Mile 200 - Big Stump Beach, south Patterson SP - October 15, 2021

Report Details

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.

Conditions

Temperature: 52 F. Cloud Cover: Sunny. Wind Velocity: Calm/Light. Tide Level: 6.6 feet.

Human Activities

Number of people: 28. Number of dogs: 6. Walking or running: 26. Playing in sand: 2.

Vehicles

Cars/trucks parking: 10.

Beached Birds

Total dead birds: 5.

Driftline Content

Seaweeds and seagrass, Animal casings (e.g., crab, shrimp molt), Ocean-based debris (from fishing boats, ship trash, etc.). hunks of wood, rope

Report Images

Styrofoam pieces in the strand line

Wood near the latest tide line

Rope near the latest tide line

Dead bird near the latest tide line

Sandal left on the beach

Human trash left on the beach

Report Images

KFunk

CoastWatcher

All Mile 200 Reports

Date

Showing 8 of 49 reports

Mile 200

Big Stump Beach, south Patterson SP

August 22, 2024

It was a minus tide this cloudy morning and I could see a large group of pelicans off in the distance at Alsea Bay.

Karen Funk

Mile 200

Big Stump Beach, south Patterson SP

May 30, 2024

I was anxious to visit Mile 200 this week to see if there were tar deposits or any struggling birds due to the reported tar substance washing up on Oregon beaches.

Karen Funk