Finally in Astoria...

I had difficulty finding free wireless between Eureka, CA and Corvallis, OR. This will be a lengthy update starting from when I left Eureka, CA.

I left from Eureka heading for Redwood National Forest. The weather had turned from perfect, warm, and sunny, to cold and cloudy with rain, hail and snow. Due to this, I decided not to take the time to see Klamath Falls. Instead, I planned a northerly route through the Redwood National Forest, then east through Smith River National Recreation Area then north to Eugene, OR. I went for a hike in Lady Bird Johnson Grove in Redwood National Forest. The weather had cleared and I thought I had time to make the one mile loop through the forest. The signs warned of mountain lions and black bears and encouraged hikers not to hike alone, but I did it anyway. I was the only person in the grove - it was an awesome experience! I got a third down the trail and it began raining then pouring then hailing. I stayed mostly dry thanks to the trees' lovely canopies. I heard the distant hoots of Spotted Owls - I was happy to hear my endangered friends were near. Sadly (and gladly) I didn't see a single mountain lion or black bear!

Lady Bird Johnson Grove

Back in the car northbound toward Highway 199 through Smith River National Recreation Area. Along my route, I discovered a herd of bull elk grazing the lawn of a summer rental vacation home. I pulled through the circle drive to observe them up close. Some of them had already dropped their antlers.

Bull elk

Bull elk with fresh wounds from dropping their antlers

I drove through Smith River NRA. It was absolutely beautiful. Smith River followed the highway - the river raged with the pulse of rain. Guides were out with fishermen and kayakers/whitewater rafters. It rained the entire drive to Eugene, OR where I stopped for the night. I ate pancakes with boysenberry syrup at IHOP (which reminded me of when Grandma and Grandpa would wake us up on the weekends for a breakfast at Village Inn, yum!) then retired for the night.

I left Eugene, OR early in the morning and headed for Depoe Bay, where I hoped to catch a charter boat to pay the gray whales a visit on their northward journey to Alaska from Baja, Mexico. Sadly, when I arrived the weather was terrible and the seas were 14ft at 12seconds - meaning the swells were 14 feet tall and came every 12 seconds - DANGEROUS! The US Coast Guard had the small craft advisory flag flying, so I knew no charters would be leaving the bay. Instead I drove back to Newport where I walked the docks and boat slips of the harbor. There I found a raft of California sea lions loafing around, a Western grebe, several Horned grebes, Pacific and Common loons, Common mergansers, Surf scoters, Buffleheads, Western gulls, Glaucous-winged x Western gull hybrids and various other birds I'm forgetting to mention. I made friends with a few fishermen who were coming back from crabbing in the bay. A fishing charter nearly talked me into going crabbing the next morning but the venture was pricey at $80 including a 1-day fishing license. I left Newport and headed to Yaquina State Recreation Area. I pulled into the guard station and the woman noticed my Iowa licence plates - turned out she, too, is from Iowa and she let me in for free! There I saw Pelagic and Brandt's cormorants, and thousands of Common Murres. It was raining and hailing so I didn't get good pictures of the birds. But I have decent photos of the lighthouse. Picture time!

Yaquina Lighthouse

Yaquina Lighthouse

California sea lions, Newport Harbor

A commercial fishing vessel in Newport Harbor

Crab pots, Newport Harbor

A vessel named Evolution, Newport Harbor

Stormy skies over Newport Harbor

I drove back to Corvallis, OR and stayed in a Super 8. It was nice - newly remodeled, and there was an AKC dog show in a nearby town so, there were TONS of dogs at the hotel. I petted as many as I could. I woke the next morning, Sunday, March 16 and phoned Don, a graduate student who I would be staying with for the night. He recommended a restaurant, The Broken Yolk, for breakfast. I ate an omelette with wheat toast and fresh, homemade strawberry jam, then called Don for directions. He lives in a fantastic house on a hillside with his wife and three awesome dogs, Willow the collie, Tenaya the border collie, and Mandy the little white mut, and a old-man cat. Tenaya and Willow are agility dogs. They are smarter than many, many humans! Don had some work to do to prepare to go into the field - so I came along with him and met Yasuko down at the barn. Tenaya came with - when I wasn't working I played fetch with her. She was only allowed to use the stick that Don originally threw for her. The stick often got buried in the tall grass, so she had to work harder using her nose to find it. And she did, every single time! When the work was done, I wandered around the barns taking photographs of various things. It was an interesting place and there was even a skull of a Yak in the barn - WIERD! Later that night, Don and his wife took me to a pub called The Squirrel - it was a great place! I slept well at Don's and the next morning I ate breakfast then went to the Oregon State University campus for orientation of sorts. There I met Jessica and the rest of the crew. We ate pizza for lunch and Dan Roby came along, too. It was a good time. That afternoon, I drove to Astoria, OR to my new home for the summer.

Awaiting the throw of the stick in a never-ending game of fetch

Sign of spring

Lichens

Double-crested cormorant decoys used for social attraction

The field house was a bustling place for the first week. Everyone from all of the various field sites was here - about 24 people. We had an orientation meeting on Wednesday, March 19. I finally got to see East Sand Island when the others in my group went for CPR class - which turned out to be cancelled. The island is split into a west end and an east end. Double-crested cormorants nest on the west end and Caspian terns nest on the east end.

The east end of East Sand Island - tern colony and north blind

The second and third weeks here I have spent working on the island nearly every day. We set up two blinds (carried them by boat to the island and then carried them by foot across the island). The tern colony got plowed so it isn't grassy anymore. We also set up plots in the cormorant colony to determine how much salmonid fish cormorants eat. The theory is this: juvenile salmon are marked at the hatchery with PIT (Passive Integrated Transponder) tags, which are the size of a grain of rice. The cormorants eat the fish and then either regurgitate the bones and PIT tags or the tags are excreted in their waste. At the end of the breeding season, a PIT tag reader can be used to pick up the signals from the PIT tags. The PIT tags are then recovered and counted to see how many salmon the birds are eating. The whole idea is to get these birds to eat LESS salmon. Pretty cool, eh? I think so, too!

The southwest blind of the tern colony, Saddle Mountain in the background

The terns have started showing up at the island and on the colony. There has been about 170 birds each day for the past few days. They fly around and growl/scream like velociraptor dinosaurs. The males pick up fish in their bills and fly back to the beach to show off to all the ladies. So far, the ladies seem unimpressed. Soon there will be over 18,000 Caspian terns on the tern colony - all raising chicks.

A graduate student and one of my housemates (in purple) setting up plots

Today, we spent the day on the island, I got off work early because my housemates had to go to CPR class. The boat was almost beached twice. It was quite exciting both times. Our crew leader assigns a new person each day to be responsible for the boat so that we can all learn about proper anchoring during high and low tides. Well, today everything seemed to be swell, until the assignee yelled panicking from the beach. We all took off running across the island with our muck boots and layers of clothing through the deep, dry sand. She was thoroughly beached both times. Each time, all nine of us had to heave and ho on counts of three. Another guy was on the bow pulling the bow anchor line with all his might each time we heaved. Had we not gotten her off the beach, we would have had to spend the night on the island in the blinds and the viewing towers until high-tide saved us. Phew! I dread the day it's my turn to watch the boat.

It's now very late and my hours of potential sleep are dwindling. I have more stories to tell, but later.

Love you all.