Cape Blanco Lighthouse June 5th–June 11th

View from the top of Cape Blanco Lighthouse.

Date: June 4th, – June 11th

Location: Cape Blanco State Park, Oregon

Tuesday we had a domestic day. When staying here at Cape Blanco we drive the 30 miles back to Bandon, they have both a much larger Laundromat and much larger grocery store. So we stopped in at the post office to pickup our mail, did the laundry, took a break to have lunch at the Bandon Fish Market (best fish and chips on the coast), got groceries and of course made a stop at the local Beading store on our way out of town.

Once we got everything put away we did venture out for a little walking and birding. We did come across a pair of Hairy Woodpeckers.  We were returning to the campground through the Horse Camp after birding along an old service road. We stopped to let a C-class RV get by us. As they came closer Kathy realized it was our friends, Kit & David, from Georgia arriving!

Kathy has been reading Kit’s blog and keeping in almost daily contact during the past 4 years. However this is the first time they have met in real time. Needless to say there was a lot of hugging and getting acquainted after that.

Wednesday was our “all day” work day. It was clear and windy with a steady stream of visitors. That evening we joined Kit and David at our beach overlook when they spotted 2 whales not too far away. The whales stayed close together during the half hour or so that we watched them. We think that it probably was a mother Gray Whale and her calf.

Thursday it was gloomy, rainy, windy, it was also the morning we had the outside jobs at the Lighthouse as Greeter and Storyteller. Even on a bad day like this with no real view from the top of the Lighthouse we had 107 visitors!

Friday we had another day off. However, for most of the day it was a repeat of Thursday’s gloomy, rainy, windy weather. When the weather improved somewhat in the evening, we walked down to the beach over look. No whales today but we did have a Hawk using the updraft of the cliff to just hang in mid-air not more than 20 feet in front of us. At first, everybody on the cliff asked us, “what kind of bird is it?”  Definitely a hawk, but no red tail.  When we got back to the rig we went through all of the bird guides and identified it to be the Immature Red Tailed Hawk.

Saturday was a free admission day at the Lighthouse and the view was spectacular. All of the previous days’ bad weather had moved on. It was a another very busy day.

Sunday was a very surprising day. The weather remained very nice and the view was great. However it was one of our slowest days since we have been here. We had half the number of visitor as we had on our gloomy, rainy, windy Thursday when we had no view.

Monday after the weekly Volunteers Breakfast we had another domestic day. Back up to Bandon for a Post Office stop and groceries. We were both still too full from breakfast to even think about lunch and the local Bead store is closed on Monday. (Kathy could probably set up her own store by now! )

Bird List: Turkey Vulture, Peregrine Falcon, Rufous Hummingbird,  Barn Swallow, Violet-green Swallow, Cedar Waxwing, American Robin, Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Steller's Jay, American Crow, Wilson's Warbler, Song Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, American Goldfinch, Immature Red-tailed Hawk. Hairy Woodpecker and the Swainson’s Thrush.

Wildlife List: California Gray Whale, Chipmunk, Rabbit, Squirrel, Deer