Yaquina Bay birding

Also, yesterday, while hunkered down out of the wind on the jetty at Newport, I entertained myself by trying to photograph birds in flight, such as this Red-throated Loon as it headed for the open ocean.

The photo of the Mew Gull (below) offers a good opportunity to study the wingtip pattern that distinguishes "our" subspecies (brachyrhynchus) from the European and East Asian subspecies. Our bird, according to the illustration in the National Geographic field guide, shows much less black. It also shows more white in the primary feathers than the slightly larger Ring-billed Gull, and a much smaller bill.