{"id":553,"date":"2025-07-31T18:51:37","date_gmt":"2025-07-31T18:51:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/seabirdoceanographylab\/?p=553"},"modified":"2025-07-31T18:53:41","modified_gmt":"2025-07-31T18:53:41","slug":"yaquina-head-mid-season-update-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/seabirdoceanographylab\/2025\/07\/31\/yaquina-head-mid-season-update-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Yaquina Head Mid-Season Update, Summer 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Cherish Lyda, Seabird Monitoring Technican, OSU Seabird Oceanography Lab<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Hello everyone!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My name is Cherish Lyda, and I\u2019m a senior at Oregon State University, majoring in Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Sciences with a focus on avian conservation and management. This summer, I\u2019m the Yaquina Seabird Monitoring Technician for the Seabird Oceanography Lab. This is my first season working with seabirds \u2013 and it has been amazing so far!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite frequent Bald Eagle disturbances, Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area is once again bursting with new life! Although nesting started late this year, the birds have shown resilience and are beginning to proudly display their chaotic nests and adorable chicks. We are currently monitoring 13 plots and following 93 Common Murre nests, 36 Brandt\u2019s Cormorant nests, 28 Pelagic Cormorant nests, and 13 Western Gull nests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Western Gulls hatched first and are already wrapping up the season with seven successfully fledged nests. (Take a look at the top of Colony Rock and you\u2019ll see these brown spotted fluff balls wandering around!) Brandt\u2019s Cormorants started hatching on July 2nd<\/sup> and 21 nests have hatched so far with more on the way. Pelagic Cormorants have taken up their usual spots at Smuggler\u2019s Cove and Whale Rock, and we saw our first chick on July 9th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Common Murres and Brandt\u2019s Cormorants at Pirate Cove, Depoe Bay. Note the chick in the center cormorant nest.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As for the Common Murres, their season started out tough but is now looking very promising. Frequent early-season eagle activity hit the south half of Colony Rock and top of Whale Rock hard, clearing multiple plots of eggs. For a couple days, two immature Bald Eagles were seen perching continuously on the rocks. However, as eagle activity dropped off in late June, the murres regrouped and began laying again (along with lots of Brandt\u2019s Cormorants) in the center and south parts of Colony Rock. The decrease in disturbances seems to have bolstered the murres\u2019 courage, and they are starting to stay on their eggs during disturbances. Instead of flushing in panic, they\u2019re standing their ground. It\u2019s risky, but it seems to be paying off with fewer eggs being lost to the surrounding gulls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We confirmed our first murre chicks on July 14th<\/sup> and we are now up to 25+ hatched with many more on the way. The parents are now busy bringing fish to colony, and it\u2019s been cute watching the murres attempt to feed their eggs small fish – a sign that they are getting close to hatching!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Young Common Murre chick at Depoe Bay<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As for other avian species, Tufted Puffins continue to make occasional, delightful fly-bys. We\u2019ve seen both single birds and a pair flying loops and heading north. The noisy Black Oystercatchers have been busy with nests at both field sites and Pigeon Guillemots are on their nests tucked deep into the cliffs of Smuggler\u2019s Cove. Listen for their high-pitched, squeaky whistles coming from the rocks!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to Yaquina Head, we have been keeping a close eye on Pirate Cove in Depoe Bay. With almost no eagle disturbance (none since mid-June), the birds have been doing great. As of this writing, 42 of our 97 murre nests have hatched. Amazingly, every one of our 31 Brandt\u2019s Cormorant nests have hatched chicks! Although our Pelagic Cormorants have been nesting in some hard-to-see cliffs, we were able to confirm their first hatches this last week as well.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Pelagic Cormorant with its first chick nesting at Smuggler\u2019s Cove, Yaquina Head.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Now that murre chicks have arrived, we\u2019ll soon be conducting all-day nest watches to observe how often adults deliver food to their chicks. We\u2019re also continuing to collect bill load photos of their prey items for diet analysis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Working alongside Dr. Rachael Orben, the interns, and other researchers on this project has been amazing. I\u2019ve gained so much knowledge about seabird life history and current research from our conversations and time together in the field and lab. Being able to wake up each morning at sunrise to the salty wind in my hair, the raucous calls of the murres, and the flaring brilliant blue throats of the cormorants has been an incredible way to spend my summer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I can\u2019t wait to see what the rest of the season brings \u2014 stay tuned!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Cherish Lyda, Seabird Monitoring Technican, OSU Seabird Oceanography Lab Hello everyone! My name is Cherish Lyda, and I\u2019m a senior at Oregon State University, majoring in Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Sciences with a focus on avian conservation and management. This summer, I\u2019m the Yaquina Seabird Monitoring Technician for the Seabird Oceanography Lab. This is … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Yaquina Head Mid-Season Update, Summer 2025”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7022,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1380371,1380065,1380375,1380377],"tags":[1380385,1380386,1380389],"class_list":["post-553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gulls","category-murres","category-notes-from-the-field","category-yaquina-head","tag-common-murres","tag-long-term-monitoring","tag-seabirds"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/seabirdoceanographylab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/seabirdoceanographylab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/seabirdoceanographylab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/seabirdoceanographylab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7022"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/seabirdoceanographylab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=553"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/seabirdoceanographylab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":567,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/seabirdoceanographylab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553\/revisions\/567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/seabirdoceanographylab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/seabirdoceanographylab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/seabirdoceanographylab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}