Bullards Beach State Park May 19–28, 2012

Date: May 19–25, 2012

Location: Bullards Beach State Park

Weather: Rain, overcast, occasional sun breaks

Our recollection of last May here at Bullards Beach is the first 3 weeks it either rained or it was heavy overcast. The 4th week it was sunny and nice. This year has been the exact opposite. We have enjoyed unusually nice weather for the first 3 weeks this year, but this past week has been rain and heavy overcast.

The rain has cut way down on our bird walks and attempts to get in 10,000 steps a day. Traffic at the Lighthouse has been less than in past weeks. When it is raining no one comes to the lighthouse. If there is break in the rain a few people come to visit. One of the great things about volunteering at this little lighthouse is that it sits next to a jetty and the mouth of the Coquille River. With the wind blowing and the rain coming down it is a very dramatic location. We can watch waves breaking over the jetty, huge waves hitting the beach and waves hitting the rocks at the base of the lighthouse!

After 4 years and 5 months we had our first drop-in blog reader visitors. Last year when we were here a couple came to the Lighthouse and asked for us on a morning we were working the afternoon shift. They were heading down the coast and couldn't come back when we were on duty that afternoon.

This week, when we were working the morning shift a couple came by in the afternoon asking for us. This time the couple were staying here in the park campground. The other Lighthouse couple directed them to our site. Just as we were sitting down to dinner there is a knock on the door.

"Hi, we are your blog followers and are also Escapees and Boomers.” It was Keith & Brenda Krejci from the Damn Near Perfect Couple blog.

Rather than stand around outside with the mosquitoes and let dinner get cold, I suggested that we meet for breakfast to chat.

We met for breakfast the next morning with Keith & Brenda  and had a nice chat about all things RVing and Volunteering related. They have been RV fulltimers for over 6 years and have done a lot of volunteer assignments.

That afternoon friends Gordon & Juanita from the Seeing the USA in our Chevrolet blog came by to visit at the lighthouse during our shift, shortly after that Keith & Brenda arrived. It being the small world that RVing seems to be, Keith & Brenda read Gordon & Juanita's blog but had never met them until then. They noticed Abby, the beagle waiting patiently at the door, which got the ball rolling of who they all were!

These Oregonians are tough, so even with the threat of rain this weekend, the park, as expected, was completely full for Memorial Day Weekend. Lots of kids and family reunions. It was a very busy  weekend for Bullards Beach State Park in general and especially so for the Lighthouse.

We had a number of people young and old say that they had never been in a lighthouse before. Also several people told us how fascinating the stories and history of the lighthouse were.

Since we had been through this busy holiday weekend last year we took it all in stride. Now that the holiday crowd has headed back home, the park seem so quiet.

Bird List: Pacific Loon, Western Grebe,Brown Pelican,Double-crested Cormorant,Pelagic Cormorant,Great Blue Heron, Canada Goose, Turkey Vulture, Osprey, Red-tailed Hawk, California Quail, Black Oystercatcher, Western Gull, Caspian Tern, Rock Dove, Rufous Hummingbird, Belted Kingfisher, Violet-green Swallow, Barn Swallow, Cedar Waxwing, Bewick's Wren, Swainson's Thrush, American Robin, Wrentit, Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Steller's Jay, American Crow, European Starling, Orange-crowned Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Spotted Towhee, Song Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, Brewer's Blackbird, Purple Finch, American Goldfinch

Most notable were our first of the year: Cedar Waxwing, Bewick's Wren and the Swainson's Thrush

Wildlife Count: Harbor seal, rabbit, ground squirrel, chipmunk, Sea Lion

Bullards Beach State Park May 15th - 18th, 2012

 

This is a picture of Elk Creek Falls taken by Sue, as I had left my camera in the truck.

Date: May 15, 2012

Location: Bullard’s Beach State Park, Bandon, Oregon

Weather: Overcast before 10 AM but, sunny after that

Temperature today’s Low: 48º

Temperature today’s High: 52º

Bird List: Double-crested Cormorant,Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Canada Goose, Mallard,Turkey Vulture, Osprey, Bald Eagle, Red-tailed Hawk, California Quail, Rock Pigeon, Eurasian Collared-Dove, Anna's Hummingbird, Hairy Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, Olive-sided Flycatcher, Western Wood-Pewee, Violet-green Swallow, Cliff Swallow, Barn Swallow, American Dipper, Pacific Wren, Marsh Wren, American Robin, Steller's Jay, American Crow, Common Raven, European Starling, Cassin's Vireo, Yellow Warbler, Black-throated Gray Warbler, White-crowned Sparrow, Red-winged Blackbird, House Sparrow

Wildlife Count: Roosevelt Elk

Last Wednesday when we went to the Audubon meeting in Coos Bay, before the main program started, there was an announcement for the Field Trip that would be on Sunday to the town of Powers, Oregon. We couldn’t go as we had Lighthouse duty and John and Sue couldn’t go because they had “Plover People” duty on Sunday. However, if the locals think this place is worth an hour’s drive, then we thought we should check it out as well. Sue emailed the Leader of the Field Trip and explained why we couldn’t go on the field trip, bot asked for some guidance as to where we should look for birds when we went to Powers by ourselves. He sent her several suggestions on places to tryout.

So this morning we got an early start (7 AM) and headed to Powers.

A picture that Sue took of us at Elk Creek Falls

Date: May 16, 2012

Location: Bullard’s Beach State Park, Bandon, Oregon

Weather: Steady wind all day

Temperature today’s Low: 46º

Temperature today’s High: 51º

Bird List: Double-crested Cormorant, Pelagic Cormorant, Brown Pelican, Turkey Vulture, Pacific Loon, American Crow, Western Gull, Song Sparrow

Wildlife Count: Harbor Seal

We are working the 2 PM to 5 PM “late shift” at the Lighthouse this week. Kathy said that we couldn’t put off doing the laundry any longer,  so before work we went into Bandon to do the Laundry.

We got back had a quick lunch and went out to the Lighthouse. Don and Karen said they had a light day for visitors. With it being mid-week and with a steady wind blowing we didn’t expect many visitors either. During our shift we only had 24 visitors. I checked our log entry in the Lighthouse log for the same day last year. This year we had almost twice as many visitors! On May 16th last year we only had 13 visitors.

After work we attended the first Volunteer’s Potluck of the year. Even after these 3 weeks there were still a few volunteers that we hadn’t met before.

No Bird Walk or walks around the campground loops today.

Date: May 17, 2012

Location: Bullard’s Beach State Park, Bandon, Oregon

Weather:  Sunny, cool and windy

Temperature today’s Low: 46º

Temperature today’s High: 51º

Bird List:  Pacific Loon, Western Grebe, Brown Pelican, Double-crested Cormorant, Pelagic Cormorant, Canada Goose,  Western Gull, Violet-green Swallow, Barn Swallow, American Robin, American Crow, Steller's Jay, European Starling, Song Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow

Wildlife Count: Squirrel

Today we walked the campground loops and went to the boat ramp looking for birds. it wasn’t a very productive day for birds as they were installing the floating docks for the season at the boat ramp and we found too many people to stop and chat with during our walk.

Due to the wind, visitation to the Lighthouse was only 34 visitors.

Date: May 18,2012

Location: Bullard’s Beach State Park, Bandon, Oregon

Weather: Sunny, cool and windy

Temperature today’s Low: 42º

Temperature today’s High: 49º

Bird List: Pacific Loon, Western Grebe, Brown Pelican, Double-crested Cormorant, Pelagic Cormorant, Great Blue Heron, Canada Goose, California Quail, Western Gull, Violet-green Swallow, Barn Swallow, American Robin, American Crow, Spotted Towhee, Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Steller's Jay, European Starling, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Song Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, Brewer's Blackbird

Wildlife Count: none

We started the day getting groceries. When we arrived back at the the campground we found out there had been an attempted break in to the lighthouse overnight. Fortunately, they weren’t able to get in to the Lighthouse and only one window was broken.

Since we had time before our afternoon shift at the Lighthouse we went to the boat ramp looking for birds. The installation of the floating docks was completed yesterday so the area around the boat ramp was much quieter. Unfortunately, we were there as high tide was coming in.  With the strong current there weren’t many birds about.

The high winds continued today and visitation to the Lighthouse was even less than yesterday with only 18 visitors.

New blog format:

I have given this new blog format a 3 week trial, but I don’t think it is working out. I am certainly writing and posting more often. However, most of the entries are repetitious because we do the same things from week to week and bird most of the same places.

I am going to try a weekly summary format for the next few weeks to see how that works out.

Bullards Beach State Park May 13th & 14th, 2012

Date: May 13, 2012

Location: Bullard’s Beach State Park, Bandon, Oregon

Weather: Clear and sunny, Light winds, After 4 PM winds picked up and fog rolled in

Temperature today’s Low: 45º

Temperature today’s High: 54º

Bird List: Brown Pelican, Double-crested Cormorant, Pelagic Cormorant, Canada Goose, Cackling Goose, Surf Scoter, Bufflehead, Osprey, Western Gull, Caspian Tern, Common Murre, Pigeon Guillemot, Violet-green Swallow, Barn Swallow, American Robin, American Crow, Song Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, Pacific Loon

Wildlife Count: Squirrel

We had people waiting when we went to open the Lighthouse at 11 AM and had a non-stop stream of people until 12:40 PM. About 1 PM the steady stream of people started up again. We had another 50 visitors today to the lighthouse during our shift. However, what a difference from yesterday on the river, we didn’t see any crab traps and only 2 boats.

After our shift we walked all of the campground loops and walked to the Boat Lunch Ramp. It was about 4 PM. The wind was causing whitecaps on the river, the fog was rolling up the river and the temperature was dropping fast. On our way back to our site we stopped to chat with several of the other volunteers along the way.

 Date: May 14, 2012 

Location: Bullard’s Beach State Park, Bandon, Oregon

Weather: The day started overcast but got sunnier as it went on and turned out to be a surprisingly nice day.

Temperature today’s Low: 47º

Temperature today’s High: 54º

Bird List: Brown Pelican, Double-crested Cormorant, Pelagic Cormorant, Great Blue Heron, Canada Goose, Surf Scoter, Bufflehead, Osprey, Red-tailed Hawk, Black Oystercatcher, Western Gull, Caspian Tern, Common Murre, Pigeon Guillemot, Rock Dove, Eurasian Collared-Dove, Western Wood-Pewee, Violet-green Swallow, Barn Swallow, American Robin, American Crow, Common Raven, Savannah Sparrow, Song Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, Red-winged Blackbird, Brewer's Blackbird, House Finch, American Goldfinch

Wildlife Count: Harbor Seal

Today being Monday it was the weekly volunteers breakfast at the Minute Café in Old Town Bandon. We had quite a crowd as 17 of our 25 volunteers made it to breakfast today.

Being our day off, after breakfast we headed out to check some of the local spots for birds. First we went to the south jetty of the Coquille River. Then we went on to Coquille Point.  with large sea stacks just off shore and nesting birds. It is probably the most visited wayside as it is closest to town and for shear number of birds. A little further down the road is Face Rock Wayside. Face Rock is probably the most scenic and on this day had the largest number of shore birds. Still further down the road is Devil’s Kitchen and China Creek Wayside.  One thing every site we visited had A LOT of WIND. China Creek is also where the very endangered Western Snowy Plovers nest and is the site where the “Plover People” John & Sue and Michael & Diane spend most of their volunteer time educating the public about the Snowy Plover nests and trying to keep dogs and people out of the nesting area.

After stopping at the trailer for a late lunch we decided to give ourselves a break and not do laundry today. So, we piled back in to the truck and headed to the recently restored section of Bandon Marsh National Wildlife Refuge. The restoration of the Ni-les'tun Tidal Marsh area was just completed in the fall of last year. The best bird we saw there this visit was our first sighting of a Savanna Sparrow for this year. We also observed a Red Tailed Hawk hunting in the marsh, pick up some “lunch” and landed in the pine tree across the road from us!

Second week back at Bullards Beach State Park May 2012

The door to the Lighthouse.

Date: May 7, 2012

Location: Bullard’s Beach State Park, Bandon, Oregon

Weather: Another beautiful clear day.

Temperature today’s Low: 44º

Temperature today’s High: 54º

Bird List: Double-crested Cormorant, Pelagic Cormorant, Surf Scoter, Turkey Vultures, Whimbrel, Western Sandpiper, Western Gull, Common Murre, Eurasian Collared-Dove, Violet-green Swallow, American Robin, American Crow, White-crowned Sparrow, Golden-crowned Sparrow, Red-necked Phalarope

Wildlife Count: none

Monday is the morning of the weekly volunteers breakfast at the Minute Café in Old Town Bandon. Since there are so many volunteers here and since we all have different jobs we don’t see each other all that much during the week. The weekly volunteers breakfast has been going on for years. Although not everyone makes it to every breakfast, most people make it to most breakfasts. 

Since Monday is our day off, after breakfast we headed out to check some of the local spots for shore birds. We went to the south jetty where the Coquille River meets the ocean first. Since there is beach, the river and the ocean this is where we saw the most kinds of  birds. Along the cliffs that make up much of the coast in this area, there are several State Park Waysides. We stopped at all of the waysides that are close to Bandon. Coquille Point with large sea stacks just off shore and nesting birds, is probably the most visited wayside as it is closest to town and for shear number of birds. A little further down the road is Face Rock Wayside. Face Rock is probably the most scenic and on this day had the largest number of shore birds. Still further down the road is Devil’s Kitchen and China Creek Wayside.  One thing every site had was A LOT of WIND. China Creek is also where the very endangered Western Snowy Plovers nest and is the site where the “Plover People” John & Sue and Michael & Diana spend most of their volunteer time educating the public about the Snowy Plover nest and trying to keep dogs and people out of the nesting area.

The afternoon was spent doing laundry. Just as the laundry was finishing up in the dryer we got a call from John & Sue. They were at China Beach and had a Red-necked Phalarope hanging out in the creek close to there location. As soon as the laundry was done we headed back to China Creek. The Red-necked Phalarope was still there in the fresh water creek huddled out of the wind against the bank of the creek. Although, the bird was mobile his odd behavior made us think that he may have been sick or injured.

Date: May 8, 2012

Location: Bullard’s Beach State Park, Bandon, Oregon

Weather: Clear day and windy day. Wind gust to 23 mph.

Temperature today’s Low: 47º

Temperature today’s High: 52º

Bird List: Double-crested Cormorant, Pelagic Cormorant, Surf Scoter, Bufflehead, Turkey Vultures, Western Gull, Violet-green Swallow, American Robin, American Crow, White-crowned Sparrow, Horned Grebe, Canada Goose, Stellers Jay, Western Grebe, Barn Swallow, Osprey

Wildlife Count: none

Tuesday is another day off. We started the day by walking the campground loops and visiting the boat ramp looking for birds. We saw pretty much the “usual suspects”.

Traveling friends Gordon & Juanita from the blog Seeing the USA in our Chevrolet are spending there third summer in Port Orford, Oregon. If you have been reading our blog for a while you know that we first met Gordon & Juanita in Alaska back 2008. Between emails, blog entries and the fact that our paths cross occasionally we have managed to keep up to date on each others lives. Also in Port Orford is a restaurant called the Crazy Norwegian’s Fish and Chips. Last summer we had one of the best Crab Sandwiches you could every hope for and the absolutely best Fish Tacos I have ever had. 

Obviously, we had to go to Port Orford to have lunch with Gordon & Juanita at the Crazy Norwegian. They still have great Carb Sandwiches and Fish Tacos.

After lunch we went over to Gordon & Juanita's summer home. This is a small but very friendly RV Park with many people returning year after year. While we were at Gordon & Juanita's their beagle, Abby,.must have known I needed a puppy fix. She jumped into my lap, put her paws on my chest and stared at me with her big dark eyes.

 

Date: May 9, 2012

Location: Bullard’s Beach State Park, Bandon, Oregon

Weather: Very windy day. Wind gust to 36 mph.

Temperature today’s Low: 44º

Temperature today’s High: 49º

Bird List: Brown Pelican, Pacific Loon, Double-crested Cormorant, Pelagic Cormorant, Western Gull, Song Sparrow, Pigeon Guillemot

Wildlife Count: none

Wednesday was our first “work day” with the Lighthouse opened to the public. The wind was blowing strong from the north when we opened the Lighthouse at 11 AM and got stronger as the day progressed. It wasn’t a very busy first day but, considering the wind and that it was mid-week in early May, 15 visitors seemed about right.

Not long after we were done with our shift at the lighthouse. John & Sue came by to pick us up for a trip to Coos Bay. There we were joined by Jim & Barb. They are volunteers at Simpson Reef that I wrote about in the last blog posting.

Visiting Coos Bay were the Tall Ships Lady Washington and Hawaiian Chieftain. The Lady Washington is a replica of a 1787 merchant ship. The Hawaiian Chieftain is a replica of a 19th century trading ship. These 2 ships travel the west coast offering sailing trips and tours at various ports in California, Oregon and Washington. None of our schedules would work for a sail trip so we went for a tour.

After touring the ships we went to a near by German Restaurant that Jim liked called the Blue Heron. I think we all had a different item but, all came away happy and full.

We next went to a meeting of the Cape Arago Audubon Society. It has been a few years now since Kathy and I attended an Audubon Meeting. The presentation at the meeting was from a local Birder that set a new Oregon Big Year Record. Russ Namitz saw 381 bird species all in Oregon and all in the same year  beating the previous state record of 363. The statistic that amazed me most was that he drove 41,000 miles in pursuit of this record. That is more than one and half times around the world without leaving Oregon.

Our “crew” standing in the cold

    

Bow of the Lady Washington                     The Hawaiian Chieftain

    

The rigging of the ships                              The helm of the Hawaiian Chieftain

    

The tiller of the Lady Washington              More rigging of Lady Washington

Date: May 10, 2012

Location: Bullard’s Beach State Park, Bandon, Oregon

Weather: Are windiest day yet. Wind 25 mph, Wind gust to 36 mph.

Temperature today’s Low: 39º

Temperature today’s High: 49º

Bird List: Brown Pelican, Double-crested Cormorant, Pelagic Cormorant, Surf Scoter, Bufflehead, Western Gull, Song Sparrow, Northern Harrier, Pigeon Guillemot

Wildlife Count: Squirrel

Today we opened the Lighthouse early for the annual visit by the 5th graders from Melrose Elementary School of Roseburg, Oregon. This is the 34th year they have had a field trip to the Coquille River Lighthouse. The teacher told us that he had been on this field trip at the same school when he was in 5th grade. This school group is very well organized and they are really good for 5th graders. They are however noisy. All sounds just echo in the lighthouse. Our total visitors for the day was 75. All but, 10 were with the school group.

We didn’t go for a bird walk or walk the campground loops today. After our busy morning, we were wore out! I went home a took a hour and half nap.

Date: May 11, 2012

Location: Bullard’s Beach State Park, Bandon, Oregon

Weather: Clear and only half as windy as yesterday. Wind 15 mph, Wind gust 20 mph

Temperature today’s Low: 40º 

Temperature today’s High: 50º

Bird List: Brown Pelican, Double-crested Cormorant, Pelagic Cormorant, Surf Scoter, Bufflehead, Western Gull, Song Sparrow, Pigeon Guillemot, Rufous Hummingbird, Turkey Vultures, American Crow, White-crowned Sparrow, Stellers Jay, Western Grebe, Barn Swallow, Osprey, Pacific Loon, Black-capped Chickadee, Great Blue Heron

Wildlife Count: none

Today we had a quieter day at the lighthouse. We had 17 people total for our shift and they seemed to come in a continuous but not hectic pace.

After working at the lighthouse we got groceries.

After putting away the groceries we walked the campground loops and visited the boat ramp. We found 4 Western Grebes, where up until now we have only seen one grebe at a time. Also the Pacific Loon has found a friend.

On our way back to the trailer we stopped by to have a glass of wine with John & Sue and start planning our Tuesday Bird trip. 

Date: May 12, 2012 .

Location: Bullard’s Beach State Park, Bandon, Oregon

Weather: Sunny and Clear. Wind 3 mph.

Temperature today’s Low: 41º 

Temperature today’s High: 53º

Bird List: Double-crested Cormorant, Western Gull, Song Sparrow, American Crow,

Wildlife Count: none

We had 50 visitors at the Lighthouse, a typical number for a beautiful Saturday on the coast. The visitors came in a nice steady stream so it never got to be overwhelming and the time flew by. The river was full of fishing and crabbing boats, so there wasn’t much bird activity.

Around Coos Bay May 6, 2012

A small part of Simpson Reef

Date: May 6, 2012

Tonight’s Location: Bullard’s Beach State Park, Bandon, Oregon

Weather: Clear skies with the wind picking up as the day went on

Temperature today’s Low: º 41

Temperature today’s High: º 52

Bird List: Double-crested Cormorant, Pelagic Cormorant, Great Egret, Mallard, Turkey Vultures, Bald Eagle, Western Gull, Rufous Hummingbird, Belted Kingfisher, Black Phoebe, Violet-green Swallow, American Robin, American Crow, Wilson's Warble, White-crowned Sparrow

Wildlife Count: Harbor Seal, Steller Sea Lion, California Sea Lion,

We awoke to a beautiful clear day. Our friends, John & Sue, as part of their volunteering with US Fish & Wildlife Service, were leading an 8 am Birding\Tidepool walk at Coquille Point here in Bandon. We had tentatively planned to go on their walk, but the prospect of fresh Blueberry pancakes won out.

Now a great day like today just can’t be wasted. We decided to head north to visit some of the Oregon State Parks near Coos Bay. Our first stop was at Simpson Reef Overlook. While standing there talking to the volunteers on duty, our first Bald Eagle of the season came gliding by the overlook at eye level and only about 15 feet out. Unfortunately, he moved too fast for me to get my camera ready before he moved off. The volunteer told us that the day before there had been 2 Gray Whales just north of the reef. No whale sightings today.

After our stop at Simpson Reef we continued down the road to Cape Arago State Park. Cape Arago is about 15 miles southwest of Coos Bay. It is one of those places on the Oregon coast the sticks out into the ocean. This cape does not stick out as far as Cape Blanco, but it sticks out far enough to get a strong wind. We could see forever, but there weren’t many birds around.

Leaving Cape Arago we next stopped at Shore Acers State Park. This park was once the estate of timber baron Louis Simpson. The house burned down years ago, but the gardens are still kept in shape. Even here in early May there were flowers in bloom. Rhododendrons and azaleas especially.

    

    

    

Strange plants and strange rocks at Shore Acers

To read about our 2009 visit to Simpson Reef, Cape Argo and Shore Acers State Park checkout our North Bend, Oregon Revisited blog entry.

Sue & John frequently go to the Fishermen’s Grotto in Charleston, Oregon. So naturally we had to try it out. I had the most unusual sandwich. It is called the Oyster Philly. Think of a Philly Cheese Steak sandwich but have the steak replaced by deep fried oysters. It is an amazing good sandwich.

One final stop for the day was a Great Egret Rookery along the Coos River that John & Sue had told us about. There must be 100 Great Egrets nesting in the trees at the rookery and another 25 – 50 Double-crested Cormorants sharing the same trees.  Our viewing site was across the river from the rookery so I just could not get a decent picture.

First week back at Bullards Beach State Park May 2012

Yes we have returned to the Coquille River Lighthouse where we volunteered last May.

We will be here on the South Oregon coast until October. We will spend part of our time as volunteers at Coquille River Lighthouse and the other part of our time as volunteers at the Cape Blanco Lighthouse.

Since we will be near Bandon for 5 months, I am not sure how many new things we will have to write about.

I am going to try a new format for the blog. Doing only one blog entry a month and then trying to remember what we did or saw during that month, has proven too difficult. This format I borrowed from Sue over at Mytrip Journal RV Wanderer 2012. I am going to try to write summary entries each day and keep the daily Bird List up to date. I haven’t quite worked out how often I will post the entries.

So far the weather has been better than this time last year, with only 2 days of rain. We are off to a really good start in getting in our walking and birding each day. I think we have spent more time birding this past week than we have for the past few months. I guess the nice weather helps.

Date: April 30, 2012

Tonight’s Location: Bullard’s Beach State Park, Bandon, Oregon

Weather: Light rain until mid day then mostly cloudy

Temperature today’s Low: º 47

Temperature today’s High: º 50

Bird List: American Robins, Osprey, Canada Goose, Double-crest Cormorant, White-crowned Sparrow,

Wildlife: Rabbit

Today we moved into our official Lighthouse Host site. Also today, all of the May volunteers arrived since we have an orientation meeting tomorrow at 10 AM.

We started our day with the Monday morning volunteer breakfast. Only 3 couples there as most of the May people hadn't arrived at Bullards Beach yet.

We spent the day settling in to our new site, getting the laundry done and visiting with returning volunteers from last May.

Date: May 1, 2012

Tonight’s Location: Bullard’s Beach State Park, Bandon, Oregon

Weather: Mostly Overcast

Temperature today’s Low: º 45

Temperature today’s High: º 51

Bird List: Orange-crowned Warbler, American Robin, Canada Goose, Double-crest Cormorant, Pelagic Cormorant, Steller’s Jay, Bufflehead, Pigeon Guillemot, American Crow, Wrentit, Bushtit, White-crowned Sparrow, Downy Woodpecker, Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Violet-green Swallow

Wildlife Count: Rabbit, Squirrel

Today we had an Orientation Meeting to meet all of the other Volunteers and to go over forms and procedures. Since we had done all of the Orientation stuff last year we only had to sit in on about 90 minutes of the meeting rather than an all day thing like last year. We were off the rest of day and spent most of it walking around the park birding and chatting with the other volunteers.

In the afternoon, BJ, our neighbor from the Volunteer Village at Kartchner Caverns, came by to spend the night  in our campground. We went out to Bandon’s very good Mexican restaurant and she filled us in on her first experience as a Lighthouse Host at Yaquina Head Lighthouse for March and April. This past March had record breaking rain along the Oregon Coast. We look forward to seeing her again when we return to Kartchner Caverns State Park in November.

Date: May 2, 2012

Tonight’s Location: Bullard’s Beach State Park, Bandon, Oregon

Weather: Overcast and wind then rain

Temperature today’s Low: º 42

Temperature today’s High: º 51

Bird List: Orange-crowned Warbler, American Robin, Canada Goose, Double-crest Cormorant, Pelagic Cormorant, Bufflehead, American Crow, White-crowned Sparrow,  Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Mallard, Pacific Loon, Western Grebe, Brown Pelican, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Turkey Vulture, Osprey, White-tailed Kite, Northern Harrier, Red-shouldered Hawk, American Kestrel, Western Gull, Common Murre, Band-tailed Pigeon, Belted Kingfisher, Steller’s Jay, Violet-green Swallow, Marsh Wren, Lesser Goldfinch, Rufous Hummingbird, Song Sparrow

Wildlife Count: Deer, Harbor Seal

We had a lazy morning at the computers and a brief morning walk looking for birds. After lunch we went out Birding with friends John and Sue from Mytrip Journal RV Wanderer 2012. John and Sue are in their second season here as “Plover People”. Their job is to keep Western Snowy Plovers from being disturbed during breeding season. Western Snowy Plovers are considered "extremely endangered" here in Oregon.

We birded the Coquille River from Bandon to the town of Coquille following the river up its north bank and then down its south bank. Once we returned to Bandon we stopped at Coquille Point to look for the Tufted Puffins that have been reported there. However, we did not see any. With one final stop at the mouth of the Coquille River we headed home just ahead of the rain. Every day of Birding is a good day and we saw a good variety of birds.

Date: May 3, 2012

Tonight’s Location: Bullard’s Beach State Park, Bandon, Oregon

Weather: Rain in the morning, Overcast in the afternoon and showers in the evening

Temperature today’s Low: º 42

Temperature today’s High: º 52

Bird List: California Gull, Pacific Loon, Bufflehead, Orange-crowned Warbler, White-crowned Sparrow

Wildlife Count: Harbor Seal

Today was our first day to get the Lighthouse ready to open for the season. It has been shuttered and boarded up since the 1st of October. First thing to do is clean out the cobwebs, mop up the water from the leaks (the windows at the top of the tower leaked again this year) and a lot of sweeping out all of the sand that has blown in through cracks over the winter. Once things were pretty much cleaned, we brought in the displays and tables for the gift shop followed by all of the merchandise. There were 6 of us that worked on all of this, so things went fairly quick. Since the rain stopped for the afternoon I spent time digging the sidewalk to the lighthouse out from under all of the sand that had covered it since last season. With sore backs we stopped work about 3:30 and called it a day. As we arrived back at the trailer the showers started up again.

With the wind, high surf, waves breaking on to the jetty and the river running very high, it was a very scenic and dramatic day.

We were a little surprised by the number of people that came to the lighthouse on a Thursday afternoon in early May. We had to turn away 20 people who wanted to tour the Lighthouse because we just weren’t ready for the public.

Date: May 4, 2012 

Tonight’s Location: Bullard’s Beach State Park, Bandon, Oregon

Weather: We started the day with rain but, it cleared up just after sunrise. Wind picked up as the day went on.

Today we finished getting the Lighthouse ready to open for the season. For whatever reason the Park has decided not to open the Lighthouse until Monday May 7th. Since we are off Monday and Tuesday we will be having 4 days off.

The rest of our day was spent getting groceries and getting in an afternoon walk and some birding. As the day progressed it got windier and colder keeping the number of birds we saw down from our previous days.

Kathy Here: While doing laundry this past Monday,  I saw a lady walking a very nice looking Labra doodle and had to go say “Hi”.  She is the shop owner of the new Pet Wash and was giving her dog a little exercise and noticed some of my beading. She said, “Hey, you could sell some of your items on consignment at my shop! We’re looking for some one to make specialized dog collars. Beaded ones would be great BLING!” 

So I got together some samples of my bracelets and whipped up some fancy dog bling to show them to her.  I am very pleased to say she wanted to show off several items right there on the spot, but I didn’t have a secure display with me! Now I have several projects in the works to possibly earn a little spending money! I am really thrilled!

Temperature today’s Low: º 41

Temperature today’s High: º 50

Bird List: Spotted Towhee, California Gull, Pacific Loon, Bufflehead, Orange-crowned Warbler, White-crowned Sparrow, Double-crested Cormorant, Pelagic Cormorant, American Crow, Canada Goose

Wildlife Count: None

Date: May 5, 2012

Tonight’s Location: Bullard’s Beach State Park, Bandon, Oregon

Weather: Cold start to the day, clear skies with the wind picking up as the day went on

Temperature today’s Low: º 36

Temperature today’s High: º 51

Bird List: American Robin, White-crowned Sparrow, Osprey, Pigeon Guillemot,  Bufflehead, Brown-headed Cow Bird, Western Grebe, Pacific Loon, Double-crested Cormorant, American Crow, Turkey Vultures, Forester Tern, Rufous Hummingbird, Barn Swallow, Northern Flicker, Steller’s Jay, Canada Goose, Wrentit (heard only), Song Sparrow (heard only)

Wildlife Count: Rabbit

Today was a lazy morning and it was cold outside. When you decide to make a second pot of coffee you know that you aren’t going to get a very early start to your day.

Once we had decided that it had warmed enough to go out we took our binoculars and started walking the campground loops. On these walks we also walk over to the boat ramp to check what birds are on the Coquille River. Although it was windy wearing sweatshirts and down vests it was pretty nice out. We decided to extend our walk and checkout the birds in some parts of the park we hadn’t been to yet this year. We did see some birds but, not really a lot due no doubt to the wind. The most notable bird was a perched Rufous Hummingbird! He was “people watching” us, showing off his beautiful red copper gorgette. Always fun to see!

The newspaper said: “Saturday's super moon appeared to be 14 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter than normal full moons as it takes its closest pass to earth all year. At 8:35 p.m. it reached it's perigee, the closest part of it's elliptical orbit to earth.”

So we drove over to the river for an unobstructed view to the east to watch moonrise. We joined with fellow volunteers John & Sue and Don & Karen at a picnic area near the river. Of course when people drive by and see other people standing around in a parking lot they wonder what’s going on. We had about a dozen cars gathered by the time the Moon came up. Yes, it was a very pretty Moon. However, it didn’t seem any bigger or brighter than any other full moon to me.

Here are couple of pictures I took of the “Super” Moon.