Oregon Critters

My post for Camera Critters  and id-rather-b-birdin have some never ending shots from Oregon. I wanted to post the Sea Lions from the Sea Lion caves and I have some more Oregon Birds.

Besides a lot of Surf Scoters  in the Pacific Ocean we saw lots of Harlequin ducks. We found some Harlequins at the Haystack Rock during the low tide. They seemed comfy laying on the rocks or shells.

Female Harlequin Duck at Cannon Beach

SeaStar (starfish)  at Oswald State park beach.

 They blend in so well, how many Harlequin ducks can you find in this photo? I am not sure if these are mussels, what ever they are they do not look comfy to lay on? I guess the ducks do not mind.

For comparison these are two of the Atlantic Coast  Barnagat beach Harlequins from last winter. You can see the pretty male.

I am used to seeing the beautiful Harlequin ducks on the Atlantic Ocean during the winter months on the Jersey Shore.

Sea Lions in the Sea Lion cave near Yachats, Oregon

Sea Lions outside the cave.

One of the many cute baby gulls that we saw on Haystack Rock and Cannon Beach.

A Cute Pigeon Guillemot, they are not related to pigeons. The Guillemot is a seabird.

To see more cute and wonderful critters please visit Misty Dawn's Camera Critters. Also, thanks to Anni I am linked up with I'd-rather-b-birdin  Thanks to Misty and Anni for hosting these fun critters meme. Also, thanks for stopping by to see my post. I wish everyone a safe and happy weekend.

Pigeon Guillemot

I am linking up with Wild Bird Wednesday and Nature Notes

For my Wild bird Wednesday I am going back to Oregon. I wanted to show some more shots of the Pigeon Guillemot that we saw along the Oregon coast. I believe I already mentioned in a previous post that the Pigeon Guillemot was a lifer for me. The Pigeon Guillemot can be found from the coast of California to Alaska.

The two shots above were taken from inside the Sea Lions Cave looking out. The Pigeon Guillemot has pretty bright red feet. My guide book calls the color vermilion. For some reason Vermilion reminds me of the flycatcher I saw in Belize.

 The breeding adult has a velvety black plumage, white wing coverts and pretty red feet.  I love their pretty feet. The underwing coverts are also white.

I had some great views from inside the cave looking out at all the Pigeon Guillemots and the Cormorants on the rocks.

I saw the Pigeon Guillemots all along the Oregon coastline. These two were right outside our hotel. They probe kelp beds and vegetation for its prey.

Above you can see the Pigeon Guillemots head before it enter its little hole in the side of the cliff. I believe this was a nesting spot.

I do not think this bird was worried about reading the sign.

This was the view from inside the cave looking out toward the Heceta Head lighthouse. On this day, I was actually thrilled to pick up another lifer which was actually inside the Sea Lion Caves. But, that will be another post.


To see more wonderful birds and nature scenes please visit : Wild Bird Wednesday  and  Nature Notes.

Thanks to Stewart the host of Wild Bird Wednesday and to Michelle the host of Nature Notes. Also, thanks for stopping by to see my post and birds. Hope the rest of your week is a happy one.

Oregon coast..Yachats

I am linking up with Favorite Fotos with Lydia @ Where the Wild Things Were


Can you believe I have MORE Oregon photos? These are some shots from our 2 nights stay on the Oregon coast in the town called Yachats. We were happy with our room 18 at the Fireside Motel. We arrived a little early so we let them know we were there and were told to come back in a couple of hours. No problem there, we drove down the coastal road 101 to do more sightseeing.

In the mosaic above I have some coastal scenes around Yachats and a Surf Scoter

Before going on our trip to Oregon I did a lot of research on Trip Advisor. I found out that Strawberry Hill  was a great place to see the tidal pools at low tide. We were not disappointed. We saw many sea stars ( I always called them starfish), the sea lions were sunning themselves on the rocks, the sea anemones were beautiful. We were lucky to be there during the low tide which made walking around on the rocks easy.

 We had a huge picture window with great views of the ocean. On the first night we were able to watch a couple of whales feeding right from our room. How cool is that?  I was thrilled with our view and seeing the whales. The coast was a great place for me to add a few more lifers to my list. YEAH!!!

 In this mosaic, I have some shots from Strawberry Hill tidal pools, sea lions, my lifer the Pigeon Guillemots, the view of the ocean from our room, and a view of the coast from a overlook.

The ocean was filled with my lifer the Pigeon Guillemots, Surf Scoters and Harlequin ducks and Gray Whales. I will be doing a separate post just on the Pigeon Guillemots. I saw them often along the coast.

We stopped on RT 101 at various overlooks that had beautiful views like this one above.

This is the Heceta Head Lighthouse beach.  The Lighthouse is being renovated and is covered up but we did enjoy a walk on the beach.

The view from our room 18 at the Fireside Motel. The pathway outside the hotel is a trail called Yachats 804 trail that goes for 3 miles along the beautiful coast.



To see more wonderful photos and mosaics please visit Mosaic Monday and Our World Tuesday

Thanks for stopping by to see my post and thanks to Mary the host of Mosaic Monday and to the host of Our World Tuesday: Arija, Gattina, Lady Fi, Sylvia and Sandy. I wish everyone a safe and HAPPY week ahead.