[obol] The Cove (Seaside), Clatsop Co, Oregon on 6 Jan, 2007

[David Bailey]

Beached birds yesterday while on a walk with Suzanna and our daughter Eva.
Highlight:    HORNED PUFFIN--recently deceased based on plumage. Time to 
check your favorite near shore seawatch sites!

There are still several BLACK TURNSTONES alive and pecking for 
invertebrates on the rocks off the Cove parking lot in S. Seaside.

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: 	The Cove (Seaside), Clatsop County, Oregon on January 06, 2007
Date: 	Sun, 07 Jan 2007 23:18:19 GMT
From: 	baileydc at pdx.edu
To: 	baileydc at pdx.edu



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

Date: January 6, 2007
Location: The Cove (Seaside), Clatsop County, Oregon


Beached Bird Survey 6 January 2007

High surf for several days lately. The washed up alcids were had all
relatively recently died and were more or less whole, though some
feeding by gulls was evident in the smaller alcids. The birds were
all along the rocks of the north curve of the small crescent-shaped
beach just north of the Cove Parking Lot at Sawyer Park.

Birds seen (in taxonomic order):

Western Grebe                2
Northern Fulmar              2
Pelagic Cormorant            2
Glaucous-winged Gull         1
Marbled Murrelet             1 [1] 
Cassin's Auklet              1
Rhinoceros Auklet            1
Horned Puffin                1 [2] 

Footnotes:

[1]  Marbled Murrelet: probably this species, but the plumage was
     pretty messed up and some skin was missing in the face and neck
     region to confirm for certain that this bird is not a
     Long-billed Murrelet. I suspect it is not, but I plan to take
     some measurements soon to confirm the id. Interestingly these
     murrelets have pinkish webbed feet with some blue along the
     digits whereas Cassin's Auklets have much bluer feet and legs on
     their undersides while the uppersides are pale.  
[2]  Horned Puffin: a nice fresh specimen with a fleshy yellow gape
     which I believe indicates an adult. The bird was in non-breeding
     plumage.

Total number of species seen: 8