Black Turnstone

A photo dump of shots I took of Black Turnstones at Newport South Jetty back on Sept 10. For posts about this trip go here, here and here.

White-winged Scoter

One of a couple of White-winged Scoters at Newport's South Jetty swam in reasonably close to me while I was down near the water taking pictures of Surfbirds and Black Turnstones. It was mostly back lit, but the pictures didn't turn out too bad. Scoters have the craziest looking bills.

Ring-billed Gull

I found a trusting Ring-billed gull along the shore of the bay by the Hatfield Marine Science Center a week ago Saturday. At one point it plucked a small crab out of the water, shook it bit and then gobbled it down.

Great Egret

After climbing around the rocks at Newport's South Jetty last Saturday, I stopped off at the Hatfield Marine Science Center where I saw the Great Egret shown above. Part of the trail was closed because of erosion issues, but it was still worth the stop. Next I decided to check out Beaver Creek State Natural Area. I didn't have time to hike much of it, but I wanted to at least see it since I had heard good things. It's a beautiful park, but I didn't seen many birds. However, on my way back to highway 101 I saw three Great Egrets in a pond along the road, so I pulled over and was able to get a few shots. They were chasing each other around and I was able to catch one as it was about to take flight and then land not far away.