October 29, 2015

Temperature: 59 F. Cloud Cover: Foggy. Wind Velocity: Moderate. Wind Direction: S. Tide Level: 8.0 feet.

Number of people: 13. Number of dogs: 3. Walking or running: 13. A few hearty souls meandering the sandy beach on a blustery day. Noticed a tent camper in the North Fogarty beach parking lot near the bathrooms.

Many gulls enjoying the strong breezes.

Total dead birds: 4. One Common murre had 3 leg bands. I contacted Erica at COASST and received this reply about the bands and the bird: This indeed is a Common murre, that was tagged by one of our volunteers on their September 27th survey. When COASST volunteers conduct a monthly beach survey, they tag and identify any dead birds that they find on the beach using a field guide. The birds are tagged so that on subsequent surveys, we know which carcasses are new and which carcasses have been found previously. We use different colors of tags and each color represents a number, so this particular bird is #285. Each beach has its own set of numbers, so we can keep track of the birds on each beach. The data is used to establish a baseline for seabird mortality on the North Pacific Coast. By recording data on all the birds that are washing in, we can determine what "normal" is and use this to measure the impact of events such as oil spills or harmful algal blooms, etc. Data is also requested by a variety of agencies and environmental organizations for specific studies. We typically see higher numbers of Common Murres on the beach during this time of year (end of the breeding season), although numbers were a bit higher in early fall this year than in other years. Here's a link to a blog post that shows an infographic with more information on that particular event: http://blogs.uw.edu/coasst/2015/09/24/whats-washed-in-september-24-2015/ There are currently about 800 volunteers collecting data from California to Alaska. If you're interested, we'll be having a few trainings in Oregon in the new year and would be happy to have your help with the project.

Seaweeds and seagrass, Shells, Animal casings (e.g., crab, shrimp molt).

Major cracks appearing in bluffs. Landslides/major boulder falls

Fishing Rock continues to crumble.