[obol] Black Oystercatcher Egg, Tufted Puffins, and Other Cool Stuff

[Cindy Ashy]

Good day today with Bonding With Birds.

The most exciting find was a Black Oystercatcher egg/nest on the east wall of
Trespass Cove toward the end. It is in VERY PLAIN SIGHT and close enough you
can barely make it out with your naked eye if you know right where to
look...unlike the one we think is on Seal Island, also at Yaquina Head (from
the behavior of a pair of adults). There also may be another nest in the left
nostril of the "Santa Claus" image on the Southwest Bluff (Gonzo). We watched a
gull that had been eyeing this egg for a long time swoop in at one point when
both parents were off the egg...actually got its open beak on the egg but the
parents through a very vocal fit and scared the gull away. We couldn't tell for
a long time whether or not the egg was OK since we couldn't see the backside
and the neither of the parents were incubating it but not long before we left,
one of the parents started incubating it. I'll go back soon to see if they lay
a second egg and if it survived.

We also saw a total of 5 Tufted Puffins! The first one was out from Trespass
Cove fairly close and many people got great views....it was quite a star...it
then went around and hung out on the north side behind the lighthouse near
Pinnacle Rocks. Later we found 4 more Tufted Puffins looking west from the
Tidepool Deck...more distant views but definitely Tufted Puffins.

Also saw 3 male Red-necked Phalaropes in breeding plumage.

Between last Saturday and this Saturday, most of the Western Gull pairs have
built a nest or are in the latter stages of building one...taking full
advantage of the weed-wacked trail on Salal Hill to collect the loose grass
without having to work to tug it out. Also, copulation and courtship in full
bloom.

Although we saw very clearly a gull eating a murre egg last Saturday, this week
we could not find one murre egg and we looked very carefully, even at 60x...and
not other signs either such as murres in the incubation posture or murres
covered in guano. However, they are in the waning stages of courtship so I
expect we'll see some soon.

The Pelagic Cormorants were the early nest builders this year and the Brandt's
Cormorants followed a couple/3 weeks later...and they too are on the waning
stages of courtship.

Pigeon Guillemots still engaged in courtship dances and lots of
preening/copulation.

Cool sightings...once a whale spouted today, large congregation of murres to
eat the left-overs. Mother seal guarding placenta from gulls. 

Quite a few pelicans today too, mostly in small flocks. Barn swallows quite
abundant also.

I spotted 12 more honkers for Roy about 9:00 heading east over the interpretive
center parking lot.

No eagle attacks today....but did spot two near the interpretive center.

Janelle Wesley has been closely watching a pair Mountain Quail up the hill from
the entrance booth....they are really BEAUTIFUL birds...and we're hoping for a
nest since yesterday we saw a big wad of nesting material in one of their
beaks. Also, in this same area was a flycatcher....Janelle thinks likely an
Olive-sided Flycatcher.

Cindy Ashy


       
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