Alder Island

The Alder Island Trail in the Siletz Bay National Wildlife Refuge on the Oregon Coast continues to be our go-to birding location this winter.  The stark bare white bark of the Red Alder trees always brightens our day.  The trail is graveled which makes for a great all weather path.  People are always scarce here, which is perfect for our Pandemic times. 

Our morning did not start out with this location in mind yesterday.  The plan was to go to Huddleston Pond in Willamina to bird, but as we dropped down into the Yamhill River watershed we encountered a solid layer of fog, so thick we could not even see across the pond. A quick check on our phones revealed that Lincoln City had bright sunshine, so we extended our drive on to the coast, where we did indeed have blue skies and bright sunshine.  You can see our bird list here. Below are some highlighted birds. 

This juvenile Great Blue Heron looked more concerned about staying warm than hunting for food.

A striking lone Common Goldeneye male was busy diving along the Siletz River.

A bright colored male American Kestrel seem to be enjoying the sun on his perch above the parking lot. We too appreciated the warmth of the sun as we ate our lunch inside our van.