We have a tradition to go out to the open ocean every year during the winter season to a special spot on the Olympic Peninsula. That’s off this year due to Covid, since the place we stay has been shut down since spring and likely to remain so for some time. As a remembrance of that stretch of coast, I’m posting some birdy pictures from last year’s trip, late October 2019, which I never got around to sharing here at the time.
We stay in one of the cabins rented out by the Quileute Indian Tribe. Their reservation is the very small portion of their original lands around the mouth of the Quillayute River.
A narrow strip of land to the north and south is part of Olympic National Park. Trails take you wilderness beaches there, for those who can walk them: Second Beach and Third Beach to the south, and Rialto Beach to the north of the river. I’ve become progressively disabled so I can’t walk far, but I can walk First Beach out in front of the cabin and on either side of the river. That’s where most of these pictures are from. A few of the pictures are from previous years, of birds I didn’t get photos of last year.
Surprisingly, there isn’t a vast diversity of species along this coastline, and that’s not just me being oblivious. I looked at eBird’s bar charts for the area and that’s what people are finding in general, though of course I see far fewer than what’s listed at eBird because I’m only out observing for a tiny fraction of the year. Even so, there are sometimes lots of certain kinds of birds. Especially gulls. Especially California gulls! We don’t always coincide with flocking Calif gulls but when we do, they are quite numerous, numbering about a thousand along a half mile stretch, as they were last year. It’s just fascinating watching the dynamics amongst them and how they react to what’s going on there. Interestingly, they are rarely feeding when I see them, mostly preening, bathing or snoozing.
First Beach:
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That last view is looking north toward the river. The built-up wall you see is a jetty constructed by the Army Corps of Engineers a century ago to create a stable channel for transit between the river and the ocean. It’s a complicated setting, with several small islands and rocks at the mouth of the river, so there are two other structures built up and maintained by the Army Corps on the other side, including reinforced long spit that forms the southern end of Rialto Beach. That’s actually a natural feature formed by the Quillayute outwash but it has varied in configuration historically. With the changes at the river mouth the spit is starved of sediment, so the Corps dredges the river bed regularly transferring that sediment onto the ocean side of the spit.
It’s fun to stand on the jetty and watch all the activity in the river. A lot of people do, both visitors and locals.
Lots of gulls there too, mostly bathing. They get swept downriver as they bathe and then fly back up when they enter the ocean, so there’s a constant parade.
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There’s more variety of birds in the river than in the open ocean. I’ve seen ducks, cormorants, grebes, loons, etc. Gulls mix it up more in the river than on the beach.
Eagles aren’t the only predators at the river. California sealions regularly cruise up and down the river after fish. None of the salmon runs in the Quillayute are endangered, in contrast to other parts of the Northwest. No dams here and no urban development.
On the north side of the river Rialto Beach stretches 2 miles to the next headland. In winter it’s fairly empty of people and has tremendous crashing surf, so that’s my favorite time of year.
The Glaucous-winged, Western and Olympic gulls don’t flock, so you’ll only see a few at a time, in contrast with the Californias.
After gulls, the most common birds are Bald Eagles. Seriously. They are on every beach, often more than one pair. Immature stage eagles too. Sometimes I’ll see half a dozen eagles at a time.
I see few passerines. There are more in the forests above the beaches but unless you’re on a path, forget about getting into the woods. It is impenetrable brush and you can get lost in a trice. The sound of surf dies away very quickly.
I do see some small birds along the edge of the beach.
There’s a sweet little pond that parallels the river where you’ll see ducks sometimes.
If you can get further along the coast into the rocky headland areas, you’ll start seeing the kind of birds that feed on shellfish. That’s where the oystercatchers and turnstones are busy.
A little about the mouth of the river itself —
I mentioned the Army Corps maintains the channel. Two reasons for that. One, there’s a Coast Guard station just inside, the only safe moorage between Strait of Juan de Fuca and Gray’s Harbor, about 150 miles. Two, the tribal marina is there too. Aside from tourist dollars, like running the cabins, fishing is how the Quileute make their living. Out here where the rivers are undammed and the big factory ships don’t come close to shore, fish populations are as healthy as they can be these days.
What’s up in your birdy world this week?