A Long Day at the Beach

 Rain was predicted to arrive so I took the first chance when weather and tides aligned for me to do my monthly beached bird survey at Bob Straub Park. My plan was to go from there to Short Beach to look for Black Oystercatchres and see if the subadults I had seen there earlier were still around and still looking like subadults. I thought if I checked every month after my beached bird survey, I would be able to figure out when they attained full red bills and red eyes like the adults. Good plan. Hasn't worked so far. But the trip was a great success anyway.

The weather was beautiful and dead birds few at Bob Straub. Live birds were more interesting than usual, I learned after photographing them and putting them on the computer later. This trio consists of one adult Sanderling and one juvenile Sanderling with pretty scalloped back AND one Snowy Plover... only the second one I've ever seen at Bob Straub Park. But that may be more an indication of me not photographing and then blowing up on the computer every plover I see. I have been assuming they are Semi-palmated Plovers and most probably are. I'll look closer after this.

 

I also took a very long distance photo of Sanderlings running along the beach, as they usually do. But when I zoomed my photo in, one bird was darker and bigger than the others. I sent the photo to my shorebird identifier friend, Paul Sullivan, who thinks it is a Dunlin. They are not particularly rare but, again, I have not noticed them at this beach. Who knows what else I've been missing.

 

The one Dunlin is far right foreground

The beach is ever changing. The beach grass is colonizing the area that used to be the wood zone, now mostly covered with sand.

I only found one dead bird to measure, identify and tag. The hike still took three hours. Then I drove north to Short Beach to look for Black Oystercatchers. I did find a few but the only ones I saw well enough in the misty late afternoon light to identify were adults. Most looked like this:

But the rocks off Oceanside were lovely.

To avoid the bathing gulls, in hopes Oystercatchers would join them, I walked high on the beach over big round rocks at the base of the cliff, a place I seldom go because it's so hard walking. To my amazement there was one plant being devoured by beautiful caterpillars. I later learned that they will turn into Anise Butterflies. I also learned that there are different stages of caterpillars. The smaller black ones in my photos are a younger stage than the spectacular gold and black ones. I saw two of the smaller ones, that I dubbed Halloween caterpillars, and ten of the big and beautiful ones. They were devouring this one plant, which I later learned is an Angelica lucida, seacoast angelica, and a host plant for these butterflies. Thanks to friend Mary for the research!

 

Seacoast Angelica covered with caterpillars

This still looks like a spooky Halloween caterpillar to me!

The seacoast angelica and its caterpillars were very close to the waterfall that tumbles from a wooded flume high above the beach. I presume the bush is far enough from the usual high tides to keep from washing away its inhabitants. I'll have to go again each month this winter to find out! And look for Black Oystercatchers... What a lovely excuse to visit Short Beach.

Short Beach and Cape Meares

A friend who had never been to my favorite beach and wanted to go provided me with the perfect excuse to go hunting for Black Oystercatchers in my old stomping grounds. Years ago I found and monitored a nest at Short Beach. And helped friends monitor nests at Cape Meares. But those areas are quite far for me to travel and there were other folks who were more able to get there during the summer. So it's been several years and I miss my former haunts. Today, we hit a perfect day weather and bird wise. 

 My first view of Short Beach from the road. So exciting to be back!

A closer look at that rock at the edge of the waves found 7 black dots...

... black dots that turned into adult Black Oystercatchers

As I climbed down the long winding staircase, I saw three BLOY at water's edge where the fresh water stream flows into the ocean. I thought they were adults...

But after I uploaded my photos into my computer and enlarged them... two of the birds turned into subadults. So I think this was a family group of one adult and two fledglings...

Enlarge the photo to see the dark distal end of the bill plus the colorless eye

The flume of water coming from Short Creek now flows mostly under the rocks to the ocean

Far down the beach is the traditional BLOY nest site, below Cape Meares

Meanwhile, far behind me, Johnny and friend Mary were enjoying the incredible scenery, Mary for the first time...

Behind Mary in the below photo are three BLOY on the rock, two of which I discovered from my photos, were subadults. I believe this is the same trio I first photographed bathing in the fresh water where it flows into the ocean.

From Short Beach, we hiked back up the long, picturesque (but I didn't take pictures) stairway and drove on to Cape Meares.

Very soon from the top viewing platform, we spotted a lone Black Oystercatcher. We could not see well enough from there to tell if it was an adult or a subadult, so hiked down to the next viewing areas. At #3, we hit a good place to set up the scope and scan the North Toe for the elusive little black bird. And we found it. A subadult for sure... all by itself. It must be that some BLOY do not get their full red bill and red eye until their second year.

Obviously, I must check all through the winter to see if/when these sub-adults change to full adults with red eyes and completely red bills. What a lovely excuse to visit my favorite beach plus the incredible Cape Meares!

Our 53rd Anniversary

February 13th is an odd day for an anniversary, I know. I've told the story before in this blog, four years ago, on our 49th anniversary (https://lindafink.blogspot.com/2016/02/49ers.html)  But if you don't want to go back there, here is the story again:

The year was 1967. Johnny was working for the Forest Service in Cokeville, Wyoming. I was living with him before starting classes at Utah State University, having dropped out of the University of Illinois after 3 1/2 years to follow Johnny to Wyoming. (I finally got my degree 3 universities later in 1969, after we returned from a volunteer year in Laos with International Voluntary Services.)

Johnny's boss at the Forest Service called him in on Friday, February 10, for a scheduled job performance review. Everything was great except: it was not acceptable to this Mormon boss for Johnny to be living out of wedlock with a woman. (Remember, this was 1967.) I had to move out, either to the hotel in town that rented long-term rooms... or I could move in with the boss and his wife.

Johnny came home and gave me this piece of news. He had asked me to marry him a year before but I wanted to wait. I did not, however, want to move in with his boss... or live in a hotel. We decided to solve the problem by getting married the following Monday, which happened to be February 13. That morning, Johnny left a note on his desk saying "Gone to get married." It had not occurred to either of us that February 13 was a holiday:  back then it was the day when Lincoln's birthday (Sunday, Feb. 12) was celebrated. Years later Lincoln and Washington birthdays were consolidated into "President's Day". But that year, Feb. 13 was a holiday, and, unbeknownst to us, no one arrived at Johnny's office to read his note.

We gathered up two witnesses, good friends' of Johnny's since he had first come to Cokeville: Ma and Pa Perkins, along with their daughter Marie, and drove to the nearest county seat. But that Wyoming county courthouse was closed. Odd. Oh well, Cokeville is located in the junction of three states, Utah, Idaho, and Wyoming. We drove on to Utah. "Closed for Lincoln's Birthday", said the notice on the door. Oops. This time we called the nearest county seat in Idaho and it was open! Apparently Idaho didn't go along with this Lincoln's birthday stuff. And that is how we happened to be married in Paris: Paris, Idaho.

Actually, I've never been sure if we were legally married since the Justice of the Peace was a very old man, probably pulled out of retirement to man the office on what should have been a holiday, who kept losing his place in the vows he was reading to us. Johnny was dozing through the long and halting ceremony. Ma Perkins was so emotional about being a witness for Johnny and me that she was crying softly, as people often do at weddings, I guess.

Finally, the justice said, "Do you, John Fink, take this woman to be your lawful wedded wife, etc., etc.?" Johnny said nothing. I looked at him and realized he was asleep. I jabbed him in the ribs with my elbow. He startled awake and said, "I do?"

I've always wondered if answering the question with a question is legally binding. But, 53 years later, we're still together.

In rereading my anniversary story of 4 years ago, I realized that we spent that day (and the previous day) hiking to waterfalls. We saw two waterfalls this anniversary, but without the strenuous hikes.

We drove to the coast, stopping along the way at Gunaldo Falls. No hiking involved. It is visible from a turnout on the road.

We spent a little time checking out eagle nests on the way to Pacific City. Saw no eagles but lots of Great Egrets. Then ate lunch at Los Caporales, our favorite Pacific City restaurant. I love their Mango juice. We wandered our way through the mist and rain to Cape Lookout and on to Cape Meares, stopping at Short Beach to look for Black Oystercatchers ((BLOY), the species I monitor all spring and summer.

Through the rain, I saw at least twenty BLOY so I dashed back to the car to get my camera. Johnny kept watch and saw at least twenty fly off to the south... but also five fly in from the north. It was tough picking out five black birds on black rocks in the rain. My camera found three plus one red bill of a bird just out of the photo. Thank goodness for red bills on BLOY. You'll probably have to click on the photo to enlarge it to see any of the black birds.

After a quick stop at Cape Meares in the pouring rain, we headed home, stopping at Munson Falls as we usually do when returning from the Tillamook area. It is the highest waterfall in the Coast Range. The rain let up for our quarter mile hike in.

 It's hard to tell how high it is without something to compare it with. So I asked Johnny to walk ahead and stand at the landing by the end of the permitted trail access. He looks tiny compared to that waterfall!

And now, it's the traditional Happy Hearts Day, as Johnny calls February 14.

                                                         
                                                       Happy Valentine's Day to all!

Three December Bird Surveys

On December 3rd, we did our North Santiam raptor route. It was a gray, short daylight day. But the Lyons City Park/John Neal Park (I can't tell where one ends and the other begins) is always lovely with resident Gadwalls and reflecting ponds.

 The return phase of our trip is westward headed, chasing the setting sun.

Two days later we did the Grand Ronde raptor run, another gray day. A Rough-legged Hawk was back for the winter in the field behind the weigh station on our route. Rough-legs seem to love to find the skinniest twig possible to perch on.
 

The three White-tailed Kites we found in November were in the same area in December. I managed a very distant shot of two of them.

Also at a distance was this Red-shouldered Hawk, who just let me photo his back.

 We stop to buy our lunch at Slow Train coffee shop in Willamina, taking our sandwiches to Huddleston Pond to eat... and watch birds. This Great Egret, we were told, comes back every day to sit on this same perch. It looks from the whitewash that it has been doing that for some time!

A herd of probably a couple hundred elk were on one of our sites.

On Dec. 9, I managed to squeeze in my monthly Beached Bird Survey for COASST. Still foggy and cold at home, it was lovely warm sunshine on the beach... that day only.

But the bird surveys are not done for the month. We have two Christmas Bird Counts coming up!

King Tides!

This full moon is the last of three King Tide periods of this winter, when the moon is closest to the earth, creating the highest tides of the year. So we went to the coast yesterday to witness the 9 foot tide. We thought, considering how spectacularly high the Little Nestucca River  was last week, Feb. 13, when we were there at low tide, that it would be even more spectacular yesterday. Wrong.

The flooding was spectacular last week because of massive snow melt and rain in the hills above. What new snow has fallen since then is not melting yet. Johnny thought I must have read the tide table wrong so we went to McPhillips Park on the coast to see the tide without the influence of river water.

Here is the beach on Feb. 13 at low tide.

And same spot on Feb. 18 at high tide with all those exposed rocks covered.

Even the one low rock where our grandkids played last summer was periodically inundated by waves.

 If we ever get a King Tide at the same time we get massive snow melt and heavy rain, the flooding will indeed be spectacular. Highway 101 will likely be flooded at its junction with Brooten Rd., where we access Pacific City, and likely Hwy 130 that we take to get to 101 will be flooded, too.

Yesterday, however, was floodless and beautiful.

 We checked out the beach at Bob Straub Park where I do a monthly beached bird survey. The tide was bringing in lots of drift wood.

One intrepid fisherman was fishing in the surf. The light-colored sand in the photo below ends at a steep ten (or more) foot drop-off.

 We drove north to Oceanside, where Netarts Bay was quite full, with the Three Sisters off Cape Meares lit up in occasional sunlight.

We bought lunches at the little deli and market in Netarts then drove up to Maxwell Point to eat them.

 The Three Sisters zoomed in close revealed about a jillion sea lions resting on the lower rock in front of them.

Maxwell Point is the site of a hang gliding launch point. The property is owned by our long time friend Reed Gleason. His flying buddies have thanked him with a commemorative stone bench at the site.

Also an informative sign gives the rules and regulations and safe landing beach sites. This is not a site for amateurs. Pilots have to be licensed and registered.

A bit of whimsy enfolds the outhouse.

After lunch, we drove down to Short Beach to look for Black Oystercatchers,which often hang out there in the off season and nest in the area in spring. Sure enough we spotted eight of them with seven flying to this rock close offshore.

We drove onward to Cape Meares where I noticed another one of the signs funded by mitigation funds from an oil spill. (I pictured one in a blog last year.) This one is at the north viewing platform.

From this viewpoint, we can see both the north and south toe, plus the two big offshore islands, Pillar Rock and Pyramid Rock off in the distance.

 A close look at Pillar Rock showed a Peregrine Falcon just to the right of where the top dips.

I traded my Panasonic for my Nikon Coolpix to get these close-ups.

Johnny noticed a Bald Eagle atop very distant Pyramid Rock.

Again, my Nikon brought it into view.

Fuzzy view but I have trouble holding this heavy camera still, even when braced on something.

We headed for home then but I wanted to stop at Munson Creek Falls off Hwy 101 south of Tillamook. It is the highest falls in the coast range at 319 feet. Johnny was a bit too worn out from all the hiking so he took a nap while I walked the 1/2 mile in, stopping to take photos of Munson Creek as it flows downstream from the falls. I carried my lighter Panasonic for this trek.

And then there was Munson Creek Falls! I had forgotten how beautiful... and how high... it is...

 With Johnny rested up for more driving, we headed home. It had been a lovely King Tide day even though the King Tide turned out not to be the high point of the day.