Birders,

As some of you may know, an adult BROWN BOOBY has been hanging out at Coos
Bay, Oregon since its discovery on October 26th, and has proved to be fairly
regular in its habits and easy to find. Having seen this species only once
previously, at the Dry Tortugas in Florida, I decided that I just had to see
this bird. There were only 3 previous Oregon records, and the species is
very rare anywhere north of Mexico on the Pacific coast. I suppose one
factor in my decision was my disappointment at missing the BROWN BOOBY seen
in late August near Victoria, BC, a bird that was only present for one day.

I set off in mid-morning on November 12th, and planned to stay at least one
or two nights in Coos Bay. Although the quickest route appeared to be down
Interstate 5 to Roseburg and then across to Coos Bay via Oregon State Route
42, I decided to make a side trip to Fort Stevens State Park, at the mouth
of the Columbia River near Astoria, to look for some RED PHALAROPES which
had been blown in on a storm a few days earlier. When I arrived at Parking
Area "C", at the base of the Columbia River South Jetty, I had less than an
hour of daylight left. However, I quickly found 7 Red Phalaropes in and next
to the "shorebird ponds" near the parking lot. (There had been up to 50 a
few days earlier.) The phalaropes were actively feeding and were almost
oblivious to me; I was able to walk to within less than 15 feet of them, and
got several good photos. Red Phalaropes migrate regularly off the Oregon
coast and winter in small numbers offshore, but are rarely seen onshore
except after big storms. I had somehow missed seeing them during 3 Oregon
pelagic trips I had been on.

I stayed overnight in Roseburg (it was midnight when I got there), and drove
across the Coast Range through rain squalls to Coos Bay the next morning.
Arriving in Coos Bay a bit after 10 AM, just as the rain was dissipating, I
could not see the booby from one of the two spots where it was usually seen,
an overlook on the Cape Arago Highway near Hedge Lane. I proceeded south to
the second viewpoint, called Fossil Point, where two birders from Eugene
(Dennis Arendt and Don Schrouder) already had the booby in their spotting
scopes. It was on one of its two favorite perches, a high channel marker on
the opposite (west) side of Coos Bay, nearly a mile away. Despite the
distance, the bird's main field marks could easily be seen, as it was
preening and was facing us for much of the time; the dark brown plumage,
contrasting white abdomen and lower breast, and yellowish bill and throat
pouch. I stayed and watched the bird for over an hour. During that time, a
vanload of birders from Corvallis, led by Rich Armstrong, arrived, and for
awhile the small parking area was quite crowded. Lower Coos Bay was loaded
with birds, including many BROWN PELICANS, rafts of AMERICAN WIGEON, SURF
SCOTERS, and GREATER SCAUP, and many loons, grebes, cormorants, and ducks.
Success!!

Having found my main target bird, I spent the afternoon along the coastline
just south of Coos Bay. The weather quickly cleared up and became sunny, and
I was able to get some nice photos of the coastal scenery, which I had not
expected given the dismal forecast. I visited Bastendorff Beach and the
south jetty of Coos Bay, and then three state parks south of there: Sunset
Bay, Shore Acres, and Cape Arago. One of the major attractions at Cape Arago
is Simpson Reef, a collection of islets and reefs just offshore which is one
of the best places on the Pacific Coast to see seals and sea lions. I
estimated that there were several hundred each of Harbor Seals and Steller's
Sea Lions, and perhaps 100 California Sea Lions. (Elephant Seals are seen
here too, but I could not spot one.) When I was at Cape Arago, a southward
movement of BROWN PELICANS began. In a little over an hour, at least 2000
pelicans flew south over the cape in groups of 50 to 100 at a time. I'm not
sure if this was a local movement or an actual southward migration, but it
was almost time for pelicans to leave the Oregon coast for the winter. I was
reminded that Brown Pelicans were finally removed from the U.S. endangered
species list only a few days earlier; it has taken them nearly 40 years to
recover since the banning of DDT in 1972.

Having driven more than 500 miles to see the booby, I was in no hurry to
leave one of the best birding areas in Oregon. Friday night was cold-- close
to freezing-- and Saturday dawned clear and calm, although with widespread
fog patches. I headed for Millicoma Marsh, near the head of Coos Bay, which
is renowned for large numbers of wintering sparrows and other songbirds, as
well as many birds of prey and waterfowl. Luckily, the fog patches
dissipated quickly. I was soon overtaken by a field trip from the Cape Arago
Audubon Society led by Russ Namitz, the Coos Bay birder who had provided
frequent updates on the Brown Booby since October-- so I decided to join
them. Millicoma provided an impressive list of 55 species including a
singing (!) BLACK PHOEBE, a WHITE-TAILED KITE, a RED-SHOULDERED HAWK, two
PEREGRINE FALCONS, and hundreds of waterfowl and shorebirds including two
EURASIAN WIGEON. By the time I left, it was well after 11 AM.

On Saturday afternoon, I birded around Bandon, on the coast south of Coos
Bay, and then up the Coquille River valley. At Bandon, there were hundreds
of Brown Pelicans again and many waterfowl, but I could not find the ROCK
SANDPIPERS that I hoped to see. The Coquille Valley produced numerous birds
of prey, including another beautiful RED-SHOULDERED HAWK. A highlight of
sorts was seeing a total of 67 EURASIAN COLLARED-DOVES at 3 different
localities over 2 days: 37 at Fossil Point in Coos Bay, 15 in Bandon, and 15
more just across the river from the town of Coquille. Coos County must be
the headquarters in western Oregon for this rapidly-expanding species.

On Sunday, November 15, the weather was still good, although no longer
sunny. I tracked down an ANNA'S HUMMINGBIRD in North Bend, then scanned Pony
Slough, seeing hundreds of waterfowl and a few GREAT EGRETS, but I could not
find any of the scarcer SNOWY EGRETS. I then decided to look for the BROWN
BOOBY again, and stopped at Fossil Point. The booby was not on either of its
preferred perches; it must be out feeding. After about 15 minutes, I spotted
a large bird flying directly toward me across the bay; it was the BROWN
BOOBY! It came within 300 feet of me, then turned parallel to the shore,
headed north, and appeared to be feeding not far from shore along the east
side of lower Coos Bay. Two ladies who had been on the Millicoma Marsh trip
the day before showed up, and we all relocated to the Hedge Lane viewpoint
farther north. The booby spent more than an hour beating back and forth over
the bay directly offshore, making spectacular dives after fish every few
minutes. These were much better and closer views of the bird than I had had
two days earlier!

Next on my agenda was a brief visit to Charleston, only about 3 miles to the
south and still on Coos Bay-- home of a major marina and of the Oregon
Institute of Marine Biology. Here, I hoped to find a LONG-TAILED DUCK, which
would be new for my Oregon list. No luck on the duck, but a short distance
offshore, I did see three RED PHALAROPES on the waters of Coos Bay, although
much farther off than the ones at Fort Stevens! Also new for my Coos County
list were two EARED GREBES and a couple of adult BALD EAGLES.

Now I had to start homeward, but I had also planned to do some birding
around Winchester Bay, on the estuary of the Umpqua River about 25 miles
farther north. This town, home of another major marina, is in Douglas
County, in the coastal part of which I had done very little birding. An hour
or so here produced lots of birds, including 6 more RED PHALAROPES swimming
about 300 feet offshore. A brief stop at nearby Umpqua Lighthouse State Park
yielded a couple of WRENTITS. After that, I had to head for home.

The net results of a four-day trip from Greater Vancouver to the southern
Oregon coast: 16 new species for my Coos County list, 8 for my Douglas
County list, two new for my Oregon list (bringing it to 340 species), and
unforgettable views of a BROWN BOOBY many hundreds of miles from its normal
range.

For anyone else who might want to look for the booby: it was still being
seen in lower Coos Bay as of yesterday, November 22, almost a month after it
first appeared there.

Wayne C. Weber
Delta, BC
contopus at telus.net