Day 15             May 16, 2009              First Day at WORK!

And what a first day it was! Clear blue skies, thousands of sea birds, oystercatchers building a nest, harbor seals giving birth, gulls eating the placenta and gray whales swimming just offshore. The second hour was more of the same. It was quite busy and we had lots of people looking through the scopes we had set up. This is going to be a wonderful summer. Our friends Bob Berman and Cindy Lippincott stopped by to visit and it was great to see them. They have invited us for dinner tomorrow. After work we relaxed by the coach and caught up with emails and phone calls back home.

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Day 16             May 17, 2009              Do We Have to Do This Again!

Day two started out much like Day two. We had birds and seals and whales and glorious sunshine. However, by 11 o’clock the fog had rolled in and we could no longer see the whales. Since it was foggy and colder, we could also no longer see so many visitors. It was pretty quiet through the early afternoon. By two the wind had increased to about 20 mph and without the sun, it was pretty chilly and the crowds thinned out even more. Still, it was great fun to offer a visitor a look through a scope at the colony of common murres and hear them shout, “Oh my G-d, look at all those birds!”. Also fun was having them look through the other scope at the harbor seal mothers and new pups and squeal, “Oh they’re so CUUUUTE!”. After a couple hours relaxing in the coach, we went to dinner at Bob & Cindy’s.  We had a delightful dinner with Bob, Cindy and their neighbors. We talked about their recent trip to Peru, our recent trip to Panama, their upcoming trip to the same places in Panama and life in general on the Oregon Coast. They have a great view from their home but the fog was still in so we could not see beyond the deck.

Day 17             May 18, 2009              Another Glorious Day on the Coast!

It started out overcast but by 11 AM the sun was out. It was busier than we expected for a Monday which made the day pass quickly. We had lots of enthusiastic visitors who enjoyed the scope views of the seabirds and seals. We also had a well behaved third grade class that waited patiently as they all looked through both scopes. One young lady got an excellent image of the common murres using her small digital camera through the scope. Her first digiscoping. We got  a follow-up call from the Santa Ana NWR Volunteer Coordinator. She offered us positions where Sandy would do environmental education programs both at the refuge and at local schools. Carl’s assignments would be half nature/bird walk leader and half photographer. We readily agreed to this and can’t believe how fortunate we are to get these positions. We spent another relaxing evening reading and journaling. This work is fun but five hours on our feet takes a bit out of us.

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Day 18             May 19, 2009              Our Fourth Day on the Coast!

An interesting and varied day. It started with heavy rain. Carl opened the coach awning so he could get stuff out of the basement without getting soaked. When he was finished, the awning would not close. Oh well, just one more maintenance issue. Unfortunately, heavy rain and wind are forecast. A later call to the local RV service facility got a technician visit to manually roll up the awning. That way we can safely drive to the service facility. We’ll do that after they get a new faucet for our kitchen sink (another maintenance issue). Doctors no longer make house calls but RV service technicians do! Back on the cliff overlooking the seabirds and seals we had a fairly busy day given the intermittent rain and early winds. Later it was sunny and lots of people came to enjoy the wildlife. Carl showed one woman how to take digital photos of the seals through the spotting scopes. She was excited by the good results. Back at the coach we picked up our mail and watched a Netflix DVD we got.

Day 19             May 20, 2009              A Busy Day Off

Carl started the day with a long overdue bike ride. He wandered through the Science Center complex then along the local roads, avoiding the main coastal highway. It was a pleasant six mile ride, much of it along the shore of Yaquina Bay. After breakfast we walked the birding trail along the bay. There were lots of Whimbrel on the mud flats but not much else. After laundry and lunch we went to the Oregon Coast Aquarium which is next door. We saw great displays of coastal fish and invertebrates with many of the displays focused on local north Pacific species. There were, of course, flashy tropical reef fish and jellies as well. There was even an aviary with common murre, guillimott, auklets and tufted puffins but we see most of these when at “work”. In fact, at Yaquina Head we have had people say, “Gee, why did we spend all that money at the aquarium, all the birds and seals are here!”. After the aquarium we checked out some of the nearby craft shops then it was back to the coach to relax and get out of the building wind. The forecast is for 20-30 MPH winds later today.

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Day 20                        May 21, 2009              More Time Off

Like most of our “time off” we filled another day with chores and activities. Carl went for another bike ride this morning. Sandy is frustrated that, though her foot feels better, she’s not up to running or cycling. After breakfast Carl washed the outside of the coach while Sandy worked on the inside. The coach now looks spiffy inside and out. After lunch we visited the Hatfield Marine Science Center, in who’s back yard we are camped. The focal point at the visitor center is a giant pacific octopus. We arrived in time for one of his three times a week feedings. Octopi are pretty clever and this one is no exception. He was fed two crabs in a closed peanut butter jar. Within a minute the jar top was twisted off and the crabs were lunch. The remainder of the visitor center had interesting displays many focused on research conducted at the center ranging from new technology to create electricity from ocean waves to acoustic monitoring of earthquakes in Antarctica. Neat place, we’re sure to visit again. After relaxing in the coach for a while and having supper, we attended a meeting of the local birding group. Bob & Cindy were there and we met some of the other local birders. The presentation was by an OSU undergrad who had spent six weeks studying pink footed shearwaters on Robinson Crusoe Island 400 miles off the coast of Chile. Very interesting.

Day     21        May 22, 2009              Back to Work

Today was very windy with intermittent sun. Since the ocean temperature is still 49 degrees, the air really does not warm up with the wind. We were dressed in layers (and we kept them all on all day;-). We were warm enough but the lunch break in the warm car was welcome, none the less. New sightings today included 62 western grebes and a pacific loon. We are now keeping a count of visitors and we were surprised that 95 people braved the chilly wind to check out the seals and seabirds. We chatted with people from all over the US and Canada. In the evening we went to the movies and saw Angels and Demons.