We thought we’d see a lot of birds today on the Yaquina Bay south jetty but we were a little disappointed. There were a few seals up close and some Surf Scoters in the distance. Then this cute little Harlequin duck couple paddled by.
I’m never sure who is observing who.
Armed with a sandwich from Safeway we pulled into our favorite parking spot on the south jetty of Yaquina Bay, just south of the Newport bridge.
Lots of fishermen were in the bay. I don’t know if they are fishing for steelhead or chinook. I’m sure they are waiting for their crab pots to soak though.
We were a bit surprised that there were no seals on the jetty.
But it was fun to watch the surf scoters feed. They were always paddling into the current. So they’d change directions as the tide swung back and forth.
There were 3 Pacific Loons. They kept their distance from each other.
When resting they tuck their beak behind their wing and look like a float in the water.
There were even a few harlequin ducks!
We also saw some grebes. I thought it was an adult with some young ones but a passer-by corrected me. She said the smaller ones are horned grebes and the larger was a western grebe. I wish I’d gotten a photo but I was distracted by a phone call.
One seal showed up before we left.
