October 4-5, 2019 - Oregon Bound

This current trip is multi-faceted.  I leave this morning to attend the funeral of one of my Mom’s sisters, my dear Aunt Margaret Hanson.  This amazing woman always impressed me with the way that she handled adversity, and raised her family, with a strong spirit.

Margaret Hanson 1927-2019

The services were held at Salem's Belcrest Cemetery.  My Grandfather John Unruh worked at this cemetery before he was killed crossing Commercial Street on a rainy night in February 1961, and many of the family are buried here.

Mom & Margaret’s two surviving siblings, Fern and Waldo, attended, as well as about 75 of my cousins and their families.  After the service, we adjourned to Salem Heights Church for a reception, and it was good to visit with family that I don’t see nearly often enough.

I really don't expect this many people at my funeral . . .

I continued from the funeral toward Newport, as I am going to go on the Seabird Trip with Oregon Pelagic Tours on Sunday morning.  En route, I stopped in Albany, where I grew up.  I hadn’t been to the place I grew up for a number of years.

You can't go home again . . .

The old early 1950s house has been torn down, and an empty lot is all that’s left of where I spent my first 20 years.  I used to walk out the back door into the neighboring pastures, enjoying Killdeers, Ring-necked Pheasants, and the fragrance of Popcorn Flowers in the spring . . .

Fragrant Popcorn Flower Plagiobothrys figuratus

I continued west on Highway 20, turning off to go to the top of Mary’s Peak, the tallest mountain in the Oregon Coast Range.

From here, you can see the vast expanse of the Willamette Valley, and on a clear day, you can see the Pacific Ocean!  I took a few of the trails, hoping to do some birding, but it was a bit blustery.

The Forest Service campground area is a good place to look for Mountain Quail, but with the wind, I didn’t even hear one today.

I did find a Townsend’s Solitaire in the forest, trying to stay out of the breeze.

I got to the Coast in the late afternoon, and checked into the Day’s Inn in ‘uptown’ Newport.  On Saturday morning, I was awake at 5:30 this morning, so got up and drank motel room coffee and put out a short blog page.  I was only two months behind at that point . . .

Not a bad place for the price . . .

I waited until 7 a.m. for the motel’s ‘continental breakfast’ to open, having a bagel and a banana to start the day.  Then I walked down to the Newport Bayfront, and while coming down Fall Street, I heard the chatter of an oriole.

Orchard Oriole Icterus spurius

I was surprised to find an Orchard Oriole in the Pyracantha berries, along with a mixed species flock of chickadees, finches, and such.  This Oriole species is not a common bird for the Oregon Coast, and it was fun to find it there.

I posted the sighting to eBird, and emailed the other birders who were going to be on the birding trip tomorrow, then continued down to the waterfront, where the California Sea Lions lazed the afternoon away on the docks.  I made certain I knew where the boat was to leave for tomorrow’s Pelagic birding trip, then walked across the bridge to South Beach.

California Sea Lions pretty much own the docks . . .

I headed across the bridge to South Beach, and walked the trail east of the Hatfield Marine Science Center.

There were several people harvesting clams on a relatively low tide, but I didn't go out to see what species they were digging.

I scoped the gull flocks, hoping for a 'rarity', but only found the expected species.

First-year California Gull

One of the Western Gulls had a colored leg band, but it was too far out for me to see if the band had any specific information on it or not.  I've seen a few color bands that indicated the gulls were from the Farallon Island colonies off California, but that was about as much info as you could get.

The bird has a color band on its left foot

I’d worked at the US Fish and Wildlife Service office here in back in 1988, and was kind of surprised at all the development at the Science and Management center.  It’s kind of ironic that the facilities were built on dredge spoil and former intertidal wetland: Nowadays, the agencies who are headquartered here would never allow a business or agency to build in this type of habitat!

There is a construction project ongoing at the Marine Studies Building at Oregon State University's Hatfield Marine Science Center.  This new facility will “support critical research, education, administrative and technical support, and outreach and engagement.”

Go Beavs!

I made my way back to the motel and readied myself for tomorrow’s Pelagic!

Mary’s Peak eBird Checklist is Here

Newport - Orchard Oriole eBird Checklist is Here

Hatfield MSC Trail eBird Checklist is Here

Orchard Oriole - So Cool!!