Netarts Bay Wildlife
On a recent trip to the Oregon Coast we spent part of one day driving along the ocean shore. As we neared the small town of Netarts, I noticed some shapes on the exposed sands of Netarts Bay. The low tide had seemed to reveal something strewn about on one of the massive sand bars. Since there was a nice place to pull over we decide to stop and take a little closer look at the shapes.
Now mind you, this shot is zoomed in some. Looking at this with my oldmans eyes from a good distance away, I thought the shapes were either rocks or perhaps logs. Neither of those options though seemed to make sense for what I was seeing.
Click images for larger view
Once I took a look through some binoculars it became evident that these shapes were Harbor Seals.
Here are the images I was able to get with my lens at full zoom. There were even some Brandt's Cormorants walking amongst the basking seals.
A little closer to where I was standing were some Egrets.
One coming in for a landing and one i the foreground that appears to have his legs fairly well buried in the mud.
Although their long thin legs do seem to give them an advantage to moving around in this environment.
Here is a shot with a few different kinds of birds all in one... Seagull, Egret, Heron?, Crow?, Cormorants? Obviously I'm guessing on a few of those but I'm sticking to my choices. 🤣
And lastly as we arrived at a small parking lot in Netarts we were treated to the sight of some Brown Pelicans.
I usually only see these birds as they are flying low over the surf.
It was a little different to see them perched on the rocks.
Anyway that's it for now. Hope you enjoyed the story and the photos. 😀
Click images for larger view
Please feel free to make comments or ask me any questions about this post.
Photos taken by me, @oldmans, with a Nikon D3300 and some Lightroom post processing.
Please visit WorldMapPin to see the locations of some of my other posts.
Thanks for looking and enjoy your day!
You can check out this post and your own profile on the map. Be part of the Worldmappin Community and join our Discord Channel to get in touch with other travelers, ask questions or just be updated on our latest features.
The low tide is ideal for bird photography. It's a seafood feast that attracts these great species. Unreal scenery with those flats on the background.
The low tide was great for the tide pools a little earlier, I didn't realize it would be so good for the birds and seals also.
I wish I would have taken a normal wide angle shot to show what my eye was seeing. I got a little hyper focused on zooming in. lol.
It always amazes me how much the ebb and flow of the tides affect their behaviour. I often see the seals swimming at high tide in the evening closer to the shore, but they don't hang out here like the ones in your photos.