Mile 204 - Driftwood Beach Wayside, Buckley Creek - November 2, 2010

Report Details

We were excited to walk our mile on this day of wonderful weather following yesterday's storm. The surf was fluffy and white with large balls of white foam on the shore that were drifting south. Other beach walkers seem to be enjoying it as much as we were. There were more dead birds than we usually see. Probably the result of yesterdays storm. And, I do not think I would have noticed the dead sea lion if I had not been traversing the driftwood. My foot stepped on it, thinking it was a log. It was not a firm foot hold, so I looked down. The animal was not decaying and did not smell.The regular surging of the northern creek seemed perculiar.It was a glorious day for a very nice walk

Conditions

Temperature: 65 F. Cloud Cover: Sunny. Wind Velocity: Calm/Light. Wind Direction: N. Tide Level: 1.5 feet.

Human Activities

Number of people: 15. Number of dogs: 4. Walking or running: 15. Every one was enjoying this wonderful warm day. The day was clear with a misting of fog.

Vehicles

Cars/trucks parking: 3.

Beached Birds

Total dead birds: 4. Did not see any leg bands

Stranded Marine Mammals

Total stranded mammals: 1. I happened upon 1 dead sealion. It was lodged in amongst the driftwood where the northern creek flowed from the hillside onto the sand. I found it because the creek was too deep to ford. It had gone over the top of my boot on the way north, so was climbing thru the pile of driftwood to get back to the south side of the creek.

Dead Fish or Invertebrates

Many small jellyfish in the tide line --- up to about 2 1/2" in diameter.

Driftline Content

Seaweeds and seagrass, Animal casings (e.g., crab, shrimp molt), Land-based debris (picnics, etc.), Ocean-based debris (from fishing boats, ship trash, etc.), Marine debris (plastic, styrofoam, etc. washing in from the sea), Shells, Small rocks, Styrofoam, Wood pieces. All of the driftline contents were ground up into small pieces. lots of blue and aqua colored plastic.

Man-made Modifications

2 pretty cool structures built out of driftwood!

Natural Changes

Evidence of wave overtopping. The south creek had really overflowed it's normal boundary as a result of yesterday's storm. It was running quite full. Too full to cross without getting wet. The North creek was also very full and had a weird sort of regular surge coming down

Janets

CoastWatcher

All Mile 204 Reports

Date

Showing 8 of 56 reports