If you happen to follow any of my nonsense through these blog posts, podcasts, or social media, you might think I am out traveling all the time. Although I would love to be, I still have to work, which for me is a 24/7 obligation. So there isn’t much leeway to goof off and chase local birds, which is why I rarely post about birding in Oregon.
However, a few days ago, a rarity popped up that had me pleading for the afternoon off. It did not come to our radar until four days after the initial sighting. Not sure what the cause of that was, but regardless, it was a bird worth chasing. Snowy Owls are sighted in Oregon every 5-10 years or so, and I had dipped the last time I tried for it, so I wanted to get this one.
We were able to find coverage at work and left at 1:30 pm for the two-and-a-half-hour drive south to Newport, Oregon. Earlier that day, there was chatter on Discord, but it slacked off in the afternoon, so we were getting a bit worried that it would be a white-knuckled drive through rain and minor flooding for nothing.
We arrived at the spot with the most recent sighting at 4:00 pm – 30 minutes before sunset – and tried to determine exactly where the bird had been seen using photos posted on Discord. It had first been spotted at the Hatfield Marine Science Center, which is a little further into Yaquina Bay. The owl had moved out towards the Yaquina Bay jetty and was seen moving between the north and south sides. The south jetty has an easily accessible road that leads to a walkway up and over the dunes. There were no obvious birders at the parking lot, so we walked onto the jetty and crossed our fingers. Once we climbed up and down through the dunes, we saw the crowd of birders zoned in on something across the water. Set up the scope, and there it was – our Oregon lifer Snowy Owl!
The owl sat atop a boulder and preened itself for a while, obviously at ease. Earlier in the day, there were reports that Common Ravens were harassing it, but in the early evening, it had found a spot away from those bullies and just within visibility of the birders. We watched it for twenty minutes before it stretched its wings and flew off towards the mouth of the jetty and alighted at the end of the south jetty. It was barely visible as the sun set into the fog, and it stood several hundred feet down the pathway, with rocks obstructing the view. We wandered back towards the car filling out the eBird list with the more common species paddling about the bay: Harlequin Duck, Surf Scoter, Pelagic Cormorant, Double-crested Cormorant, and Pacific Loons. Back at the car there were a few Greater White-fronted Geese who didn’t seem as excited as we were about the local celebrity excited, so we packed up and turned the car towards home.
Later, I celebrated the sighting with a Snowy Owl cocktail available at a Christmas pop-up bar at one of my favorite spots. The drink was a bit spicier (think White Russian with Ancho Reyes Chile Liqueur) than I imagined this gorgeous, soft plumaged bird might be, but it still hit the spot.
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