Mile 172 Report
Heceta Beach North, Driftwood Shores
June 10, 2017
Beautiful evening for a stroll on Mile 172 (north of the Driftwood Shores Resort.
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).
Report Images
oldMGguy
CoastWatcher
All Mile 172 Reports
Mile 172
Heceta Beach North, Driftwood Shores
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
Heceta Beach North, Driftwood Shores
Lots of wood debris stacked up on the beach from past high tide and storms.
Lyndell Wilken
Mile 172
Heceta Beach North, Driftwood Shores
Louie the Lab and I chased his Chuck-It ball from Driftwood Shores north to Sutton Creek and back today.
oldMGguy
Mile 172
Heceta Beach North, Driftwood Shores
Nice sunny day for flinging the "Chuck-It" ball into the surf for the dog.
oldMGguy
Mile 172
Heceta Beach North, Driftwood Shores
There were two dead sea lions in a 1 mile stretch between Driftwood Shores and the north jetty.
Lyndell
Mile 172
Heceta Beach North, Driftwood Shores
A 60-degree weather report brought out lots of people on the beach.
MooreC
Mile 172
Heceta Beach North, Driftwood Shores
Jelleyfish for a quarter mile.
Lyndell
Mile 172
Heceta Beach North, Driftwood Shores
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