Herring Gull – Ethical Birder

Clatsop Spit

December 19, 2023 by John Rakestraw, posted in OR Birding Sites, seasonal movements

I had the chance to visit Clatsop Spit at Fort Stevens State Park. Parking Lots C and D, the usual access points, are still compromised due to continued work on the south jetty of the Columbia. So the best place to access the beach along the Columbia River is the little road halfway in between the two parking lots. This road takes you to the access locally known as Social Security Beach.

One of the highlights of this trip was seeing many Snowy Plovers. This species just wasn’t found on the northern Oregon coast until a few years ago. It is great to see them making a comeback.

This Snowy Plover is sitting in a tire track from a large pickup that had just gone by. I really dislike that vehicles are allowed on so many beaches. Even if they are not directly squashing wildlife, they certainly disrupt and deface things. Baby Snowy Plovers have been known to get stuck in deep tire tracks.

While not threatened like the Snowy Plover, Black-bellied Plovers are always nice to see.

The Black-bellied Plovers were more wary and harder to approach than the Snowy Plovers.

This blurry photo shows the black axillaries (wing pits) of a Black-bellied Plover. This mark makes the species identifiable from a great distance.

The most common shorebird of the day was Dunlin. While they don’t sport their bold markings this time of year, the dull brownish upperparts and bright white underparts are distinctive.

A lone Dunlin following a group of Sanderlings

More Sanderlings

Of course you have to stop and appreciate the gulls this time of year. Here is a dapper pair of Herring Gulls.

Short-billed Gull, until recently called Mew Gull. Some feel that Mew Gull is a better name.

A lone California Gull stands in front of a group of Short-billed Gulls.

Probably the best bird of the trip was Snow Bunting. It is not unusual to find a few of these birds on the coast in winter, but it is hard to get them to sit still long enough for a photo.

Work on the jetty is scheduled to be completed by the fall of 2025. It will be nice to have easy access to all of Clatsop Spit again.

Happy Solstice

Coastal Birds

November 16, 2022 by John Rakestraw, posted in behavior, seasonal movements

My annual gull class visited the Coast from Cannon Beach to Gearhart. Stormy weather caused us to postpone the trip by a week. The weather was lovely the day of our trip, but nice weather, combined with the week’s delay, kept our gull total to a modest seven species.

California Gulls are among the most common species on the coast right now.

California Gull in flight, showing the extensive black in the primaries

Herring Gull

Herring Gull coming in for a landing

Short-billed Gulls frequent the Necanicum River Estuary in Gearhart. This bird was stamping their feet in the shallow water to stir up food items.

A stop at the Seaside Cove produced a large flock of Surfbirds.

Just a few Black Turnstones were mixed in with the Surfbirds.

The most unusual bird of the trip was this Long-tailed Duck at the Cannon Beach Settling Ponds. This is a young female, whose dark coloring blended in surprisingly well with the water’s surface.

We didn’t have much time to look for songbirds, but White-crowned Sparrows are always obliging.

Happy Autumn

Gull Season

November 21, 2021 by John Rakestraw, posted in identification challenges, seasonal movements

Late autumn and early winter is the time to find the biggest diversity of gulls in Oregon. I led a field trip to the coast at the end of October. Strong storms from the west had moved a lot of birds close to shore earlier in the week, but on the day we arrived, strong east winds had driven a lot of birds back out to sea. At least we didn’t get rained on.

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At the Seaside Cove, a few gulls posed for us in the sun. This gull is mostly Western, but the streaking on the head and neck suggest some Glaucous-winged ancestry.

This is a fairly robust Iceland Gull (Thayer’s subspecies).

A closer look at the Iceland. The yellow bill will fade as the season progresses.

There aren’t a lot of places in the Portland area to get close looks at gulls anymore. This group was hanging out on a bar in the Willamette River. The flock was a mix of California, Ring-billed, Herring, Iceland, Glaucous-winged, Western, and a mass of messy hybrids.

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While scanning the genetic soup of confusing hybrids, it was refreshing to land on a Ring-billed Gull.

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California Gull

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While this bird ticks most of the boxes for Herring Gull, the bill seemed a little too heavy to me. This, combined with the primaries which were slightly less than jet black, suggest this might be a Cook Inlet Gull (Herring X Glaucous-winged).

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This Glaucous-winged Gull was hanging out in a flock of Cackling Geese at Amberglen Park. I am guessing that the grazing geese were stirring up worms for the gull.

Happy Gulling!

Broughton Beach

November 10, 2013 by John Rakestraw, posted in OR Birding Sites

Broughton Beach is the stretch of shoreline along the Columbia River, just north of the Portland airport. It has been a popular spot to access the river to scan for waterfowl in winter, and the shore attracts some neat birds, like Horned Larks, American Pipits, and the occasional Short-eared Owl. There used to be free parking there, but that was eliminated when the adjacent public boat launch was expanded to include a nice new car parking lot (with a fee station).

There weren’t many birds on the water during my recent visit. Here is a distant Horned Grebe.

A mixed flock of gulls was loafing on a sand spit. There are at least four species in this photo, lots of California, a Mew, a Herring, and a few Ring-billed.

The gull flock was resting after being harassed by this guy. This Peregrine Falcon spent several minutes flying through the flock, taking half-hearted swipes at various gulls. Perhaps he was testing for any individuals that were injured or particularly slow.

Maine, June 23-29, 2013

July 3, 2013 by John Rakestraw, posted in beyond OR, reptiles & amphibians

I spent last week in Maine, around Bangor and the central coast. The weather went from hot and muggy to cold and rainy, which might have to contributed to the overall poor birding compared to previous visits. I did see two lifers, one on the first day (Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrow) and one on the last (Great Cormorant). It is always nice to see some eastern warblers, like this Blackburnian.

Eastern Phoebe, Mount Desert Island

Great Black-backed Gulls, Schoodic Point

Great Black-backed Gulls in this area are rather shy, perhaps because biologists have been “discouraging” them from hunting on the offshore tern nesting colonies. The gulls do not allow a close approach and quickly take off if you point a camera at them.

The Herring Gulls are happy to pose for mug shots.

Great Shearwater, Gulf of Maine

Great Cormorant, Schoodic Point, way out there, in the rain, but he still counts.

American Bullfrogs are an invasive species here in Oregon, so it was nice to see them in their natural range.

This dragonfly species was common in wooded areas, where they blended in with the tree trunks.

This more colorful species was at the edge of a meadow.

Spotted Sandpiper, Petit Manan NWR

Spotted Sandpiper and Eastern Willet, Petit Manan NWR

Eastern Willet, looking a little sleepy

Westmoreland Park

January 27, 2013February 2, 2013 by John Rakestraw, posted in identification challenges, OR Birding Sites

Westmoreland Park, in southeast Portland, is always worth a quick visit in winter.

This Canvasback has a mud on her face from rooting around in the bottom of the pond.

Lesser Scaup

At least two female Eurasian Wigeons have been spending the winter at Westmoreland. No males have been reported yet this year.

This park is one of best gull sites in Portland, although by this time the gull flock is starting to thin out. This is a sleepy Herring Gull.

Westmoreland is also a good spot for studying the various subspecies of the white-cheeked goose complex. This is a Taverner’s Cackling Goose, identified by her medium bill (covered in down for some reason), blocky head, and pale breast.

Ridgeway’s Cacking Goose (stubby bill, round head, dark breast)

Western Canada Geese have long snakey necks, long bills, and pale breasts. While common in Cackling Geese, it is unusual to see such a distinct white neck ring on a Western Canada.

Western Canada Goose bathing

Westmoreland Park

November 15, 2012 by John Rakestraw, posted in OR Birding Sites, seasonal movements

A quick visit to Westmoreland Park in southeast Portland revealed good numbers of waterfowl and gulls typical of this little urban duck pond in the winter.

Two duck butts in the middle of the pond stood out because of their large size. They turned out to be Tundra Swans, the first I have seen at this park.

Of course, every visit to Westmoreland requires a quick scan of the gull flock.

Ring-billed Gull

Herring Gull

Thayer’s Gull

Gadwalls don’t sport a lot of color, but are lovely little ducks.

Schoodic Point, Maine

June 30, 2012June 30, 2012 by John Rakestraw, posted in beyond OR, mammals

Schoodic Point is the mainland section of Acadia National Park. It is not as well known as the main portions of the park on Mt. Desert Island, but the Schoodic section is free to get into and less crowded. The wooded section offers great hiking, and the point itself is a good place to seawatch.

This Snowshoe Hare was eating a mushroom. Love those big feet!

Black Guillemots are common in the waters off the point.

Common Eiders

A Common Eider drake showing the strange bill structure.

Common Eider hens

Two Great Black-backed Gulls hanging out with Herring Gulls. Laughing Gulls are present in small numbers, too, but they tend to keep farther away from the mainland.

These irises were blooming in many areas along the rocky shore. Anyone know the species?

Ft. Stevens, 11-10-2011

November 13, 2011 by John Rakestraw, posted in mammals, OR Birding Sites, rarities, seasonal movements

I spent a warm sunny November day at Ft. Stevens (Birding Oregon p. 119). The tide and winds were both high, so the sea was too rough to find any birds on the water near the south jetty at parking lot C.

The best birds of the trip were a flock of five Snow Buntings, a species that has eluded me in Oregon until now. They appeared on the beach near the jetty, then quickly moved on.

This image shows three Snow Buntings in flight. No, really.

There were hundreds of California Sea Lions in the area, both on the jetty and in the surf.

A flock of at least 35 Semipalmated Plovers were working the wrack line. There are ten in this image. No, really.

Here’s a better view of a Semipalmated Plover.

This Palm Warbler was a nice surprise. This species is rare along the coast in autumn.

Brown Pelicans were very common. The Heerman’s Gulls that harass them during the summer have already moved south for the winter, so the pelicans can feed in relative peace.

An adult (left) and juvenile Brown Pelican

Western Gull (left) and Herring Gull. The gulls on the beach are much more wary than those that spend the winter in Portland.

Sanderlings and Mew Gulls

Other goodies that escaped the camera were a Peregrine Falcon on the beach, a Northern Shrike, and three Western Meadowlarks. It was a great day to enjoy the sun before the cold wet weather settles in to stay.

Thayer’s and Herring Gulls

February 7, 2011 by John Rakestraw, posted in identification challenges

Once considered to be part of the same same species, Thayer’s and Herring Gulls can appear quite similar at first glance.The pattern on the spread wing is very different between the two, but that doesn’t help you with birds at rest.

Here is a Thayer’s Gull on the left, and a Herring Gull on the right. In direct comparison, we can see that the Thayer’s has a slightly darker mantle, rounder head, dark eyes (usually), and a bill that is greenish-gray at the base and yellow at the tip.

Here is a closer look at the Thayer’s Gull. This is probably a male, given the long bill and slightly sloping forehead. Note the color pattern on the bill, typical of Thayer’s Gulls in winter.

Another Herring Gull, probably a female. This bird has a smaller bill and a slightly more rounded head than the bird in the first photo, giving this individual a more Thayer’s-like quality. Note the all-yellow bill, the pale eye, and the light gray mantle.

This Herring Gull, probably a male, has a larger bill and a more sloping forehead.

This is a first-cycle Thayer’s Gull. Note the round head and small bill. The overall color is rather pale, with fine markings.

First-cycle Herring Gulls are darker overall, with heavier markings. This is most apparent on the greater wing coverts. Note the sloping forehead and slightly larger bill.