My wife Natalie and I were birding in Gold Beach, Oregon
today and we wanted to pass along the sighting of at least
three ELEGANT TERNs in Gold Beach harbor. One of the birds
was observed associating with Caspian Terns early in the
afternoon, and then around sundown tonight we watched and
took photos of all three Elegant Terns siting with 30
Caspian Terns at the end of the runway at the Gold Beach
Airport.

Aside from the terns, there is some interesting bird
watching in Gold Beach right now. We don't usually visit
this part of the southern Oregon coast in the early fall,
and we thoroughly enjoyed watching the 300-plus Brown
Pelicans hanging out near the mouth of the Rogue River and
watching them interact with mature and immature Heerman's
Gulls and a handful of Parasitic Jaegers. We also observed
two Common Terns flying up the main river channel along
the south jetty.

Although they weren't widespread or numerous, we did see a
few shorebirds throughout the day. At least a half dozen
Western Sandpipers were seen, and a couple of Black
Turnstones were feeding along the jetty around sundown
tonight.

After making the most of our day birding around Gold
Beach, we'll head home to Tacoma, Washington tomorrow, but
we thought someone else may find the Elegant Tern sighting
useful information for birding tomorrow.

Happy birding!

Rob McNair-Huff