Mile 288 - Bayocean Peninsula, Kincheloe Point - December 18, 2006

Report Details

Beach was very clean, as if winter storms and high tides had scoured the surface. Rippled dunes, noticed in the summer, were now gone and the beach was very flat. Tide was receding when I arrived. The bay side was spectacular -- birds everywhere...

Conditions

Cloud Cover: Sunny. Wind Velocity: Calm/Light. Wind Direction: SE.

Vehicles

Cars/trucks parking: 2.

Notable Wildlife

Observed a small group of sanderlings along the beach.

Wrackline Content

Marine debris, Ocean-based debris (from fishing boats, ship trash, etc.), Styrofoam, Wood pieces. Most debris was very light and was high up on the beach, near or in the foredunes.

Actions & Comments

On beach I saw a second(?)-year bald eagle, a few western gulls, and sanderlings. Further south on mile 287, saw a whimbrel with more sanderlings. The bay side was spectacular. Birds everywhere. Thousands of American wigeon, with at least five Eurasian wigeon mixed in. Hundreds of bufflehead and brant, a dozen ruddy ducks, several common loons, horned grebes, and a Western grebe, several hooded mergansers, surf scoters, lesser scaup, great blue herons, great egrets, a few common goldeneye, and a beautiful flock of dunlin. In the bushes along the bay, saw fox and song sparrows, black-capped and chestnut-backed chickadees, wrentits, a varied thrush, yellow-rumped warblers, and many ruby-crowned kinglets. Finally, near the parking lot, as I was leaving, there was a beautiful short-eared owl flying around and chasing off a Northern harrier. I also saw a Northern flicker in the distance and a possible merlin flying low over the dunes. All in all, a beautiful day (and a kind of present since it was also my birthday).

YaakovM

CoastWatcher

All Mile 288 Reports

Date

Showing 8 of 60 reports

Mile 288

Bayocean Peninsula, Kincheloe Point

January 14, 2026

A sperm whale, approximately 15 feet in length, washed up on Bay Ocean Spit in early January and was first spotted by ORPD Ranger Simon Freeman.

Denise Harrington

Mile 288

Bayocean Peninsula, Kincheloe Point

April 23, 2025

There was no human activity observed along Mile 288 during my visit. Due to our March 9th cleanup efforts along Mile 288, there was very little debris visible (although I did not enter the nesting area to survey the wrack line. I found one unidentified dead bird during my visit.

Karen Schank

Mile 288

Bayocean Peninsula, Kincheloe Point

November 10, 2024

Mile 288 showed no signs of man-made disturbance, and no one was on-site during my monitoring. I was glad to see a flock of plovers flying in the foredune again!

KMS

Mile 288

Bayocean Peninsula, Kincheloe Point

March 14, 2024

It was an incredibly busy day for Mile 288 the day before the snowy plover nesting season began! I was glad to see DOGAMI and OPRD on-site, and appreciated OPRD's willingness to haul the debris I collected back to their dumpsters. It was also exciting to see so many plovers in the wet sand.

Karen Schank