The Cutest Little Baby Birds That Sometimes Fall from Their Oregon Coast Nests

Published 08/23/2026 at 8:55 a.m.
By Oregon Coast Beach Connection Staff

(Cannon Beach, Oregon) – Some of the most adorable critters are still being seen around the Oregon coast, even as the season begins winding down. All sorts of birds, especially, are popping up around the region as young ones. Yet it's not always for the right reason. All photos Seaside Aquarium

According to Seaside Aquarium, common murre chicks are beginning their annual plunge from the rocky ledges where they hatch. This isn't a pleasant coming-of-age ritual: this is a serious mishap. It's a seasonal milestone that often leaves some youngsters stranded on Oregon coast beaches.

Photographs here from Seaside Aquarium show various past rescues of the little cuties.

The aquarium's Tiffany Boothe said their black-and-white plumage and upright stance frequently lead visitors to mistake them for baby penguins, but murres are members of the Auk family and share little else with their Antarctic look-alikes.

“Beginning in April, murres gather in dense colonies on offshore and nearshore rocks, including Haystack Rock at Cannon Beach,” said Boothe. “They don’t build nests; instead, each female lays a single teardrop-shaped egg directly on a bare ledge.”

The egg’s shape helps prevent it from rolling off the rock, spinning in place when disturbed rather than tumbling away. At least that's the way it's supposed to work.

Boothe said breeding sites can be so crowded that incubating adults often touch one another.

“Both parents share incubation and early chick-rearing duties for two to four weeks,” she said. “After that, the father takes over entirely. He drops to the surf below and calls for the chick to follow. The young bird flutters its wings to soften the fall, leaping from the rock to join its parent. For the next two months, the father teaches the fledgling how to survive at sea.”

Except for the breeding season, murres spend their lives on the ocean, Boothe said. They can fly short distances, but their wings are built for diving, allowing them to pursue small fish one at a time.

Juvenile murres commonly wash ashore in fall and winter, usually exhausted, hungry, or overwhelmed by rough conditions.

The Wildlife Center of the North Coast continues to seek volunteers to help care for injured or stranded seabirds. More information is available at https://www.coastwildlife.org

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