Rogue River Jet Boat

Hi All,

Today we drove north to Gold Beach and took the 104 mile jet boat trip on the Rogue River. The boat did loops and spins until we were thoroughly soaked. Wildlife sightings were great as well, including river otter, beaver, deer and black bear plus bald eagles, osprey, kingfisher  common merganser, cackling geese and a spotted sandpiper.

Love
Sandy & Carl

Photographed and sent from Carl's iPhone

Jerry's Jet Boat

The boat from yesterday's Trip

Patterson Bridge

Entering a canyon

Another even narrower canyon

View upriver from our lunch stop in Agnes, OR

More wild river with few signs of civilization (if you don't count our 1,000 HP jet boat)

This is as far as we go. Rocks block the river at mile 52.

We then flew back downstream 

South to the Border

Hi All,

On Monday we drove the coach 170 miles south to Brookings Oregon, just six miles north of the California border. From here we will spend the week running the Rogue River and touring the California redwoods.

The coastal scenery down here is jaw-dropping. The offshore island dot the water with innumerable shapes including one that looks like half-dome in Yosemite.

Across the country in Florida, Wyatt was showing everyone how to catch flounder.

Love
Sandy & Carl

Photographed and sent from Carl's iPhone

Life is Damp but still Good

Hi All,

Today ranged from light drizzle to steady rain. For most of the day the fog prevented us from seeing the sea lions across the bay. Still we had 68 enthusiastic visitors. Once again, many were in the area for the Olympic Trials in Eugene. One young woman visiting today was the US National javelin champion.  Another visitor commented that the coastline here looks a lot like the Na Pali coast of the Hawain island of Kauai. Yet another reason to be thankful although the water here is 52 degrees not 82 degrees.

Love
Sandy & Carl

Photographed and sent from Carl's iPhone

When the rain got heavy we protected the scopes with trash bags.

Back to Yaquina Head

Hi All,

After "work" today we drove to Newport to return the "Build a Bird" materials to the FWS office.

While in Newport we went to Yaquina Head to see the thousands of murres ( instead of the single murre we had on the rocks at Heceta!).

This is Colony Rock; thousands of murres to the left and surprisingly

Two Bald Eagles on the right side of the rock

We looked in vain for chicks but we did see adult birds with fish tail first in their bills bend over to feed a chick and come up empty. The chicks were there but deep in the cluster of adult birds.

We did see lots of abandoned eggs. Check out the baby blue cone shaped egg in the right center.

Back at the visitor center parking lot, we found the all four if the Peregrine falcon chicks had fledged and we're flying around.

Love 
Sandy & Carl

Sent from my iPhone

Building a Bird

Hi All,

After a quiet day at the library and walking along the beach we went to Girl Scout Camp. Here we presented a program about bird adaptations called "Build a Bird". 

The materials we got from the Fish & Wildlife Education Coordinator were great. We dressed a volunteer with down feathers (down vest), contour feathers(feather boa), hollow bones(paper towel tube), air sacs(balloon), wings, long legs, long toes, camouflage and an oil gland. It was great fun and the 25 girls seemed to enjoy the program.

Love
Sandy & Carl

Photographed and sent from Carl's iPhone

A Different Perspective

Hi All,

The lighthouse restoration entered a new phase today and they wanted visitors to remain down by the lighthouse keepers house. We moved our wildlife observation site and found some different opportunities to showcase local wildlife to visitors.

The common murre colony is still stressed by the eagle attacks and subsequent egg theft by gulls and crows. Our collection of murre eggs is , sadly, growing.

Many visitors are fascinated to learn about the evolution of cone shaped eggs to reduce the likelihood of rolling off the rock and the multicolored/multispotted eggs that allow murres to identify their eggs in a crowded colony.

Our new observation location gives us a view of harbor seals as well as sea lions.

Up near the lighthouse we can only see the tip of Parrot Rock. From here we can see the whole rock.

The rugged Oregon coast provides endless stunning vistas.

Many recent visitors are in the area for the Olympic Track & Field trials in Eugene this week. We wish them all well both in Eugene and in London this summer. 

We also lovingly remember our friend Jerry Cantor who, as a volunteer track and field official, would have been officiating  in Eugene if he was still with us.

Love 
Sandy & Carl

Photographed and sent from Carl's iPhone

More Whales and an Eagle- No Idiots

Hi All,
Another glorious day. When we arrived there were no mures on the rocks. When a juvenile bald eagle attacked there were no murres to catch so he grabbed a crow and flew off. We had 147 human visitors throughout the day then as we were walking down from the lighthouse we had two more visitors. We spotted a gray whale mother and calf swimming slowly south. After they passed bye we drove to the viewpoint near Sea Lion Cave and from the high spot we could easily see the adult and juvenile whales.

Love
Sandy & Carl

Photographed and sent from Carl's iPhone

Not a great shot but definitely two whales