North Coast Diaries

quiz20081230

Taken today at Brownsmead

The Answer

mishaving Brown Pelicans

As mentioned in previous posts, BROWN PELICANS are over-wintering this year in unprecedented numbers. We expected them to finally move out in response to the recent really cold, really stormy weather... but no soap.

Today I counted 62 at Seaside Cove and around 40 at the Necanicum Estuary. There were even pelicans flying around the downtown area.

But most surprising were the 60+ birds swirling about in a thermal over Seaside Heights at least 2 miles inland. They eventually drifted north toward the Columbia River.

Youngs Bay Raptors

I did the Youngs Bay portion of my raptor census route today and managed to get a couple interesting photos in the process...

Astoria in the snow

We woke up this morning to a nearly snow-free neighborhood. The blustery Pacific warm front brought temperatures in the upper 40's and enough rain to melt just about everything. In celebration of our freedom, a photo essay of Astoria when it snows...

Waterfront bike path near the Mill Ponds.

Irving St looking east.

The Astor Column from the river front.

My house..

When is a bird feeder not a bird feeder?

More anomalies at the feeder

There's still plenty of snow in Astoria and plenty of reason to stay indoors and watch the bird feeder. Today an interesting FOX SPARROW showed up at the feeder.

The vernacular for this condition is "pied". The technical term is more complicated and depends to a large degree on which textbook one picks up. It is a form of albinism in that affected feathers are lacking in pigment. Most sources differentiate between true albinism which is a genetic condition and partial-albinism which is often environmental. But some texts argue that only total lack of pigment (including eye pigment) can be called albinism, independent of cause, and leucism is the term for all other pigment deficiencies. Still other sources split the condition into complete, incomplete, imperfect and partial albinism. No matter what terms you choose, there will be someone out there who will try to correct you.

At the other end of the the scale are "over colored" birds. In my yard today, I also found an exceptionally dark FOX SPARROW which is probably partially melanistic. Note that it has almost no white in the throat or chin and even the properly brown parts are a bit darker than typical.

One of the positive things about being snowbound is that it gives us time to really study those species we often take for granted...

Should I get excited?

You decide...

This thrush turned up in my yard this morning and is not quite what I expect to see in a "normal" American Robin. It has a fairly bright supercilium.

If we compare this to a typically marked robin...

We can clearly see that this is not your average robin

So, could this be a rare Siberian Eyebrowed Thrush? or is it a strongly marked American Robin?

Blue Christmas

It has been snowing all day. We have at least 6 inches of snow on the ground. Astoria does not usually get this much snow all at once, and it is equally unusual to have a week's worth of the stuff. This is shaping up as an unusual winter. The long-term forecast for the remainder of the week depends, in part, on which service one chooses to believe. The National Weather Service is calling for snow on and off through Christmas Day. The Weather Channel folks are somewhat more optimistic, calling for rain on the coast and a "wintery mix" inland...

At any rate, my day has been spent watching the birds coming to the back yard. Michelle and I even built a new bird feeder. I've also been taking a few photographs through the kitchen window (which could use a good cleaning).

Which brings me to "blue" birds. Most blue colored bird appear so because of how white light is refracted through the feathers. The structure of the feathers causes the color, so the colors produced are call structural colors. If you watch jays and bluebirds, you'll notice that the deepness of the blue changes depending on the relationship between the bird, the light source and the observer. Sometimes a Steller's Jay seems almost black, other times very blue.

The blue of a Scrub Jay is different than the blue of a Steller's Jay because of a difference in colors produced by pigments, rather than structure. The principle pigments in jays are melanins which produce, blacks, grays and browns. Steller's Jay feathers have more melanins in them, so they appear darker blue.

On a day with good light Varied Thrushes will show a structural bluish sheen to their back feathers. The orange color is produced by a different class of pigments called carotinoids. These pigments produce red, yellow and orange colors.

Which also explains flickers...

Astoria goldeneye gets lucky

A male Barrow's Goldeneye has wintered on Youngs Bay right next to the Astoria Dairy Queen for about 8 years. This year he's brought somebody special along.

quiz20081204

The Answer

Pelicans

I am beginning my 21st winter here on the lower Columbia River.  When I first moved here we had pelicans.  They'd arrive from their breeding grounds in late May.  The numbers would peak sometime in August.  And by the first winter storms of November, they'd be gone.  Finding one or two lingering into December was considered a rare event.

Today I saw close to 500 at the South Jetty of the Columbia.

Brown Pelicans were one of several species that saw precipitous population declines caused by the effects of DDT and other pollutants in the 1950's and 60's.  They were one of the first species to be listed and protected by the Endangered Species Act.  Populations along the Pacific Coast responded well and numbers increased remarkably.  Recent population studies put the number of Brown Pelicans that summer along the Oregon Coast at over 10,000 and the majority of these can be found foraging at the mouth of the Columbia River.  There have even been observations of breeding behaviors among birds that arrive at East Sand Island in April.  If birds do begin breeding here, they will represent the northern most breeding colony on the West Coast, the next closest being at the Channel Islands, 1000 miles to the south.

Winter pelicans started turning up more frequently beginning around 2000. Usually just one or two storm stressed stragglers. They were a bit more common farther down the coast toward Coos Bay, but still never more than 20 at any given location. This season has been very different with 100's of pelicans still being reported all along the coast. The numbers at the Columbia River are comparable to numbers we might see in September. It is unprecedented.

Equally, remarkable are the lingering Heerman's Gulls which follow pelicans while they're feeding and steal fish from them. Heerman's Gulls usually arrive later than pelicans in the spring and leave before them in the fall.

So, what's going on? Why haven't the pelicans gone south? I don't know. Maybe we just haven't had a strong enough winter storm set to send them south. Maybe there's something going on with the fish, that's keeping them here. Maybe they're just happy about the outcome of the recent elections.

It's hard to make any concrete claims about the cause of any single event. If the pelicans continue to linger in the following seasons; if they start laying eggs on East Sand Island; if we start hearing reports of winter pelicans in Juneau, then, maybe, we can start framing a working hypothesis...