Hi Tweeters;
Just wanted to share with you my first birding trip away from my home
area. It was really great exploring new habitat and seeing different
species near Coos Bay OR. We camped at the Wild Mare Campground on the
spit west of North Bend. From here we could explore the dunes and beach
on horseback. The highlights of the trip were seeing and hearing
Wrentits everywhere in the campground, visiting an estuary near the tip
of the spit (land owned by Wyerhouser) and seeing ten Great Egrets in
one glance and two Black Phoebes nearby. The world also has an
enthusiastic new birder- a third grader who joined me and was thrilled
by seeing bird life through binoculars and listening to them with her
sharp ears! The down side of the trip was realizing the human impact on
wildlife; dune buggies kept away the beach birds except for gulls,
crows, ravens and turkey vultures (the only time I could find other
beach birds was near the waves in the dense fog that discouraged dune
buggers); the beaches were littered with dead Common Murres; I only saw
one live Murre and it died within an hour (if anyone is interested
there was an article in the North Bend newspaper about this); a dead
beached whale had rope tangled around its tail etc. etc.

List of Birds Seen at Coos Bay Spit July 28-Aug. 1)

Chickadee, Black-capped
Cormorant, Double-crested
Cormorant, Pelagic
Crow, American
Dove, Mourning
Dove, Rock
Egret, Great
Goldfinch, American
Gull, Western
Gull, Heermann?s
Flicker, Northern
Flycatcher, Olive-sided
Heron, Great Blue
Jay, Steller?s
Junco, Black-eyed
Kingfisher, Belted
Murre, Common
Nighthawk, Common
Pheasant, Ring-necked
Phoebe, Black
Raven, Common
Robin, American
Sandpiper, Pectoral
Sandpiper, Spotted
Sanderling
Sparrow, Song
Sparrow, White-crowned
Swallow, Barn
Tanager, Western (heard)
Thrush, Swainson?s
Towhee, Spotted
Vulture, Turkey
Waxwing, Cedar
Wren, Bewick?s
Wren, House
Wrentit

Joy Stickney-Markgraf
near White Salmon, WA
email: joymarkgraf at gorge.net
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