Birthday Birds

This year for my birthday I went on a day trip to the coast with my friends Sarah, Eric, and Jen. We hoped to see “Mr. Costa,” the Costa’s Hummingbird that visits Eric Horvath’s residence in Newport. Costa’s hummingbirds typically prefer Sonoran and Mojave Deserts, chaparral and sage scrub areas along the California coast, but for some reason, this little one likes Eric’s house instead. Lucky guy.

This is the same spot Jen and I unsuccessfully tried in March when the bird was in immature plumage, but it was back now in bright purple breeding plumage, giving us extra incentive to try again. We piled into the car and made way to the coast through rainstorms, sunshine, and occasional rainbows.

Along the way, we kept our eyes on the power lines looking for Tropical Kingbirds, but no luck. We stopped at Boiler Bay Viewpoint to see if any of the floating kelp might turn into auklets, no luck there either, but Sarah did spot fly-by Black Scoter; orange knobby bill, black wing-tips.

We arrived at Eric’s house next, and thanks to his generosity we saw a hummingbird three of us had never seen before, and in such an unusual place for Costa’s.

We watched Mr. Costa vigorously chatter and defend the feeder from resident Anna’s Hummingbirds. True to hummingbird form, he’s a feisty little bird.

Feeling pretty relaxed we enjoyed Eric’s other yard birds.

We spent as much time as politely possible watching the Costa before finally saying our goodbyes. Walking back to the car down the street we stopped at Yaquina Bay just in time to see the Bald Eagle stir up the waterfowl.

And on the opposite side of the street in a marshy wetland, Sarah found me a state Virginia Rail! No visuals on this secretive bird (of course), but we heard the piggy-like grunt, “wep, wep, wepwepppprrr.”

And farther down the road…Red-shouldered Hawk!

We’d just been talking about these hawks, then it appeared. While in the area, we also visited the South Jetty and nearby Hatfield Marine Science Center estuary trails where we found other “red” birds.

And we also found a nice surprise of five Marbled Godwits along the HMSC trails.

Overall, it was a fantastic birdy-birthday trip to the coast.

Despite the dramatic skies an occasional gull showers.

And I made it home to find Tomas had bought me banana cake and beer. The best of times! Cheers to another year of good birding and good friends.

Tweets and chirps,

Audrey