Haystack Rock Awareness Program Nature Blog

The pigeon guillemots have returned! Since late last week, we’ve seen 6-10 guillemots bobbing in the surf near the north and south boulders. We’ve also seen them perched on the low cliffs on Haystack Rock’s north side, where they nest. These early arrivers will hopefully be joined by many more of their species in the coming weeks as nesting season nears. And, now that the guillemots have returned, can the puffins be far behind? Follow HRAP’s Facebook page and this nature blog to be among the first to know when they do. You can learn more about Haystack Rock’s pigeon guillemots at: https://www.ci.cannon-beach.or.us/sites/default/files/fileattachments/haystack_rock_awareness_program/page/10691/pguillemot.pdf   Pigeon Guillemots

There has been plenty for birdwatchers to see at Haystack Rock this week, including three kinds of ducks! In addition to harlequin ducks, which are frequent visitors, HRAP Naturalists have spotted mergansers and surf scoters in the past few days. Common murres also made an appearance again, with approximately 1,000 visiting the rock late last week. Bald eagle and peregrine falcon visits are a near daily occurrence. An eagle took a common murre last Friday, only to have a falcon try to steal it! – but the eagle prevailed. The less-dramatic, but much cuter, black oystercatcher pair has been seen every few days feeding in the tidepools during low tide. Surf scoter   Harlequin duck

On March 1, HRAP Naturalists Ellison and Andrea were surprised to find an unusual-looking sea star in the Marine Garden tide pools, and showed it to me (Margaret). I wasn’t quite sure what species it was, so I took a picture and uploaded it to the mobile app iNaturalist , hoping that the other users of the app would help me identify the star.  Within a day, the users on iNaturalist had identified it as a Mottled Star ( Evasterias troschelii ). Mottled Stars are more commonly found in Puget Sound, but are sometimes seen on the coasts of Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, Alaska, and northern California. My observation was also added to the iNaturalist project, Tracking Starfish Wasting and Recovery , which is helping to monitor recovery of sea star populations from Sea Star Wasting Disease. If you see any sea stars while tidepooling, you can snap a photo (safely and without disturbing the star, of course!) and upload it to iNaturalist to help with this project, too!