Notes, birds, nature, meanderings.

Musings about birds, nature, and our meanderings on the Central Oregon Coast

Saturday, March 31, 2012

Out and About in the Rain, 3-30-2012

Out and about in the Lincoln City rain yesterday, I visited two favorites - Cutler City Wetlands and Salishan Nature Trail (see list at the very bottom of this page for links to other blogs on these two spots). 

Cutler City Wetlands was, well, WET!  Glad I was wearing my Crocs, as I waded in ankle-deep water more than once along the trail. 


There was alot of damage from last week's heavy snow and recent strong winds.  Mossy, felled trees like these soaked my jeans as I clambered over them.
The birds were vocal, with singing PACIFIC WRENS, cooing EURASIAN COLLARED DOVES and screeching STELLER'S JAYS.  Saw both Jays and AMERICAN CROWS with nesting materials. 


The rain made it tough to get any pictures of the many birds, but I loved capturing the rain drops on the flowers and moss.

Next I made a stop at Salishan Nature Trail, which runs along the south edge of Siletz Bay (photo of the bay, with two adult BALD EAGLES on a log in the center). 






Red-throated Loon

The first bird I saw threw me - a RED-THROATED LOON!  Only the second one I've ever seen, never in the bay.











Almost at the same time, three RED PHALAROPES flew past me - I got a quick photo of them when they landed, but a couple of RED-BREASTED MERGANSERS surfaced right next to them and they took off across the bay.  I actually thought they were Red-Necked Phalaropes, but was excited to find out I was wrong (with help from the experts on OBOL) - a new bird for me!
Red Phalaropes
The side trail along the marsh has been bolstered and resurfaced.  It's been closed since December storms washed it partially away.  
Gold-crowned Sparrow

Not sure I like it, but the trees will fill out again and the sparrows seem to think it's great! They didn't want to give up their favorite pecking spots even when I walked right up to them - SONG SPARROWS, GOLD- and WHITE-CROWNED SPARROWS, along with a bunch of DARK-EYED JUNCOS were all foraging in front of me.
The marsh beside this side trail is always a reliable spot for MARSH WRENS (year round) and COMMON YELLOWTHROAT (spring/summer). 



The resident pair of BALD EAGLES (see bay photo above) were hunting above the water, although my first glimpse of them was watching one of them chasing a FALCON (assume PEREGRINE) from the area - I didn't know Bald Eagles could fly that fast - but the Falcon was faster!
Bald Eagle


As if that wasn't enough, I spotted one of them diving into the bay - and it stayed there - and seemed to be swimming!?!  Hmmmm.  Repeated the routine three times - not sure if it was after something, but it always rose up out of the water empty handed! It was way to far for my lens, but here's a snap.






Heading back to the car, I was interested to see a bunch of CALIFORNIA GULLS (and a couple of hybrids) working in a sand trap - they seemed to be catching bugs that were hopping on the sand.
California Gulls (and friends) Bug Catching
  A very damp but very good day to be out and about!

1 comment:

  1. Sounds like a great day! I'm curious what the eagle was doing too- failed fishing attempts? Bathtime? Congrats on the phalaropes- I saw my first ones yesterday too along the jetty in Newport. Love all the rain droplet photos too!

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