Mile 218 - Agate Beach, State Wayside, Little Creek - April 29, 2018

Report Details

Better late than never -- I missed reporting in March! Chilly, windy gray day... A lot of scotch broom in bloom on the vegetated foredune immediately east of the creek. There was a Bald eagle picking at something in the creek toward the north end, who flew into the trees as I approached. When I got to the point that I think the eagle had been, there were remains of the wing scapulars of a large bird, with associated bones: I suspect it was a Great blue heron. Also saw a suspected beached Sooty shearwater. Dozens of "peeps" along the tideline, perhaps Least sandpipers, and some larger shorebirds with downturned bills, about the size of dunlins but with slimmer necks and longer bills. It was hard to judge the size of the birds. The lighting was such that I could only see their silhouettes, and I had no binoculars, alas. Beach was windswept and relatively clean with minimal plastic and rope pieces in the wrack.

Conditions

Temperature: 52 F. Cloud Cover: Cloudy. Wind Velocity: Moderate. Wind Direction: NW. Tide Level: 2.5 feet.

Human Activities

Number of people: 31. Number of dogs: 4. Walking or running: 28. Playing in sand: 2. Sitting: 1. Most of the people were at the Wayside end of the beach.

Vehicles

Cars/trucks parking: 12.

Notable Wildlife

Bald eagle

Beached Birds

Total dead birds: 2. Unable to identify: one possible sooty shearwater, one possible great blue heron.

Driftline Content

Seaweeds and seagrass, Shells, Animal casings (e.g., crab, shrimp molt), Wood pieces. pieces of plastic, thousands of dead V. velella, a lot of broken sand dollars, hydroids