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.

Driftline Content

Land-based debris (picnics, etc.), 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).

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All Mile 288 Reports

Showing 8 of 58 reports

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

Mile 288

Bayocean Peninsula, Kincheloe Point

September 24, 2023

The weather is definitely turning.

SchankK

decorative elemnt for a coastwatch report.

Mile 288

Bayocean Peninsula, Kincheloe Point

September 10, 2023

It was a beautifully calm, warm, sunny day along mile 288.

SchankK

Mile 288

Bayocean Peninsula, Kincheloe Point

January 29, 2023

There were 6 or more plovers and large accumulations of driftwood (both along the base and on top of the foredune cutbank).

SchankK

Mile 288

Bayocean Peninsula, Kincheloe Point

May 21, 2022

It was a beautiful, warm, sunny Saturday with a moderate north wind.

SchankK

Mile 288

Bayocean Peninsula, Kincheloe Point

January 17, 2022

It was great to see two separate families picking up beach trash/debris in the driftline from the most recent storms including in Mile 288!

SchankK

Mile 288

Bayocean Peninsula, Kincheloe Point

December 23, 2021

There was clear indications of active foredune erosion with visible cutbanks (see photo) and significant debris.

SchankK