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Private Conversation
Two cormorants share a private conversation. There is a large colony of seabirds on the seastacks just offshore from the Head. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but it's a shame they can't convey the cacophony of sounds that come drifting off the ocean when hundreds or thousands of cormorants, gulls, and guillemots are gathered together. |
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Opportunity
As the tide comes in and fills the tidepools with water, the little ecosystems come alive as animals come out to feed. Sometimes the larger world intrudes, however, and an opportunity for a crab to feed is also an opportunity for a gull to swoop in and snare a quick meal.
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Approaching Darkness
The sky glows orange as it fights off the setting sun, but soon it will be as black as the oystercatcher and the rocks around it. The rocks at Yaquina Head are naturally black due to their volcanic history. The black oystercatcher of the west coast is fairly aptly named, as it lacks the partial white coloring of its cousin on the east coast, the American oystercatcher. It's body feathers are more brown than black though. Both oystercatchers share the almost comically bright bills and eyes, one of the endearing features of these coastal birds.
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Soaring
An adult brown pelican soars above the Pacific Ocean. The pelicans layover at Yaquina Head for a few weeks in the fall. This picture was taken in the middle of October 2005. This is a very simple picture but I'm very fond of it. Our cat Scout was taken with it as well, she took a swing at the monitor while I was editing it but fortunately no damage was done.
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Diagonal
This picture gives a better impression of how large the wingspan of the pelicans is compared to their bodies. The birds were soaring on the swirling winds near the lighthouse. When I think of soaring, I think of a bird slowly sailing along, but these birds were moving. You didn't have much time to track them from the time they came into view and then disappeared again beyond the cliff.
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Breaking Wave
An adult flies in front of a wave that breaks hard over the large offshore rocks at Yaquina Head.
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