Oregon has a carnivorous pitcher plant that grows in big clusters in the bogs. It has some big latin name but I like the nick name, the cobra lily. Its leaves really do resemble a cobra with its hood flared out.
We are staying along the Oregon dunes National Park. It looks a lot like the Lake Michigan dunes but runs for about 50 miles of coast. It is a little more approachable than the cliff lined shore we have been enjoying up to here. The locals are in the water in sheltered bays but it’s been too chilly for us so far. Water is still 55 and the air never made it above 65 today. Add a 15 or 20 mph wind and you find us in sweatshirts and long pants.

This one won a face off! We had just rolled to a stop at a wildlife area to watch Elk. Kent hadn’t even put the car in park when he swooped down and perched squarely on the mirror on my side. He looked me right in the eye and began his high pitched hissy squawk. I tapped on the glass. I cracked the door and slammed it. He didn’t even flinch he just kept staring and squawking. It was very creepy. I got brave and hurried out and away from the car. The blackbird circled around and perched on Kent’s window and began the whole sequence again. Super creepy (kind of like Hitchcock’s The Birds) but harmless in the end.

Seals and sea lions by the dozens were lounging on the rocks at Simpson Reef. It looks to be a perfect haul out for them. They are a riot to watch and listen too with spontaneous fits of baking that erupt than just as suddenly stop.
Lots of great rugged shoreline and two more lighthouses today. Then we even got a little sunshine.

The Cape Blanco lighthouse, they had the first women lighthouse keeper on the Oregon coast. Great view over the off-shore rocks that are nearly all rookeries for some bird or another this time of year.

I didn’t know…
If a bee likes Rhododendron, the honey made from that nectar makes people sick. I just read that tidbit, I didn’t try it.

Much better success at tide-pool exploration today. I was probably a little better at knowing what to look for and this was a very low use area with not much disturbance by people so more critters to find. I saw lots of starfish, anemone, crabs, snails, a couple types of fish and lots of weird plants.

We had lunch at The Crab Shack on the boardwalk in Bandon OR. We ate lobster roll and steamed Dungeness crab on the deck as we watched the crabbers on the pier. Quite tasty and doubly wonderful since this was one of the first bright sunny days in some time.

We checked out several wildlife areas and came up empty handed, no new birds for our list. As we were wrapping it up for the day, we stopped by a small state beach we happened to be passing. All the shore in Oregon is public access so there is a park nearly everywhere. There were birding hosts right on the beach edge to educate on the endangered snowy plover that is nesting here. Pretty cool really. They are very small and sitting completely still on the nest. I am sure we would have missed them on our own.

We saw an elk Momma & her calf. Up till now we have only been seeing the adults so this was fun.

Today we saw the lighthouse @ Coquille River. It was the last built AND the smallest in Oregon. Each is a little different and even after I have seen a few; I enjoy yet one more with its own history.

Who could pass up a trail to climb something called Humbug Mountain? It is a 1746 feet coastal ridge so not exactly Mt Everest but high enough to allow for great views, that is if the fog/clouds would have burned off. No such luck for us. It is a steep trail carved into the side of the mountain so it’s pretty strenuous but it passes through beautiful thick forest with a couple nice stream crossings. Could have been great……still glad we went.