Friends of Netarts Bay-Black Oyster Catcher

Larus heermanni
Heermann's Gull
British Columbia to Mexico
Family Laridae
Native

This distinctive gull, easily identified by its bright red bill with a black tip, is only an occasional visitor to our shore. Smaller than the Western Gull, it has a sooty gray plumage, black-tipped wings, and dark legs. Breeding adults have a pearly white head. It breeds mostly in the Gulf of California, mainly on Isla Rasa, but because of increasing numbers, has expanded its nesting to California. They frequent the shoreline and can be seen out at sea, but rarely inland. It has a reverse migration, breeding in the south during spring and heading north by July to as far as southern British Columbia. We can see them here from late summer int fall. They feed on small fish, mainly herring and sardines, often stealing food from pelicans and other gulls. It is named after Adolphus Lewis Heermann, a mid-nineteenth doctor and naturalist.

Pelecanus occidentalis
Brown Pelican
British Columbia to Chile
Family Pelecanidae
Native

Brown Pelican
A wonderful bird is the pelican,
Its bill can hold more than its belly can.
It can take in its beak,
enough food for a week.
But I really don't know how the hell-he-can.

The beginning lines of this limerick by Dixon Lanier Merrit are certainly true. The pouch of the lower bill can hold up to three gallons, three times as much as the stomach. A big, social, gregarious, coastal bird, weighing up to ten pounds and having a wingspan to eight feet, Pelicanus occidentalis arrives in the Netarts area by the hundreds around July or August and departs in the fall to Southern California and beyond to winter and nest on offshore rocks. It is a fish eater, preying on small fish by flying 60 or 70 feet above the water and, using its excellent eyesight to spot a school, plunges out of the sky in a twisting dive to scoop the fish into its lower bill like a dipnet. It then forces the water from its catch out the corners of its mouth before it swallows. If the catch is too large for its stomach, it can store the excess in its esophagus to be eaten later. Juveniles, like those pictured, are mostly brown with a lighter breast. Breeding adults develop a pattern of colors that include yellow on the top of the head, white and dark brown on the neck, and a reddish bill-pouch. Pelicans are kin to the cormorant, their feet having all four toes webbed, three in front like a duck, plus the web stretching around to the fourth toe on the back of the foot. They are often grouped on the beach with seagulls and sometime cormorants but are a little more skittish than gulls and will shy away or fly off when approached too closely. They are not considered migratory but tend to follow food, and locally, they appear here in the summer months when food is more available. Also, winters here can be too cold for their survival.

Brown Pelicans exist on all coasts of the United States and range to South America. The Pacific coast subspecies P. occidentalis californicus is larger than its Atlantic and Gulf coast counterpart, P. occidentalis carolinensis. They are, however, considered endangered in some regions, especially California. DDT and later dieldrin and other pesticides were accumulated by the birds through the food web, causing them to lay thin-shelled eggs that broke during incubation. The ban of DDT and the more prudent use of pesticides has allowed Brown Pelican population to begin recovery.

Larus occidentalis
Western Gull
Washington to Mexico
Family Laridae
Native

The Western Gull, Larus occidentalis, one of the most common shore birds on the Oregon coast, is seldom found far from the ocean, although some find their way up the Columbia River during winter to eastern Washington and Oregon, and you will see them locally in the fields and marshes around Tillamook. Juveniles are a dark, sooty brown with blackish bills and gray-colored legs. As they mature, which takes about four years, their back plumage, or mantle, turns gunmetal gray, heads and breast lighten and finally turn white, wing tips become mostly black, legs pink, and their bills yellow with a bright red underside patch near the tip, finally making them a truly handsome bird. They nest, often in colonies, on cliff sides and sea stacks, in depressions lined with grass or seaweed. Eggs, usually three, hatch in about a month, and fledglings fly in six to seven weeks. The Western Gull, especially in Washington, often hybridizes with the more northern Glaucous-winged Gull, making it difficult to identify pure species. The are two subspecies, L. o. occidentalis which breeds north of Monterrey County in California, and L. o. wymani that breeds south of Monterrey County.

Western gulls are gregarious, often standing in flocks on one or both legs, facing into the breeze on windy days. They are also bold, not especially afraid of humans, and a favorite sport for tourist as well as residents is feeding them pieces of bread and watching their raucous antics as they vie for choice morsels. The gulls can also be found bathing in the mouths of fresh-water streams, such as Fall Creek which empties just inside the mouth of Netarts Bay, where they splash, dunk their heads, drink, and frolic. Seagulls also drink seawater. They have a pair of glands right above the eyes called salt glands that extract salt from the blood and releases it from the beak.

These gulls are predators, scavengers and, above all, opportunists. They will feed on anything from baby mole crabs, gooseneck barnacles, and washed ashore Dungeness crabs to food in open dumpsters. They will eat the eggs of other birds or scavenge dead sea lion pups. They nest in the spring on sea stacks.

Bathing in Fall Creek

Larus heermanni
Heermann's Gull
British Columbia to Mexico
Family Laridae
Native

This distinctive gull, easily identified by its bright red bill with a black tip, is only an occasional visitor to our shore. Smaller than the Western Gull, it has a sooty gray plumage, black-tipped wings, and dark legs. Breeding adults have a pearly white head. It breeds mostly in the Gulf of California, mainly on Isla Rasa, but because of increasing numbers, has expanded its nesting to California. They frequent the shoreline and can be seen out at sea, but rarely inland. It has a reverse migration, breeding in the south during spring and heading north by July to as far as southern British Columbia. We can see them here from late summer into fall. They feed on small fish, mainly herring and sardines, often stealing food from pelicans and other gulls. It is named after Adolphus Lewis Heermann, a mid-nineteenth doctor and naturalist.

Uria aalge (sub-sp. californica)
Common Murre
Alaska to California (British Colombia to California for this sub-species)
Family Alcidae
Native

Auks, puffins, and murres belong to the Alcidae, coastal birds that form large, remote breeding colonies on high cliffs and offshore sea stacks in the Northern Hemisphere but spend much of their lives at sea. The Common Murre is the largest of the Alcids and, when standing, is up to 18 inches high. Breeding adults are colored black and white with a totally black head, neck, back, and upper parts of the wings and white underparts. The feet are also black. The bill is long and dagger shaped. They feed mostly on small fish and squid by diving. Also, murres tip one another off on the productive feeding areas as murres at the colony find food by following the lines of returning birds. The further a species flies to forage, the more useful this information is. Murres fly an average of 25 miles to their foraging areas. They are fiercely colonial and will not even attempt to breed until plenty of murres join them on the rocks. They are not migratory. During the summer, murres return to the same breeding colony and indeed the exact same spot on the rock each year.
Colonies of murres, until recently, dominated offshore sea stacks such as Three Arch Rocks off Oceanside and Pyramid and Pillar Rocks off Cape Meares during their spring and early summer nesting season when pairs laid eggs directly on cliff edges or in rock niches. They do not build nests. The eggs are variably colored patterned so individual eggs can be recognized by parents. They are shaped with a pointed end, but the theory that when moved, they will roll in a circle, possibly preventing them from falling from precarious cliffs, is apparently not true (see https://www.audubon.org/news/why-are-murre-eggs-so-pointy-new-research-debunks-prevailing-theory).

The colonies are sensitive to any disturbance and the birds become agitated when the feel threatened and leave the nest sites, allowing predatory birds access to the eggs. Bald eagles, which have recently resurged in numbers, have become such a springtime menace to murre colonies that nesting has been disrupted or prevented to the extent that the once dense and noisy birds have virtually abandoned many nesting sites. Climate change may also be having an impact. El Nino events, the intrusion of periodic patches of warm water from the south, and generally warming seas are driving populations northward to cooler climates.

Cepphus columba
Pigeon Guillemot
Alaska to California
Family Alcidae
Native

Like the Common Murre, the Pigeon Guillemot nests on offshore rocks and sea stacks, dives to catch food, and lives in colonies, which are smaller than those of the Murre. There are five subspecies, with most living in Alaska, Siberia, and on Bering Sea islands, one ranging down to Washington, and one, C. columba eureka, living only in Oregon and California. Adults have summer (breeding) and winter (non-breeding) plumages, molting between seasons. Summer plumage is completely black except a white wing patch with a black intrusion on the lower side. In winter, the upper parts of the body are black, and underparts are white with dusky streaking around the neck and head. The inside of the mouth in both seasons is red. In summer, the feet are red and in winter, pink. It breeds during spring and summer, laying one or two eggs in a nest built in cavities, small caves, and disused nests of other birds (except those of the Western Gull), and it will reuse a nest in successive years. They are mostly monogamous. Pigeon Guillemots will dive in small feeding groups to depths of around 50 feet, but up to 140 feet, to capture small fish, invertebrates, or whatever is seasonally available. Predators are mostly other birds, including crows and gulls.

Fratercula cirrhata
Tufted Puffin
Alaska to California
Family Alcidae
Native

One of the iconic and most wanted-to-see birds of the Three Arch Rocks Wildlife Refuge is the Tufted Puffin. Visitor commonly ask about the Tufted Puffins and where can I see one. The rocks were once densely populated with nesting puffins, but there has been a steady and drastic decline in numbers along the southern parts of their range in the last 40 years for unknown reasons. A 2014 U. S. Fish and Wildlife report states: “Possible causes of puffin decline include factors related to conditions at breeding sites, at-sea mortality due to direct human impacts, and long-term changes in marine food webs.” Predation and plastic poisoning may also contribute. Whatever the reasons, they are now difficult to find. However, with a good spotting scope, look for "flying footballs" with large orange and white beaks. You may also see them "rafting" in the water.

The Tufted Puffin is the most handsome of seabirds. The adult breeding bird is dark brown/black except for the head which sports a white face, a two-tone light brown and bright orange-red bill decorated with thin white stripes, red rimmed eyes, and blond, backward-swept head plumes that trail down the back of its neck. Its legs are reddish, and the feet are webbed. Outside the breeding season, during their feeding period, the lose their luster and the tuffs molt and fall off.

They nest in colonies on sea stacks high onshore cliffs, building their nest in burrows they have excavated up to several feet deep and lined with feathers or vegetation. They lay a single egg that both parents incubate for about a month and a half.

Tufted puffins are fish eaters, diving with their webbed feet and short wings into schools of fish, capturing several at a time. During the 70s and 80s when I lived in Sequim, WA, I would see puffins and Rhinoceros Auklets (another Alcid) dive into schools of Pacific Sandlance, surfacing with multiple fish dangling from their bills. They spend most of their feeding period at sea.

Gavia immer
Common Loon
Alaska to Mexico
Family Gaviidae
Native

The Common Loon breeds in Canada and Alaska, and what we usually see in Netarts Bay are non-breeding adults or juveniles. These loons have migrated from Alaska and Northwest Canada to our Pacific shores where they spend the winter. I have yet to see breeding adults although they occasionally show up here. These Common Loon adults and juveniles closely resemble those of the Pacific Loon Gavia pacifica, a less common visitor with a more rounded head. The key identifying features of the Common Loon are a white partial collar that extends toward the back of the neck, white around the eye, and a dark culmen, the upper edge of the bill. These are diving birds, and here in Netarts Bay they feed on fish and crustaceans. The one pictured is eating a small crab. Breeding adults nest mainly in Canada and Alaska on lake and river shores, and they are monogamous, sticking together during the nesting season to rear the young. They often return to the same nest site in successive years. They may go their separate ways during winter.

Aechmophorus occidentalis
Western Grebe
Canada to Mexico
Family Podicipedidae
Native

This is an often-gregarious water bird is common in Netarts Bay during winter, not so much in the flocks that form in freshwater lakes where they breed during spring, but as individuals feeding near shore mainly on fish but also on invertebrates. It is a diving bird that hunts aggressively, using it stiletto bill as a spear. It can be recognized by its long neck, sharp olive-colored bill, red eyes surrounded by black, and dark body except its white head and neck underside. Males and female look the same, except the bills of males are longer and thicker. Their plumage is waterproof, aiding their diving capabilities. When they preen, they eat their feathers to line their stomachs as a protection from sharp indigestible fish bones. They will regurgitate the feathers and bones as a pellet, like the regurgitated pellets of owls.

Clark’s grebe is a lookalike that is found in southern Oregon and south but may occasionally find its way to Netarts Bay. Its bill is a brighter yellow-orange and the eyes are surrounded by white instead of black.

Haematopus bachmani
Black Oystercatcher
Alaska to Mexico
Family Haematopodidae
Native

The jet-black plumage, bright red bill, red-rimmed golden eyes, and sharp cries, whistles and yelps of the black oystercatcher Haematopus bachmani cannot be mistaken for any other bird. It is one of the loudest and most vocal birds on our coast, especially when in flight, as it creates its varied cries and alarms. Oyster catchers can be seen flying in skilled precision along Tunnel Beach, where they land on rocks just off the beach to feed. Despite its common name, the black oyster catcher seldom feeds on oysters. Its usual food includes mussels, limpets, and other mollusks and attached fauna, which it pries off rocks and opens with its substantial bill. Occasionally, it feeds on sand-dwelling fauna on wave-washed beaches, picking morsels out of the sand in the backwash of a receding wave. The waves chase feeding oystercatchers in and out with them, as though the birds do not want to get their feet wet. Four oyster catchers, three of which are pictured in the surf, occupied the same portion of the beach at Oceanside through most of the 2005-06 winter.

Black oyster catchers’ nest in shallow depressions on rocks and sea stacks just above the high tide line where young have easy access to food. The female lays two or three eggs, and both sexes incubate them until they hatch in about four weeks. Both adults care for the chicks for about a year, feeding them and eventually teaching them the skills to forage on rock fauna. To distract predators such as gulls or crows, the parents may feign injury when a nest is approached, like the behavior of killdeer. Oyster catchers are territorial, remaining in the same area most of their lives, often up to thirty years.

Charadrius nivosus
Western Snowy Plover
Washington to Mexico
Family Charadriidae
Native

The Western Snowy Plover population along the Pacific coast, currently known to nest at only seven sites on the northern Oregon coast, is declining and considered threatened. It is small, slightly over six inches in length, and inconspicuous, so small they often seek shelter in footprints in the sand. Its nest, built from March to September, is little more than a shallow depression in open, bare ground, sometimes near a clump of beach grass or driftwood. There are typically two or three eggs to a nest, incubated by males at night and females during the day. It eats by foraging for small invertebrates. It is distinguished from the more common Semi-palmated Plover by lack of complete dark breast band, by grey or black as opposed to yellow legs, and by lack of yellow on bill. Human activities, such as walking, jogging, running pets, horseback riding, vehicle use, and coastal development, are serious factors in this species decline from historic robust populations.

by MK

Charadrius semipalmatus
Semipalmated Plover
Alaska to Mexico
Family Charadridae
Native

This bird is the most common of the plovers, frequently seen in groups, sometimes with other shorebirds, along both coasts of the United States during its winter migration from northern Canada and Alaska. You can find it in our area on the sandy beaches and the tidal flats of Netarts Bay during April and May and sometimes into July and August. It has a short orange bill, tipped with black, yellow-orange legs, brown back and head, white underside, a white collar just in front of a black collar. The forecrown may be black in breeding adults, and there is a white patch above the bill. It breeds in the arctic on gravel bars and ponds in nests constructed from sand and gravel, laying four to five eggs that are incubated by both sexes and hatch in about three weeks. On the coast, it eats marine worms, crustaceans, and small mollusks.

Charadrius vociforus
Killdeer
Alaska to Mexico
Family Charadriidae
Native

The Killdeer, our most common and widespread plover inhabiting most of North America, is identified most readily by its two bold, black breast bands that contrast with its white collar and underparts. It has a brown back, pale legs, a dark bill, and a rusty colored tail in flight. It seems comfortable around human populations, nesting on the ground, parking lots, golf courses, and other places people frequent. As its specific name implies, it has a loud and piercing call often heard at long distances and is especially vocal when it performs its “broken wing” display to distract predators from its nests and young. It breeds in the cooler states and provinces but is common year-round almost everywhere. It is often seen in small groups. It eats invertebrates and forages like other plovers.

by MK

Pluvialis squatarola
Black-bellied Plover
Alaska to Mexico
Family Caradriidae
Native

This is the largest western Plover, almost a foot long, with a bulky build, a black stout bill, black legs, and with the non-breeding adult that migrates to our coast for the winter, brownish mottling on the back and mottled stripes on the breast and head. It stands upright, and when it flies you can see a black armpit patch on the white underwing. Breeding males, which we do not see here, have a black belly, throat, and face with a white crown that extends down to the forward part of the back. Breeders nest in the high Arctic then migrate south as far as South America and Australia. Our coastal non-breeders may be seen solitary or in small flocks. Like other Plovers, it forages for insects and other invertebrates by running, pausing, plucking, then running again.

by MK

Numenius phaeopus
Whimbrel
Alaska to Mexico
Family Scolopacidae
Native

The Whimbrel, a type of Curlew, is another seasonal migrant from Alaskan tundra nesting sites. It is a large shorebird, but smaller than the similar Long-billed Curlew, that struts along our shoreline in typically small flocks, sometimes mixed with other shorebirds, but is easy to recognize because of its long, downcurved bill and striped crown with a median light stripe bordered by two dark stripes. Its bill is mostly black with some lighter color at its base. Its legs are gray and body a mottled brown.

Feeding, they probe with their long bills in the sand or mud for invertebrates such as crustaceans, especially crabs, and worms. In the tundra, it nests on raised ground in shallow depressions lined with plants and lichen. Three or four eggs incubate for most of a month, and the hatchlings are tended by both parents, protecting them from predators. The name “whimbrel” is a loose interpretation of their call. The genus is from Greek “noumentos” meaning at the time of the new moon, which refers to the shape of the curved bill.

Numenius americanus
Long-billed Curlew
North America, Coastal Oregon to Central America
Family Scolopacidae
Native

The largest of the sandpipers, around 23 inches long, it is an impressive but uncommon winter visitor. It has a long downward curved bill, gray legs, a brown patterned back, and buffy breast. It resembles the Whimbrel, but is larger and lacks the dark head stripes of the Whimbrel. Juveniles have shorter bills than adults. It breeds inland and mirgates to the coast during winter where it can be seen on beaches or in marshes. It useses its long bill to probe deep into mud, sand, and between rocks for insects, crustceans, mollusks, and worms. It can aso enjoy fish.

by MK

Tringa melanoleuca
Greater Yellowlegs
Alaska to Mexico
Family Scolopacidae
Native

Greater Yellowlegs are members of Tringine Sandpipers, a tribe of the large family Scolopacidae, that includes other similar wading shore birds which breed in the arctic tundra and typically migrate long distances, as far as South America and Australia. It is medium size bird with dark bands or streaks on the breast and neck, dark speckling on the back, a white eye ring, a medium long, slightly upturned bill, and yellow legs.

The birds seen here are Pacific Coast migrants. These Yellowlegs feed by spreading out in a habitat and moving about, scanning for prey on a mud or sand surface, or by swishing their beaks back and forth in the water, stirring up prey such as small fish, worms, amphipods, and other crustaceans.

Tringa flavipes
Lesser Yellowlegs
Alaska to Mexico
Family Scolopacidae
Native

The Lesser Yellowlegs, somewhat common here in winter, is very similar to the Greater Yellowlegs but smaller, around ten inches long versus thirteen plus inches long. Its bill is thin and about the length of the head, whereas Greater Yellowlegs bills are noticeably thicker, slightly upturned, and longer than the head. The two species are most easily appreciated when they are side by side. Their calls are also different. The Lesser Yellowlegs breeds and nests in Alaska and Northern Canada and winters in the southern coastal United States and Mexico, a bit further south than the Greater Yellowlegs. It prefers small, brackish pools as opposed to saltwater, and is less common in tidal flats. It eats aquatic and terrestrial insects, mollusks, and crustaceans, plus it eats seeds.

Image: Greater on the left, Lesser on the right.

by MK

Tringa incana
Wandering Tattler
Alaska to Central America
Family Scolopacidae
Native

The Wandering Tattler is a medium sized (eleven inches long) gray shorebird with long wings and short legs that give it a slim, elongated look. Its bill is mostly black, legs a dull yellow, the breast often barred, and the eyes are narrowly ringed with white or pale brown. It nests in Alaska and Yukon Territory, then migrates south. It feeds on insects and other invertebrates and prefers rocky and pebbly coasts. It bobs when walking, like the Spotted Sandpiper. It’s called Wandering because it is found all along the Pacific coast of North and South America, South Pacific islands, and Australia.

by MK

Calidris mauri
Western Sandpiper
Alaska to Mexico
Family Scolopacidae
Native

Three sandpipers that visit our shores are so similar that one can be easily mistaken for another: the Western Sandpiper, the Least Sandpiper, and the Semipalmated Sandpiper. The one pictured here is the Western Sandpiper because of the slight rufus color on the scapulars (shoulders) and auriculars (ear patches behind the eyes). The Least Sandpiper has yellow legs and is smaller. These species can mix in a flock, and collectively are referred to as “peeps.” This flock on Netarts Bay also included the larger bodied and longer-billed Dunlin.

The Western Sandpiper nests in the Alaskan and eastern Siberian tundra and migrates south along the Pacific coast to spend the winters. They feed in sand and mud flats or in shallow water by probing the sediment with their bills for worms, crustaceans, mollusks, and insects. They can also feed visually, picking up prey they see on the surface. There are also inland migrants that diet more on insects and seeds. In the tundra, they nest on the ground in shallow, plant-lined depressions, laying three to four brown-spotted eggs that hatch after about three weeks of incubation. The male is often the caretaker of the chick

Calidris virgata (formerly Aphriza virgata)
Surfbird
Akaska to Mexico (all the way to Chile)
Family Scolopacidae
Native

This is a chunky shore bird with yellow legs, a short, stout bill, a gray-brown head and scapular wing parts, a whitish spotted breast, and a white tail with a dark band on the tip. It has a light eye band. You can see them darting among the intertidal rocks along Tunnel Beach and Short Beach. It was considered a relative of turnstones but was given its own genus (Aphriza). Now, recent genetic evidence indicates it is close to Red and Great Knots and should be included in that genus (Calidris). Truly a shoreline bird, it has a long, narrow, migratory distribution from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, not extending inland above the high tide line. It breeds in the tundra of Alaska and Yukon, moves south in the fall, and winters in South America. Along our shores it eats mollusks and crustaceans.

Calidris ptilocnemis
Rock Sandpiper
Alaska to Northern California
Family Scolopacidae
Native

The uncommon Rock Sandpiper is about the size of a Robin, and is sometimes found mixed with Turnstones, Surfbirds, Black Oyster Catchers, and Sanderlings. It breeds and nests during summer along the western coast of Alaska on tundra and rocky coastlines, then migrates south along the Pacific coast during winter. Non-breeders usually stay in Alaska and endure the exceedingly harsh winter weather. We find Rock Sandpipers here only during winter. Most breeding pairs appear to be monogamous. The breeding adult (the ones we see) have a black bill that grades into greenish yellow toward its base. It droops slightly and is longer and thinner than a Surfbird’s. Legs are dull yellow. They have an unassuming grey-brown plumage with dark scapulars, dark brown tertials edged with light gray, and spotted to striped breasts. They feed on insects and other invertebrates.

by MK

Calidris minutilla
Least Sandpiper
North America
Family Scolopacidae
Native

Common across North America, the Least Sandpiper is the smallest of the sandpipers, less than six inches long, about the size of a sparrow. It breeds in the arctic tundra and migrates south, both inland and along the coasts. We see them here as winter residents in small to medium groups, often mixed with other sandpipers, or “peeps” as sandpipers of the family Scolopacidae are often called. It has a dark bill, greenish-yellow legs, white underside, streaks on the breast, and black and brown above with some rufous scapulars. A white wing stripe is visible during flight. It prefers mud or grassy mud flats to sandy beaches. It feeds on a variety of insects and other terrestrial and aquatic invertebrates.

by MK

Calidris alba
Sanderling
Alaska to South America
Family Scolopacidae
Native

Often in flocks and running along the sandy beach, they chase after receding waves picking out small prey that have surfaced in the wave’s backflow. They are small birds, about eight inches long, with stout black bills, black legs, whitish bellies and breasts, a mixture of brown and black upper parts, with a hint of rust on the crown. Non-breeding adults have a grey shoulder “epaulet.” They breed and nest in the arctic tundra of northern Canada, then migrate 3000 to 10,000 mile south to the coasts of North and South America. Sanderlings have a backward pointing fourth toe that may aid in running, which they do a lot of.

by MK

Calidris alpina
Dunlin
Alaska to Mexico
Family Scolopacidae
Native

There are ten subspecies, one C. a. pacifica which breeds in western Alaska is the one that visits our coast. They can be seen during fall and winter in large flocks, foraging in the mud and sand flats of the bay or along the ocean beaches. By May, most have begun to migrate back to Alaska. Non-breeders are a drab gray topside and white underneath. Breeding adults have a rufus or rusty back and a black belly patch. Underwings are white. They are slightly larger than the similar looking Western Sandpiper. Here, they feed on marine worms, crustaceans, mollusks, and other small marine animals, typically at low tide, where they probe in the mud and sand or pick prey from the surface.

Actitis macularius
Spotted Sandpiper
North and South America
Family Scolopacidae
Native

This usually solitary sandpiper is seen on rocky shores, but prefers freshwater ponds, streams, and rivers, and ranges across North America. Males and females have reversed behaviors and appearances, the males smaller and less aggressive than females, tend the nest and young, while larger females defend their territories. Females are often polyandrous, meaning they may mate with more than one male in a breeding season. Breeding adults have a spotted neck and breast. Non-breeders lack spots and show brown on the sides of the breast. They forage by sight on land or water, feeding on insects and other invertebrates. When walking, they nod and bob their tails up and down. They can be found year-round in our area.

by MK

Phalar0pus lobatus
Red-Necked Phalarope
Alaska to Mexico
Family Scolopacidae
Native

This small wading bird is an uncommon migrant visitor to Netarts Bay. It nests in its arctic breeding grounds of Alaska and Northern Canada and migrates south, either inland or over the ocean, where it winters, and occasionally along the coast. The one pictured here is a juvenile, photographed near the inside of Netarts Bay Spit. It has a thin, needle-like bill, dark patches on the crown and behind the eye, and light streaks on the back. Adults will develop a black head, a white throat, and when breeding, a red neck. Females are more colorful than males. This one was feeding on small crustaceans, such as amphipods, and other infauna. These birds seldom encounter humans, so they are not wary. I was within a couple of feet from this one when I took the photo. It showed no fear.

Bucephala albiola
Bufflehead
Alaska to Mexico, much of North America
Family Anatidae
Native

Buffleheads are small diving ducks, common during winter in Netarts Bay. The colorful male has a dark, iridescent green and purple crown, face, neck, and back with a white underside and a bright white wedge on the rear of the head. The drabber female is dark brown with a light breast and a white patch behind the eye. The bills of each are gray. They gather in small groups on the bay, females often trailing a male. They are monogamous during mating season, often keeping the same mate and nest in successive seasons. They are migratory, breeding and nesting, inland in Canada and Alaska, using abandon flicker holes as nesting sites. The also take advantage of manmade nests. They have been known to live more than 18 years. Those wintering in Netarts Bay feed on mollusks and crustaceans.

Lophodytes cucullatus
Hooded Merganser
Southern Alaska to Southern California
Family Anatidae
Native

Male Hooded Mergansers are often confused with male buffleheads because the back of the head appears white on both. Unlike the bufflehead, the merganser has a black stripe just behind the white breast and cinnamon-colored sides. The white-sided hood is a crest of plumage that can be raised and lowered and appears to have a black posterior edge. The female has a dark rusty-red hood and little body white. In the pictures, the male has his hood mostly lowered and the female has hers raised. Both sexes have white stripes on the tertial wing feathers. The bill is narrow, tapering quickly. The male has piercingly yellow eyes against its black face. Hooded Mergansers migrate only short distances, nest in tree cavities, and are monogamous. They are common in Netarts Bay, feeding on fish and possibly crustaceans. They hunt by eyesight, following their prey underwater.

Bucephala clangula
Common Goldeneye
Alaska to Mexico, most of the United States and Canada, circumboreal
Family Anatidae
Native

Goldeneyes are medium size sea-ducks that spend the winters in calm coastal waters as far south as Mexico after breeding in Canada’s boreal forest. Males are black and white, with black heads (tinted with green) with an oval white patch behind the black bill and below the eye. The undersides are white, and back, wings and tail are black. When swimming, the folded wings look as though they have black and white stripes. The eye is a bright gold. Females have brown heads, gray backs with two white wing patches, and pale-yellow eyes.

These birds are diving birds that feed on crustaceans, mollusks, and insects. Nests are built in tree cavities formed by broken limbs or even in large woodpecker holes. Females may lay eggs in other Goldeneye nest or in the nest of other duck species if there are too few nest sites available. Young leave the nest within a day or two.

Barrow's Goldeneye, similar and much less common, has a steeper forehead, and males have a white crescent rather than a white spot on their cheeks. Females have an orangish bill.

Anas acuta
Northern Pintail
Alaska to Mexico; most of North America
Family Anatidae
Native

The pintail male is easy to recognize by its dark chocolate head with white stripes running down the sides to the breast, a bluish bill, and long central tail feathers projecting backward at an upturned angle. When in flight, the inner wing feathers (speculum) are green. The female has a tan face, a brown mottled body, and shorter tail feathers. Pintails will congregate when feeding, and seem prefer near-shore shallows where they can pluck plants and other foods from the bottom, and here on Netarts Bay may be seen in flocks on shore sorting through the eelgrass beds. They are migratory, breeding in spring at northern lattitudes and moving south in the fall, and they are common inland in lakes and rivers as well as in estuaries.

Male

Feeding

Melanitta perspicillata
Surf Scoter
Alaska to Mexico
Family Anatidae
Native

Another sea duck that breeds and nest in northern Alaska and Canada and seasonally migrates south along our coast to bays and estuaries is the odd-looking surf scoter. The males are most distinctive with their multicolored bills, black heads with with forward and rear patches, and their bright, contrasting eyes, and red legs. Females are a drab brown with two identifying white patches on each side of the head, one on the bill and one behind the eye. The bills of each are bulky, especially on the male where it looks swollen. They can sometimes arrive in large flocks, rafting on the water, hunting for prey. They are divers, and feed on benthic crustaceans, mollusks, worms, and other infauna and epifauna, including small fish. They are also known to feed in mussel beds, picking worms and crustaceans that live among the mussels. Look for them from fall through spring.

Adult males

Adult males, juvenile males, and females

Branta canadensis
Canada Goose
Alaska to Mexico, Most of North America
Family Anatidae
Native

The Canada Goose is a large bird characterized by long black neck, black head, white chin strap that stretches around to the cheeks, and a brown body with a whitish belly and rump. There are seven subspecies of Canada Geese. The larger one pictured here is probably B. c. moffitti, the Moffitti or the Western Canada Goose, common west of the Rocky Mountains. The smaller one may be a female. There is little difference in sexual morphology. Canada geese are less common in our area than in other parts of the state because we are not in one major migratory flyways or home ranges. When I lived in eastern Washington, Canada Geese were both migratory and resident. Migrating geese would fly in by the thousands in their typical V-shaped patterns during fall, often spending winters in the area. Nesting there was common, especially along the Columbia River. Here, in Netarts Bay, the saline water can be toxic to young goslings before they have developed salt regulatory glands.

Canada Geese are monogamous, often remaining that way for life. They mate in spring or early summer in colder climes. The female then builds a nest of twigs and grasses and lays her eggs (2 to 10), each about a day apart. Goslings hatch in about 30 days. The yellow goslings are soon, within a day, able to leave the nests and follow the parents to food and water. They are social and may group with other goslings. They fledge after about a month and a half but cannot fly until feathers have fully developed.

Mainly herbivorous, the geese will feed on leaves, grass, seeds, berries, algae, and roots. The thousands of geese that few into Eastern Washington could be a bane to farmers as they pulled up and consumed newly sprouted crops, wiping out a harvest before it even got started.

Phalacrocorax auritus
Double-crested Cormorant
Alaska to Mexico
Family Phalacrocoracidae
Native

There are five subspecies inhabiting North America, with Phalacrocorax auratus albociliatus occuring along coasts of the Pacific Northwest. The “double crests” comes from paired plumes on the sides of the heads of breeding adults, birds that are at least three years old, and they are presents only during the spring breeding season. The plumes are black in southern birds and white in more northern regions. The other identifying feature is the yellow to orange, featherless facial and throat skin on adults. The bill is hooked on the end, and the feet are webbed. Juveniles are lighter colored, more brownish with a pale breast. This Cormorant is widely spread across North America, inland as well as along the coast. In our region, they breed in colonies on rocky cliffs and sea stacks, building their nests with twigs or any other available debris. They are diving birds that feed on small fish. You may see these birds standing in the sun for long periods with their wings outspread. Like other cormorants, their plumage is not waterproof, so they need to dry their feathers.

Phalacrocorax pelagicus
Pelagic Cormorant
Alaska to Mexico
Family Phalacrocoracidae
Native

The name “pelagic” does not reflect its usual habit. The Pelagic Cormorant is not often found on the open ocean, and when it is, it is during winter. So, it is not truly pelagic, but it rather frequents rocky coastlines, nesting on narrow ledges and niches, high on cliffsides. We can see them at the north end of Tunnel Beach during late spring and early summer, perched on the near vertical basalt outcrop, building nests, raising young, and coating cliff-face white with their droppings. This cormorant is colored an intense, shiny black except for a white patch on its flank (breeding adults) and maybe some small white plumes on its head. A breeding adult may have a red auricular patch on the side of its face and a tuft of black plumage on its crown. The beak is narrow, thinner than those of other local cormorants. They live in small groups, especially during nesting. There is a northern subspecies that ranges from British Columbia to Alaska and Asia, and a southern one that extends from British Columbia to Mexico. It feeds mostly on non-schooling fish, such as small sculpins, gunnels, rockfish, and shrimp, by diving, sometimes to over 100 feet deep.

Phalacrocorax penicillatus
Brandt's Cormorant
Alaska to Mexico
Family Phalacrocoracidae
Native

Brandt’s Cormorant is an ocean diver along the Pacific coast of North America. The specific name penicillatus refers to the distinguishing tuft of fine pale to white feathers, like the hairs of a painter’s brush, on its neck. When breeding, a pouch beneath the throat, the gular pouch, turns bright blue. The common name “Brandt’s” is from Johann Friedrich von Brandt, a German naturalist who first described the species. Locally, these cormorants are here year-round, but birds from Alaska and Canada migrate south for the winter. It feeds by diving in deep water for small fish, especially sardines and anchovies, lured to the California current by upwelled nutrients. It reproduces in colonies on offshore sea stacks where males begin to build nests in early spring, then display their bright gular pouches to attract later arriving females that help complete the nests.

by MK

Ardea herodias
Great Blue Heron
Most of North America
Family Ardeidae
Native

Great blue herons, Ardea herodias, can often be seen in the shallows of Netarts Bay, standing majestically, surveying their surroundings, staring into the water, or striding in slow motion in search of food. If you watch them long enough, you will see one stab or spear a fish or shrimp with its long, yellow bill, then juggle it into the best position for Blue-Heron swallowing. If the fish is large, the heron will carry it to shore to pick at it. Herons seem ungainly, with their wings too large for their thin bodies as they struggle to gain flight. Yet once aloft, they are rather graceful. Common all year in the bay, herons may be seen a dozen or more at one time from the Netarts Bay Road that runs along the east side of the bay.

The great blue heron, or GBH as birders often call it, is a large wading bird, weighing up to five and a half pounds and stretching to more than four feet in length. The Pacific Northwest subspecies, Ardea herodias fannini, ranges along the Pacific Coast from Southern Alaska to the tip of Baja California. It is darker than others in the U.S. and has a shorter bill. Its back and wings are bluish gray, with black shoulder patches and a black tail, and its neck is grayish brown with black streaks on the underside. Its head is white except for a black crown and occipital plumes. When perched or in flight, it commonly bends its long neck in an “S” shape, as seen in the picture.

Great blue herons breed in rookeries, called heronries, often but not always in trees. The Netarts rookery, which is in trees, is in a forested lot on the south side of Holly Heights Avenue. During the spring, the female lays two to seven eggs that hatch in about a month. Chicks fledge after another two months, mature in two years, and live to about fifteen years. Males are usually larger than females. Herons feed both day and night, but mostly at dawn and dusk, eating mainly fish but also crustaceans, amphibians, reptiles, insects, other birds, and small mammals. They are quiet birds except when they take flight, often emitting a loud “kraaak” as they become airborne.

Feeding

Scratching an itch

Ardea alba
Great Egret
Cosmopolitan, Washington to Mexico on the west coast
Family Ardeidae
Native

Four subspecies are found around the world, with A. a. egretta inhabiting the Americas. This distinctive and stately white bird appears to have increased in numbers locally, occurring in cow pastures, and in Netarts Bay where they are now found much of the year in wading shallow waters, stalking and spearing fish with stiletto bills. They are sometimes found together with Great Blue Herons. The plumage is entirely white, the neck is long, bill is yellow, and feet are black. The head and neck are without plumes, but it has long, delicate plumes that extend from the back to the tail. These plumes were popular decorations for woman’s hats in the 19^th century, resulting in the wholesale slaughters of entire populations. They have now largely recovered. They breed in colonies, and seasonal breeding pairs are monogamous.

Hobnobbing with herons

Megaceryle (Ceryle) alcyon
Belted Kingfisher
Across North America
Family Alcedinidae
Native

This perky, fish-eating bird is widely distributed over North America from Alaska to Mexico. You can see them perched on tree branches or utility wires near sheltered waters waiting for the right moment to plunge for a fish. They are stocky birds with prominent dagger-like bills that nest in excavated burrows in sandy banks along streams and shorelines. Males and females have a reverse sexual dimorphism. The males of most birds are typically more brightly colored than the females. The belted kingfisher differs in that the breast of the male is all white, while that of the female has an additional rust-colored belt across the breast and along the flanks. The back and head of both sexes is blue-gray, and the head is topped with a scruffy-looking plumage. Besides eating fish, this bird is not too choosy about other foods. It will hunt small crustaceans, insects, amphibians, and small mammals. The nesting burrows are actually tunnels from one to several feet long, dug into sandy banks that line streams, marshes, and bays. The entrance to each tunnel is sloped downward to prevent water from filling the borrow. Kingfishers can be seen year-round along Netarts Bay.

Female

Male

Corvus brachyrhychos
American Crow
Washington to Mexico on the Pacific coast.
Much of Canada and the United States.
Family Corvidae
Native

This large, glossy black bird is ever present along our coast. The American Crow is considered one of the most intelligent and adaptable birds, increasingly living comfortably in the presence of humans. It is sociable with other crows and likes to flock, with other birds such as gulls, and even with people. Crows are opportunistic scavengers, feeding on freshly dead animals, like road kills, and they are also hunters and gatherers. For example, in our area they collect clams and drop them from high in the air onto hard surfaces, such as paved roads, to break open the shells. This intelligence leads to being problem solvers. They are self-aware, use tools, recognize people’s faces. leave gifts for those they like, harass those they don’t. They can work out multifaceted problems, solving a sequence of challenges that requires a succession of solutions to reach a reward. The entire family of corvids appears to be intelligent.

They live in almost any place that can offer the possibility of food, in both natural and human created habitats. They tend to avoid closed-in places such as dense forests and prefer more open landscapes, especially those with a few trees on which they can perch. The are common on our beaches. They nest mostly in the upper stories of conifers, usually in the crotch of a branch next of a trunk. Both sexes help build the nest.

How do you tell the difference between a crow and the common raven, which we also see along the coast? Ravens are larger, have thicker beaks, show a “shaggy beard” on the throat when calling, and have a wedge-shaped tail during flight, whereas the tail of the crow is rounded to almost squared off. The call of a raven is a croak and that of a crow is a caw-caw.

Haliaeetus leucocephalus
Bald Eagle
Most of United States and Canada, int parts of Northern Mexico
Family Accipitridae
Native

It is our nation’s symbol, depicted on the Seal of the United States, on coins, stamps and elsewhere. It is a majestic bird found only in North America. It is large, robust, and breeding adults have a distinctive white feathered (not bald) head and tail, that contrasts with their otherwise dark brown plumage and hooked, yellow beaks and yellow feet. It is a raptor, a bird of prey, both a hunter and an opportunistic scavenger. It feeds on fish, mammals, some invertebrates, and other birds, steals from other raptors, and will gorge on carrion. It is common around Netarts Bay and can be seen perched in trees or gliding over the water. Females are larger than males. There are several nests between the Capes where one can watch pairs tend the nests and raise their young, one at base of the pocket marsh next to the Netarts Bay Shellfish Hatchery, another along the trail at Cape Meares between the Octopus tree to the highway. Nests are built by both parents (mostly the female) by weaving sticks and branches together into a structure that can be five or more feet across. Nesting here begins in early spring, and the young will fledge in summer. Eagle pairs will use the same nest year after year. I have watched the nest at Cape Meares repeatedly occupied again and again. They will defend their nest against predators, which may include other raptors, crows, and ravens, but when flying alone they may be harassed by these same birds. First-year birds are brown. After one year, they have white patches on belly and back, and after two years they develop some white on the head and yellow on the bill. It takes the eagles four to five years to reach full maturity and develop white heads and tails. Young eagles are sometimes mistaken for Golden Eagles which are rare on the coast. Bald Eagle populations have increased in recent years, making them a joy to see.

Nesting eagle

Young eagle feeding on a Red Rock Crab.

Buteo jamaicensis
Red-tailed Hawk
Alaska to Mexico, most of North America
Family Accipitridae
Native

National Geographic’s Complete Birds of North America call this hawk the “default raptor.” It is widespread and increasing in numbers, even adapting to city life. It is large, about 20 inches high with a wingspan of almost 50 inches but is light weight. It varies in color and pattern, ranging from very pale to almost black, but most have dark brown backs and lighter undersides with a streaked belly. White spotted scapulars (the back) form a V suggesting backpack straps. The tail on young birds is striped, not red, but that on adults, especially when flying and viewed against the sun, can be a bright rusty red. It is a hunter. It perches on high branches or sores in lazy circles, looking for small mammals, its preferred food, with its incredible eyesight. It can spot a mouse from 100 feet in the air. It will swoop down at more than 100 miles per hour, grabbing the prey with its talons. It will also eat birds, reptiles, and even crabs. Farmers call the “chicken hawks” though it will seldom attack a full-grown chicken. A pair will build a nest (or refurbish an old one) of sticks and twigs in the crotch of a tree, high above the ground. Where there are no trees, it will use rock ledges or even appropriate building structures. Red-tailed Hawks living in northern latitudes may migrate south in the winter, but most in the continental U.S. are year-round residents. Its greatest enemy is the great-horned owl.

Cathartes aura
Turkey Vulture
Canada to Mexico, most of North America
Family Cathartidae
Native

Also known as a buzzard, it is a large brown bird, easy to recognize by it bare, red head, orange beak, and “fingers”, long feathers on the ends of its wings, when it soars. Its tail is long, extending beyond the feet. Its flight is mostly gliding with few wing flaps, using thermal air densities to provide lift, and it often soars in wide circles. Turkey Vultures are carrion eaters, feeding on carcasses of freshly dead animals, spotting them from the air by both sight and especially smell. They feed by thrusting their featherless head into the body cavities of rotting animals. The lack of head plumage keeps the head and neck cleaner during feeding. There are no feathers to foul. Turkey Vultures are important to ecology and the environment because they clean away the dead and prevent the spread of diseases. They will on occasion eat vegetation.

They nest in sheltered cavities on rocky cliffs, caves, hollow trees and logs, and under rocks, laying one to three eggs on the bottom of shelter without building a true nest. Young are feed by both parents by regurgitation. Little is known about migrations. Adult birds cool themselves on hot days by defecating and urinating on their legs, allowing evaporative cooling to reduce their temperature.