[obol] Birdwatching In Yaquina Head Fog

[Cindy Ashy]

The fog got progressively thicker as I drove the long winding road from the
Yaquina Head gate down to the point yesterday.  As I rounded the last curve, a
ranger I know walked by and almost took flight in a gale-force gust. I parked
in my favorite spot with an excellent fog filled vista to the south and decided
I could see things just fine from my snug as a bug car.

Sipping hot coffee, I watched the birds, mostly gulls and a few cormorants,
weave in and out of view as they traversed the cold white bank of fog before
me. Waves of whistling wind rattled the car. The moist ocean air deposited salt
crystals on my windshield and the swirling wind formed interesting patterns
from these. Between the salt crystals, the rocking car, and the fog, binoculars
were useless....but then do you really need them to admire avian flight in such
conditions. A daunting task to human pilots with grounded planes, western gulls
navigate the strong Pacific wind with such grace they make it look simple. They
are the ballerinas of wind and just as fun to watch.

The sun tried desperately to poke its rays through the thick fog bank but it
couldn't penetrate it. Instead, a surreal glow settled in over the foggy
headland and transformed a place so familiar to me it's like a second home into
a mysterious exotic landscape. Regardless of the howling winds, it beckoned me
and I simply had to go exploring. Anyway, how better to commune with the birds
than to experience the weather right along with them....if only I had the soft
thick "furry" feathers I've been privileged to feel on gulls.

When I was a kid I remember reading that fog was a cloud on the ground and I've
been taken with it ever since. There's just something pretty special about
walking through a cloud and driving through a cloud. It's enchanting. It's one
of nature's moods that leaves a deeply felt lasting impression on you.

In the stroboscopic fog, familiar silohettes on the seascape faded in and out.
The monoliths that stand guard over the tidepools would disappear and then
reappear. I could discern the long neck and slender beak with the little crook
at the end of the cormorants. I could see them spreading their wings in typical
Pelecaniformes style. Thinking about my car door that almost snapped off the
hinge earlier in the high wind, I worried for a moment about these birds
spreading their wings. I cringed at the thought of bone joints snapping. Then I
realized just how smart these birds are (or I guess we could say well-adapted).
They were all facing away from the wind when they spread their wings...and
their backs were not to the sun what little sun there was. This of course is
not usually the case so they changed their normal behavior in this thick fog
with extra high wind velocity. This is really kind of amazing when you think
about it.

Behind the lighthouse, the murres are gone but the pungent smell and the
whitewashed rocks are constant reminders of their recent presence. I miss them
and I miss the regular eagle visits from the northeast that you could almost
set your watch by. The western gulls have reclaimed the top of the massive
rocks and are now back to being kings and queens of their castle. They were
extra vocal yesterday as they flew from one pillar to the next. Other birds
come and go but the gulls are always constant companions at Yaquina
Head....maybe one of the reasons I'm so fond of them.

Noticeably absent were the crows and songbirds. There were no hawks hovering
above Salal Hill (when I could see the top). No turkey vultures either. Never
heard even one oyster catcher which is very unusual for the length of time I
was there. No pelicans. No migrating shorebirds. Just western gulls and
cormorants.....these must be the true "hearty Oregonians" I've read about in
the tourist brochures.

On the north side, the "wind tunnel" (Trespass Cove) as I affectionly call it,
produced such a constant strong wind that I literally had to hold on to the
railing to keep from blowing away. There were many cormorants hugging the walls
of the cove, including some juvenilles. Many were in little crevices in the
wall face that I'm sure provided a microniche of protection from the wind. I
didn't stay there long as my watering eyes couldn't take it. Seabirds must have
some special adaptation for their eyes to withstand the wind?

I basically had the place to myself but I did run into one nice tourist braving
the inclement weather. It was his first time at Yaquina Head and he was
patiently trying to take a picture of the lighthouse as it is revealed parts of
itself during brief moments through the fog. The wind was knocking him about so
much he finally gave up and excitely informed me that he had learned from the
film at the interpretive center that the dozen or so cormorants on top of Lions
Heads were "black murres about to have chicks." LOL :-) Believe it or not, this
is a very common mistake and I gently told him that he missed this event by
about a month. As a consolation prize, I pointed out that those sausage shaped
lumps at the base of Seal Rock were harbor seals. There was so much fog you
almost had to imagine that they were there but he was thrilled :-)

Before I left, the eerie glow disappeared and the sun somehow flooded the lower
tidepool area but about half way up Lions Head the fog bank remained. While the
gulls at the top were still challenged by the wind, those at the bottom were
basking in the sun and casually feeding in the tidepools. Occasionally a wisp
of fog would jitter-bug by dancing atop the rocky pools but it seemed to
dissipate quickly in the radiance of the sun.

While I didn't see any unusual birds or seasonal birds, the gulls and the
cormorants and I shared a unique weather experience....and the ancient lava
outflow cooled by the ocean eons ago once again nurtured my soul.

Cindy Ashy




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