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| | A PHOTO FROM RECENT REPORTS | |  | Mile 180 — Lane County, South Carl G. Washburne SP, Hobbit Trail, Heceta Head MORE ABOUT MILE 180 | | billmaxmcw — Light human activity on fine day. Significant loss of beach sand since last report; est. 2 feet depth of sand gone from south end near cape, 1 foot farther north. New stumps exposed (see photo). 2 ... COMPLETE REPORT | Mon Feb 8, 12:00 AM Newly-exposed stumps Newly-exposed ancient stumps near Hobbit Trail. SHOW FULL SIZE PHOTO | | OTHER RECENT COASTWATCH MILE REPORTS |
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| | ALERTS | | | Jan 26 NEW Do Not Feed Pelicans -- Protected under Migratory Bird Treaty Act |  Brown Pelican at Cape Arago The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has been receiving calls about Brown Pelicans that are either washing up dead on the coast or are exhibiting behavior which is uncharacteristic for the species (i.e., begging for food, no fear of humans, eating bread crumbs as handouts). Many of the birds are emaciated or starving and this is the reason for their seeming lack of fear of humans.
CoastWatchers should be aware of how to respond to the situation, and how to counsel others to respond. If you can conduct a count of dead pelicans on your mile, send the information to Dawn Grafe of the Fish and Wildlife Service.
California Brown Pelicans are protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. It is thus against the law to capture, kill or possess these birds. Anyone found in violation of this law could face penalties of up to $15,000 in fines and/or six months' imprisonment for each violation. If you have information of anyone violating the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, please link to the violation report page or call your local U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Special Agent at: (503) 682-6131.
If you come upon a Brown Pelican that is still alive but appears to be starving, here is what to do:
• If the bird is in the area of the coast from Astoria to Yachats, call the Wildlife Center of the North Coast at (503) 338-3954.
• If the bird is in the area of the coast from Florence south to Gold Beach, call Free Flight Bird Rehabilitation at (541) 347-3882.
• If you find a dead Brown Pelican, leave it where you found it. Under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act it is illegal to possess any part of a migratory bird, dead or alive. If you find a dead pelican please contact the Coastal Observation and Seabird Survey Team (COASST) at (206) 221-6893.
• Finally, please do not feed these birds. This will only lead to further habituation of these birds to handouts from humans. It is important that these birds continue on their migratory route.
After the breeding season in California and Mexico, California Brown Pelicans migrate north throughout California, Oregon, Washington and British Columbia in the summer months and usually begin to head back south in large numbers in October. This year, however, a large number of pelicans remained along the Oregon coast through the winter. Recent storms and Brown Pelican in flight high winds have limited the pelicans' ability to hunt and dive for food. These and other unknown factors contribute to the pelicans' behavior of begging for food. The Fish and Wildlife Service discourages hand feeding pelicans as their diet is very particular. Despite good intentions, feeding pelicans the bones and heads of fish can cause damage to the bird's throat pouch. Also, fish bait can be contaminated with harmful bacteria or may be treated with chemicals to promote better fishing or preserve the bait, and can make a pelican very ill.
 Contact: Dawn Grafe, (541) 867-4550, Amy J Gaskill, APR (503) 231-6874 |
| | | EVENTS | | | Fri Feb 5 2:45 PM NEW Photographer Gary Braasch Presents Climate Survey |  Gary Braasch Internationally renowned photographer—and CoastWatcher—Gary Braasch will present “Climate Change in Our World” on Friday, February 12, 7 p.m. at the Pine Grove Community House (225 Laneda Ave.) in Manzanita. The event is sponsored by the Lower Nehalem Community Trust; admission is $5 for LNCT members and $10 for others, and includes refreshments.
Braasch, author of Earth Under Fire: How Global Warming is Changing The World (copies of which he will be signing after the talk) has long been tracking the impacts of climate change with both camera and pen. He has recently returned from Copenhagen, and will be relating up-to-date information on climate change in both images and words. His talk will take a global perspective, but also bring the focus down to local concerns.
Braasch is a long-time resident of the Nehalem area, and a long-time mile adopter. For the past 11 years, he has dedicated his time and talents to the study and documenting of climate change through science reporting and photography from the Arctic to Antarctic, from glaciers to the oceans.
 Contact: Lower Nehalem Community Trust, (503) 368-3203 | MORE EVENTS... | Sat Feb 20 SEA Announces Season of Seminars
SEA (Shoreline Education Awareness) seminars are primarily intended to train volunteers who serve the organization as docents. The public is invited, however. The events are free to SEA members and young people under age 17; the cost is $5 for ... MORE | | Thu Mar 18 CoastWatch Pays a Visit to Haystack Rock
>Marine ecologist Cynthia Trowbridge will give one of her fascinating talks on the natural history of the driftline on Thursday, March 18, when CoastWatch and the Haystack Rock Awareness Program/Friends of Haystack Rock collaborate on a special ... MORE | | | | NEWS | | | Dec 21 09 Volunteers Needed for Special CoastWatch Roles | There are many roles available to CoastWatchers willing to take on challenges over and above watching their own miles.
With the CoastWatch director also now directing Oregon Shores, county-level CoastWatch “support groups” are all the more important, in giving the program a strong presence in local areas. Support group members help to organize events in their area, recruit new mile adopters and welcome them into the program, and assist the director with promoting CoastWatch in the community.
Help with the website is also needed. We would like to launch a comprehensive coastal calendar, but need someone able to actively track activities up and down the coast and post them. We would also like to find someone able to write brief natural history pieces, providing CoastWatchers and the public with information on what they might be seeing on the shoreline.
If you would be interested in volunteering for these or other tasks—perhaps you could help in a way we haven’t thought of—please contact CoastWatch Director Phillip Johnson, (503) 238-4450, orshores@teleport.com
 Contact: Phillip Johnson, CoastWatch Director, (503) 238-4450, or EMAIL | MORE NEWS... | Dec 6 09 OPRD Site Steward Opportunity Available
An Oregon Parks and Recreation Department (OPRD) site steward opportunity is available on the southern Oregon coast in the Bullards Beach, Cape Blanco and Harris Beach Management Units. Anyone who has a serious interest in the preservation of ... MORE | | | | SIGHTINGS | | NEW Sightings: the Growing Pelican Presence
(Editor's note: This is the first in what will be an occasional series of brief essays providing background information on phenomena CoastWatchers and other beach visitors may observe out on the shore. This debut "Sightings” article was contributed ... MORE | |
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| | MILE REPORTS SINCE JAN 20 2010 | Feb 8 MILE 180 billmaxmcw — Light human activity on fine day. Significant loss of beach sand since last report; est. 2 feet depth of sand gone from south end near cape, 1 foot farther north. New stumps exposed (see photo). 2 ... MORE | Feb 7 MILE 224 malachite — Beautiful day on the beach. I'm going to try to upload some photos. Some new small slides. Definitely a higher energy beach today--as I walked south towards Beverly Beach, I saw garnet/amphibolites... MORE | Feb 7 MILE 334 croegner — A sunny and mild neap tide, near low water. Light SW wind, waves 0.5-1.0 m. There were a few parked cars on the beach and a couple of clammers in swash zone; 4 dogs. The density of the strand line ... MORE | | Feb 7 MILE 198 bahngarten — Wide distribution of logs along banks from high surf. One dead California Sea Lion. About 150 Sanderling foraging at waterline. MORE | Feb 2 MILE 20 D Bilderback — Ten species of kelp/algae, Hydrozoa, Leather Bryozoa (Flustrellidra spinifera), a sponge (Neoesperiopsis), Sea Pork (Aplidium), small rocks, wood pieces and ocean-based debris in the driftline. Two ... MORE | | Jan 31 MILE 172 Robin and Mark — Evidence of European beachgrass eroding out of foredune in front of portions of the Kla Ha Nee development. Noticeable amount of dead beachgrass in drift line. MORE | Jan 31 MILE 181 J&KRICHARDSON — This was our first walk on this portion of beach. Low tide was at 7:30 a.m. and we ventured onto the beach from Hobbit Beach Trail around 10:00 a.m. A very mild day, light wind with clear skies. We ... MORE | | Jan 30 MILE 97 beachnut — Most notable today were the lines of beachgrass in the tidelines and the profusion of logs on this stretch of beach that usually doesn't have much. Logs were even thrown up into the grassy dunes. ... MORE | | Jan 28 MILE 2 1beachboy — Beach was very normal and natural. A small amount of styrofoam (3 small pieces) was disposed of properly. There were no litter or can problems.
There is more driftwood along the shore because of ... MORE | | Jan 27 MILE 207 dianemaloney — Nothing unusual to report. MORE | | Jan 27 MILE 217 firstrobin — The tide was low, and the beach was wide and flat. There was no trace of the sand dunes that had dominated the beach a few months ago. The wrack line contained more marine debris than in the last ... MORE | Jan 27 MILE 187 turnstone — The minus tide brought out the rock pickers and the tidepoolers.
The beach has been scoured to bedrock and cobble. The driftline is large driftwood pushed up right against the bluff.
Many crab ... MORE | | Jan 27 MILE 335 mandfwhite — Could have spent the whole day collecting the plastic bottles and plastic mess along the drift line. We carried out what we could.
We didn't see any brown pelicans, dead or alive. MORE | Jan 26 MILE 1 Dick T — Beautiful sunny and warm day. Lots of people out walking the beach. Almost no litter to be seen--someone's doing a good job (or hopefully, everyone)and it shows from my last visit. MORE | | Jan 25 MILE 104 beachnut — Only one other person (beachcombing) was out on my mile today several hours after high tide, but that's not surprising. Surf advisories were out and the swells were running at least 16 feet. ... MORE | | Jan 23 MILE 14 artist — With the exception of one small, fallen tree across the trail a quarter mile south of Indian Sands, conditions of the trail, shoreline and surrounding landscape display no serious problems. MORE | | Jan 23 MILE 245 Lvoelker — Approximately 2.8 BILLION bits of plastic on a 1/8 mile stretch of beach. MORE | Jan 23 MILE 37 laulou — My husband and I were the only humans on the beach - we walked and observed the boiling sea and lots of wood debris on the beach MORE | Jan 20 MILE 96 D Bilderback — Large amount of European Beachgrass with some Gorse, wood pieces and ocean-based debris in the driftline. Many drift logs on the beach. Thirteen Snowy Plover resting or foraging on the beach. Flocks ... MORE | Jan 20 MILE 97 D Bilderback — A large amount of European Beachgrass with some Gorse, shells, wood pieces and ocean-based debris in the driftline. Drift logs on the beach. Seventeen Snowy Plovers resting on the beach. Two flocks ... MORE |
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CoastWatch, a citizen monitoring program, engages Oregonians in personal stewardship over their shoreline. Volunteers adopt mile-long segments of Oregon's coast, keeping watch for natural changes and human-induced impacts, reporting on their observations, and sounding the alarm about threats and concerns.
CoastWatch is founded on individual vigilance and responsibility for one portion of the ocean shore. But the program also links hundreds of 'mile adopters' in a coastwide network of concerned citizens taking action to conserve shoreline resources. CoastWatchers serve as an early warning system not only for the Oregon Shores Conservation Coalition, but also for neighbors along their miles, local government, regulatory agencies and other conservation groups. |
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