Almost 20 ASLC birders turned out on a beautiful Saturday morning to observe birds at the Yaquina Head Lighthouse Outstanding Natural Area just north of Newport. With sunshine and almost no wind, this was a great day to enjoy the fabulous Oregon coast scenery and to get close to birds during the breeding season. Birders stopped first at the visitor center to view swallows, sparrows, and other perching birds. At the lighthouse viewpoint, birders focused on seabirds and shorebirds. It is a great time of year to see cormorants in their breeding plumage, Brandt's Cormorants with their azure blue throat pouches and Pelagic Cormorants with white flank patches. From a single vantage point at this site, birders were able to turn south to observe a pair of Black Oystercatchers who seemed to be scouting out a potential nest site and then turn north to watch an American Bald Eagle in a tree near the parking lot who seemed to be scouting out the Common Murre colony on the adjacent rocks.

Sightings of the Day
Barn Swallow
Tree Swallow
Violet-green Swallow
House Sparrow
American Crow
Starling (immature)
Pacific Slope Flycatcher
Swainson's Thrush
Turkey Vulture
White-crowned Sparrow
Brandt's Cormorant
Pelagic Cormorant
Double-crested Cormorant
Pigeon Guillemot
Western Gull
Western Grebe
Clark's Grebe
Cowbird
Bald Eagle
Black Oystercatcher
American Goldfinch
Common Murre
Red-tailed Hawk