Hello all. Hope the summer is treating you with some sun and outdoor adventures. Maybe even some birding time thrown in there as well. The month of June was an exhilarating time for the common murres as they toughed through holding their ground against eagles and pesky gulls attacks. Aside Read more…
A while back, I was in the field counting murre eggs and nests in windy conditions. The wind wasn’t a problem or anything new; we avoid issues by ducking low to the ground to reduce the impact of the wind and stabilize the scope we use. In those conditions, I Read more…
The cormorants and the Common Murres at Yaquina Head Natural Area have chicks! Most of them are about three –four weeks old which means they are almost ready to fledge! The Brandt’s and Pelagic Cormorants have had a great success this year. Although these birds were the hardest to monitor when Read more…
Here is a sample of the updates I have been writing on the Common Murre field season at Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area: It has been an exciting two weeks for murre surveys with unexpected trends and behaviors. Number of mapped eggs within our 12 study plots increased in both Read more…
Summer is here and with that, tide pool programs at Yaquina Head have culminated. It was a successful Friday with sunny weather and a -1 low tide to top it off. The catch, Yaquina Head interns had to be at the office at 5 a.m. for a 6 a.m. five-hour Read more…
I started Common Murre surveys this week with Oregon State University in which me and graduate student Cheryl Horton are collecting data on the species’ reproduction success and predation. First day of survey felt like an experience taken out of the Discovery Channel, surveying under extreme weather conditions in the Read more…
Yaquina Head, being a beautiful natural area, gets a great deal of attention. Not just from visitors who enjoy a nice a view and outdoor experience but from scientists as well. A lot of research occurs at Yaquina Head and now I have the opportunity to be a part of Read more…