Protecting Oregon’s Wildlife, Together
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From seabirds and raptors to otters and owls, we give injured and orphaned wildlife a second chance at life in the wild. Your support makes this work possible—help us protect Oregon’s wildlife by making a gift today.
Tufted Puffin
Fratercula cirrhata
Puffins remain off of the Oregon Coast year round. During the breeding season they are visible at nesting sites along the coastline with major breeding sites located in the northern part of the state.
Perhaps the most recognizable Oregon seabird, Tufted Puffins are mostly depicted in their breeding plumage with their red-rimmed eyes, comically large, orange bills, red feet, white faces, and yellow head plumes. Sometimes described as flying footballs, they are rotund little seabirds with upright postures. They spend most of their time on open ocean, returning to shore to nest from April-August on top of cliffs and offshore rocks along the Oregon Coast. Adult puffins “fly” under water with their wings, diving up to 200 feet in pursuit of prey. Tufted Puffins mate for life, and return to the same breeding ground each year, where they lay a single egg in their nesting burrows that can be dug up to 6 feet deep into the slopes atop cliffs and rocks. Parents take turns caring for their young and can carry up to 20 fish or squid at a time back to the pufflings that are kept concealed in their burrows. As the pufflings grow, the parents place fish closer to the burrow entrance, gradually moving their young closer to the outside world. Puffin chicks tend to fledge at night, and it is thought that the stars guide them out to sea where they will stay for 3 years before returning to the same nesting site where they were hatched to breed. The easiest place to view Tufted Puffins on the Oregon Coast is to venture to Haystack Rock in Cannon Beach during summer low tides. Bring your binoculars or borrow a pair from the Haystack Rock Awareness Program whose naturalists will help you identify them.
Common Murre
Uria aalge
Common Murre live off the Oregon Coast year-round and are visible sporadically throughout the year, and daily during the breeding season on offshore rocks and cliffs along the coast.
These stout little birds are the most common seabird that nests on the Oregon Coast with an estimated population of around 250,000. Frequently mistaken for penguins, Common Murres are of no relation, but instead are members of the family Alcidae along with puffins, guillemots, and auklets. Murres float around together in large rafts and use their wings to dive up to 400 feet in pursuit of fish and squid. They nest in large, dense colonies on rocky cliffs, and Murre parents raise a single chick every year. Female murres leave their young before they fledge, and the males oversee teaching the young how to survive in the wild. You can catch a glimpse of them during their breeding season in many locations along the Oregon Coast including Haystack Rock in Cannon Beach, Cape Meares near Tillamook, and Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area in Newport.
Western Gull
Larus occidentalis
Contrary to popular belief, there are no seagulls on the Oregon Coast—just gulls, and despite having the smallest population of all North American gulls the most frequently encountered species on the Oregon Coast is the Western gull.
Western gulls are large, heavy-bodied seabirds, with thick bills. They are scrappy scavengers and feed on a wide array of food including other birds, eggs, nestlings, fish, clams, mussels, sea stars, urchins, squid, marine worms, and carrion. Despite their seemingly indiscriminate foraging habits, processed foods are very bad for their health and should not be fed human food. Western gulls have They are the only gull species that nests on rocky shores instead of estuaries, and ferociously protect their nests which typically contain 2-3 eggs. Gull chicks are adorable little brown fluff balls with spotted heads, and you can easily see them at Haystack Rock in Cannon Beach from around June-August.
Great Blue Heron
Ardea herodias
Great blue herons are common throughout the state. Along the coast, we see them in shallow marshes, streams, lakes, and on rocky shores hunting for fish and aquatic invertebrates. They also can be found on dry land hunting for rodents.
Great blue herons are the largest heron species in North America standing around four feet tall. They’re known for their long legs, curved neck, and thick, dagger-like bill. They are taller & heavier than a great egret, but smaller than a sandhill crane. Adult Great Blue Herons appear blue-grey with a wide black stripe over the eye while juveniles have a darker head & bill and more brown feathers scattered throughout their plumage. Great blue herons are very adaptable, and can be found in a variety of saltwater & freshwater habitats spanning across the entire nation from southern swamps to desert rivers to the shores of Alaska. They also commonly forage in grasslands and fields. While hunting, Great Blue Herons wade slowly or stand statue-like, stalking fish and other prey in shallow water of open fields. They strike with a lightning-fast thrust of the neck & head as they stab prey with their strong bills. An all-white subspecies, the Great White Heron is found in coastal areas of southern Florida, along with individuals that are intermediate in plumage, known as “Wurdemann’s Heron.”
Black Oystercatcher
Haematopus bachmani
Black Oystercatchers can be seen along the shoreline in groups during the winter or reliably close to their individual nest sites during the breeding season including established sites in Cannon Beach, Lincoln City, and Newport.
The shrill call of a Black Oystercatcher perks the ears of bird lovers along the Oregon Coast. Besides their easily recognizable vocalizations, Oystercatchers are loved for their striking orange bills that they use to pluck off food near the shoreline. Black oystercatchers require a healthy intertidal ecosystem to survive, so are considered indicator species by conservationists clueing us in about the health of the ocean. Oystercatchers are a species of concern on the Oregon Coast for their low population numbers. Mating pairs bond for life and return to the same sites every summer where they lay 2 or 3 small eggs in a depression scraped into the rocks, just above the high tide line. Their chicks are precocial, meaning they are born downy and able to walk around their habitat almost immediately, but their parents are protective guardians keeping them close to the nest and taking turns watching over them while the other goes to get food. Around week five the young start to take flight, but their watchful parents keep a close eye on them and continue to show them how to hunt and sometimes continue to feed them. Black oystercatcher nests are highly prone to disturbance due to their precarious location just above the high-tide line, and their inconspicuous eggs that look nearly identical to the rocks onto which they are laid. For this reason, it is important to keep a watchful eye and keen ear out to help identify the presence of local, nesting pairs during the breeding season, and it is even more important to keep pets leashed as well.
Western Grebe
Aechmophorus occidentalis
Western grebes commonly breed in eastern Oregon and west of the Cascades at the Fern Hill reservoir. During the winter most grebes migrate to the coast, and can be found taking refuge in sheltered estuaries and bays staying close to the shore.
These are Oregon’s largest grebes with long, white necks capped in black with bright red irises and long, sharp bills. Western grebes are similar in appearance to Clark’s grebes and were only distinguished as separate species in 1985 after scientists discovered that the two rarely interbreed. You can usually tell a Western grebe from Clark’s grebe, because their black cap extends below the iris and on Clark’s it runs above the eye. Both species are known for their elegantly synchronized courtship dance during which they run in unison across the surface of water with their long necks curved into S-shapes. Rarely coming to shore, Western grebes spend most of their time in the water, and can dive to great depths in pursuit of fish and other prey
Black-Legged Kittiwake
Rissa tridactyla
Black-legged kittiwakes are migratory birds, nesting alongside Northern fulmars in and around arctic regions. They regularly spend their winters off the Oregon coast during their migrations, and can easily be seen offshore by boat.
You won’t find these agile little gulls foraging around dump sites or audaciously stealing your picnic. Instead, they scour the ocean, beaches, and nearby estuaries keeping an eye out for other seabirds that might signal where the good stuff is, fish. If they could, they would stick to a strictly fish diet, but when that’s not possible other marine invertebrates like shrimp, worms, or mollusks will do. Black-legged Kittiwakes are pelagic, spending most of the year at sea. Their range stretches the entire eastern Pacific coastline from Alaska to Baja. During the breeding season they are abundant on northern islands where they nest, but during the Winter they are common off the Oregon Coast. While the Black-Legged Kittiwake rarely comes to land, they can be seen from shore, especially during storms. Kittiwakes mostly forage in flight, dipping down for surface fish or plunging into the water to find prey below the surface. Black-legged Kittiwakes can have atypical families. Females sometimes pair with females to raise chicks, and males sometimes maintain two female partners at the same nest, with both females laying eggs.
Northern Fulmar
Fulmarus glacialis
Northern Fulmars breed primarily in high Arctic Canada and on islands in the Bering sea. They can be found off the coast of Oregon from late fall through winter, and are most visible by boat rafting in the open ocean.
Northern Fulmars appear in two morphs a dark morph, and a light morph. The light morph Fulmars look a lot like gulls, but Fulmars fly with faster wingbeats and glide over ocean waves. They are medium-sized seabirds with big heads, short necks, and long wings. Their bills are stout and with two nasal tubes on the top. They are related to other tubenoses in the family Procellariidae like petrels and shearwaters. Fulmars spend most of their lives on the open ocean, and breed mostly in Alaska and Arctic Canada. They have a well-developed sense of smell that they use to locate fish, squid, and small crustaceans that they catch with their hooked bills. They can dive up to 10 feet and have a salt gland above their nasal passage that excretes saline from their nose and helps desalinate their bodies from all the ocean water they drink. Northern Fulmars mate for life and can live up to be up to 60 years old. Northern Fulmars can be found off the Pacific Northwest coast late fall and early winter.
Red Phalarope
Phalaropus fulicarius
Red phalaropes can be found off the Oregon coast during spring and fall migrations, and sometimes can be seen resting onshore. They are irregularly uncommon to common off the coast during the winter, and have even been spotted as far inland as Portland.
About the size of a robin, red phalaropes are considered small shorebirds despite being the largest and chunkiest of all the phalaropes. They have short, thick necks and their bills are noticeably thicker than other phalarope species. During the summer, Red Phalaropes are a brilliant red with a white face and yellow bill, and in the winter they become a smooth grey and white with a black eye patch. Red phalaropes come to shore only to breed, which they do on the Arctic tundra and they are migratory, spending the winter on the ocean. Gathering in varying sized flocks, phalaropes eat invertebrates while swimming on the surface of the water. Whalers once called Red Phalaropes “bowhead birds” and looked for flocks as a marker to find whales, because the phalaropes like to gather around grey and bowhead whales to feed in the muddy water plumes that the whales stir up.
Our Mission
“Promoting compassion, empathy, and respect for all life through wildlife rehabilitation, ecological teachings, and wildlife conservation.”
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