Mile Report Browser

A cold walk on Christmas morning that started out with hail and a moderate north wind, and ended with sun coming through the clouds. The beach was scattered with medium to small size rocks (mostly smooth). Well rounded jelly fish, about 6 inches in diameter, were seen along the mile. 

Beautiful rainy afternoon. Not many people out. Recent beach erosion from high tides.  

There was clear indications of active foredune erosion with visible cutbanks (see photo) and significant debris.

It was fairly cold, rainy, and windy, so there was no human activity save for two vehicle parked for a short time at the Lookout and another on old Hwy. 101 well away from the shoreline access point.  Occupants of vehicles parked at the Lookout quickly took in the view and left.  I did not observe any occupants of the vehicle on old Hwy. 101.  I only observed three cormorants, finding it unusual to see so little shoreline wildlife.  There were no recognizable physical changes, a fact that is common here along the resistant-to-erosion basalt sea cliffs.

Picked up multiple bags of trash mostly stryofoam, some rope. Fires were out by end of survey. There was a driftwood shelter built into the dune - picture included. 

During this survey, I walked the length of Quarry Cove and Cobble Beach within Yaquina Head. It was raining heavily and the tide was exceptionally high. There were a high number of jellyfish washing up on Cobble Beach, but this did not appear to be abnormal due to the heavy wave action of the high tide. 

Mile 180 is looking like it's usual natural state.   The tide comes all the way up to the cliff and loose logs roll around at times.  Cliff erosion continues.  

It appears that the normal pattern of beach evolution is happening at mile 181.   Erosion, large waves, high tides and wind.    I see Blowout Creek is higher than my last visit.   Large logs are apparently moving around at high tide leaving bits of shredded wood in the tide line.  Heavy rains, sneaker waves, and logs rolling on the beach at high tide make the beach dangerous at times for people and animals...making for fewer visitors.  The Covid19 virus also keeps people inside more.   

Much litter in the wrack line, including bait labels and white styrofoam.  Also, an abundance of plant or animal pods the size of rice grains.  No dead birds.  A couple of fishing boats hugging the northern boundary of the Cascade Head Marine Reserve, most likely crabbers.

A relatively dry afternoon; maybe three people besides me. More sizeable driftwood (logs over five feet) than I'm used to seeing on this beach. Am watching bluff erosion at World Mark; monitoring ongoing riprap placement north of Laurel Street; I've walked this three times in the past four days. Have seen no beached wildlife. Sanderling flock and a few gulls. A pileup of bull kelp at the foot of Wallace Street; several places where runoff is creating streams across the sand due to heavy rains

As the photos show, the tide was very high - not a good time to walk the mile.  I was able to walk about 80% of the mile while viewing the remainder from a distance.  On coming waves kept me from properly walking the beach.

A blustery, mostly cloudy day on this long beach.  The sand has been swept up from the gradual beach to reduce most of the elevation to the first dune.  Only some pieces of wood of various sizes are still sticking out, and no wrack.  5 people were about, none with dogs and two actually biking.   A few shore birds were feeding, plus a couple of flocks wheeling by.  Two dead birds were recorded, both Northern Fulmars, one a dark morph, the other a fresh white morph.  Most notable is the amount of debris -- plastic bottles and styrofoam -- littering the whole mile. Some has been blown high onto the dunes.  Most of the bottles have been in the water for awhile.

Although I said "partly cloudy" for the weather, we saw rain, clouds, sun and constant wind the entire 30 minutes we surveyed Mile 210. It was very changeable. There was significant debris on the beach; most appeared to be from boats: rope (line), a broken fish box, empty bait containers, water bottles and lots of busted up styrofoam.

The unidentified bird was in the southern part of the mile about 50 ft from the tide line.

The only time we saw other people was at the entrance to the beach, by the tsunami number sign.  It was a blissfully deserted beach day.  I picked up the usual large bag of trash and dragged a couple of floats back to the dumpster at the Umpqua dunes parking lot.

The king tides had pushed most of the debris up close the the highway wall of vegetation. I need to go back and collect the garbage. Below are the pictures of the whale and bird carcasses and debris.

The highest of December's king tides coincided with a cool, calm, dry, pleasant day on Mile 287. I did not witness the dramatically high water levels I had expected with the king tide, however. While there was very little beach between the high water tideline and the foredune, the water still was not high enough to reach the foredune (see photo). There was evidence that previous high tides had recently overtopped the foredune in a couple of the low-lying sections at the northern end of the mile, but there was no obvious erosion of the dune anywhere on the mile. Of note, there has been considerable sand accretion since my last visit; the driftwood root ball I have been using as a marker of sand depth was almost completely buried.

There were a number of folks and their dogs enjoying the beach and one couple picnicking in the dunes. There was very little debris visible on the beach and most of that was related to fishing and crabbing (bobbers, crab bait containers, bouys, lines, etc.) - and only one plastic bottle.  All that needed to be removed was one medium sized bag of trash, which was less than usual.  

On Thursday, I looked for a safe place to watch the King Tide on this part of the beach. I found a path that leads to the top of the dunes and is accessed from a pullout on 101. I was able to observe Thursday's 9.2 feet tide and watch the ocean periodically roar up to the base of the dunes. I came back today to this same path to start the walk of the mile. On the beach near this path, there was a section of the sand that was very dark in coloration. There were many areas where the beach grass roots were exposed on the fore dune. There were also large logs protruding from the fore dune which appeared to have been this way for a while. As I walked along the base of the dunes, there were quite a few slippery spots. I determined it was moon jellies buried in the sand. In fact, most of the beach debris was buried in the sand. I only saw one dead bird and very little trash. I did notice some handmade stairs made from sticks leading up the side of the dune. After walking north on the east side of the beach to Patterson Creek, I turned south and walked near the ocean. The cold morning didn't deter walkers and joggers from enjoying the beach. The latest tide line contained broken shells, some seaweed mixed in with sticks and what looked like dune grass stems and roots. I also saw some pieces of wood and larger sticks. At the south end of this mile is a drainage pipe which I make sure to check every walk. This morning, it had just a trickle of water coming out.

I don't often walk the beach when it's so windy, but I wanted to get in a final walk before my hip replacement on Tuesday. I got on the beach shortly after the morning's King Tide, which wasn't that high. The Windfinder station on Oceania Drive recorded gusts to 30 mph, but on the beach the wind had to be considerably higher. The early ethnographers wrote of an Alsea (Äl-si') village here, "Kyã-mai'-su," meaning "the wind comes from the ocean." The village has been replaced by vacation rentals and European Beachgrass, but the wind remains. Hundreds of gulls sat hunkered down beside the bay, and the wintering Snowy Plovers, with nowhere to shelter, moved about in the blowing sand. The sea was rough and choppy, but a few crab boats were working despite the weather. As in past years, now that the commercial crabbing season has begun, we see the boat lights out on the ocean at night, our holiday lights.

King Tide on Ocean Beach!  I observed the beach from the parking lot and from the base of the stairs.  The reported tide at 10:37am was 9.8 feet.  I did not walk onto the beach.  I did note that there didn't seem to be the usual amount of driftwood during this tide.  A crab boat was observed offshore.  It was a spectacular event!

Gorgeous day for documenting the king tides, which were mild because of very little rains this week. Sunny, a few shorebirds, a lot of brown sea foam (diatoms) left from receding tides. Picked up as much trash as I could without a bag (forgot to replenish beach trash bags in my car!). 

Notably warmer weather this December than last year [no gloves or knit hat necessary]! Clear, mostly sunny afternoon after a 9.6ft high tide this morning around 11a. No obvious cliff/bluff erosion. More empty mussel shells than usual. And the great news is no litter other than one tennis ball! Enjoyed watching a flock of surf scoters and a few seals in the surf. On the rocks were black Oystercatchers, black Turnstones [also observed in flight], one cormorant posed while drying its wings, and plenty of gulls. 

All is well.

I walked down to Driftwood Beach about an hour after the morning's King Tide. The water hadn't run up too high on the beach, but as always there was evidence of previous strong tidal surges--a concrete block in the sand, bull kelp in Buckley Creek where it enters the beach, new driftwood logs and stumps. With the continued closure of Driftwood Wayside for the PacWave South wave energy project, hardly anyone was on the beach to enjoy a beautiful December day. Despite the recent wet weather (my rain guage measured a total of 21.5" for October and November), work continues on the PacWave South project both at Driftwood Wayside and east of Highway 101. For the most recent updates and photos from PacWave, see:

https://pacwaveenergy.org/constructionupdates/

A much busier day on the beach than yesterday. 18 surfers! King tide day! No beached birds or other wildlife found. Five snowy plovers up on the bare/veg zone. Sunny day!

My first beach walk. I was amazed by the width of this beach from the surf zone to the wood zone....I did a lot of S-shaped walking!

Higher tides are making it up to bluff in some places but sand has not been washed our yet. Very little debris of any sort coming in. In fact no large debris at all this month.

The tallest dunes (~10ft) are being eroded as they are each year. Clumps of dune grass has slid down dune face. See pic.

A few people and dogs were walking on the beach, enjoying the beautiful day.  Some may have been fishing.  There is graffiti at some places on the bluffs and a driftwood shelter on the south beach.  Approximately 50 seals were lounging on rocks offshore.  There were some gulls, cormorants, a few ducks, anemones, hermit crabs, and many mussels  as well.  The bluffs overlooking the north and south beaches are badly eroded in many places and may undermine the parking area and highway 101 in the coming years.  The lower bluff below the parking area is badly eroded as well. 

Aside from the large amount of jellyfish there was not much out of the ordinary.

A single dead sea lion observed on the beach at the Yachats estuary this morning. I'm a novice, but apparently an adult. There was blood around the mouth, but no other obvious damage to the body that was facing up. See attached photos. 

Visitors behaving and being considerate of resource. Usual amount of plastic trash. Large amount of drift wood and logs due to rough seas. Limited beach access due to high tide at time of report. Winter beach steep slope.

Although there has been over 9 inches of rain since October 1, both creeks (Johnson and Crooked) on mile 99 are at lower than expected levels of max depth of approx 5 inches at usual crossing spots. There is very little marine debris  (e.g. plastics, styrofoam pieces) visible along the high tide lines. The east bank of Johnson Creek has noticably more large gorse roots exposed than the last report. 

It was a quiet day on Ocean Beach.  I only observed 3 other people in the time I was there.  It looks like winter weather has arrived on the beach.  Most of the rock fields toward the north end are exposed.  The bluffs were showing signs of erosion.  I'm assuming this is due to the recent King Tide and generally high tides of the fall.   There is also a lot more driftwood on the beach again at the north end.  Not any large trees but considerably more than on last month's report.  I also noticed quite a bit of fishing rope of different sizes in the debris line all along the beach.  

A pleasant day the weekend before Thanksgiving.  Only a few people on the beach.  Picked up a very few pieces of plastic trash.  No harbor seals at their usual resting place at the tip of the Salishan Spit but a few in the water at the mouth of the Siletz River.  Winter changes in the sandy areas due to storms and tides have created bluffs where there used to be gradual access to the beach.

nothing new noted

Calm and warm day (58 degrees F by end of survey). Thirty-five visitors, mostly searching for agates. Fifteen dogs (10 unleashed). Small flock of Western snowy plovers observed in flight and two later observed on beach. Two peregrine falcons in flight. Loose dogs or peregrines in area may have disturbed shorebirds.

Most obvious was the change in the beach due to wave removal of the dunes.  The erosion of the foredune by Buckley Creek was significant. Lack of much sea plant material, mostly rocks in wrack.  One bird carcass and two short-billed/mew gulls.  Only a couple Western Gulls seen as well.

While there was quite a bit of storm debris on the beach, there was no evidence of overtopping.

Typcial beach for this time of year.  Dune erosion + more marine debris.

We observed typical post rain/storm erosion and debris. The wrack line was surprisingly clean of trash. The concrete dock is becoming buried under sand.

A cold partly cloudy day. The tide was already high enough that reaching "Keyhole" at north cliff of Yaquina wasn't possible.

The beach only had 2 persons, but I got several pictures of partial rainbows.

With chicks fledged, total bird count 50-75.

The sand was clear of microplastics, although several larger Styrofoam pieces were pesent.

China creek and Big creek with large amounts of water in them due to recent rainfall. There are numerous pieces of jellyfish everywhere due to recent ruff seas. There continues to be undercutting of the dune on Muriel Ponsler.I will attach photos.

Another beautiful day on the mile, warm and calm, after a couple of days of heavy rain. The beach was very clean, and the wrack line mostly consisted of small pieces -- pine needles, sand crab molts, some crab parts, etc. I didn't see much bull kelp. About 38 people, including 4 children, were walking on the beach, along with nine dogs, two on leashes. One young man stripped to his shorts and galloped into the shallows but didn't stay very long. A fairly large set of chunks had recently fallen from the bluff within the first half-mile south of the campground, and a couple of minor ones farther on. The majority of campsites were occupied.

A beautiful November fall day at Oceanside Beach, weather was mostly sunny and comfortable.  Winds approx. 5mph. High tide had just occured shortly after I arrived. Lots of folks enjoying the day and I haven't seen this many dogs on this beach before, it was nice to see.  Where there is normally mostly sand, the beach was blanketed with small rocks, pebbles, and bits of shells.  Made for a good day of rock hunting for people.  Clouds rolled in early afternoon.

The day was uneventful, the garbage not as plentiful as other times.  I picked up one big plastic bag of trash.

Not much access to southside of Rocky Knoll do too tide level. Trail erosion due to rain at Rock Creek and south access trail at Roosevelt Beach. Both trails are still accessible.

These observations were made over the last 3 months walking the beach at different times of day but not keeping a record which I will try to start.

All in all it was quiet, cloudy weather probably keeping people from visiting - that and there were more action-packed places to see the King Tide in action. We didn't spend too much time because we were going to hit Mile 48 and knew the tide was coming in fast. As noted in the debris section, the "pocket beach" on the north side of Battle Rock had a lot more trash than the rest of the Port Beach, far too much to clean before the tide rushed up. 

Couldn't get to the south end of the mile due to the King Tide waves running up too high. Risked getting cut off from being able to get back to the parking lot. Took pix down the beach from the middle. Didn't see any huge issues or concerns, other than the amount of debris that had been washed up and wondering about cleanup efforts after the series of King Tides is over. Looks like it would take a LOT of effort to clean up, and curious to know if anything is planned. We drove to Hubbard Creek access and went down on the south side of the creek (not Mile 48) but couldn't get across the creek to walk the southern section of the mile.

A quiet day at the beach on a King Tide day.  Big ocean swells and short time between waves.  Low winds and partly sunny.  One seal out in the water.

Despite significant rain and wind during the night, the sun came out and the morning was quite beautiful. Probably because of that a lot of people were out with their dogs. The signage at marker 77 has apparently been washed away, but otherwise I saw no major changes in the topography of the shoreline since the stairs were replaced. I was surprised to see the dead whale again, as it had disappeared the last time I was in Yachats, presumably moved further out to sea by the tides.

Unseasonably warm for late October.  Clean beach with very few people. 

I have reported before on the problems of erosion and sand accumulation along the southern portion of NW Oceania Drive paralleling Mile 202's Bayshore Beach. Houses on the seaward side of the street, mostly vacation rentals, are not located landward of a relatively stable dune ridge, as are houses further north, but were built atop and within an active foredune. Last Sunday, gusty Southwest winds began blowing sand in from the beaches. After three days of wind, rain, and blowing sand, the result was the sandy White Christmas shown here, not really that bad for an Oceania Drive winter storm, but this is only October.  The sand on the road will be scooped up and hauled off. As is permitted, the sand around the houses, clean in theory (see my previous report), will be scooped up and dumped over the foredune back onto the beach.

This dispatch is an update on the continuing armoring projects taking place on mile 199 - Wakonda Beach. Last year, the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department issued emergency permits for (north to south) 5290, 5304, 5318 and 5330 SW Pacific Coast Highway, Waldport due to severe loss of the embankments on their beach sides. Permanent armoring permits were issued for PERMIT # (North to South): #2973, #2974, #2975, and #2976 as on continuous project. The concern was that there was so much loss that there was a threat by the high surf to the septic systems of the properties. Another part of this report will address the question of whether it is necessary to add beach sand and beach grass over the top of the structure considering that almost all of the sand and grass has been washed off of the rock structure installed on the beach side of the four properties to the south of this new structure two years ago this month. Those addresses are 5346, 5362, 5368, 5378 and 5392 Pacific Coast Highway (first image below).

From the permit application:

"The details for the structure on Tax Lot 400 (Wiren and Ford) include poured concrete steps and a handrail for beach access to serve the neighboring properties."

From the permit issued to 5290 (Per # 2976), it includes:

"A poured concrete stairway over the riprap may be included in the project."

No stairway is evident in the project as of completion date. This would be extremely helpful if open to neighbors and renters since the Wakonda Beach access becomes washed out and completely impassable from being washed out by winter storms. It is only repaired when other beach projects are permitted that require equipment to get on the beach.

Some beach accesses are not presently usable. Seagull Lane/Beach Grass Lane access is being used by heavy equipment and area should be avoided. Accesses at lot 281, Circle Road, #50A and at lot 333 are dangerous drop-offs. A new access between lot 347 and 349 is usable and leads straight out to the beach. The beach has an unusual amount of debris. King tides will start next month.

strange bright liquid oozing out of bluff bank (photo attached), trail down bluff well used and causing erosion (photo attached)

3 of the 16 people hunting for nurdles, toxic plastic pellets, as part of a world wide catalog in October of the extent of nurdle pollution

There had been some shot gun activity at this beach. lots of wads on the beach. Found two dead emaciated birds. never seen that before. 

Beautiful day to hike in to Crescent Beach.  Saw gulls chasing an adult eagle by Chapman Point, a pair of hawks gliding overhead for over an hour and a half, and six black oystercatchers foraging on a rock at the end of Crescent Beach.  Tide was fairly high, so there were not many people on the beach.

Entered the beach at Patterson State Park to start the mile. As I started walking south near the ocean, there were little pieces of jellyfish on the tide line. I continued walking south and saw kelp, bull kelp, feathers, some crab pieces, a few moon jellies, and a couple of pieces of wood with nails in them. Observed 2 dead birds near the tide line and 3 bird skeletons near the bluffs. Many walkers were enjoying the sunny, windless morning. Reached the end of the mile and walked back near the dunes and bluffs. One of the goals today was to look for nurdles. The strand line was obvious and it was easy to find microplastics in the clumps of sticks and seaweed. I sorted through some of the clumps looking for nurdles. Most of the microplastics were small white round little pieces that were squishy and appeared to be styrofoam. I also found larger pieces of styrofoam near them. I did find 1 small (2mm) rigid white piece of plastic, most likely a nurdle. By no means did I do an exhaustive nurdle hunt, so I suspect where there is one there are many. 
 

Florence had some rain but when we got to the mile it was just overcast and kept getting brighter.   A lot of gulls and crows were sitting on the rocks near the ocean.  Usually they are on the sand or by the fresh water coming from the creek.  This time of year the sand is leaving the beach but in the middle section it was higher than in the summer.  Very unusual.   We saw 11 species of birds, two of them were new for our mile.    The tide was high so we only saw one harbor seal that was in the water.  One orange sea star out on the rocks.

The was a lot of Ball Kelp on the beach, more than you would normally see, other than that everything appeared normal. I also saw about 25 Western Gulls, 2 Harbor Seals. and 3 Pelagic Comorants.

Nothing noteworthy.

With the November 2nd election approaching, yard signs are up on Oceania Drive, which parallel's Mile 202's Bayshore Beach, supporting and opposing Lincoln County ballot initiative 21-203, which would restrict and phase out short term rental vacation houses (STRs) in certain unincorporated residential areas of the county, including Mile 202 and all of the Bayshore community.  Of the approximately 60 residences on Oceania fronting Mile 202's beach, Lincoln County Assessor records show that only seven or so are locally owned, more than twenty owned by out-of-staters, and the remainder owned by Oregon residents outside of Lincoln County. Meredith Lodging, an STR management company, has donated $200,000 towards efforts to defeat 21-203, and perhaps not surprisingly, there are more signs on Oceania houses opposing than supporting the measure. On the beach side of a few of the Oceania houses, I came upon the remains of some construction debris that had been dumped onto the dunes and which I reported to one of our local Beach Rangers. Otherwise, a beautiful day on Mile 202.

High tide reaching close to vegetation (composed of European beach grass) above the waveslope. Beach condition pristine; no litter (except for a fresh half eaten sub sandwich sitting on a log). Flock of gulls at mouth of Winchuck including a couple Heerman's gulls. 

Two locations with various degrees of erosion.  One consists of a large chunk of the bluff that broke loose and landed on the beach.  The second is erosion around a large drain pipe that extends to the beach from an unstable bluff area.

A pleasant day at South Cove, not many visitors. A stranded California Sea Lion, a call went out to the Stranded Marine Mammal Network. Saw a Mottled Sea Star, Evasterias troschelii, and may do a Sea Star Survey, even though I saw no Sea Stars suffering Wasting Disease. I aslo saw no Nurdles. I did however see two deer. Theywere on the beach for a bit, then traipsed over the cliffs. Saw a dead crab and gumboot chiton. Saw 3 people fishing, one was using WD40 and stated the rainbows in the water attracted fish. This is a myth, BTW, and no good reason to pollute the water, but it is not illegal. WD40 does what it can to disabuse people of this notion. It seems to me there is less drift wood at the South Cove than usual. 

10 people on beach, including 5 birdwatchers, 2 dogs (one of which was off leash), people walking with off leash dog allowed dog to chase gulls and were pushing a flock of sandlerings down the beach in front of them. 8 dead birds (reported to COASST) mostly common murres as expected here. Snowy Plovers at the north end of the mile.

Clear, quiet mid-week day with surprisingly few people. Photo shows NW 15th Street, Lincoln City, Oregon, high sand and high tide but not at the highest tide for the day.

Beach access area has been repaired and access is easier than before. Most people were being respectful. One family was allowing children to climb up embankments south of beach access. 2 people were working together with a hoe to collect something from the base of embankment north of the beach access area. No obvious large debris from recent visitors but many microplastics along the high tide lines.

It was a beautful day to walk our mile.  No real action on the Salishan spit part of our mile, but lots of activity and people on the Mo's side.

4 people walking on beach; 4 people digging for agates; 1 unleashed dog; no vehicles, but tracks were present. Beach swept mostly clean by recent tides; very little trash or plastic; no "nurdles" (plastic pellets) observed; 5 western snowy plovers resting together in dry sand; 1 alive stranded duck (brief look - unknown species); 1 dead brown pelican; 3 dead common murre. Area of cut shore pines on bluff (likely private property, but unknown). Notice of pesticide spraying posted at Paradise Point parking area.

Busy busy day at the cape.  500 cars parked is just a number, lot was full people circling for a spot.   We saw three wedding parties and one engagement party.  Many walkers, surfers and sitters present.  Minor garbage, plastic toys and cigarette butts main garbage seen.  

The northern half of this mile was engulfed by thick fog, but still attracted two other beach goers searching for agates. A large flock of gulls gathered near the jetty as low tide neared. There was no visible litter. Scores of small clear jellies marked the tide lines. So did small rocks, sand dollars, sea palms and kelp. Bullards allows beach access only from 7 a.m. to dusk.

The southern half the next day was cloudy with southerly winds. Two people and one leashed dog walked the beach. Four common murres were dead in the tide lines. Also there were bull kelp, small stones, sea grass, sea palms, mostly small clear jellies and clusters of mussels. Dog bags of waste constituted the only litter. They were pretty obvious in red bags, but the people left them anyway. Much of the driftwood was covered by sand or taken out to sea. What remained largely was used for huts.

Foggy, Temp 53 degrees F, Wind 5 mph from the NW

Low tide at 0840 listed as 2.46' and High tide at 1442 listed as 6.46'

31 people and 3 dogs observed doing a variety of activities. This included kite flying which is the first time we have observed this.

Fat tire bicycle tracks were observed in the sand

1 dead Common Murre was found and reported to COASST

Buried tire in sand just south of Agate Creek. (pic 26) This had been a step for the beach access stairs leading up to 95648 Hwy 101

Old set of stairs coming down from 95500 Hwy 101 that were damaged during the winter storms has been repaired with a new large base installed at the bottom. (pic 32 with a comparison photo taken on 4/17/2021 (pic32)). Previously the steps sat on rocks and sand. Earlier photos available

There was an increased amount of sand observed on the beach.   (pic 35 with a 2019 comparison of the area (closeup picture))

Tenmile Creek outflow was going straight into the ocean which is a change from its normal serpentine route. (pic 38 with a 2019 comparison of the area (pic 85))

It was a blustery, foggy day on Ocean Beach.  Several people were enjoying the beach from the parking lot overlook perhaps due to the rougher surf and higher low tide.  Most of the sand dunes are gone from the beach and the rock field at the north end of the beach is once again exposed; it's almost agate hunting time!!!  Lots of seagulls hanging out enjoying the beach.  

Rock hunters delight in this otherwise boring stretch of beach; 3 were mining away in a big bed of small stones despite heavy fog and their 4 at-large dogs. One guy was just walking. A large flock of gulls stretched along the water line while sanderling-size birds flitted to and fro. Kelp, small stones and shells marked tide lines, as did numerous small clear jellies and larger specimens in red or gold tones. No litter, probably because of recent winds. Stormy waves had eroded areas of vegetated foredune. Sand drifts were deep along the dune base and may have covered the winter crop of drift wood. Bullards has closed beach access; 7 a.m. to dusk are the open hours. We early risers are out of luck there. 

A beautiful early fall day with very light wind... The only remarkable thing was the extremely low flow in the waterways, lower than I've ever observed here, undoubtedly as a result of the severe/extreme drought in Coos County this year.... Merchant Creek at Seven Devils Wayside was so low that most people took advantage of the opportunity to step across it and hike mile 110... The waterfall cascading down the bluff at about mile 111.5 was barely visible, and only a trickle... I'll attach photos for documentation.

The sand dune that protects the campground is just falling away and revealing an odd collection of large white plastic bags and black landscape cloth that is shredding and flopping around in the wind. Seriously ugly. 

A very mild day on our mile with "flat" ocean waves and smell of clams. The beach was very clean of debris. First time we have seen the carcass of a brown pelican on the mile. 

More debis on the shore this walk. Found rope used for crab pots.

Nothing unusual except for the 6 dead Common Murres.  Dead murres have been reported all along the coast.

There was no human activity on or near the shoreline.  Nothing was observed with respect to wildlife.  No physical changes were observed since the last report.  The only human activity observed was well away from the shoreline - thus not described previously) - on Otter Crest Loop (old hwy. 101), where there was light traffic including a bicyclist and one person with dog in a van "hanging out", and vehicles coming and going from the Lookout area, where one person in a van with a cat was staying for a time.

Relatively large number of people (for mile 211) were enjoying the beach on a sunny, inviting day.  Standing water in the northern part of mile had disappeared and water level in Thiele Creek at north end of mile was very low.  Parking area at Lost Creek Wayside was nearly full.

Sunny, warm day at mile 301 on Monday. Relatively little debris on the sand, with some driftwood high up on the boulders. One enormous stump is still up on high-tide line. We have been observing this stump and taking coordinates since 12/31/2020; it has moved 300 meters southeast in 2021, about 7 meters since 8/7/21. Driftline content: eel grass, small rocks, a few broken sand dollars, and remnants of jellies - I believe a few Aequorea victoria (water jelly) and many, perhaps hundreds, of dime-sized Sea Gooseberry (comb jelly) on the sand. Some boulders nearest the surf have a light coverage of barnacles and seaweed. Five gulls rested on boulders around the halfway mark. Six pelicans observed flying south around Neahkahnie. One disarticulated Dungeness crab being eaten by a seagull on the shore, and about a dozen other gulls hanging out on the sand along the southern quarter-mile. Minimal signs of trash including one plastic bottle cap and a plastic trash bag. In the hour I was observing mile 301, 17 people and 6 dogs (5 off-leash) were viewed walking in the area. 

This mile is not surveyed 4 times a year since it became a designated bird nesting area.  I decided to skip the others since our dog enjoys surveys far more than we do.

The continued closure of Driftwood Wayside for OSU's PacWave wave energy testing project means that today's Mile 204 walk was more like three miles, with few people on the beach despite this being a beautiful sunny day. After the recent storm, the rolling dunes that form in summer are beginning to wear down a bit. Near Buckley Creek, I came upon Turkey Vultures scavenging a carcass which Jim Rice at the Marine Mammal Stranding Network identified as an adult California Sea Lion, the prominent sagittal crest on top of the skull being diagnostic. In the driftlines were numerous bird remains which I believe were young Common Murres. I had taken an injured young Common Murre to the Oregon Coast Aquarium a couple of weeks ago for rehabilitation, and the intake person noted that the young Murres can have a tough time adapting to life at sea and often wash ashore this time of year. 

I was just curious if a person who is knowledgeable about geology could explain what I'm seeing in the cliff here?  It looks like a layer of burned wood in clay, with sandstone above and below.  Location is 44.3531950110978, -124.09542113096815

It was a beautiful day with strong wind, few people, lots of dead Murres, no debris, and no more restrictions for the Snowy Plover. The beach is very long, with old wrack lines of seaweed but nothing at the current tideline.  There were 9 cars in the parking lots but only 7 people seen on the beach, 4 walking, 2 on horseback and one sitting in a little shelter.  No birds except a couple vultures were in the sky.  The restrictions for Snowy Plover nesting have been removed.  And the beach was clean of human debris with the sand built into waves from the wind.  Unfortunately there was a wreck of Common Murres with 16 carcasses found, most pretty fresh.  One brown Pelican, and a Sooty Shearwater were also found.  

A wonderfully blustery, but sunny day! The waves looked enticing if you enjoy surfing! Walked the mile from south to north and didn't see any people until the Adobe. Found one dead bird just south of the Adobe [see picture]. Will use some resources to try to ID the dead bird. Saw more Killdeer than usual, foraging and flying. Was not able to identify several birds swimming past the surf - profile of a cormorant with a slender neck, but dark and white bodies with a dark head. Remarkably few people and dogs on the beach, possibly due to the windy day and time of year. 

A couple fresh dead common murres being fed on by turkey vultures. People with off leash dogs on the beach, some of which disturbed gulls and peep sp.. Snowy plovers on the upper beach. Most beach visitors walking or sitting.