird. That is because many birds are still migrating north in early June, and many adults are already heading south in July. Mapping for eBird currently is by month, not week.

The main southward migration is shown below (August-October). Notice again that there is a good migration through the Mississippi Flyway, but also widely in the Northeast and generally everywhere east of the Great Plains:



So, then, the migration range in North America is mostly coastal and the Mississippi Flyway. I learned something I didn't know before! How about you?

Interestingly, this individual bird hung around for several days at the "Cove" in Seaside, Oregon, where others also found and photographed it.

Mike Patterson's photo of this same individual on August 8.

Jen's photo of this same individual on August 8.

Wrentit

Wrentit, near Lincoln City, Oregon, 30 July 2011 by Greg Gillson.

 

The Wrentit is a small little mouse of a bird found in coastal scrub and chaparral from extreme northern Baja California Norte to the mouth of the Columbia River in Oregon. It stays hidden and fly-hops from branch to branch, rarely crossing an opening. If it wasn't for its bouncing whistled song and quiet rattling call, no one might ever know it existed!

In the Pacific NW it is only found in Oregon, along the entire coast, inland in clearcuts nearly to the summit of the Coast Range. It is found in SW Oregon inland in the California-type vegetation habitats of the Rogue Valley and Klamath Mountains to Klamath Falls.

In the past century it has slowly expanded its range. It has crawled its way northward in western Oregon to the Umpqua and edges of the southern Willamette Valley. In the past decade or two it has colonized new locations along the edges of both the eastern and western edges of the mid-Willamette Valley. Imagine everyone's surprise when they showed up in the last year at the mouth of the Sandy River into the Columbia east of Portland!

Will it ever cross the Columbia into Washington State? Well, it has been common in Astoria for at least 200 years and hasn't crossed the River, nor even expanded upriver toward Portland. The recent birds in Portland evidently came from the south, not the west.

The bird is not closely related to any other bird in the New World. At present, it is listed with the Old World Babblers--the only New World representative in that group.

Surfbird

Surfbird, Barview Jetty, Tillamook, Oregon, 8 January 2011 by Greg Gillson.

 

"Rockpipers." This is an informal term birders in the Pacific Northwest use to identify several species of shorebirds (sandpiper family) that prefer rocky intertidal zones over mudflats or sand beaches.

Most gaudy is the crow-sized Black Oystercatcher with its long thick pink legs, orange eye, blood-red knife-shaped bill, and piercing cries. These birds favor the volcanic headlands and offshore rocks where they eat shellfish (clams, oysters, mussels) at low tide.

Another very sought-after rockpiper is the rare winter-visiting Rock Sandpiper, usually found on jetties, November-March.

During spring and fall migration, you may find the gray Wandering Tattlers on headlands and jetties of the NW.

Most abundant, from late August into April, are the Black Turnstones and Surfbirds. You may find these birds on the rocky substrates described above, but also add cobble beaches and wharfs to their habitats.

Rockpipers often feed right at the sea's edge, gleaning small marine invertebrates at low tide. To search for these birds, watch each incoming wave force them to fly up higher on the rocks, and then scamper back down as the wave passes.

When standing on the wet rocks Surfbirds blend right in. However, when they fly up--usually as one flock--they reveal their diagnostic wing stripe and white rump.

Surfbirds often flock together with Black Turnstones. The turnstones have a harlequin wing pattern with many more white patches in flight. Feeding, Surbirds are grayer and slightly larger than Black Turnstones (10 inches long bill-tip to tail-tip), with thicker bill and legs.

In summer, Surfbirds breed in the mountainous tundra of interior Alaska and Yukon.

Seabirds from boats

Marbled Murrelet, from a boat off Newport, Oregon on 21 February, 2009 by Greg Gillson.

 

Last week's post discussed a seawatch--viewing seabirds from shore. In it, I showed views of seabirds as they would appear using binoculars and spotting scopes.

In last week's post we "magnified" a pair of Red-necked Grebes about a half mile offshore. In the magnified view--a view as would be seen with a spotting scope--we discovered another small speck of a bird that I identified as a Marbled Murrelet in flight.

Over time, a dedicated seawatcher may see many of the Pacific Northwest's oceanic birds. However, many seabirds would be just specks--even with a spotting scope. Without closer-range experience, one would not be able to learn the distinctive flight characteristics that would help identify some birds. And many seabirds rarely come near land off the Pacific NW.

The only way to see these birds better, in the Pacific Northwest, is to board a boat.

Boats do present some logistic challenges: route, instability, expense, and mal de mar (seasickness).

Unless you own your own seaworthy craft, the only way to get the boat to go bird watching is to charter it. Chartering a vessel in the Pacific NW may cost $750 for a small boat ("six-pack," which carries 6 persons on a 20-30 foot boat) or a larger Coast Guard certified vessel that may carry 20-30 passengers on a boat 40-55 feet long for a rate of about $2500 per day. Sharing the cost among the participants is a way to make such a trip affordable--but usually can't be done on the spur of the moment.

In the Pacific Northwest, the only two regular providers of bird watching trips by boat, or "pelagic trips," are Westport Seabirds in Washington State and The Bird Guide in Oregon. Shearwater Journeys operates out of California (primarily Monterey area) with some trips in northern California. There are a couple other providers (often Audubon Societies and dedicated individuals) that offer pelagic trips from Monterey south to San Diego.

Only the larger boats are Coast Guard certified to travel beyond 20 miles of shore--out to the albatrosses and several other more oceanic species. Thus, a dedicated group pelagic trip on a large boat is the most direct way for an individual to view seabirds. A full-day trip may cost $150 per person.

On such a trip, many birds will still be distant. But unlike on a land-based seawatch, you can get closer with the boat. A chartered pelagic birding trip is designed to go where the birds are. During the day, chances are good that you will see thousands of seabirds, many at very close range. On your first such trip you are likely to add 15-20 life birds--species you've never seen before!

Because the boat bobs on the waves, a birder on a regular pelagic trip cannot use a scope and tripod--binoculars are required. Of course, bobbing up and down looking through binoculars is not easy on your equilibrium, leading to queasiness (or worse) for some people. Despite these challenges, a pelagic trip is the best way to see seabirds. They are timed for the best birding and led by expert seabird guides intent on showing you seabirds and helping you to identify them.

 

Happy birders encounter fishing vessels trailing thousands of seabirds (albatrosses, shearwaters, fulmars, jaegers, petrels, and other birds, not to mention whales and dolphins!) on a pelagic trip off Newport, Oregon on 31 May 2003 by Greg Gillson.

 

There are a few options besides a scheduled pelagic trip. These options are less certain than a pelagic trip--you may not see any birds worth mentioning. Or worse--you see lots of birds just a few hundred feet away but the boat won't travel toward them so you can identify them, because... it is not a birding trip. More important, you'll often have to identify the birds yourself.

1) Whale watching trip: From certain ports on the West Coast, specifically at Newport and Depoe Bay on the central Oregon coast, local fishing charters lead out trips to view Gray Whales at $20 per person. These trips will often be right along shore, though in winter they may go out 5 miles. These trips last an hour or two. Gray Whales and Marbled Murrelets feed on the sandy bottom and are often seen together. You might see a Rhinoceros Auklet, Tufted Puffin, or Northern Fulmar. You may see nothing, not even a whale.

2) Bottom or salmon fishing trip: "Deep sea fishing" is not done in the deep sea. Boats rarely go out more than 3 miles for bottom fishing, often less than one mile to "inner reefs." However, if you want to join fishing friends for 4 hours, you can often get a 1/2 fare for non-fishing passenger, or about $35. These won't see any more than on a whale watch trip, but are offered from more ports. Expect lots of cormorants, murres, and Pigeon Guillemots, and probably some Marbled Murrelets and maybe some other nearshore pelagic birds and harbor porpoises.

3) Halibut or tuna fishing trip: These trips go out 20-40 miles and take you into albatross waters. However, once there you are likely either to sit in one place or troll round and round in a small area. These trips are 12-18 hours, cost about $350 per person, and usually do not allow non-fishing passengers. If you like to fish, this can be a great trip. However, there may be hours at a time with no birds whatsoever. The best birds are often seen on the trip out and back, which may be at dawn and dusk. Halibut trips such as these are offered only May and August. The tuna trips are July to early September.

4) Cruise ship repositioning trips: Lasting 3-4 days, these trips on luxury ocean liners are surprisingly affordable ($200). They travel out at 60 miles, beyond large numbers of birds, including albatrosses--out where any bird could be a mega-rare petrel or other seabird. Great whales are often spotted. A 3-day cruise will cost you far less than 3 regular one-day pelagic trips (especially if you include travel, motel, and food for 3 days). You'll have to come up with a bus ($75) or rental car from Vancouver, British Columbia and a flight from either San Francisco ($170) or Long Beach, California. So, maybe $550 per person (from Portland, Oregon), double-occupancy, in a lower-class room. Advantages of a cruise ship include a bed if you get tired, food is included in the price, and you can set up your spotting scope on the deck. You usually bird from a covered deck on about the 7th floor of the bow. In many ways, this is like a seawatch. For the past several years small groups of birders have been arranging these trips--so you may find a trip with other expert seabirders to help spot and identify birds.

This post is co-published on the Oregon Seabirds blog.

Virtual seawatch at Boiler Bay, Oregon

What are these people doing? Looking for Gray Whales at Boiler Bay State Wayside near Depoe Bay, Oregon!

Good viewpoints for whales are positioned not too far above or away from the water. Not surprisingly, good places to view Gray Whales are also good places to view nearshore seabirds. And Boiler Bay is perhaps the best seawatch site on the West Coast.

But if you don't know what to expect, you may be disappointed.

On the rocks near the water you may find Black Oystercatchers, as in the photo below. Click the photo for a view that would approximate what you would see with binoculars. [I suggest you right-click and "open link in new window," so it doesn't take so long to reload the page using your "back" button.]



Time spent scanning for seabirds is called a "seawatch." Seawatches are not very successful with only binoculars. It usually requires a higher-powered (20-60x) spotting scope to bring the birds closer into view.

In fact, the photos presented here are all designed to show you what you would actually see with binoculars or a spotting scope on a seawatch. I took these photos in August 2009, just to see how bad photos of seabirds from shore would be (in general, bad, just as I surmised). Not magazine quality, are they? But they prove useful in teaching about seawatches.

Just beyond the first breakers you may see cormorants. In the photo below, a Pelagic Cormorant leads a Brandt's Cormorant. Click for a view such as you would see with binoculars.



You may also see Common Murres quite near shore. Such as in the photo below. Again, click to view the photo as it would appear with binoculars.



And here is a photo of a Pigeon Guillemot out about 1/4 mile. Click on the photo to make it appear as you would see it in binoculars.



On a seawatch, most of the birds are quite distant and views are usually no where near "field guide quality." It takes practice to identify seabirds and to learn what field marks you can see at a distance. By watching nearer, known-identity, birds fly away, you can learn flight shape and characteristics that will allow you to put a name on more distant birds.

Your binoculars aren't much use for birds more than a half mile distant. But with a spotting scope, you can identify birds 3 miles at sea or more.

For instance, take a look at this fishing boat about a mile offshore. Click the photo to give you a fairly accurate view of what you would see with binoculars.



Do you see the bird just behind the boat? If you watch the flap-and-glide progression of this long-winged bird, you could guess it was a shearwater. However, you need more optical magnification. So, click on the following photo to see what you might see with a 25x spotting scope.



You can see the long-winged bird flying right-to-left. The left wing is pointed right at us, so we can't see it. What we see is the underside of the right wing. The white underwing linings are clearly seen, identifying this bird as a Sooty Shearwater!

Here is another photo of a pair of Red-necked Grebes flying south about 1/2 mile out. Click the photo to see what view you would have of these birds with binoculars only.



Oh, that speck would be hard to identify with binoculars only, wouldn't it?

A lot of time on a seawatch is spent scanning with binoculars, then switching to the more powerful scope when you find something. Scanning with the scope has too small of a field of view--you'll miss more birds than you'll find if you scan with your scope. So find the birds with your bare eyes or with binoculars, then switch to higher power.

For instance, once you spot those flying "specks" in the above photo, get on it with your scope and you'll see something interesting. Click on the photo below to see what you would see with a spotting scope.



Now you can see the white face and white secondary wing patch identifying the two Red-necked Grebes in the lower left of the photo.

But notice what else appeared in our virtual spotting scope view? In the upper right of the photo is a bird flying left with pointed wings bent sharply at the wrist. The throat is pale and the head appears slightly raised on a short neck. Can you make it out? That's a Marbled Murrelet--at least, that's my best guess in this single photograph.

So, to answer your question... yes, seawatchers identify distant birds with only minimal pattern, shape, and flight style clues. Even with spotting scopes the views often are not very good. But scopes do allow you to see small specks of birds about 3 miles offshore or farther, depending upon atmospheric conditions.

Here are some hints to make seawatching more successful.

1) Go at dawn. Seabirds are nearer shore first thing in the morning, then move off. By 2 hours after sunrise activity may be mostly over for the day. In May, that could mean that all the action is over by 8 a.m. On the West Coast, the sun comes up behind you, giving you the best light at dawn.

2) Scan with your naked eye or with binoculars. Only when you find something do you switch to your spotting scope.

3) Go seawatching during spring and fall migration, April-May and September-November.

4) Go during really nasty weather. Those big November windstorms often push seabirds near shore. Go between downpours. Dress warmly. Protect your optics. Head for a hot bowl of chowder afterward.

5) Practice, practice, practice! Identify close seabirds, then watch them as they fly away. What do you see as they get farther and farther away? Learn seabird patterns, shapes, and flight styles.

Andy Frank took some photos of Ancient Murrelets at Boiler Bay in December.

[This article is co-published on the Oregon Seabirds blog.]

Yaquina Head: Common Murre nesting colony

Yaquina Head, Newport, Oregon on 17 July 2010 by Greg Gillson.

 

There were about 25,000 Common Murres surveyed in 1988 at Yaquina Head, north of Newport, Oregon. Today, over 80,000 murres nest here, according to the US Fish & Wildlife Service, the vast majority on Colony Rock, west of the lighthouse. This is more than the total number of nesting murres in British Columbia and Washington State combined.

Other common nesting seabirds at Yaquina Head include Brandt's Cormorant, Western Gull, Pelagic Cormorant, Pigeon Guillemot, and Glaucous-winged Gull.

Common Murre carrying fish to nestling on Yaquina Head, Newport, Oregon on 17 July 2010 by Greg Gillson.

 

This past weekend I led a nearshore pelagic trip past Yaquina Head and had opportunity to view Common Murres at close range at sea. Many of the murres were ferrying fish back and forth to their single nestlings. Some of the fish brought back were quite small, indicating that the chicks are still small. This bird above, though, has quite a large fish, so its offspring might be larger.

According to published data, when about 25 days old, chicks about 20-25% of the adult's weight go to sea with the male parent. Chick/parent pairs are seen typically by late June or early July. Since we didn't see any chicks at sea, I wonder if the nesting season is a bit delayed this year?

Common Murre, Newport, Oregon on 17 July 2010 by Greg Gillson.

 

Similar to Thick-billed Murres of more northerly waters, Common Murres have several slight differences visible at sea. For one, Common Murres have black bars along their white flanks, as clearly seen in the photo above.

Common Murre, Newport, Oregon on 17 July 2010 by Greg Gillson.

 

Identification: Clark's and Western Grebes

Clark's Grebe in breeding plumage, Fernhill Wetlands, Forest Grove, Oregon on 5 July 2010 by Greg Gillson.

 

I don't get to see Clark's Grebes often. They nest primarily east of the Cascades, where I may see them on annual spring visits to Malheur NWR. They tend to winter farther south than Oregon. Thus, I see them only occasionally as edge-of-range migrants, either inland or coastally.

This single bird (above) has been summering near my home for a month now, and I was able to get a few good photos at fairly close range. This was a good opportunity for me to study this bird that is locally rare in NW Oregon.

The Clark's Grebe was originally described as a species in 1858 at the same time as the Western Grebe. Soon thereafter they were lumped together and considered just different color phases of the same species, called Western Grebe. Thus they stayed until 1985, when Clark's Grebe was again given full species status.

Besides plumage differences, which I will discuss below, the Clark's Grebe has a single "kreeek" breeding display call, while Western Grebe gives a two-syllable call of "kree-eek" as they dance across the water together, running side-by-side with their bills held high. Downy young of Western Grebes are gray; downy young of Clark's Grebes are white. Where they occur together (over most of their range, actually), they tend to mate assortively, separating themselves from each other. Hybrids are known, however, and are intermediate in plumage characters.

As seen by the above photo, the breeding Clark's Grebe has the red eye surrounded by white feathers of the face. Most importantly, in all plumages, the bill is bright yellow-orange.


Clark's Grebe, Fernhill Wetlands, Forest Grove, Oregon on 5 July 2010 by Greg Gillson. Click on photo for larger views.














Because some birds appear intermediate, and may be hybrids, there are some supporting identification marks that are important to note. The dark hind-neck is thinner on Clark's Grebe than on Western Grebe. The back and wings tend to be slightly paler on Clark's and one can often note the difference in shade between the black crown and paler lower neck and back (photo above).


Clark's Grebe in non-breeding plumage, Brownsmead, Clatsop Co., Oregon on 31 December 2007 by Greg Gillson. Click on photo for larger views.














Western and Clark's Grebes are most-similar in plumage during winter. In this third photo (above) note the orange bill color and white triangle on the lores, in front of the eye. This should be enough to identify this bird as Clark's Grebe. In this case, however, the dark hind-neck doesn't appear quite as thin, and the back doesn't appear quite as pale, as typical for most Clark's Grebes.


Western Grebe in breeding plumage, Fernhill Wetlands, Forest Grove, Oregon on 15 May 2008 by Greg Gillson. Click on photo for larger views.














This next photo (above) is a Western Grebe in typical breeding plumage. The black of the crown comes down to surround the eye. The lores are dark. The yellowish bill has a definite greenish cast. Supporting marks are the slightly wider dark hind-neck stripe, and darker back.


Western Grebe in non-breeding plumage, Garibaldi, Tillamook Co., Oregon on 17 January 2009 by Greg Gillson. Click on photo for larger views.














This final photo (above) shows a Western Grebe in non-breeding plumage. It varies very little from the breeding plumage.

At the coast... Whimbrel

Whimbrel, Newport, Oregon on 5 March 2010 by Greg Gillson.

 

Though common as a coastal spring and fall migrant, a few Whimbrel can usually be found along the Pacific NW coast in winter, especially from the central Oregon coast southward. Such is the bird photographed above. Similarly, a few non-breeding birds may be found through the summer. They are rare inland.

There are three main populations. They breed in the Arctic of Eurasia, Siberia, and North America (mainly Alaska).

Whimbrels are very obvious birds of estuary mudflats and outer sand beaches. There they probe for marine invertebrates in flocks sometimes up to 300 birds or more. Their calls are a long and loud series of whistled notes.

The Whimbrel, with the striped head, curved bill, and buffy underwings is similar in the Pacific NW only to the inland-breeding Long-billed Curlew and the very rare Bristle-thighed Curlew.

The Long-billed Curlew is rather rare on the coast in winter (best winter location in Pacific NW is Humboldt Bay, California) and has very extensive cinnamon wings. It nests in agricultural fields and prairies well east of the Cascades, from SW Canada southward.

The Bristle-thighed Curlew has a distinctive buffy rump and tail. They have only been found a couple of times in the Pacific NW during migration between their Hawaiian wintering islands and their very restricted Alaska breeding grounds.

Chestnut-backed Chickadee

Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Newport, Oregon on 7 March 2010 by Greg Gillson.

 

Earlier in the month I spent the weekend at Newport, Oregon. Around the Marine Science Center I found this Chestnut-backed Chickadee (see previous post about this species).

It was a cloudy morning, as it often is along the Oregon coast. I shot this at ISO 800 equivalent, which gives it a bit of grainy appearance.

The Chestnut-backed Chickadee was described to science by its discoverer, John Kirk Townsend, in 1837. He obtained the type specimen during a trip to the Oregon country in 1834-1836. He didn't keep very accurate notes about where he collected each species. His collection location for the Chestnut-backed Chickadee he shot was entered as the "forests of the Columbia River." So the type location of Chestnut-backed Chickadee became Ft. Vancouver, Washington, where he spent the most time after he arrived.

Townsend's lackadaisical note-keeping also produced some odd records. For instance, he named several southern seabirds from Oregon. These, no doubt, came from ocean trips to South America he made about the same time.

Glaucous-winged Gull

Glaucous-winged Gull, at sea off Newport, Oregon on 6 March 2010 by Greg Gillson.

 

In the 1953 book, Birds of Washington State, Jewett, Taylor, Shaw, and Aldrich described the southern edge of the breeding range of Glaucous-winged Gull as Destruction Island, Washington, nearly due west of Mt. Olympus on the Olympic Peninsula. Likewise, that island about 4 miles offshore was the northern edge of the breeding range of the much darker Western Gull.

Today the situation is much different--for the Glaucous-winged Gull, anyway. This pale gray gull, with upper wingtips concolorous (in all plumages) with the rest of the upper wing and back, now breeds south to the central Oregon coast.

The range expansion created a new population dynamic. In the 200 miles where the two ranges now overlap, Glaucous-winged and Western Gulls hybridize extensively. The fertile crosses and back-crosses span the entire spectrum from looking quite pale like Glaucous-winged Gull to very dark like Western Gulls. The hybrid swarm is often referred to by birders in the Pacific NW as "Olympic Gulls." In fact, many birders along the central Washington coast do not try to differentiate them, even when surveying seabirds.

In winter, Glaucous-winged and hybrid gulls are common along the coastline south to San Francisco or farther, in the Puget Sound area, and inland in the larger towns west of the Cascades, and increasingly as vagrants across North America. In contrast, "pure-looking" Western Gulls are rare away from the immediate coast.

As with most larger gulls, they are omnivorous, eating anything they can swallow. They are common in garbage dumps and parking lots of fast-food establishments.

At the coast... Surf Scoter

Surf Scoter, Newport, Oregon on 19 April 2008 by Greg Gillson.

 

This bizarre-looking duck is quite common on the coastal bays and nearshore waters of the Pacific NW, as well as in Puget Sound. Of the three scoter species in the Pacific NW, this is by far the most abundant locally.

Though it nests in boreal forests in Alaska and across northern Canada, some one-year old non-breeders can be found along the coastline of the Pacific NW even in summer. Fall through spring this is an abundant duck in nearshore surf and estuaries.

Surf Scoters are rather rare inland in the Pacific NW. In late fall they can sometimes be found on larger lakes and reservoirs throughout the region.

Interestingly, the male Surf Scoter can be mistaken for the usually less abundant Tufted Puffin. That is because they are both blackish with orange feet, and white, black, and orange on the bill. A closer view will reveal the puffins rounder wings, shorter neck, and differently-shaped bill.

Female Surf Scoters are dark brownish-black with white at the base of the bill and on the ear coverts. First-year males are about half way between adult males and females in appearance.

More than half the diet of Surf Scoters is mussels and clams that they pry from underwater rocks just beyond the breakers. In spring they gather in estuaries for the herring spawn to consume the eggs of this abundant fish.

At the coast... Common Loon

Common Loon, Newport, Oregon on 19 April 2008 by Greg Gillson.

 

Loons are common migrant and winter waterbirds along the coast. The Common Loon is the largest of the three regular loons--Pacific and Red-throated Loons are the other two common Pacific NW loons.

In spring, such as the photo above, the loons attain their breeding plumage with black head and bill and spotted black-and-white plumage. In the non-breeding plumage (first year birds and winter adults) the plumage is pale brown and the bills become pale bluish or horn-colored with a dark upper ridge (not to be confused with the bright yellow bill of the rare Yellow-billed Loon).

In the Pacific NW this species only breeds with any regularity in British Columbia. There are a couple definite breeding records for the Pacific NW. There are annual reports of summering loons elsewhere in the Pacific NW, where breeding is suspected, but not confirmed.

However, Common Loons are fairly regular spring migrants (in small numbers) throughout large reservoirs in the interior of the Pacific NW. Hearing them yodel in the pre-dawn in spring is a familiar experience to early morning bird watchers. They can be quite common fall migrants in the large Cascade Lakes. They are found on the Columbia River from the ocean to Portland, and much less frequent upriver from there.

Loons have webbed feet, like ducks, but sharp dagger bills. They dive for fish, maneuvering with only their large webbed feet. The legs are set far back on the body. This makes them very ungainly on land, barely able to shuffle or push themselves along on their bellies. It also means they have to run on the water quite a distance to become airborne in flight.

Brown Pelican in flight

Brown Pelican, Newport, Oregon on 2 October 2009 by Greg Gillson.

 

Brown Pelican numbers are unprecedented this fall along the coastline of the Pacific NW. Every summer and fall these birds wander up from their breeding colonies in Baja California, accompanied by Heermann's Gulls. This year, however, has been special.

Nearly a thousand Brown Pelicans have been roosting at night near Newport, Oregon, either on Yaquina Head by the lighthouse, or in Yaquina Bay and on on its jetties.

To get this photo, I drove out to the south jetty of Yaquina Bay in late afternoon. The low-angled sunlight provided a rich warm glow and the desired shadows that bring out the shape of the bird. Brown Pelicans were coming in off the ocean, turning up into the bay, then returning along the jetties, right over and beside me, including this nice adult.

At the coast... Pigeon Guillemot

Pigeon Guillemot, Newport, Oregon on 9 August 2008 by Greg Gillson.

 

Pigeon Guillemots are common nearshore seabirds on the West Coast. They breed from the the Kamchatka Peninsula in Asia, north to the Bering Strait, through the Aleutians, and south to islands off southern California. From spring through fall you can find these small black waterbirds with bright red feet in bays and estuaries and in the ocean along rocky shores.

Pigeon Guillemots nest on pilings, bridge footings, and under wharfs in bays and estuaries. On the outer coast they choose rocky sea cliffs where they lay their 2 eggs in a crevice or similar protected cranny. You can hear their drawn out high piping whistle call that runs together at the end: see-see-see-see-see-see-seeeer.

In winter they become scarce on the open ocean and outer bays of California, Oregon, and Washington. Some field guides say that they winter "far offshore," but this may not be the case. Many evidently migrate northward to Puget Sound and protected waters off British Columbia. Likewise, most of the birds breeding in the Bering Sea move southward to southern Alaska. During this time they molt into a non-breeding plumage that is mostly dusky white with dark on the crown, back, and parts of the wing.

These birds swim in the ocean and then dive below the surface to chase fish for food. They flap their wings under water to propel themselves. They feed in shallower waters than the related murres and puffins.

Pigeon Guillemot, Newport, Oregon on 9 August 2009 by Greg Gillson.

 


The most similarly colored bird to Pigeon Guillemot is the White-winged Scoter, a slightly larger sea duck. Swimming, both Cassin's Auklets and Rhinoceros Auklets are rather dark gray above the waterline. But the Pigeon Guillemot differs obviously from these last two, in that the guillemot has the large white wing patch.

Many people have trouble determining whether a patch of color on the upperparts of a non-flying bird is on the back or wing. By comparing the two photos above you can see how a wing patch looks in flight compared to when the wing is folded.

Another thing that the two photos reveal is that I visited the coast and captured photos of Pigeon Guillemots two years in a row on the exact same day! That is because I was at the coast each year to help guide on a pelagic birding trip. A pelagic trip is a tour set up to go far to sea (35 miles in this case) on a chartered fishing boat, but to view seabirds, not do any fishing. There are about 20 species of seabirds off the Pacific NW, that are rarely spotted from shore and that are common to abundant just out of sight of land. Please visit our pelagic birding website to learn more.

At the coast... Black Oystercatcher

Black Oystercatcher, Seal Rock, Oregon on 25 March 2007 by Greg Gillson.

 

These crow-sized shorebirds are rarely found away from rocky shores. Here, they expertly use their long, knife-like bills to pry limpets, mussels, and other marine mollusks from the rocks where they are quickly gobbled up. Paul A. Johnsgard (The Plovers, Sandpipers, and Snipes of the World, 1981) says, "The birds immobilize open mussels (Mytilus) by a stab through the posterior adductor muscles and spread them apart by inserting the closed bill and forcing the valves open. Closed mussels are struck with the bill until a hole is made and the muscles are cut."

Black Oystercatchers are easily identified by their blackish-brown plumage, thick pink legs, long orange-red bill, and orange eye. They have loud piercing calls, easily heard above the roaring surf.

The range of these birds is from the Aleutian Islands south to mid Baja California. They retract a bit from the Aleutians in winter down to southern Alaska, but are residents in most of their range, including the Pacific Northwest coast.

The next time you are at the coast, look for these striking birds at low tide on mussel beds or on basalt headlands, cobble beaches, and jetties.