Sea Bird Aviary

Just off Oregon's shores live birds that spend their lives at sea, except for their annual breeding season in the summer. Along the shore live other birds that feast on clams, crabs, and mussels. An open-air, walk-through aviary at the Oregon Coast Aquarium allows visitors the rare opportunity to see some of these species up close. The aviary is one of the largest of its kind in North America.

The species exhibited in the Seabird Aviary are tufted puffins, rhinoceros auklets, pigeon guillemots, common murres, and black oystercatchers.

The aviary includes two pools to provide the birds with ample swimming and diving opportunities. A 30-foot rocky cliff rises above the north pool, with ledges and walkways that allow the birds to rest, groom and dive from the cliff's face. An underwater viewing window is located at this pool, too, so that visitors can watch the underwater swimming skills for which some of these species are known. A shallower south pool is ringed on three sides by an earth bank, rocky outcrops, and landscaping. This area provides both built-in burrows in the rock and the opportunity for new burrows dug in the softer soil.