Mile 203 Report
Driftwood Beach south, Hidden Lake
March 11, 2020
Human Activity - 10 people and 1 dogShore Wildlife - Possible 2 Plovers (photo attached), 7 dead birds, Quanities of plastic and wood chips.
Report Details
Human Activity - 10 people and 1 dogShore Wildlife - Possible 2 Plovers (photo attached), 7 dead birds, Quanities of plastic and wood chips.
Conditions
Temperature: 48 F. Cloud Cover: Partly Cloudy. Wind Velocity: Strong. Wind Direction: N. Tide Level: 8.3 feet.
Human Activities
Number of people: 10. Number of dogs: 1. Walking or running: 9. Playing in sand: 1.
Notable Wildlife
2 possible Plovers. It is hard to identify the birds in my picture. The picture has to be enlarged to see the birds and the picture becomes fuzzy. The two birds defended an area just north of Beach Access #67.
Beached Birds
Total dead birds: 7. Due to the state of decomposition the birds can not be identified.
Driftline Content
Shells, Animal casings (e.g., crab, shrimp molt), Wood pieces, Marine debris (plastic, styrofoam, etc. washing in from the sea), Styrofoam, Ocean-based debris (from fishing boats, ship trash, etc.). The beach has ribbons of small plastic pieces in the rack line, mostly on the north half of our mile. Some areas have 5 pieces per meter some have 60 - 80 pieces per meter. Public entrance 66c is the midpoint for mile 203.
Natural Changes
Erosion of vegetated foredune. The recent high water has cut into older established dunes exposing old tree trunks and creating erosion. This is seen mostly in the dune area north of the last house in Sandpiper Village.
Report Images
All Mile 203 Reports
Mile 203
Driftwood Beach south, Hidden Lake
Today I walked beach accesses 67A (Mile 203, Sandpiper Beach), 67C (Mile 203 Bayshore/Sandpiper), and 67 (Mile 202, Bayshore Beach).
Jon French
Mile 203
Driftwood Beach south, Hidden Lake
We found 7 lbs 12 oz of marine and ocean debris on the beaches in the wrackline area. The north and south ends of mile 203 show evidence of substantial wave erosion of the dunes.
Jeff Hildreth
Mile 203
Driftwood Beach south, Hidden Lake
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
Driftwood Beach south, Hidden Lake
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
Driftwood Beach south, Hidden Lake
The storms and rain caused some beach washout from the ocean and from the land.
JLcoasties
Mile 203
Driftwood Beach south, Hidden Lake
The dunes have reappeared due to the spring winds.
JLcoasties
Mile 203
Driftwood Beach south, Hidden Lake
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
Driftwood Beach south, Hidden Lake
It was a beautiful day for a walk.
Nancy Thomas