Friday, August 22, 2003

Auklets, Guillemots and Puffins, oh my!


We just got back last night from a three day trip to the coast. We had a wonderful time and got to see some new birds yesterday. We went to the Oregon Coast Aquarium where there was an awesome aviary.



We saw a Cassin's Auklet, Common Murre, Pigeon Guillemot, and the incredible Tufted Puffin. We got to see all of them extremely close up and it was an amazing experience. They weren't skittish because they're so used to people going through all the time.  Some were almost penguin-like and they all dive for their food. The Puffins are so exotic looking it was a great pleasure to see them at such close range. I know we got some awesome close-up pictures.


We also saw a Double-crested Cormorant in the bay at Bandon Harbor, along with a Western Gull flying overhead.


Oh, I forgot to add one other thing. We saw flocks of Barn Swallows. We had also seen them at the Humboldt NWR. I got a decent picture of them and they have the rust undercolor that the Tree Swallow doesn't.