Sightings of unusual birds or mammals in Cannon Beach or the north coast of Oregon

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Sightings

If you have any interesting sightings, please let me know. Interesting birds, animals or geological events. I will add my own as well. No rumors, please. --Brian

Some sightings are of interest to various organizations around the state. I will build a list of these at the bottom of this page so that you can contact them if you wish. In many cases you could be of great help just by making the report. Banded birds may be reported at the USGS Bird Banding Laboratory.

Date	What	Where	Comments
2-16-07	Rufous Hummingbird	Raleigh Hills	Seen at the feeder of a woman who winter feeds Anna's hummingbirds.
4-4-06	Tufted Puffins	Haystack Rock	They're back for another fun season at the rock!
2-25-06	Rufous Hummingbird	Seaside	It was a Female - usually the males come first.
4-1-05	Tufted Puffins	Haystack Rock	First sighting of the year, by HRAP coordinator Shelley Parker
3-29-04	Tufted Puffins	Haystack Rock	First sighting of the year, by HRAP coordinator Shelley Parker
3-16-04	Bald Eagles	Nehalem	Pair doing very aerobatic flight. Courting?
3-16-04	Gray Whale	Arcadia Beach	First spring migrants of the year reported.
3-9-04	Rufous Hummingbird	Cannon Beach	First male sighted by us this year.
3-8-03	Rufous Hummingbird	Neahkahnie	First female sighted this year.
2-24-03	Rufous Hummingbird	Cannon Beach	First male at the store feeder this year.
12-19-02	Gray Whales	Neahkahnie Mt. turnout, Hwy 101	My first sighting of the southward migration.
7-24-02	American Avocet	Neahkahnie Beach	Very tame, spent about ten minutes probing the sand in one spot - I didn't even have to adjust the spotting scope.
3-31-02	Tufted Puffins	Haystack Rock	Seen by Cyndi Stuart, coordinator of the Haystack Rock Awareness Program.
3-21-02	Gray Whales	Off Neahkahnie Mt.	My first sighting this year.
2-25-02	Rufous Hummingbird	Neahkahnie	Our first of the year.
11-10-01	Tropical Kingbird	Seaside	Stuck around for weeks.
6-2-01	Snowy Plovers	Necanicum Estuary	Two of them. Unbanded. Seen by Todd Thornton.
5-26-01	Manx Shearwater	Ecola Viewpoint	Seen by a birding tour group.
5-19-01	Steller's Sea Lions	Neahkahnie Mt. turnout, Hwy 101	Two of them feeding in a school of fish along with lots of seabirds.
4-1-01	Tufted Puffins	Haystack Rock, CB	They're back, right on "Schedule"
3-12-01	Rufous Hummingbird	Neahkahnie	The first in our yard this year!
12-28-00	Gray Whales	Neahkahnie Mt. turnout, Hwy 101	Saw three of them, one close. Whale Watch Week people saw three others in a different direction.
12-21-00	Snowy Owl	SJCR parking lot C, river side beach.	One of winter irruption of Snowy Owls.
9-17-2000	Steller's Sea Lions	Neahkahnie Beach	Two or three cruising northwards. Big animals!
5-21-2000	White-faced Ibis	Wireless Rd., near Astoria	46 of them. Sighted by Todd Thornton of Astoria
5-21-2000	More White-faced Ibis	Kilchis Meadows, near Tillamook	48 of them. Sighted by Marg Tweelinckx of Tillamook
5-20-2000	California Sea Lions	Neahkahnie Beach	Two. One was "rafting" on its back with flippers out of the water. They were just outside the farthest breaker.
4-3-2000	Tufted Puffins	Haystack Rock	Lots of them flying around the rock this morning.
3-5-2000	Gray Whale	Off Neahkahnie Mt.	My first northward migrant of the year.
2-24-2000	Rufous Hummingbird	Neahkahnie (town)	First one of the year for us!
2-2000	Red-tailed Hawk	Hwy 101, turnout at south end of Cannon Beach	There have been a lot of Red-tailed Hawks on the coast this year. This juvenile has been hanging around the turnout for a month or so. It likes to hunt on the landslide to the east of the highway.
12-22-99	Gray Whales	off Neahkahnie Mt.	Saw three gray whales on their southward migration. Two large blows, one small.
12-16-99	Long-eared owl	Neahkahnie Mt.	Perched right on the stone wall next to the road.
11-24-99	White-throated Sparrow	Manzanita	Was here for a couple of weeks, then left.
11-19-99	Spotted Towhee	Manzanita	First one back for the winter.
11-8-99	Peregrine Falcon	Neahkahnie Mt.	See directions posted on 1-8-99, below.
10-27-99	Black Bear	Arch Cape	Crossed the road 100' south of the Deli at 5PM
8-24-99	Black Swifts	Right above the Wild Bird Shop	8-10 of them feeding quite low for Black Swifts.
3-7-99	Gray Whales	Off Neahkahnie viewpoint.	First I've seen of the northward migration this year.
2-23-99	Rufous Hummingbird	Manzanita	First of the season.
1-23-99	Gray Fox	Oswald West S.P.	Ran across road in front of me as I drove through. Unusual for such a shy creature, but he had to cross sometime I guess.
1-8-99	Peregrine Falcon, Bald Eagle, Gray Whale	Neahkahnie Mt. turnout	Saw all three within a 2-3 minute instant. Look for the Peregrine on top of the lone rock to the SW of the large turnout when it isn't raining.
8-22-98	Ancient Murrelet, Marbled Murrelets, other auklets.	Cape Falcon	Cape Falcon, like many capes, is a good place to see pelagic birds because it sticks out into the ocean. The hike through Oswald West State Park is fabulous even if you don't see any special birds!
7-16-98	Pacific Golden Plover, Semi-palmated Plover, Red Knot, Caspian Terns, Brown Pelicans, 1000s of Western Sandpiper.	Manzanita Beach	Fog was just above the beach and very thick, apparently forcing many birds down onto the sand which we usually see flying over or offshore. It is common for fog to engulf us when extreme heat afflicts the Portland area. Hot air rises inland, pulling fog in off the ocean.
05-06-98	Bristle-thighed Curlews	Columbia River South Jetty (SJCR)	Very rare shorebirds. Have been seen regularly at SJCR May 6 to 21. My photos. Learn more at Mike Patterson's website.
05-01-98	Common Loons	Nehalem Bay	Minnesota isn't the only place you can hear that quavering wail of the Common Loon. (Mating displays and possible copulation observed.)
04-27-98	Peregrine Falcon	Haystack Rock	Chasing puffins, then perched on rock for long time. Puffins dove into water for safety.
04-24-98	East Pacific Beach Sloth	Neahkahnie Beach	A rare sighting thanks to the mysteries of Neahkahnie.
04-01-98	Puffins return to Haystack Rock	Haystack Rock	They will be on and off for a few days, then will settle in for the season.
03-28-98	Tufted Puffins - in Ocean	Off Ecola Point	They "raft" up and socialize and mate before actually moving ashore to nest.
06-21-97	Peregrine Falcons "mobbing" Bald Eagles	Ecola State Park	Customer saw it. I've seen it before. Peregrines are known to dive at around 200MPH. Seeing is believing!
06-16-97	Killer Whales	Off Haystack Rock	Unusual sighting. Possibly checking rocks for seals of sea lions to eat. Sea lions rest on rocks off of Ecola State Park. Might be a good place to look for killer whales later in the season.

Who to contact

Some sightings are very important and should be reported to a particular agency or individual researcher. Here is a (growing) list of who to make reports to.

Bird Band Reporting

Federal Bird Bands - 800-327-BAND, by mail: 12100 Beech Forest Road, Laurel MD 20708-4037, by email, or by website.
If you see or find a banded Caspian Tern, report to: Columbia Bird Research

Dragonflies

In the fall, we sometimes see incredibly large mass movements of dragonflies. If you see such a movement, report it to one of the following individuals: Terry Morse (tmorse@teleport.com), Range Bayer (rbayer@orednet.org), and/or Steve Valley (svalley@skipnet.com). Be prepared to give them useful counts. Here's how: These movements usually go in one general direction. Note this direction and include it in your report. Pick a line lying across the direction of movement between you and a stationary object or other observer. Try to stand around 100 feet from the object or other observer. Count the number of dragonflies crossing the line in a minute. Two minutes would be even better. Note the number crossing right to left separately from the number crossing left to right. Go back and actually measure or pace off the length of the crossing line. Report that, the direction, and the count to the individuals listed above. If you would like more details, click here.

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