A few hours at Barview Jetty on the Oregon Coast

[West Coast Birder]

My son is back home from college for the holidays and we decided to drive the 100km or so from Portland to the coast to do some birding. We were after ancient murrelets which had been spotted earlier in the week off Barview Jetty on the Oregon coast near the town of Garibaldi. It would have been a lifer for both of us but sadly, it was not to be. The fog was rolling in and weather getting worse and the seas were increasing, so although we looked all over the jetty for at least 3-ish hours, we didn't spot them. Some day, we'll hopefully get a glimpse of what I believe all the last of the alcids on the West Coast that we have yet to see.

Anyway, here are some of the wonderful creatures that we did see. The swell of about 2-3 meters made photographing the birds in the water hard as they would heave up and down, but we did the best we could. And we were treated to some pretty close-up looks at a sea lion as he swam back and forth feeding, presumably.

Black Oystercatcher (Haematopus bachmani):

 

[West Coast Birder]

The turnstones and surfbirds were pretty active trying to pry the mussels loose from the rocks.

Black turnstone (Arenaria melanocephala):




Surfbird (Aphriza virgata):

 

[West Coast Birder]

Photographing the birds in the water was decidedly trickier. The seas were big and building and there was a 2-3 meter swell. The fog and poor light also tested the R7 sensor. Here are a couple of the better ones. The male surf scoters were way out in the ocean and this is a heavy crop in poor conditions for photography. The females were a lot closer to the jetty and I was able to get better shots.

Surf scoter (Melanitta perspicillata) male:



Surf scoter female:

 

[Levina de Ruijter]

Some good pics there, Sam, despite the less than favourable conditions. That turnstone is particularly nice.

 

[Greg_8]

I'm happy you and your son got to see some good birds. Love the photos of all three species, especially the Black Oystercatcher which I've been lucky enough to only see twice but from quite a distance.

Too bad about the Murrelets. Next time I bet you'll get 'em.

 

[Redlegrangerone]

What? No photos of the jetty?

 

[West Coast Birder]

What? No photos of the jetty?

Well, here you go. No birds in the photo except the gulls in the background, just my son trying to get closeups of the oystercatchers!

 

[Redlegrangerone]

Well, here you go. No birds in the photo except the gulls in the background, just my son trying to get closeups of the oystercatchers!

View attachment 48480

Thank you. Nice rocks too.