Shoreline Seasons - Fall

An awakening is taking place on the shoreline at this time of year, as though the cooler days are stimulating active life. And that in a sense is literally true.

Black Scoters flocking

Coastal waters that had been relatively empty all summer are now repopulating with birds arriving from northern nesting grounds. 

Surf Scoters

Some of these will stay all winter in the open waters along Halibut Point, some will continue further south.

Common Eiders

Massive numbers of these birds form migration flocks while diving for mollusks and seaweed along the rocky coast. The male Eiders are molting from drab summer plumage to the vivid patterns that will enliven frigid days ahead. Right now they are being joined by Harlequin Ducks as principal spectacles of the cold weather surf zone.

Northern Gannet

Red-throated Loon

Also arriving are deeper diving birds with various specialties in seeking fish, whether by plunging from the air as gannets do, or by swimming down with powerful legs like the loons, Razorbills, and Long-tailed Ducks.

Herring Gull

Newborn fish are also on the move out of the nursery estuaries and rivers. When they are driven to the surface of the sea by larger predatory species, various birds try to seize them from above.

Great Black-backed Gull

The larger gulls are not very adept at the agile maneuvers necessary for these opportunities.

Cormorant and Ring-billed Gull fishing,
Herring Gulls watching.

Cormorants, the expert swimmers, and light-bodied gulls more successfully exploit the panicked fish.

Laughing Gulls

The lighter gulls are more tern-like in their aerodynamic buoyancy.

White-rumped Sandpiper

Late-departing shorebirds occasionally make a stopover at Halibut Point on their way toward winter realms. This juvenile White-rumped Sandpiper was a surprising sight foraging in velvety algae at low tide, considering its origins in muddy habitat of the High Arctic tundra.

White-rumped Sandpiper

Birds of this species on their way to the furthest tip of South America make one of the world's longest migratory  flights.

Canada Geese

The wide open skies along the coast make fine viewing for fall's seasonal wonders.

* * *

A reader sent this interesting anecdote after last week's essay.

"That photo of the female redstart reminds me of the time we were sailing off Gloucester. I was steering the sailboat with my hand on the wheel. A tired bird alit on the back of my hand. After watching it for a minute, I very carefully used my free hand to swat a fly in the cockpit. I picked up the dead fly and slowly placed it on my forearm. The tired bird hopped over, ate the fly, and departed. True story. One I’ll never forget."