Viewing nature with Eileen

I am linking up with Wild Bird Wednesday and Nature Notes

While hubby and I were vacationing on the Oregon coastline we stopped at the Cape Meares Scenic viewpoint. Cape Meares provide a view of the largest colony of nesting Common Murres. Another lifer for me the Common Murre is also known as the Common Guillemot. The Common Murre is in the family commonly called Alcids. The Thick Billed Murre is also in the Alcidae "Alcids"  family.


The Common Murre is an Alcid that dives for their prey. They use their wings and their feet for propulsion and steering. The Common Murre has a thin bill. It has a black head, back and wings and white underparts.The face is white with a dark spur behind the eye.


The Pyramid and Pillar rocks are part of the Oregon Island National Wildlife Refuge. I was able to zoom in few a few closeups. But the photos of the Common Murre are fuzzy.


The Common Murre breed in colonies in high densities, nesting pairs maybe in bodily contact with their neighbors. They do not make a nest, their egg is incubated on a bare rock ledge.







The Three Arch Rocks provide habitat for more than 200,000 nesting seabirds, primarily the Common Murre.


The vertical seacliffs support nesting seabirds such as the Tufted Puffin, Common Murres, Pigeon Guillemots, Pelagic Cormorants, Peregrine Falcons and the Bald Eagle.



A fuzzy shot of a few of the Common Murre in the ocean.
It was an amazing sight to see so many of these Common Murres in one spot. Zooming in on any one spot on the rock I could see how close the birds were to each. The Murres and other birds were sitting on just about on every spot of the rock. It was an amazing sight to see, if you are in the area I highly recommend visiting Cape Meares.

To see more wonderful birds and photos please visit Wild Bird Wednesday and Nature Notes

My post for Camera Critters  and id-rather-b-birdin have some never ending shots from Oregon. I wanted to post the Sea Lions from the Sea Lion caves and I have some more Oregon Birds.

Besides a lot of Surf Scoters  in the Pacific Ocean we saw lots of Harlequin ducks. We found some Harlequins at the Haystack Rock during the low tide. They seemed comfy laying on the rocks or shells.



Female Harlequin Duck at Cannon Beach



SeaStar (starfish)  at Oswald State park beach.



 They blend in so well, how many Harlequin ducks can you find in this photo? I am not sure if these are mussels, what ever they are they do not look comfy to lay on? I guess the ducks do not mind.


I am used to seeing the beautiful Harlequin ducks on the Atlantic Ocean during the winter months on the Jersey Shore.



Sea Lions outside the cave.

One of the many cute baby gulls that we saw on Haystack Rock and Cannon Beach.

A Cute Pigeon Guillemot, they are not related to pigeons. The Guillemot is a seabird.

To see more cute and wonderful critters please visit Misty Dawn's Camera Critters. Also, thanks to Anni I am linked up with I'd-rather-b-birdin  Thanks to Misty and Anni for hosting these fun critters meme. Also, thanks for stopping by to see my post. I wish everyone a safe and happy weekend.

I am linking up Skywatch Friday  and  Green Day with some shots of  our days and nights on the Oregon coast at Yachats and at Cannon Beach.

We only had one evening in Yachats where we saw a clear sky and sunset. The view of the sunset from our hotel was the BEST. The rest of our nights on the coast were of the Oregon fog and clouds. We still enjoyed the coast and I think some of the foggy scenes were neat. I also had to include some more of the Oregon birds, mostly gulls. The gulls are hard for me to id, I believe some were Western Gulls which was a lifer for me.


We saw lots of gulls on the coast. I was surprised that there were not more shorebirds. I guess I am use to birding the Jersey and Delaware shore where the thousands of shorebirds are more of a common sight.  Another lifer for me on the Oregon coast was a Black Oystercatcher. I could not get a photo of it but I was able to positively id the Oystercatcher as it flew by me.


Sunset from our Yachats Fireside Hotel.


The next morning, some of the fog was neat looking and on this beach we had fun watching the surfers while checking out the tidal pools. In the far distance you can just barely make out a surfer carrying their surfboard to the water.


This is a good "WHAT" Gull? The juveniles make id-ing for me even harder than trying to id the adult gulls. I am taking a wild guess and say this is a juvie Western Gull.

The Bald Eagles were also around with a cloudy sky for a background. Not a pretty shot but the Eagles are always cool to see.

We did have some blue skies during the day at Cape Kiwanda. This beach was extremely popular and not a good place to see birds. I believe the crowds of people and the vehicles on the beach would keep the birds away. The beach was pretty and the sky was a beautiful blue.

Another beach along the Three Capes Scenic drive. The three capes are Cape Kiwanda, Cape Lookout and Cape Meares. Another beach that was missing the shorebirds. Where are they hiding?


A view from Gammon Launch at Cape Lookout. Looks like a popular spot for the paragliding. I am saving my photos of the Cape Meares lookout,  lighthouse and another Oregon lifer for another post. There were so many beautiful scenic overlooks along the Oregon coast. There are lots of great birds to be seen on the Three Capes Scenic Drive such as the seabirds, shorebirds gulls and woodland birds.

On one of the trails I saw these two Red Shafted Flickers. They were a treat to see, different than the Yellow Shafted Flickers I see at home in Maryland. I could not count the Flicker as a lifer as I had seen them on a previous trip to Washington state.

I hope you enjoyed my mish-mash of  foggy days and sky shots.
To see more beautiful skies from around the world please visit: Skywatch Friday.
And to see more of the pretty Green Day please visit Fiona's Green Day. Thanks to Fiona for hosting Green Day. Alos, thanks to Sylvia and Sandy for hosting Skywatch Friday!.

Of course I thank you for stopping by to see my post. I wish everyone a safe and happy weekend.

 I am linking up a few of my Oregon lifers with Wild Bird Wednesday  and Nature Notes

Three of my lifers were the Rhinceros Auklet, Brandt's Cormorant and the Tufted Puffin all three seen on the Oregon Coast.
 
This photo above of the Rhinoceros Auklet  belongs to Wikipedia_Rhinoceros_Auklet. Seeing the Rhinoceros Auklet below in the Sea Lion Caves made the visit to the caves for me. But, the sea lions were cool too.


It was dark inside the caves, when I notice three of these birds close to where I was standing watching the sea lions. One was an adult feeding two juveniles. My photo is not the best but if you look very hard LOL, you can see a bit of the horn ( present in breeding birds) and the white plumes above the eyes. . I actually had great views with my binocs since they let so much light in and the three birds were only just on the other side of the fence from where I stood.. They feed on small fish and nest in seabird colonies.


Another one of my lifers was the Brandt's Cormorant.  The breeding Brandt's Cormorant has a blue throat pouch. I was able to catch one of the adult Cormorants showing off his/hers pretty blue pouch. They dive for their food and feed off of small fish.


Edit; Sorry, but this Puffin is the town's mascot and is a statue. I did take the photo but it is not a real Puffin. LOL, pretty life-like statue though!  Cannon Beach and Haystack Rock are known to be breeding areas for the Tufted Puffin.

This was another one of my lifers. Not really, LOL! I did not get a photo of it but, we were able to see the Tufted Puffin twice with my binocs flying in and out of the Haystack Rock on Cannon beach. T

he Tufted Puffin is also known as the Crested Puffin. The yellow tufts appear on both sexes during the breeding season. They nest in grassy sides of cliffs or on the grassy side of the Haystack Rock. I did read their feet turn a bright red in the summer.

 Haystack rock  was a big attraction on Cannon beach. At low tides the tidal pools were great and you could see nesting birds all over the rock. This side shows the grassy side at the top of the rock.

To see more beautiful birds and nature photos please visit Stewart's Wild Bird Wednesday and Nature Notes

Thanks to Stewart the host of Wild Bird Wednesday and thanks to Michelle the host of Nature Notes. Also, thank you for stopping by to see my post. Happy Birding and I hope the rest of your week is great.