December 27, 2018

Temperature: 50 F. Cloud Cover: Sunny. Wind Velocity: Calm/Light. Tide Level: 7.0 feet.

Number of people: 108. Number of dogs: 16. Walking or running: 85. Playing in surf: 10. Playing in sand: 10. Sitting: 13. Photography: 2. Other Activities: Large family group, 20+, playing catch, Frisbee, sandcastling, sitting, included in count above, but did skew the total count out of normal. 8 cars parked at 15th St access. One motorcyclist drove into the surf and back out and left. Saw tracks from one vehicle from 30th NW to D-River and back…appeared to have crossed the river. From experience, assumed it was Beach Patrol. Later, actually saw Beach Patrol vehicle.

Total dead birds: 1. One fairly fresh dead bird. Might be a black necked stilt, sharp black and white, smaller than sea gull, but did not note the bill. I’ll work on my bird ID’s.

Significant plant material on drift line at least from NW 30th down to D-River. Made me think of a possible broken bale of straw since stems were primarily 12-18” with cut ends, uniform in color and diameter, no leaf structures visible. Will try to post photo. Significant lack of rocks, shells or animal casings.

Development continues on Starfish Manor expansion at NW 29th and Jetty. Significant sand has been removed and huge pile of sand moved from top of dune to gigantic sand pile in front of motel.

Dune modification/removal, Sand removal. Development continues on Starfish Manor expansion at NW 29th and Jetty. Significant sand has been removed and huge pile of sand moved from top of dune to gigantic sand pile in front of motel.

Collected less than usual amount of beached plastics, mostly under 2”; some short pieces of rope, less than 15”. There were a number of other people picking up trash which might have explained less than usual. Recent high tides and winds have revealed large rocks directly in front of Surftides Motel, 2945 NW Jetty. Haven’t seen any in about a year and then not this many or so much of them revealed.