Cape Blanco State Park

I will be spending a week here at Cape Blanco SP. Cape Blanco is the furthest point west in the continental United States. The cape has a lighthouse which is a big draw to this area!

The southern Oregon coast is a bit different than the northern in that is has many large rocks just off shore.

The ocean was very turbulent making some spectacular displays as the waves smashed against these rocks.

I made a couple videos and here is one!

As a bonus, I picked up a couple nice King Bolete mushrooms on the way back from the lighthouse. I will use these in a soup or stew!

I placed my phone in the pic so you can get an idea of their size!

Not just birding

 I've always had an interest in nature. Not just birds but wildflowers, insects, reptiles and mammals. A phone app I have been using for over a year is called Seek. You can take a picture of any plant, insects, mammals, fish, reptiles, spiders and more and it will usually identify it! I have used it mostly on insects, plants and wildflowers. One insect I have always wondered about are those little hairy black and orange caterpillars you see all over the place in the fall. We always referred to them as Wooly Bear caterpillar. The length of the orange section is determined on how well it grew over the summer months. 

I used Seek to discover that they become an Isabella Tiger Moth.

I spotted this other moth on a wall and thought is was interesting and with the help of Seek I learned it was called an October Thorn Moth!

It was not that many years ago I had to spend hours going through insect books trying to determine what species I had seen! This is so much easier that I tend to look up more things than in the past!

Back on the Oregon coast!

 After a successful trip to Montana, where I was able to identify 9 new life birds, I made a quick trip to South Dakota to visit my cousin and tour their new home and town. I hope to spend a month on the coast fishing and crabbing. Last weekend my son came to visit. He brought his boat and we fished Eel lake where we caught our limits of trout.

Of course he caught the largest! Sunday we fished Tahkenitch lake where we landed 4 trout. 2 bass and 2 yellow perch. It was a fun weekend with great weather.

Yesterday I went crabbing in Winchester Bay off the high pier. I ended up with 11 keepers including an 8.5 inch beauty. The largest crab I have ever gotten!

It was 2 inches wider than the crab measure. Today I am making a seafood chowder with the trout, crab, shrimp and mushrooms I gathered locally! It is great to be able to harvest the bounties of the Oregon coast!