Mile 203 Report
February 17, 2022
It was a beautiful sunny day.
Report Details
It was a beautiful sunny day. Not a lot of people walking due to high tide timing. There was very little sand dune build up. The beach was mostly flat. There was one flock of gulls near the outflow of Buckley Creek. The creek has dug a deep trench and a smaller creek before Buckley has cut a trench out of the foredune bank through the vegetation. There was a moderate NW wind. There was a little trash, but not any large pieces, except for a wooden skid. I notified the ranger about the skid and gave him the gps location.
Conditions
Temperature: 47 F. Cloud Cover: Sunny. Wind Velocity: Moderate. Wind Direction: NW. Tide Level: 6.2 feet.
Human Activities
Number of people: 7. Number of dogs: 3. Walking or running: 7. Other Activities: evidence of bike riding.
Notable Wildlife
Large flock of mixed gulls at the mouth of Buckley Creek. Estimate 100+, mature and immature.
Driftline Content
Small rocks, Seaweeds and seagrass, Shells, Animal casings (e.g., crab, shrimp molt), Wood pieces, Marine debris (plastic, styrofoam, etc. washing in from the sea), Ocean-based debris (from fishing boats, ship trash, etc.). A wooden skid. I let the park ranger know and sent him the GPS location.
Natural Changes
Major cracks appearing in bluffs, Erosion of vegetated foredune, Visible retreat of solid bluff, Evidence of wave overtopping. Buckley Creek has dug deeply into the beach and the wave activity has been going all the way to the foredunes. The Foredunes are collapsing in places.
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Mile 203
The beach has had substantial washing away of old dunes and washing up of beach grass into the dunes. There were 45 bird carcasses of we believe are Cassin's auklets.
Jeff Hildreth
Mile 203
Today I and my two CoastWatch partners conducted a NOAA Marine Debris survey on our 100 meter survey site at Sandpiper Beach, Mile 203. On reaching our marine debris survey site, we saw a lot of Cassin's Auklet carcasses, which COASST calls CAAU, all high up on the beach among the beach vegetation and washed-in sea grass, many carcasses partially covered by sand or vegetation. After we completed our debris survey, I returned to our survey site and began collecting CAAU carcasses in groups of 9, as COASST recommends, ultimately collecting 40 carcasses in 4 full and 1 partial grouping. Below is a link to our Sandpiper Beach NOAA debris survey site where most CAAUs were found, reached by a boardwalk that enters the beach midway in the debris survey site. COASST defines a "wreck" as more than 20 beached individuals of one species per kilometer, and a "MME" (Massive Mortality Event) as a spike of up to hundreds of carcasses per kilometer. We also found a beached Northern Fulmar and what is I believe was either a female Gadwall or White-winged Scoter, which I took note of but didn't measure or report on to COASST. I submitted documentation with photos of the CAAU beaching event to COASST, and COASST responded that they had received reports of CAAU beachings from Southern Oregon sites like Coquille Point and Cape Blanco but also as far north as Manzanita. All this sounds very dry, but it was really sad to see and handle all these beautiful little dead birds and wonder if this is completely natural or if climate change, and perhaps a decline of prey species making these birds more vulnerable, factors into these mortality events. https://mdmap.
Jon French
Mile 203
The storms and rain caused some beach washout from the ocean and from the land.
JLcoasties
Mile 203
Last year at this time, Jesse Jones helped us set up a 100 meter NOAA marine debris survey site on Mile 204, which we later moved to Sandpiper Beach on Mile 203.
Jon French
Mile 203
After observing 8 snowy plovers on Mile 200 yesterday, I wanted to check up on the plovers on Mile 203.
KFunk