North Coast.

I had an awesome day at the coast yesterday... I mainly wanted to play with my new GoPro camera, but also wanted to look for some gulls and stuff, as well as tire the dogs out.  Success!  I started my morning at the cove in Seaside...

Black Turnstones were scurrying over rocks by the dozen.  I was stoked.



I was watching them move across the rocks for awhile when I noticed this guy:


My first Ruddy Turnstone!!  So awesome.  The other turnstones were mad jealous of the Ruddy's fancy colors.


And one last Black Turnstone...


I took a lot of gull pictures throughout the day... Here's an easy one:

Heermann's Gull

 Western Gull

Glaucous-winged Gull

Next we headed to Fort Stevens State Park in Warrenton.  There were some small mixed flocks of shorebirds from which I could pick out only a couple species, Semipalmated Plover being the most obvious.


The rest of the birds looked like they might be Western Sandpipers and Dunlin, but I didn't get very good looks...


Later on I headed down to the Necanicum Estuary near Seaside, hoping for more shorebirds.  I didn't see very many, but down by the ocean were a couple of Black-bellied Plovers.



Also hanging out were tons of Caspian Terns and California Gulls.  And some ghost people.




That was about it for birds...  Back at Fort Stevens Park earlier I played with the GoPro for awhile.  If you're not familiar with it, you should google it.  Basically it's a very small HD video camera with a waterproof shell.  I decided to attach it to the dogs and set it to take photos every 2 seconds.

Here are a couple that Jake took:



And one that Ralph took:


Here's what Jake looked like wearing the camera (taken with my cell phone):


And lastly, one of the videos I took with it of Jake fetching a stick in the water.  It's kind of noisy, but I like how it looks.


Good times!

Oops, I posted this but forgot to mention the dead gull I found... I noticed some bones poking out of the sand along with some fishing line.  Tugging on the line brought up this:

Photo by Jake

There was a fish hook going through part of the gull hip:


Did the gull eat a fish with a fish hook and it got caught?  When I pulled the gull out of the sand, the pelvis and other bones detached from the rest of the skeleton but was still attached with the fish line.  I cut the line so I could take the part with the fish hook with me.

Photo by Jake

Interesting stuff!

Comments

  1. Nice day at the beach. What fun...attaching the camera to the dogs. Interesting shots too. Love the tongue one :)

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  2. Those are Least and Westerns, Dunlins are late fall migrants. Congrats on the lifer! Ruddys (Ruddies?) are snazzy.

    That camera is sick! Its hard to make a "fetch" video interesting but you did.

    Your questions will arrive shortly...

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  3. Love the shots Jake got! That will bring hours of entertainment and many fun blog posts I'm sure. I can't wait to see more from Jake's angle. Infact, that could be a whole new blog!

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  4. That's one famous Ruddy Turnstone at the Cove! I saw a photo of it on Mike Patterson's blog, and I got a photo of it on the 6th as well.

    <A HREF="http://www.pbase.com/gregbirder/image/137059824>http://www.pbase.com/gregbirder/image/137059824</A>

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  5. Well, I messed that up. Try this link for the Ruddy Turnstone.

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  6. I suspect the Ruddy is rare out in Portland? As you know we have alot here in MA. Shore birds are really starting to show up. Going to try Chatham this weekend. I did Plymoth Beach last weekend and there were tons.

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  7. Bones with fish hook are for me I hope?!

    Love the photos the dogs took. That camera sounds very fun.

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  8. Congrats on the Ruddy T. and Black-bellied Plovers!

    In your mystery sandpiper shot, the bird in the foreground to the left appears to have light-colored legs and a shorter bill. I suspect it is a Least.

    Excellent birding and blogging, as always.

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  9. Jen, what a great day at the beach. Congrats on your lifer. I love the Black Turnstones, the Ruddy is more common around here. And the Black Bellied Plovers is a great shot. What a great idea to put the video camera on your dog. I enjoyed watching Jake play fetch. Great birds and photos. Happy Birding.

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  10. Dang I missed this amazing post..LOVE THE photos and vids the dogs took....such amazing persepctive!!
    OHHHH the fish hook killed bird what a horror--and Yippie for the lifer! Wonderful photos!!!

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