Tag: Short-billed Gull

Clatsop Spit

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

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