Will Wright, Adrian, and I birded the south coast today. We started
seawatching this morning at Coquille Point on the bluff in Bandon. The sun
was shining and around 10:35 I spotted a distant bright white bird flying
south just above the horizon. I got the scope on it and immediately said,
"What the **** that's a tropicbird." It was unmistakably a RED-BILLED
TROPICBIRD. We watched it through our scope for over a minute as it flew
southward and eventually out of sight. We tried for photos and it was just
too far, but through our scope we got good views.
It was the size of a large tern and bright white with a ridiculously long
streamer-like white tail. The wings were long, thin, and pointed with a
striking black bar on the front edge of the outer wing, covering most of
the primaries and primary coverts. It had very quick, shallow wing beats
and flapped constantly, flying evenly and directly due south into the wind
until we lost it.
I've seen all three tropicbird species before and recognized this bird
immediately, but seeing a tropicbird from shore in Oregon had never crossed
my mind before and we were so shocked that we could barely believe our
eyes. Will, Adrian, and I will all send our reports to OBRC.
Good birding,
Christopher Hinkle
