A little after noon on March 15, 2026, I decided to make a trip around March Point in hopes of taking more photographs of Black oystercatchers I’d photographed a day or so before. (Note the limpet in the bird’s bill, a favorite food!).
I first made a stop at the Cap Sante Marina and photographed a male Common merganser and several female Common goldeneyes.
I found the oystercatchers on a rocky beach again, but they were in a location where I couldn’t easily photograph them. I finally came to a mud flat where I was able to photograph some (Greater?) yellowlegs.
On my way back around the point, I saw a duck land on the water in the distance, and it didn’t appear to be one of the more common waterfowl that I’ve been seeing over the last couple of weeks. I stopped my vehicle and watched as it swam parallel to the beach towards me, but at a considerable distance offshore. When it got even with me, it made a right angle turn and came straight towards me, finally walking up on the beach right below me and settling among the rocks! At the time, I wasn’t sure what it was, but in processing my photographs and consulting with a friend I’ve come to the conclusion that it was a female Long-tailed duck. I think I’ve only photographed one other in the 25 years I’ve lived here.
After my excursion to the Cap Sante Marina and March Point, I returned to the house and, still having some daylight left, I decided to bird a while in the yard. Earlier in the day I had seen at least two Pine skins make a brief stop at one of my water features, but I didn’t have the opportunity to photograph them. These birds are known for eruptions and at times have been the most numerous birds in the yard, but I (and a birding neighbor) haven’t seen any in several months. I was hoping the siskins might return so I could get photographs, but they didn’t and I was left with just the usual birds.
A female Hairy woodpecker visited the yard and I managed a rare photo of it in a natural environment instead of on the peanut feeder.
After I’d been sitting for a while, all the birds suddenly disappeared, which usually happens when an accipiter enters the yard. I sat very still and looked around but didn’t see any sign of anything that would frighten the birds. A slight movement under a bush caught my attention… it was a female Dark-eyed (Oregon) junco sitting very still, again indicating the presence of an accipiter. A few minutes later, a juvenile Cooper’s hawk suddenly flew down and landed just above my stone birdbath and perched in open view about 25 or 30 feet away! It remained long enough for me to tire of taking photographs (!) before it finally left the yard.
