[obol] The Cove (Seaside), Clatsop County, Oregon on February 02, 2007

[David Bailey]

This report was mailed for David C. Bailey by http://birdnotes.net

Date: February 2, 2007
Location: The Cove (Seaside), Clatsop County, Oregon

Prevailing wind speed: < 1 km/h
Percentage of sky covered by clouds: 0%
Precipitation: none

I made a brief visit around noon today. The sea was very calm, good
surfing though. I could see well to the horizon, but no tubenoses or
alcids.

I confirmed the presence of three LONG-TAILED DUCKS, the number Mike
Patterson had earlier speculated were there.

Birds seen (in taxonomic order):

Surf Scoter (Melanitta perspicillata)                  50
White-winged Scoter (Melanitta fusca)                   5
LONG-TAILED DUCK (Clangula hyemalis)                    3 [1] 
Bufflehead (Bucephala albeola)                          1
Common Loon (Gavia immer)                               3
Horned Grebe (Podiceps auritus)                         2
Red-necked Grebe (Podiceps grisegena)                   1
Western Grebe (Aechmophorus occidentalis)               2 [2] 
Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus)        2
Pelagic Cormorant (Phalacrocorax pelagicus)            10
Black Turnstone (Arenaria melanocephala)                2
Mew Gull (Larus canus)                                  2
California Gull (Larus californicus)                    1
Thayer's Gull (Larus thayeri)                           1
Western Gull (Larus occidentalis)
Glaucous-winged Gull (Larus glaucescens)
Glaucous-winged x Western Gull (Larus glaucescens x occidentalis)
Steller's Jay (Cyanocitta stelleri)                     1
American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos)
Winter Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes)                   1

Footnotes:

[1]  LONG-TAILED DUCK: All three seen in same scope view. One male
     (pink bill with blue base) and wispy silver-white scapulars and
     mostly white head with well defined dark lower auricular patch.
     None of these ducks had long tail feathers, nor did any match
     any of the depictions in the three field guides I checked. The
     two females had all dusky bills and much less white in the head;
     their auricular patches were not isolated from other areas of
     dark on their plumage like the male. The male left the females
     and went a mile or two west and then returned to the nearer
     females about ten minutes later.
[2]  WESTERN GREBE: I scoped and two was all I came up with. Perhaps
     they have moved to the Columbia River Estuary where the smelt
     are currently staging (fide Steve Warner).

Total number of species seen: 20