Colorful fans

  

Wow!  Eric took some striking photos of featherduster worms last weekend.  This is Serpula columbiana, a marine worm that lives in a white calcareous tube and uses its broad fan to filter food from the surrounding water.

The round, trumpet-like structure is an opercular plug.  When the fan is withdrawn into the tube, the plug seals the opening to protect the worm within.

I'm a big fan of these beautiful tubeworms, and Serpula columbiana comes in lots of different color forms, so here are two more examples:

 

 

 

 

 

Photographed in a large, fairly deep tidepool in the intertidal zone in Oregon.  Nicely done, Eric!

A dip in the creek?

  

We spent some time watching an American Dipper (Cinclus mexicanus) in a creek along the Oregon Coast today (5 April 2026).  I had trouble deciding which photos to share, so here are a few different views.  Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oregon foam

  

There was a pretty large swell and lots of foam washing ashore while we were up in Oregon last week.  With an overcast sky, there were some amazing colors in the bubbles!  Photographed near Cape Perpetua on 29-30 October 2022.

 

 

Little dipper

  

American Dipper (Cinclus mexicanus) in a creek near Cape Perpetua, Oregon, on 29 October 2022.

We had fun watching this dipper while it foraged for invertebrates, both in and above the creek.  It would often fly-catch — swooping up to snatch flying insects, perhaps caddisflies:

 

 

It was so fun to see how at home the dipper was along the creek — perched on rocks in riffles, walking along submerged logs, swimming, and diving below the surface, flying upstream and over cascading falls.

In the drift line

  

During a short walk along Bastendorff Beach (near Charleston, OR) today (28 October 2022), I noticed a few of these small salps in the drift line.  I think this is Thalia democratica.  I know it's hard to see the entire animal — the gelatinous portion is transparent — but I don't know how often this species is seen washing up in Oregon, so I thought I'd post it for the record.

P.S.  For more photos and information about Thalia democratica, see the post called "Diamonds in the drift" from 26 August 2014.

Erosion as art

 

 

Rock formation at Cape Arago, Oregon.  I couldn't decide which view I liked better, so here's a horizontal image (below) so you can choose!

 

Coastal patterns

 

Wandering Tattler (Tringa incana) near Newport, Oregon, on 4 June 2019.

Also nearby were these amazing Gooseneck Barnacles (Pollicipes polymerus).  They were noticeably large individuals!

 

One more photo — a close-up of the Gooseneck Barnacles highlighting the wonderful patterns created by their plates:

 

High tide roost

 

Pigeon Guillemots (Cepphus columba), Oregon coast, 3 June 2019

ADDENDUM (4 June 2019): Alice mentioned the red feet and red mouth lining of guillemots.  They aren't visible in the roosting birds (shown above), but here's a mating pair that highlights the red feet:

 

Diamondback

 

Yesterday we were excited to find this beautiful nudibranch, Diamondback Tritonia (Tritonia festiva), at Cape Arago, Oregon.

After we finished fieldwork today, we noticed this wonderful agate, with patterning reminiscent of the nudibranch:

 

A fun back-to-back combination!

 

Fins from the Inn

This afternoon I glanced out the window of the Yachats Inn and was surprised to see large fins breaking the surface of the water fairly close to shore.  We ran out the door and down to the shore to try to get a better look:

 

Orcas!  Although we've spent quite a bit of time in Yachats, Oregon, this is the first time we've seen Orcas here.  We watched them swim south past Yachats, and then decided to try to catch up with them further south.  

We stopped at Cooks Chasm, looked north, and saw them rounding the corner and headed our way.  And when they disappeared out of view, we drove south to Strawberry Hill.  After a short wait, the Orcas appeared again! 

There were at least five animals (including one small individual), possibly more.  Here's one of the better pictures I took:

 

Luck was on our side today — it's always worth a glance out the window!

The kernel crusher

It figures that the day after I leave California, two birds show up in Bodega Harbor that I haven't seen locally yet — a Brown Booby and a Franklin's Gull.  (Perhaps someone can ask them to hang around for a few more days until I return?)

But I was pleased to see the species below along the Oregon coast.  Although I wish I had better photos, the conditions were pretty stormy (you can tell that the birds were wet).  I hadn't encountered this species since leaving New England.  I tried to find them in Point Reyes Station this winter, but wasn't able to locate them.  They're considered accidental on Bodega Head, so there must be at least one record, but I don't have The Birds of Sonoma County with me right now, so can't look that up at the moment.

We were doing a little indoor work and heard some loud calls outside.  I looked up into the trees to see these birds:

 

This is a pair of Evening Grosbeaks (Coccothraustes vespertinus).  The female is on the right, and the male is a little hidden behind the branch to the left.

Eventually the male came out into the open for a few seconds. 

 

Later he moved to a position where you could see the the very large, greenish conical bill and the earthy brown and orange feathers.  Also note the bright yellow forehead and white wing patch.

 

At one point there were also Red Crossbills in the same tree.  Here's a view showing the female Evening Grosbeak with a female Red Crossbill.

 

And another with a pair of Evening Grosbeaks and a pair of Red Crossbills.  Can you find all four birds?

 

The female Evening Grosbeak is in the upper left corner.  The male Evening Grosbeak is in the center at the lower edge of the photo.  The pair of Red Crossbills is at the upper right corner (the yellow female is just below and to the left of the red male.)

I was intrigued to learn that geographically distinct call types have been described for Evening Grosbeaks, just as they have for Red Crossbills.  I now wish I had been able to record these grosbeaks.  Next time!

P.S.  The genus, Coccothraustes, apparently means "kernel crusher," in reference to the massive bill and its function in shattering seeds.

Like water off a...

...tattler's back?

This Wandering Tattler was perched along the rocky shore near Yachats, Oregon on 22 May 2013.

 

Although intermittent, the rain was coming down pretty hard at times.  In the next image, you can see raindrops falling diagonally across the picture and water droplets beaded up on the tattler's back.