Report Details

Beautiful evening for a stroll on Mile 172 (north of the Driftwood Shores Resort.  Looks like a bumper crop of "Beach Hopper" amphipods (Traskorchestia traskiana) this summer, as they were hopping all over the wet beach sand.  Most were 1/4" to 1/2" in length.A baby Pacific Harbor Seal (Phoca vitulina richardsi) was parked on the wet sand a few hundred feet north of the resort restaurant.  An adult harbor seal was in the near surf.  The pup looked healthy, alert, nice coloration, no entanglements observed.  I headed off two women who were heading out to "save" the pup.  As a volunteer naturalist up at Cape Perpetua, I've attended a number of marine mammal seminars, so I stayed near the pup for about 30 minutes educating several dozen curious beach walkers on harbor seal behavior and their environment.  Basically "The kid's OK, this is normal, stand back and leave it alone".

Conditions

Temperature: 65 F. Cloud Cover: Sunny. Wind Velocity: Calm/Light. Wind Direction: SW.

Human Activities

Number of people: 17. Number of dogs: 5. Walking or running: 15. Sitting: 3. Photography: 10. People too close to baby harbor seal on wet sand beach.

Concerns

Disturbances: Disturbance/harassment of marine mammals

Vehicles

Cars/trucks parking: 14.

Notable Wildlife

Baby harbor seal resting on wet sand beach, just above wash line.

Driftline Content

Shells, Animal casings (e.g., crab, shrimp molt).

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All Mile 172 Reports

Showing 8 of 53 reports

Mile 172

January 5, 2024

Another glorious sunny winter day at Heceta Beach! The recent high tides have washed away most of the summer dunes that accumulate on the high beach in front of the vegetation zone. Just another day in paradise!

Dick Mason

Mile 172

January 4, 2024

Lots of wood debris stacked up on the beach from past high tide and storms.

Lyndell Wilken

Mile 172

October 18, 2023

Louie the Lab and I chased his Chuck-It ball from Driftwood Shores north to Sutton Creek and back today.

oldMGguy

Mile 172

May 11, 2023

Nice sunny day for flinging the "Chuck-It" ball into the surf for the dog.

oldMGguy

decorative elemnt for a coastwatch report.

Mile 172

February 11, 2022

There were two dead sea lions in a 1 mile stretch between Driftwood Shores and the north jetty.

Lyndell

decorative elemnt for a coastwatch report.

Mile 172

February 6, 2022

A 60-degree weather report brought out lots of people on the beach.

MooreC

Mile 172

December 6, 2018

Jelleyfish for a quarter mile.

Lyndell

Mile 172

May 19, 2018

Took the missus out for a trial walk with her new walking sticks, initially heading north into the wind from Driftwood Shores Resort up to Sutton Creek and return with a nice tailwind.

oldMGguy