Shortly after arriving at Shore Acres State Park Tuesday morning I saw two guys with radio-controlled trucks on the rocks out by the ocean:
Finally, after several attempts but without manual intervention, he made it!
It was no surprise when I got out to the parking lot to see what the “driver” and his buddy arrived in:
I just wish I had a real helicopter to use when I go fly my radio-controlled models…
Tuesday I spent several hours at this Oregon State Park, just south of Charleston. This Park was once the site of a mansion owned by a wealthy local businessman which sat high on a cliff overlooking the Pacific. The house is gone but there is an observation area out by the ocean which offers some spectacular views, both to the north and south:
About 20 minutes after I took those photos, surprise surprise, a quick batch of coastal fog moved in:
After the fog cleared (it didn’t last long) I stood at a high point above the ocean and waited for some coastal birds I have been keeping an eye out for. When I first walked around to get the lay of the land I didn’t have my digital camera with me. When it became apparent I would need it I went to retrieve it and saw this young buck munching on some grass near the parking lot:
He wandered into the woods but I’d see him again shortly. As I continued walking towards where I had parked I saw an usually colored squirrel:
By the time I got a picture it had moved pretty far away. I returned to the spot several times during the day but never saw it again. It is a Douglas Squirrel and is dark on it’s back but had red or brown fur on it’s chest:
(Photo credit: Kathy Munsel)
(Photo credit: Ashok Khosla)
Once I had the digital camera and was walking back to watch for birds I saw the deer again, this time standing on his hind legs to eat berries out of a tree (when I lived in the farmhouse in Durham I used to see fully grown deer do this in the apple tree orchard just up the hill from the house).
Back at the ocean overlook I spotted this rock down by the water with a very interesting pattern on it:
Tuesday I visited this Oregon State Park just south of Charleston. I finally was able to track down two birds I have been keeping an eye out for (after having seen pictures of them on signs near overlooks), and had one unexpected visitor.
First, the Pigeon Guillemot. I mainly saw these floating on the water. At one point two of them stood on a rock but I didn’t have my digital camera with me. Once I had it, they stayed in the water the rest of the time. An interesting feature of these birds is that their feet are bright red and the inside of their mouth is the same color.
Here is a photo I found online:
(Photo credit: Jacob Drucker)
Next up – the Black Oystercatcher. I have looked and looked in areas where I thought I’d find these distinctive birds with bright red bills and pink legs, both at low and high tide, and Tuesday I finally found one – way offshore on a rock formation.
Here are some better photos I found online:
(Photo credit: Dick Daniels)
(Photo credit & copyright: Tim Foltz)
And finally, as I waited and waited for the first two to show up, this Belted Kingfisher landed on a rock down near the water close to the cliff where I was watching from:
Tuesday I spent some time at this Oregon State Park, on the site of the former Louis Simpson estate. Mr. Simpson, a wealthy lumberman and shipbuilder, imported plants from all over the world and had several acres of formal gardens next to his mansion which sat on a cliff overlooking the ocean. The mansion and gardens fell into disrepair during the Great Depression and the state bought the property from Mr. Simpson. The house was too expensive for the state to restore and maintain and was razed but the gardens have been restored and are now part of a gorgeous State Park, just south of Charleston.
Here are more flowers I saw at this Oregon State Park, which sits above the ocean just south of Charleston. These are in the restored formal gardens of the former Louis Simpson estate.
Another section of the gardens at the former Louis Simpson estate (now an Oregon State Park) is the 100-foot long lily pond.
johnboystravelblog 