August - Part 2

Have you ever heard about someone and just know you need to meet them? Earlier this year I heard that a Portland birder named Thomas was doing what is known as a birding Big Year by bike. I do most of my birding by bike and have really only met a handful of people in Portland who do as well. So when I heard about what Thomas was up to, I was excited to meet him. Turns out he was just as excited to meet me since he'd seen my motorless list pop up on eBird. On the second or third time I met him, at a birding by bike event, I asked if he had any more big bike trips planned this year. He mentioned that he was likely going to do a trip to the coast over Labor Day weekend and asked if I'd like to join him. It can be anywhere from unpleasant to disastrous to jump into a multi-day trip with someone you barely know, let alone with friends but I just had a feeling it would be a really fun adventure.

So I got back from my trip to the Wallows and recovered for a few days while I packed up my stuff for another 4 day adventure. Thomas's friend Max also joined us and we took the POINT bus from Union Station to downtown Astoria. It was $25 including bike transport and a few hours later we were in Astoria grabbing a coffee by the ocean before pealing off to Ft Stevens State Park.

One of the coolest thing about all the state parks along the coast is that they have hiker/biker sites that don't require a reservation, there's always plenty of space and they cost around $8 a night. So you can plan a last minute trip and roll right up to a campground that's full and still get a spot. They're nice too - they have lockers to store food and gear, charging outlets and a bike repair stand.

We got to the park, set up our tents and rolled out to the very end of the park where the Columbia River meets the ocean - a fantastic spot for birding.

It's shorebird season in Oregon - for anyone who is not a birder, this means that lots of migrating shorebirds show up along the coast and inland waterways as they make their way south for the winter. We were walking along the beach when I decided to just look out over the water with my binoculars and saw a massive amount of birds circling out in the water along with tons of diving pelicans. If you've never watched pelicans dive, I highly recommend it. They're so cool. What we saw was thousands and thousands of Sooty Shearwaters. We didn't get video but someone else did and it will give you an idea of the magnitude of birds.

The assumption is that there was a large population of anchovies moving through the area that brought all these birds closer to shore. I don't know how often this happens but we felt really lucky to get to see it.

We went back in the morning to do a little more birding before heading out and ran into a birder I know named Devin who is an incredible photographer. When we were riding back to the campground he passed us in his car, hopped out and took an amazing photo of us that looks like it could be in a magazine.

We spent the next two days birding and biking our way down the coast. Ft Stevens to Nehalem Bay and then on to Cape Lookout State Park. Biking the 101 is a mix of awesome views, towns every 5 -15 miles and horrible no shoulder areas where cars buzz by(so many giant trucks). But after spending 6 days in the back country, the availability of food, no need to filter water and campgrounds with toilets and showers felt like such a luxury.

I've also spent a lot of time on solo adventures and traveling with Thomas and Max was so much fun. Days spent looking at birds, pedaling and eating all the snacks and evenings playing cards and eating more snacks. On the last day Max continued south to meet up with family in Newport while Thomas and I rode Nestucca River Road back to Hillsboro where we caught the MAX into Portland.

All told we saw 73 species of birds and 4 whales! I hit my goal of 100 bird species in Clatsop County and got a few lifer birds as well. You can see our trip report here on eBird: https://ebird.org/tripreport/407917