[obol] Yaquina Head Special Morning

[Cindy Ashy]

We've been seeing the beginning signs of the breeding season at Yaquina Head
for at least a couple of weeks but this morning everything just seemed to
explode as the beautiful sunny morning unfolded with very light wind....a
welcome change from the 20-35 mph sustained winds we've been having for a few
days.

The Common Murres amassed offshore, their rafts getting denser by the hour,
starting the process in silence but as they got closer to the rocks began to
vocalize with that contagious laughter sound they make. For at least a couple
of hours large clouds of murres filled the air flying around the rocks on which
they  lay their eggs inching closer each time and flying higher, eventually
flying around the rocks. They were so dense in the air and whirling around so
fast, it looked like a blizzard of birds. Oddly, the top of Lion's Head filled
first, then Flat Top, and lastly Colony Rock. This is opposite from the normal
order and I wonder if this trend will continue....were they trying to avoid the
eagle? 

Simultaneously, about 60 Pigeon Guillemots gathered off Pinacle Rock, and as I
saw most of them heading east, I went over to Trespass Cove and was delighted
to find them in full courtship mode chasing each other around, dancing in the
water, and then up on vertical rocky bluff to find a nesting site in a dark
crevice....where they proceeded to call to one another and show each other the
intensely red lining of their wide open mouths...when one would leave to feed
the other would continuously call to it and the mate would answer back. A few
pairs of Pelagic Cormorants were (and have been) gathering in Trespass Cove as
well and one pair were building an early nest...the first cormorant nest I've
seen...and I think they were actually fixing up an old nest. I've read the male
cormorant gathers the nesting material and the female builds it and this seemed
to hold true with this pair today. Between nest building, they would open their
beaks enough to expose the red living and then take turns rubbing their beaks
against each other's cheek. It was a touching scene.

Back over behind the lighthouse, there were a few Pigeon Guillemots taking up
residence on the lower 1/3 of the east side of Colony Rock....but they were
having a lot of trouble getting onto the rock with the crashing surf...pairing
but no courting. One of the Western Gull pairs on the western tip of the
headland were showing stronger signs of courtship than any other pair I've seen
very actively engaged in the skyward tilts of the head and rubbing their beaks
together.

As the murres settled in on the tops of the rock formations, some of them
seemed to show each other their yellow mouth linings. A Peregrine Falcon flew
over head and circled once but did not attack and the murres seemed oblivious.
A photographer told me she was waiting for the eagle and within a few minutes
of saying this, sure enough here came a white headed eagle....BUT not from the
NE as is the most common but from the E passing over Lion's Head scaring ALL
the murres off, then over Flat Top scaring ALL the murres off, and finally a
few passes over Colony Rock with the murres leaving so quickly they looked like
a liquid pouring off the side of it. The eagle flew to the tree without having
captured anything, waited for most of the murres to get off the rock and
swooped down and captured one of the murres that had been one of the last to
try to leave the rock. Usually when eagles capture murres here they head off
toward a nest to the NE or sometimes the trees but this eagle took the murre to
tip of Pinnacle Rock and began tearing the feathers off its chest while the
murre was still alive....it was a little gruesome but also spectacular to see
so close up...finally it flew off with its prize.

This is the second time this season the murres have been seen on the rocks and
the second time an eagle has passed over, scared most of the murres away,
waited in the trees, and then with a second pass nabbed a "slower" murre.

At daybreak the Black Oystercatchers called continuously for at least 1/2 hour
and I observed what I think were nuptial flights.

So far, the Brant's Cormorants have shown no signs of the breeding season but
their plummage show it isn't far away.

Cindy Ashy


 
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