I wasn’t only seeing lifers. The area around Haystack Rock was crawling with all sorts of birds, including some that I have only seen a handful of times before.
These are Harlequin Ducks. Before this day, I’d seen a grand total of 1 (one). That was four years ago on a very cold and windy February day in Winthrop Harbor in Zion, Illinois. It was swimming along a rock jetty where the harbor opens into Lake Michigan, about 100 yards from where I was freezing standing. Today there were at least four very close to shore by Haystack Rock. Later in the day, at Ecola State Park, I saw a flock of eight or ten males.
This is a Red-necked Phalarope. This is the fifth time I’ve seen one. The first time was in a large marsh in northern Wisconsin. The most recent time was six years ago on a lake in Barrington, Illinois. Today I saw about 200 in various flocks up and down the coast. This one, a female, was part of a group of about 20 that were feeding right in front of us.
Incidentally, phalaropes are very unusual in that the female is more colorful than the male. In addition, the female does the courtship and lays the eggs, then takes off to play in the ocean. The males incubate the eggs and raise the chicks.
These are Whimbrels. It’s hard to get perspective from this photograph. They’re about 18 inches long. This is the fourth time I’ve seen them — twice in 1980 (Michigan and Illinois) and again in San Diego in 2001. There were 10 or 12 of them walking about on the beach south of Haystack Rock, and I was able to get within 25 feet of them.
This is a Western Gull. Like I said in an earlier post, gulls don’t thrill me. But this one was just standing there, so I took its picture. The only other time I’ve ever seen Western Gulls was in 2001 in San Diego. But that’s just because Western Gulls stick exclusively to the West Coast and I don’t get there very often. I imagine it would be pretty difficult to see the West Coast and NOT see a Western Gull. I don’t think there was a time today when the ocean was in view and a Western Gull wasn’t.
