Oregon update

We spent just a couple of nights in Oregon, heading south down the Pacific coast. First stop off was at Cannon's Beach - a beautiful area of the world where, just offshore, lies Haystack Rock. Up to seven Harlequins lazed around in the swell at the bottom of the rock while amongst the hundreds of Pigeon Guillemots and Guillemots (Common Murres here) were a couple of Tufted Puffins; apparently it has been a poor year for them here according to the locals I talked to, but they were still pretty easy to see though a bit distant.

Harlequins chilling out at Haystack Rock, Oregon August 2012



Loads of gulls on the Oregon beaches too - a big change from the Seattle area with the dominant large gull now being Western Gull (though the mantle colour in Oregon is paler than down here in California...). Surprisingly few Glaucous-winged Gulls but also Mew, Ring-billed, California and Heermann's Gulls all noted in varying numbers.

adult Western Gull Brookings, Oregon August 2012

juvenile California Gull Brookings, Oregon August 2012. A nice cinnamon breasted morph of this species - probably the largest of the small gulls, or the smallest of the large gulls?

The odd Black Oystercatcher was present on the rocky coasts, but I saw surprisingly few 'peeps' - just a few Western and Least Sands. Passerine wise, limited to White-crowned and Song Sparrows. But, to be honest, having birded Washington relatively extensively and with the draw of California to the south, my efforts didn't do Oregon any justice at all. The scenery was pretty special though so I'll leave you with a few Oregon coastal scapes for now.

Washington State update part 2

I've been heading south at quite some speed the last couple of days - currently writing this from the Central Oregon coast. But plenty of birds and dramatic scenery still in abundance. Anyway, I'll finish off Washington as I had a bloody good time there.

And so I started last Friday heading up Hurricane Ridge in the Olympic National Park. A Varied Thrush shot across the car, leaving me slightly under-rawed at seeing one of my targets. Olive-sided Flycatcher, Orange-crowned Warbler, lots of Chestnut-backed Chickadees and Oregon Juncos were a feature of the early morning drive up. And then I found this beast chilling out by the roadside in the early morning sunshine...marvellous, a nice Sooty Grouse.

Sooty Grouse Hurricane Ridge, WA

Further highlights on the mountain side included some showy Buff-bellied Pipits - remarkably my first in the US - as well as Band-tailed Pigeon, several Red-breasted Nuthatches and my first Townsend's Warbler. Not bad for a couple of hours, but the sea was beckoning me again.

Buff-bellied Pipit Hurricane Ridge, WA

Back down in Port Angeles, I enjoyed nice views of a showy White-crowned Sparrow and some close study of Glaucous-winged and 'Olympic' Gulls - interestingly, no pure Western Gulls in this neck of the woods. The nearby spit at Ediz Hook was good value with 21 Harlequins, Black Oystercatcher, Pigeon Guillemots and Rhino Auklets with two close Marbled Murrelets thrown in for good measure. Plus a load of close gulls that I got amongst.

White-crowned Sparrow Port Angeles, WA

Harlequin Ediz Hook, WA

I headed back round the coast, stopping off at Dungeness Bay of all places where a haul that included Glaucous-winged Gull, Belted Kingfisher, Great Blue Heron, Song and White-crowned Sparrows wouldn't have been too bad for Kent. Last stop before heading back to Seattle was Sequim Bay, where half a dozen Mew Gulls were lingering in amongst the larger numbers of Ring-billed Gulls.

Glaucous-winged Gull Seattle, WA

Next day I walked around Seattle, not seeing much in the way of birds apart from a load of the bad boys above. Sunday, however, was meant to be the day where I would see Killer Whales but it was not to be unfortunately. Our boat trip out of Anacortes did produce a showy Minke Whale as well as good views of stuff like Rhino Auklets and Pigeon Guillemots.

Minke Whale off Lopez Island, WA

Pigeon Guillemot Anacortes, WA

Heading south from Seattle on Monday, just a couple of hours away was Mount Rainier. A thoroughly impressive place for a Geography teacher with loads of tectonic and glacial stuff, and the high altitude birding was good too. Good views of a Varied Thrush feeding on a subalpine meadow, Clark's Nutcrackers coming to picnic tables plus loads of Yellow-rumped Warblers, Cassin's Finches, Pine Siskins and Crossbills too.

Clark's Nutcracker Mount Rainier, WA

Varied Thrush Mount Rainier, WA

So there you have it, well almost, for Washington. A quick couple of hours on Tuesday morning at Ridgefield NWR (an important wintering site for Dusky Canada Goose by the way) was productive with American Bittern, Wood Duck, White Pelican, Bushtit and Wilson's Warbler all added to the trip list here. And then it was down to Oregon. More later, as it's just gone one in the morning here.

Washington State update part 1

The last few days have been spent in Washington State - absolutely blinding scenery of all descriptions from coasts to mountains and all on a grand scale. What's more I've visited the first Starbucks, been to Kurt Cobain's home town and visited La Push beach where a fair bit of Twilight is filmed. So there's the culture. Now for the birding which is why [most of] you read this. Just the first couple of days here for now.

Rufous Hummingbird Blewitt Pass, WA 25th July 2012

Rock Wren Vantage, WA 25th July 2012

The first day was a real whistle stop tour of the Washington Cascades with Seattle birder Robert Riedl who showed me some quality sites for birding. The area east of the Cascades was remarkably warm, and I was taken aback by the variety of habitats at differing altitudes we birded. Just some of the highlights included both Rufous and Calliope Hummingbirds at feeders on the Blewitt Pass, Cooper's Hawk, Great Horned Owl, White-throated Swift, American Dipper, Rock Wren, Western Bluebird, McGillivray's and Nashville Warbler, Cassin's Vireo, Mountain Chickadee, Chipping and Brewer's Sparrows, Evening Grosbeak and Yellow-headed Blackbird. Loads of UK interest too with stuff like Common Nighthawk, Cliff Swallow, Swainson's Thrush, American Robin, Yellow and Yellow-rumped Warblers all seen frequently.

Savannah Sparrow Westport, WA 26th July 2012

So the next day I headed to the coast and I was really feeling the birding here. I started off at Westport, did the loop round to Ocean Shores before heading up the coast to La Push. Loads of WP relevancy and in amongst my favourite bird families again - gulls and waders! Hundreds of gull headache photos taken throughout, though as I write this it must be said that the Glaucous-winged Gulls dominate heavily up here. Plus loads of California, Heermann's, Ring-billed and a few Mew and American Herring Gulls too. Wader wise, adult Least Sands seen in their thousands as well as hundreds of adult Western Sands with a few Dunlin and Semi-p Sands mixed in, and both dowitcher and yellowlegs too. Some good looks too at some showy erythrogaster Barn Swallows. All good practice for autumn 2012 way out west. Also good to see some more Surfbirds and Black Turnstones after all these years, while a Wandering Tattler on the jetty at Westport (Washington, not Mayo!) was a new wader species for me.

1st-summer Heermann's Gull Westport, WA 26th July 2012

Ocean Shores was just full of birds, with the Pacific Ocean putting the Atlantic to shame - Sooty Shearwaters literally 100 yards off the beach streaming through in their 1000s, as were Brown Pelicans with loads too of Rhino Auklets, Pigeon Guillemots and Guillemots (Common Murres over here). Heading up the coast I managed to shrug off the crowds and gain some atmospheric mist, and last hour or two spent at La Push produced stuff like Pacific Diver, White-winged and Surf Scoters, five Harlequins as well as really rubbish, distant views of Tufted Puffins (that breed on the stacks offshore) and the crows on the beach here are apparently Northwestern Crows.

Olympic Gull

Despite being thousands of miles away from London at the moment, I've not quite lost the Olympic spirit. Out here in NW Washington lies within the overlap zone of Western and Glaucous-winged Gull. Many of you will be aware that these birds hybridise like mad with each other, and these hybrids are termed 'Olympic Gulls'. So, there you have it... for now, at least.

'Olympic Gull' - La Push 26th July 2012. One of many hundreds of this hybrid swarm seen on the Washington coast.

Anyway, it's late so I'll save all the nice stuff for later. Suffice to say stuff I've seen like hummingbirds, Harlequins, Tufted Puffins and Evening Grosbeaks are probably slightly more widely appreciated than these gulls!

One to ponder

I can confirm that this will be my last post about Yellow-legged Gulls. Well, at least for the next two weeks! I photographed this 2nd-summer bird at Rotherhithe on 7th July. It had me, and others that I've subsequently emailed, perplexed as it's not the most obvious of Yellow-legged Gulls - and indeed shows some characters you wouldn't normally associate with the species.

At the time I thought that it was potentially a Yellow-legged Gull based largely on mantle colour but obviously it has a fully dark eye, tepid bill colour yet the state of moult isn't ideal but it seems to show no white mirror on P10. There certainly seem to be too many features wrong for it being a cachinnans (which it isn't) - axilliary pattern and colour, tail pattern, legs and perhaps you’d ideally want some grey inner greater-coverts. If you ignore all the bare parts and eye colour you could say that there isn’t an awful lot wrong for michahellis. However, I'm not fully convinced it is a pure Yellow-legged Gull I wonder whether it could potentially be a hybrid... perhaps something like a herring x mich or even a mich x cach but that is just pure speculation.

Chris Gibbins added that the bird shows some mixed signals too, but pure birds are so variable anyway and in 2nd-summer plumage there are no ways to identify hybrids. Interestingly he also suggests that if it is a pure Yellow-legged Gull it may be sick and hence the dull/delayed development of bare part tones.

Thanks to Chris G, Stu P, Alan C, Josh J and Andy L for their comments.

German-ringed juvenile YLG at Rainham

Exciting news, well for me at least. Josh and I located a yellow-ringed juvenile Yellow-legged Gull 'H8J0' at the stone barges at Rainham on Saturday (21st July). A bit of detective work revealed it was part of the Helgoland ringing scheme in Germany - thanks to Paul Roper and Luka Jurinovic for this.

The bird had been ringed in a colony in central Frankfurt, as a chick, on 18th May 2012 - it was also seen by Dave Walker at Dungeness, Kent six days before our sighting on 15th July 2012. I've always wanted to know where all these YLGs that accumulate in the Thames come from - the southeast locality would suggest they're coming across from the near continent as opposed to Iberia.

Great day's gulling

I've got that bloody torch to thank for today's decent day. Received a text from Josh early morning, just before he headed my way, to say the Olympic torch was leaving Greenwich 7.21am - exactly when we'd have been going through the place on the way to Crossness. So a rapid change of plan and we headed to Rainham and parked by the stone barges. And on the first scan, a Caspian Gull was making itself look obvious on the near side of the gull flock. As usual, a bit of a beast of a bird sitting higher mantled than the surrounding Herrings and LBBs.

2nd-summer Caspian Gull - note the advanced state of moult with the inner greater-coverts moulted through. White mirror in old P10 noticeable on this image too. Tail feathers largely retained, forming a pretty scraggy tail band.

2nd-summer Caspian Gull - fortuitously standing in front of a Yellow-legged Gull, so you can just about (?) detect the paler mantle tone.

A Sandwich Tern flew high upriver at 8.30am, the stillness of the day allowing its call to carry what was at least half a mile. Rainham was ripe with Yellow-legged Gulls with at least 40 seen during the course of the morning; many adults, 2nd-summers and at least a dozen juveniles too. For once this year, the sun was a bit bright and a lot of haze got up and made decent shots tricky. While having a chat with a couple of typical Rainham-style punters over the finer details of Grey Herons and explaining that watching gull was a sign of a mis-spent youth, a really fresh juvenile Med Gull appeared in view - my first juv of the year and looking at its plumage state, can't really have been away from its colony long. A couple of Common Gulls were present too, but there was a real dearth of significant numbers of juvenile Black-headed Gulls once again.

juvenile Mediterranean Gull - about as fresh as they come out of the nest

One of many YLGs

Coming back home, we stopped off at Crossness which turned out to be pretty quiet in the heat with just half a dozen Common Sandpipers and 4 Black-tailed Godwits on the foreshore.

The London Olympics - the twattery has begun. No longer will I be able to get to Crossness with ease. If you're sticking around for it, enjoy. I won't be though.