I had never heard of Tillamook Cheese, but you can’t look at any tourist literature for the Oregon Coast without seeing adds for it. So when our route took up right past the place, we decided to stop. There was a large shop that sold cheese, ice cream and other such stuff. We took some free samples and wandered about the self-guided tour that overlooked the processing plant. Down below we could see several women cutting the cheese.
phalacrocorax (from phalakros, bald, and corus, raven) penicillatus (brush, for the tufts of feathers on its head)
Wednesday, May 7, 2008 — 12:40 pm
Ecola State Park, Oregon — Tillamook Head- Pacific Ocean
I expected to see these and was looking for them. Good thing, because they were a challenge. I spotted maybe 100 of them on a large rock south of Tillamook Head. I could tell by their profile that they were cormorants, but what kind?
I knew they weren’t Pelagic Cormorants (the ones I’d seen earlier in the day) because they didn’t have white on the flanks and because there was a bunch of them. (Pelagic 
Cormorants are generally solitary.) The other option was Double-crested Cormorants, but after setting up my spotting scope and putting it on maximum zoom, and studying for 10 minutes or so in the lousy light, I finally found one that was preening and facing me. I could see the light-colored chin patch that identifies Brandt’s Cormorant. Later in the day, at Cape Meares, I saw a line of them (another diagnostic feature) fly by low over the water. A lone bird flying past even later in Netarts Bay gave me a great look at the chin patch. In the picture on the right, you can see the Brandt’s Cormorants standing on their rock. The picture below is a blow-up of the same shot. You can’t identify the cormorants, but you can get an idea of how many there were.
spermophilus beecheyi
Wednesday, May 7, 2008 — 12:50 pm
Ecola State Park, Oregon — Tillamook Head
In addition to my 18 new birds on this trip, I saw five new animals. A California Ground Squirrel was sitting on the roof of a small building along the trail near the tip of Tillamook Head. I walked off the path a few feet to get a good look. I have to admit that I didn’t identify it at the time — my field guide to animals was back in Portland at the hotel. But I took a picture.
The Tillamook Rock Lighthouse perches on a rock a little more than a mile off Tillamook Head. The light is 133 feet above the sea, 62 feet of that height consisting of the tower. It was built in 1881 and continued in service until 1957. It was then purchased by a private company who sells spaces to store the ashes of loved ones (who, I hope, have died).
We met a guy later in the day who said that birds have taken over the island and covered it in several inches of guano, which would seem to make it a less than ideal place for Aunt Milly to rest in peace.
The shot on the left was taken earlier in the day from Haystack Rock. The shot on the right is a close-up of the above shot.
arenaria (pertaining to a sandy place) melanocephala (from melas, black, and kephale, head)
Wednesday, May 7, 2008 — 12:21 pm
Ecola State Park, Oregon — Tillamook Point — Pacific Ocean
I didn’t see any sea lions on the Sea Lion Rocks off Tillamook Point, but while I was looking for them, I did see four or five sandpipers fly in from the ocean and land on one of the rock shelves down below. With the help of my spotting scope, I identified them as Black Turnstones. They foraged around on the rocks for several minutes, often disappearing because they blended in so well. They were way too far away for me to get pictures.
I spotted a flock of about 15 later in the day flying past the beach at Meares Point.
