Ahhhh!  Beautiful Gold Beach
Oregon's onion belt
it truly is a slightly warmer winter birding destination
(American Crow)
The Pacific coast of North America has several
endemic species that can't be found
anywhere else in the world.
There are some special Birds here that we should be proud of and do our best to help
preserve their habitat.  On my trip to
Gold Beach I was able to film four and a
half different species that exclusively
call the Pacific coast they're home
Our first endemic is a very secretive
bird with a very narrow range they are
found in coastal scrub and chaparral from
the Columbia River down to Baja.
Wrentits are heard far more often than seen
and will call from deep within bushes
this view, obscured by branches is fairly
typical
I followed this pair of Wrentits around my hotel property for two days.
In that time I got about one full
minute of non secretive footage.  They
seemed to love this berry bush but
insects make up the majority of their
diet. Wrentits are neither wrens nor tits
but are the only bird in their own
special genus Chamea x3
ShamWow
they are territorial and non-migratory
they have even been described as the
most sedentary species in North America
Wrentits form lifelong payer bond they
even roost together and mutually preen
cute!
(Its a bunny!)
(Hermit Thrush)
All right it's bird quiz time! Who's that
bird?
its distinctive yellow face with a black party mask over its eyes
make us think maybe this bird is on its way to a  masquerade
No way Nancy!
It's a Townsend's Warbler and they look this
beautiful regardless the occasion
The best time to find these little guys at
eye level is in the winter time along
the Oregon and California coast.
In the summer they sing and breed in the
canopies of coniferous and mixed forests
further north and inland.  In the winter
they'll come down to shrubs and grass to
find tasty bugs to eat.  If you're really
lucky they will even visit your bird
feeder and eat some delicious suet.
Pay no attention to this recharging drone
(Eurasian Collared Dove)
Let's talk about the second most common bird in North America for a second.
The American Robin is a great starter bird
for impressing your friends with Latin
names.  It's easy because its turdus
migratorius
Don't try  this spooky head spin move at home kids... you'll die!
These are omnivorous birds
that are also food. sure they eat earthworms and berries, but so many
other things eat them too. From
sharp-shinned hawks to golden eagles
kestrels to Gyrfalcons northern pygmy
owls to snowy owls.  Overall there are 28
different species of raptors that are
known to hunt robins they are also one
of our most prolific breeders they can
produce three successful broods a year
so only 40% of nests produce young
successfully and only 25% of those
fledged survived to November the entire
Robin population turns over about
every six years
man that got a little dark let's take a
bird break it's pinnaped time!
These are Pacific harbor seals.  When a
seal exits the water it's called hauling out.
This dock would be a haul out site
for this herd of seals
harbor seals spend about half of their time hauled out of their minds
the other half of the time they're in the water
they can dive up to 1,500 feet for 40 minutes
though their average dive is 3 to 7 minutes and shallow
Pacific harbor seals like to eat food.
Ok we got a little off track there
for a second let's regroup 
(Great Blue Heron)
the next  three species are special because they are all endemic to the Pacific coast of
North America. Hiding on rocks in tidal
zones and flipping over stones are two
of the favorite pastimes of this little
guy the Black Turnstone
remarkable perhaps for their geographic
isolation the only other bird in their
genus the Ruddy Turnstone is found on
six continents but they are remarkably
absent in much of the Black Turnstone
such a Central Pacific coast range the
Black Turnstone thrives where the
Ruddies are rarely seen hiding among the
dark rocks and we can guess that it's
their camouflage that helps them persist
in this harsh environment
Another black bird that lives among surf
and rocks though this bird seems to be
some weird amalgam crow sized all black
body read a bill and weirdly flesh
colored legs the Black Oystercatcher is
a real delight to watch and it has a
surprisingly low population in Oregon
there is an approximate five to six
hundred black oystercatchers and their
global population is estimated to be
fewer than 11,000
Oystercatchers! I gotta ask how hard
is it to even catch something that is
affixed to a rock? trick question despite
their name they don't eat oysters nor do
they even catch them. they forage on a
variety of intertidal invertebrates
including mussels limpets chitons crabs
barnacles and other small creatures
Oystercatchers are often seen hunting
in the wave zone because muscles that
are splashed by waves open more
frequently
When they find one they use  their chisel like bills to pry open the shells of their stationary prey to get
at the tasty morsels found inside YUM
you might not know this but there are
more than one kind of gull and they're
not all seagulls our Pacific endemic
gull is called the Western gull it is
pretty easy to identify when you are
actually at the beach. It's the big one
with the white head and neck it's got a
dark back and black wingtips with white
spots in them but be careful Western
gulls will hybridize with Glaucus-winged gulls
in the north part of their range. These are often referred to as Olympic Gulls
When bird-watching it's
okay not to know what every kind of bird is
Western gulls can live up to 25 years
but typically live about as long as a
pet cat or dog and you should love the
gulls in your life as much as you love
the pets in your life and much like dogs
and cats you don't have to know what
kind they are to think that they are
pretty neat trust me
Western gulls are among the larger gulls
they are predators that will eat other
birds similar to hawks
and we love Hawks there is even a
Western goal in Oakland that is known
for eating pigeons you know who else
eats pigeons? Peregrine falcons! I know we love those guys right?! Overall, gulls are
super and we're lucky that we get our
own species of gull on the west coast
The western gull is a real good gull and
I love them very much
(Glaucus-winged gull)
a few moments later
Gross! birds really
are incredible
you know what else is
incredible the scenery on the Oregon
coast please enjoy some Gold Beach
sunset while I say goodbye thanks so
much for joining me on this bird journey
I'm glad I didn't have to do it alone do
you think you'd ever go on a trip to the
Pacific coast just to find a Wrentit or a
black Turnstone what about just for a
Western gull please leave a comment
below and let me know also leave a
comment to let me know how much you love gulls now. is it more? how much more
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skies friends until next time bird up
