June 26 - Ocean Shores and Westport

They're close to each other if you have a boat, but it's over an hour to drive from Westport to Ocean Shores. We drove around the town and then headed for the public beach. Vehicles are allowed on the beach so we drove right on.

Edith spotted some people on horses coming back from a beach ride.



She decided she'd like to do the ride, so I left her and headed out for the North jetty for some bird watching.

While on the beach, I observed some of the common Gull Species. This one might be a pure Western Gull or could be what is referred to as an "Olympic" Gull (for the peninsula). This area has an high level of hybridization between Western Gulls and Glaucous-winged Gulls. This Gull seems to match the drawing in the Sibley guide for a pure Western.


Western Gull - Ocean Shores WA - 2018 Bird #180.

The North Jetty was built in the early 1900's to stabilize the shore and allow for the formation of beaches. It can be treacherous to walk on as it's all large rocks.


North Jetty, Ocean Shores WA

I had visited this site in 2014 and had some luck there with birds. However, the first creature I saw on this day were in the water - Harbor Porpoises.


Harbor Porpoise - North Jetty, Ocean Shores WA

There were also seals in the water.


Harbor Seal - North Jetty, Ocean Shores WA

I headed back to get Edith and discovered she hadn't done the ride because of her footwear. So we'd be coming back tomorrow for that and more birding. We decided to return to Westport.

We went for an evening walk on the Westport Beach and had some good luck - a flock of Heermann's Gulls were present.


Hermann's Gull - Public Beach, Westport WA - 2018 Bird #181

These are one of my favourite Gulls. I love the reddish-orange beak and the black legs. Here's a couple of more photos.







Also on the beach was a California Gull.


California Gull - Public Beach, Westport WA

On our walk back to the lodge, we encountered a Common Yellowthroat, our last bird of the day.

Common Yellowthroat - Westport WA