Mile 234 - Lincoln Beach - October 29, 2015 | Oregon Shores Conservation Coalition

Report Details

A few groups of people were enjoying the overcast yet bright day and the King Tide. The trails at Fishing Rock were full of fungi, beautiful bright orange mushrooms, and large tan ones, like loaves of bread. The fences that lined the edge of the bluffs can be seen in the surf in the southeast exposure of the bluff. Chunks of land are breaking off and falling away. We found a banded bird and contacted COASST and received an informative reply from Erica (see inside report).

Conditions

Temperature: 59 F. Cloud Cover: Foggy. Wind Velocity: Moderate. Wind Direction: S. Tide Level: 8.0 feet.

Human Activities

Number of people: 13. Number of dogs: 3. Walking or running: 13. A few hearty souls meandering the sandy beach on a blustery day. Noticed a tent camper in the North Fogarty beach parking lot near the bathrooms.

Vehicles

Cars/trucks parking: 2.

Notable Wildlife

Many gulls enjoying the strong breezes.

Beached Birds

Total dead birds: 4. One Common murre had 3 leg bands. I contacted Erica at COASST and received this reply about the bands and the bird: This indeed is a Common murre, that was tagged by one of our volunteers on their September 27th survey. When COASST volunteers conduct a monthly beach survey, they tag and identify any dead birds that they find on the beach using a field guide. The birds are tagged so that on subsequent surveys, we know which carcasses are new and which carcasses have been found previously. We use different colors of tags and each color represents a number, so this particular bird is #285. Each beach has its own set of numbers, so we can keep track of the birds on each beach. The data is used to establish a baseline for seabird mortality on the North Pacific Coast. By recording data on all the birds that are washing in, we can determine what "normal" is and use this to measure the impact of events such as oil spills or harmful algal blooms, etc. Data is also requested by a variety of agencies and environmental organizations for specific studies. We typically see higher numbers of Common Murres on the beach during this time of year (end of the breeding season), although numbers were a bit higher in early fall this year than in other years. Here's a link to a blog post that shows an infographic with more information on that particular event: http://blogs.uw.edu/coasst/2015/09/24/whats-washed-in-september-24-2015/ There are currently about 800 volunteers collecting data from California to Alaska. If you're interested, we'll be having a few trainings in Oregon in the new year and would be happy to have your help with the project.

Driftline Content

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

Natural Changes

Major cracks appearing in bluffs. Landslides/major boulder falls

Actions & Comments

Fishing Rock continues to crumble.

Report Images

pedersendick@yahoo.com

CoastWatcher

All Mile 234 Reports

Date

Showing 8 of 22 reports

Mile 234

Lincoln Beach

April 11, 2024

Fishing Rock shows significant signs of erosion and natural area disturbance, a great deal of evidence of off-trail usage and climbing on sides which has resulted in increased erosion and death of underbrush. Sparse sea bird presence but heavy wrack line velella velella wash up. No current presence of mammals or seabird carcasses, although there was heavy amount of carcasses this winter especially after storms. Evidence of erosion of slopes adjacent to the beach, especially in proximity to new riprap placement, but also in other areas as well. Light plastic and debris today

beejos8

Mile 234

Lincoln Beach

October 1, 2023

Some unattended digging dogs seemed troubling, and one thing to note was a lack of birds.

Your Song My Song

Mile 234

Lincoln Beach

March 4, 2021

A large concrete retaining wall collapsed last weekend (~Feb 27) endangering the stability of one home with others also vulnerable to further erosion.

dwhite