June 19, 2013

Temperature: 65 F. Cloud Cover: Sunny. Wind Velocity: Calm/Light. Wind Direction: W.

Number of people: 2. Number of dogs: 1. Walking or running: 3. Beach Walk, Wednesday, June 19th, 2013We three (wife Blaine, mostly Bassett LucieAnne, and myself) set out under warm and sunny skies at 2:35 pm. We walked down the BLM Path to the edge of the New River and then waded across. The water came nearly up to my crotch and to Blaine’s waist. Lucie, unlike other members of her breed, swam happily across alongside us. All three of us were bare foot.When we got to the West bank I was a little surprised to see vague footprints in the sand. We climbed over the dunes and walked down to the wet sand. Kip from the BLM had called a month or so ago to say there were some Snowy Plover installations across from our house, but we didn’t see any evidence of them at the point where we forded the river, which was actually from the Logan property. The beach was wide and nearly flat with just a gentle slope, and the waves were small, only two feet from trough to crest. Although they got a bit bigger as we approached the mouth of the New River as we walked north along first Mile 94 and then Mile 95, but never more than three feet trough to crest. Likely as a result, there was very little spindrift in the air, and the views to the south (Cape Blanco, twelve miles away) and north (what we think is the backside of Face Rock, eight miles away) were the clearest we have ever seen. There was just a light breeze, less than ten miles an hour, perhaps less than five miles an hour, coming from the West. It was a gorgeous day. There were large fluffy clouds over the land to our east and some far out to sea but none overhead. The water in the river was quite warm, estimated in the mid-sixties. The ocean was colder, perhaps around fifty degrees. The beach was pretty clean. Occasional individual pieces of bull kelp and a very frilly seaweed, often covered with sand fleas, were scattered on the wet sand. We saw dozens of complete crab carapaces and occasional crab claws and legs and two nearly complete dead crabs. There were perhaps a half a dozen fragments of Sand Dollars but no whole ones. There were pebbles, all rounded, up to the size of a golf ball. There were many different colors and many around the size of peas. I saw perhaps a dozen clear jellies, none more than an inch and a half long. I also saw occasional small white pieces of bull kelp, just the little air chambers and a few inches of stem. I don’t recall seeing the white versions before. As we made our way north, we saw a man and a dog headed our way. It turned out to be Tom Brown, our neighbor from up the Lane. We chatted for a bit. He too had waded the river. His dog was dragging two Styrofoam floats attached to his collar. His dog and ours played together. It is exceedingly rare to find anyone on our beach. Normally, there are not even footprints. He told us he has been coming there for twenty-seven years. We had seen a five gallon plastic bucket on the West Bank on our way to the beach and one small white plastic bucket on the dry sand as we made our way north. That was pretty much the only flotsam or jetsam we found except for a large wooden spool we saw on our way back. the large concrete pier was still near the dividing line between miles 94 and 95. It appeared to have been carried further up the dry sand than when we had last seen during the Fall of 2012. We saw no birds at all as we walked until we approached the mouth of the New River where we saw what we think was a lone Bald Eagle sitting on a small sandbar. It took flight when we were about seventy-five yards away and then flew nearly over us. As it flew we also saw one other bird, we think it was a hawk. On our way back a lone gull passed us flying south over where the water from the surf was running up onto the sand. We did find two dead birds. I took a photo of one. The other Blaine described as large and white, probably a gull. She said it was about the size of our smaller cat. I didn’t see it. As we entered what I think is mile 95 we noticed the European Beachgrass on the dunes went from green to brown, and we assumed it was the result of the teal-coloured herbicide sprayed on it last Fall.As we approached the mouth of the New River we noticed that there was a lot less driftwood on the dry sand. There used to be large numbers of big parts of trees, but there were few in evidence. We did find more when we returned south along the west bank of the New River. Apparently, they had been carried there by waves overtopping the beach sometime in the past six months. The shape of the New River where it meets the sea was different than previously. Now, it has a big s-curve. The mouth is another couple of hundred yards north of where it was last Fall based on where the creek coming from the north empties into it. They used to meet directly east of the mouth, but now the subsidiary comes in a ways south from the mouth.Sadly, we saw no pinipeds on this visit. As we made our way south on the west bank of the New River we found one set of deer tracks and ATV tracks, one set going in each direction. It was a narrow gauge ATV with a wheel span of not more than a yard. It appeared that the river had been several inches higher recently. The sand had dimples from the rain overnight, but close to the water it was smooth. I am guessing the rain caused the river to rise briefly.We crossed back over to the beach where the dunes started again. There were some posts here and there all facing the river prohibiting entry as there were Snowy Plover nesting areas. We saw no plovers or nests but did see a metal cage in the distance which we thought might be protecting a nest. On our way south along the beach we did encounter a man and woman accompanied by a young child. It appeared they had also forded the river as one of them was carrying their shoes. When we crossed the river to go home, we couldn’t find the exact right spot, and the water came up to my waist. It was 5:40 pm. Fortunately, we were just five minutes from our house where we shared a hot shower.

Disturbances: Shorebirds moving in response to humans/dogs

Apparent bald eagle sitting on sand bar at mouth of New River

Dozens of complete crab carapaces, few small clear jellies, some crab parts.

Seaweeds and seagrass, Animal casings (e.g., crab, shrimp molt), Shells, Small rocks, Wood pieces. Few oyster shells, one or two razor (?) clam shells

European beach grass dead, apparently from being sprayed with teal0colooured herbicide last Fall.

Mouth of New River has moved North a couple of hundred yards from where it was in the Fall of 2012.

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