(no subject)
Looking at this makes me really want to go on another pelagic. the first pelagic I went on I hardly counted anything from, cuz I would see the bird they pointed out, but didn't like, care which characteristics MADE it the bird they pointed out. plus I felt very sick. WHICH I think was mostly because I didn't eat much breakfast and when people are losing their lunch over the rails it made me queasy too. my second pelagic I did get a lot of new lifers....but that was like 3 years ago and I'm jonesin for another one. :D
so yesterday was my first day back at the ol' Subway! it was good actually. HA I was so flustered for a while. I got so confused. but it's all good. :D pura vida.
tuesday I went to the coast with the "Wednesday morning" birding group. go figure, ahha. it was really great. I was so happy to be at the Oregon coast again, where it was not humid and there weren't mosquitoes and it was actually cold! heh. and I got a lifer!!! a RUFF. I saw the juv. one here wintering with Vjera yearsssssss ago but I never counted it cuz I'm weird and didn't get the best looks SO hurrah! I even got not bad pictures too.
Anyhow here are pictures. we started out at Fern Ridge in hopes of catching the Buff-breasted Sandpiper that Daniel found the night before. we didn't see it but of course it has been seen every day since AND I FREAKIN GOTTA GET OUT THERE CUZ IT'S A FREAKIN' COUNTY BIRD!!!1one
anyhow. walking through fern ridge and smelling the strange-smelling tarweed, and then the pungent aroma of mint, I was just SO happy to be back in Oregon. heart heart heart.
the sun rising over Fern Ridge. I was so glad I had dragged myself out of bed. heh.
now the sun is completely up and I am taking this from a different angle. you can see my shadow, hah.
then we were on our way to the coast. we stopped when we were about 2/3 of the way there at the little rest stop, and we were glad we did cuz Dennis spotted a Pileated Woodpecker way over on the other side of the river. it's always nice to see them. :D here are pictures of the Umpqua River.
so beautiful.
this is why you all must come to Oregon. it's just gorgeous here. *beams* I did love Costa Rica but looking at these pictures I am reminded of how much pride I have in our beautiful state. <3
and then down from the boat ramp they found across the river a flock with Black-capped and Chestnut-Backed Chickadees, and Black-throated Gray Warblers. I saw chickadees but couldn't find the warbler which is annoying cuz sadly enough it would have been a year bird, methinks. they looked funny though all with their backs to me looking across the river...
then we didn't stop till we were near the coast. first we went to the south jetty dog pond and then the actual S. Jetty itself. not much going on except Common Murres, though we did, at the dog pond, see a bunch of Cedar Waxwings with juveniles mixed among them, which was real cool, and also there were 4 Least Sandpipers on the edge of the dogpond, so close. they're cute little buggers. then Dave Irons called Dennis and said he had aNOTHer Buff-breasted Sandpiper down at Silt Coos so we drove down there. we did have it fly over but boo hiss I'm not counting the not-great look I got for my county list. we did have some nice Ruddy Turnstones. we thought they were Blacks and Ruddies, but when they landed and we looked at them and then one of the guy's shorebird books, we realized they were all Ruddies, with some immatures. they were nice. it's always nice to see Ruddy Turnstones. though this was the first time I have seen them not on rocks like is their usual habitat. they must not have read the book. ;)
the ones with the BEAVER COLORS OH YEAH (orange and black) are adults and the more mottled gray ones are juveniles.
and, more zoomed in (and thus slightly blurry):
we also saw a nice Heerman's gull, which are pretty and fun to see. then we went back out to the South Jetty after stopping to eat our lunch at a little picnic table, and there were Red Crossbills around so that was cool; I got to see them through the scope and their neat-o crossed bills are always fun to see. at the South Jetty Deflation Plains (or as Alan has been calling them lately, "Dotterel Dike" (lol), we found a birder that said he had seen the Ruff earlier! And then we found it! it was so cool. I noticed that it almost seemed to have a smudge of black behind the eye. Dennis was like, "it's an Asian bird. or it's mascara."
hah. and then later we looked in the book and it shows that mark behind the eye on Juvenile Ruffs so that had actually been a good field mark!! here are pictures of it. I'm not sure if Ruffs need to be reported to the OBRC or not but if so these would be good pictures for it. I've never reported anything to the OBRC before, not that I haven't seen very cool shtuff.
^ facing away from us; you can see the beautiful scalloped pattern on his back.
horray!
we also saw tonnnns of these little frogs. they seemed to just appear out of the mud, near the little pond. cute and strange. I wonder what spp. they were; I tried to take a pic but the darn things are too fast. they hop far though! it's cute.
then we went to the South Jetty actual jetty part. oh my goodness. there were literally thousands of Red-necked Phalaropes out there. I have never seen so many Phalaropes. When Larry posted about it he was marveling at it too so you know it's a cool thing when Larry is impressed. you guys, he is the one who painted the bird poster that I have on my wall!!!! he's kinda famous. :D anyhow one of the Phalaropes was so close to the jetty, and I loved looking down with my binoculars and seeing the sharp clear image of her/him against the blue water (the water was actually blue! it was awesome weather). even more so I loved looking at the bird in my scope!! I would have loved to get a picture of that to try to capture it but the waves were just moving too much.
we also saw, in addition to the usual Harbor Seals, we saw dolphins so that was cool. and a Rhino Auklet, with its tiny little horn still there, and also lots o' Murres with chicks.
It was a lot of fun. yay!
then last night I hung out with my good friends Samuel and Liz. they have been going out for like a year and 8 months now (I asked, haha) and it was really nice to see them, since they usually live so far away (they are from town but go to school in all sorts of mystical places like England and Boston XD). we had a lovely talk and I told them all about Costa Rica. here are pictures from that!
I wanted a pic of the three of us so I was trying out the automatic timer mode on my camera so I tried it out on Liz. lol, it turned out really cute.
then I took one of just the two of them. it was so sweet. it made me happy actually. :)
and then used the timer setting to take one of the three of us:
I'm wearing my new Costa Rica monkey shirt! it looks kinda dorky but I love the print; it's Squirrel Monkeys which I was so happy to see in CR; they are my favorite spp. of monkey I saw and so cute.
it was very nice seeing them again and discussing religion's place in politics, Harry Potter, the different Houses in Hogwarts, and Costa Rica. :)
I didn't think I was ever going to write about all that! I did about Liz and Sam but not about the coast trip. I'm very glad I did though; it was a great time. happy saturday guys! I will try not to get too nauseated by all the Oregon Ducks fans that come in today. mwa hah.
I just now uploaded this userpic; I hadn't used it for YEARS literally. it's a Long-tailed Jaeger. they are birds I would hope to see on a pelagic. I did see them on my 2nd pelagic, and there were so many of them, and for a while they were my favorite bird. so beautiful.
so yesterday was my first day back at the ol' Subway! it was good actually. HA I was so flustered for a while. I got so confused. but it's all good. :D pura vida.
tuesday I went to the coast with the "Wednesday morning" birding group. go figure, ahha. it was really great. I was so happy to be at the Oregon coast again, where it was not humid and there weren't mosquitoes and it was actually cold! heh. and I got a lifer!!! a RUFF. I saw the juv. one here wintering with Vjera yearsssssss ago but I never counted it cuz I'm weird and didn't get the best looks SO hurrah! I even got not bad pictures too.
Anyhow here are pictures. we started out at Fern Ridge in hopes of catching the Buff-breasted Sandpiper that Daniel found the night before. we didn't see it but of course it has been seen every day since AND I FREAKIN GOTTA GET OUT THERE CUZ IT'S A FREAKIN' COUNTY BIRD!!!1one
anyhow. walking through fern ridge and smelling the strange-smelling tarweed, and then the pungent aroma of mint, I was just SO happy to be back in Oregon. heart heart heart.
the sun rising over Fern Ridge. I was so glad I had dragged myself out of bed. heh.
now the sun is completely up and I am taking this from a different angle. you can see my shadow, hah.
then we were on our way to the coast. we stopped when we were about 2/3 of the way there at the little rest stop, and we were glad we did cuz Dennis spotted a Pileated Woodpecker way over on the other side of the river. it's always nice to see them. :D here are pictures of the Umpqua River.
so beautiful.
this is why you all must come to Oregon. it's just gorgeous here. *beams* I did love Costa Rica but looking at these pictures I am reminded of how much pride I have in our beautiful state. <3
and then down from the boat ramp they found across the river a flock with Black-capped and Chestnut-Backed Chickadees, and Black-throated Gray Warblers. I saw chickadees but couldn't find the warbler which is annoying cuz sadly enough it would have been a year bird, methinks. they looked funny though all with their backs to me looking across the river...
then we didn't stop till we were near the coast. first we went to the south jetty dog pond and then the actual S. Jetty itself. not much going on except Common Murres, though we did, at the dog pond, see a bunch of Cedar Waxwings with juveniles mixed among them, which was real cool, and also there were 4 Least Sandpipers on the edge of the dogpond, so close. they're cute little buggers. then Dave Irons called Dennis and said he had aNOTHer Buff-breasted Sandpiper down at Silt Coos so we drove down there. we did have it fly over but boo hiss I'm not counting the not-great look I got for my county list. we did have some nice Ruddy Turnstones. we thought they were Blacks and Ruddies, but when they landed and we looked at them and then one of the guy's shorebird books, we realized they were all Ruddies, with some immatures. they were nice. it's always nice to see Ruddy Turnstones. though this was the first time I have seen them not on rocks like is their usual habitat. they must not have read the book. ;)
the ones with the BEAVER COLORS OH YEAH (orange and black) are adults and the more mottled gray ones are juveniles.
and, more zoomed in (and thus slightly blurry):
we also saw a nice Heerman's gull, which are pretty and fun to see. then we went back out to the South Jetty after stopping to eat our lunch at a little picnic table, and there were Red Crossbills around so that was cool; I got to see them through the scope and their neat-o crossed bills are always fun to see. at the South Jetty Deflation Plains (or as Alan has been calling them lately, "Dotterel Dike" (lol), we found a birder that said he had seen the Ruff earlier! And then we found it! it was so cool. I noticed that it almost seemed to have a smudge of black behind the eye. Dennis was like, "it's an Asian bird. or it's mascara."
hah. and then later we looked in the book and it shows that mark behind the eye on Juvenile Ruffs so that had actually been a good field mark!! here are pictures of it. I'm not sure if Ruffs need to be reported to the OBRC or not but if so these would be good pictures for it. I've never reported anything to the OBRC before, not that I haven't seen very cool shtuff.
^ facing away from us; you can see the beautiful scalloped pattern on his back.
horray!
we also saw tonnnns of these little frogs. they seemed to just appear out of the mud, near the little pond. cute and strange. I wonder what spp. they were; I tried to take a pic but the darn things are too fast. they hop far though! it's cute.
then we went to the South Jetty actual jetty part. oh my goodness. there were literally thousands of Red-necked Phalaropes out there. I have never seen so many Phalaropes. When Larry posted about it he was marveling at it too so you know it's a cool thing when Larry is impressed. you guys, he is the one who painted the bird poster that I have on my wall!!!! he's kinda famous. :D anyhow one of the Phalaropes was so close to the jetty, and I loved looking down with my binoculars and seeing the sharp clear image of her/him against the blue water (the water was actually blue! it was awesome weather). even more so I loved looking at the bird in my scope!! I would have loved to get a picture of that to try to capture it but the waves were just moving too much.
we also saw, in addition to the usual Harbor Seals, we saw dolphins so that was cool. and a Rhino Auklet, with its tiny little horn still there, and also lots o' Murres with chicks.
It was a lot of fun. yay!
then last night I hung out with my good friends Samuel and Liz. they have been going out for like a year and 8 months now (I asked, haha) and it was really nice to see them, since they usually live so far away (they are from town but go to school in all sorts of mystical places like England and Boston XD). we had a lovely talk and I told them all about Costa Rica. here are pictures from that!
I wanted a pic of the three of us so I was trying out the automatic timer mode on my camera so I tried it out on Liz. lol, it turned out really cute.
then I took one of just the two of them. it was so sweet. it made me happy actually. :)
and then used the timer setting to take one of the three of us:
I'm wearing my new Costa Rica monkey shirt! it looks kinda dorky but I love the print; it's Squirrel Monkeys which I was so happy to see in CR; they are my favorite spp. of monkey I saw and so cute.
it was very nice seeing them again and discussing religion's place in politics, Harry Potter, the different Houses in Hogwarts, and Costa Rica. :)
I didn't think I was ever going to write about all that! I did about Liz and Sam but not about the coast trip. I'm very glad I did though; it was a great time. happy saturday guys! I will try not to get too nauseated by all the Oregon Ducks fans that come in today. mwa hah.
I just now uploaded this userpic; I hadn't used it for YEARS literally. it's a Long-tailed Jaeger. they are birds I would hope to see on a pelagic. I did see them on my 2nd pelagic, and there were so many of them, and for a while they were my favorite bird. so beautiful.