Whales Watch Blog

Bald Eagles, Osprey & Jelly Fish

2007-06-11T21:13:00.000-07:00

Our weather has been less than perfect this year, but like always the Bald Eagles & Osprey arrived back in April, however it's June 11, and this is the first Jelly Fish we've seen:

See past links at:
http://whaleswatch.blogspot.com/2006/04/whales-osprey-jelly-fish-arrive.html

I came home at about 6pm and the beach was covered with them, must have something to do with the cooler weather we've had this spring.

Funnel Cloud & Water Spout

2006-12-12T07:46:00.000-08:00

Sitting here at at 10:00am Sunday morning when I notice this funnel cloud forming over the ocean. In the 12 years I've lived here I've never seen this happen, so I snapped a series of photos, all the way from when it formed, as it came across the beach and over my neighbors houses just slightly North of me In the gated community of Kla-ha-nee. I don't think it did any damage, and my wind gague was reporting mild winds (17 mph) at the time.

Rain, Showers, Mist & Grey

2006-06-15T17:57:00.000-07:00

It's been an unusual Spring. Usually it quits showering around the last 2 weekends in May. It's showed no sign of slowing this year, and the long time locals are saying they remember summers when it never stopped. UGH....... I can deal with the rain, as we all know it keeps "Oregon Green" but we're starting to look like Seattle, Grey overcast everyday, and I know the lack of sun is starting to get to everyone.

However there are some good points... We have a Rhododendron Festival each year as we have incredible wild Rhodys everywhere. Well some years they've quit blooming before the festival (3rd weekend in May) This year -- They're still blooming, gorgeous pink flowers everywhere you look, even the pines, firs and evergreens are shooting up new growth everywhere.

It's also been a banner year for birding! I've seen flocks and flocks of Brown Pelicans headed North, as well as Tern's. The buzzards are back for the summer, and the Osprey and Bald Eagles have been thick. I've also seen two owls, not sure which type yet.

The clamming season was opened for the first time in 3 years, and the beach is covered with people at low tide clamming. And most of them seem to be coming back with their limit.

Due to the lack of wind the Ocean has spent a lot of time looking like a lake, so Sea Lion & Whale Watching has been phenomenal. Several times I've heard the sea lions barking, and watched them jumping up almost like dolphins out of the water. Usually you just see heads and flippers swimming along.

There was some scattered sun today, although it's not looking promising out over the ocean now. The weatherman has been claiming we might get a sunny weekend, I hope so.

The Dredge is back, each year it comes in and dredges the silt out of the river for 5 days. It's really impressive to watch, I got a great picture of it a couple of years ago, and will try to do it with my digital camera this year.

Here's the last picture I got of it: http://whaleswatch.com/images/Ship_Boat.jpg

Well that's my 6 week update!

Nature & People: a rant

2006-05-09T21:34:00.000-07:00

For 3 days I've been watching a sea lion pup on the beach. On Sunday morning I looked up as there was a large group of people gathered around something and I realized there was a sea lion pup on the beach. For those of you that don't know, mother sea lions will leave their pups on shore for up to 24 hours, so that they can continue to feed and their pups can rest... Unfortunately this is a bad beach for it, as well meaning people keep coming along and feeling the need to rescue them. Each year the Fish & Wildlife department, does public service campaigns in the Newspaper, on the Radio, on tv and on signs, and yet people still seem to be unaware that you NEED to leave these animals alone. Once touched the mothers won't come back for them... Well about noon on sunday some well meaning idiot picked it up and put it back in the Ocean, this does two things, one it's mother won't come back, 2 it may drown... I suppose 2 doesn't matter as it was destined to die once this guy picked it up.....

Apparently enough of the locals called Fish and Wildlife that they came out and placed signs around the pup saying leave it alone but this was on Monday 24 hours after it had been touched. Well this is day 3 it's mother isn't back, it has signs around it, and this morning I saw that it had waddled about 50 feet towards the surf, which was gently washing over it, and I'm sitting here thinking sheesh maybe it heard mom, maybe it's going to survive, when out of nowhere here comes one of my neighbors who walks right past the sign, picks it up, and starts carrying it back up into the dry sand... "What was she thinking????????? she's lived here more years than I have" She scurried away when other people started pointing at the signs and shrieking at her!

Apparently well meaning people never got the class in grade school that explained that you should never touch a baby wild animal as their mothers won't come back for them and I have no idea why I'm writing this as the same people that wouldn't leave this poor pup alone won't take the time to read this either, since they clearly walked past previous signs.

Meanwhile the rest of us get to watch this poor critter die a really slow death! Rant fishished - moral nature is not always pleasant.

Whales, Osprey & Jelly Fish Arrive

2006-04-09T10:15:00.000-07:00

Saw my first Whales in several months on March 26th, Several days before I started seeing Osprey fishing and picking sea grass off the beach to build nests. Yesterday afternoon, went out for awhile and when I came back the beach was covered with blue jelly fish. Looks like Spring has officially arrived, even though the weather still feels rainy and winterlike.

High Wind Warning

2006-02-03T21:39:00.000-08:00

After 20 inches of rain in January... Which is double our annual rainfall, and after only having 3 inches of rain last year, a bunch of us our feeling moldy and damp... They promise us clearing next week, but only after the strongest storm of the season....

This is after the one that beat us to death last weekend, and the one in December in which it moved our Pressure treated 60lb picnic bench across the deck....

From the National Weather Service: These Strong South Winds Will Increase Overnight To 45 To 55 Mph With Gusts Of 80 To 90 Mph Especially Along Coastal Headlands And Beaches. Winds In The Coastal Communities Could Gust To 70 Mph OR Higher.

If Conditions Develop As Expected... The Ocean May Reach Low Lying Beachfront Structures... Cause Considerable Erosion Of Beaches... Flood Low Lying Roads And Waysides... And Toss Logs And Other Debris Off Beaches. Abnormally High Tides Will Also Cause Some Tidal Flooding Of Low Lying Areas Along Willapa Bay And Estuaries On The South Washington Coast And Low Lying Areas Along The Oregon Coast. Actual Tides Are Predicted To Reach Near 12 Feet Along The South Washington And North And Central Oregon Coast With The High Tide Around 515 AM Saturday Morning.

Plus we now have the potential to Flood due to High Seas..... I've currently recorded a 42.1mph wind gust stay tuned tomorrow for updates if we still have power and cable...

Soggy Leslie

2006-01-02T11:48:00.000-08:00

thru a wave
Leslie

2006-01-02T11:47:00.003-08:00

Being Waved
Leslie

2006-01-02T11:47:00.002-08:00

Up a Wave
Leslie

2006-01-02T11:47:00.001-08:00

sideways
Leslie

2006-01-02T11:47:00.000-08:00

Over a wave
Leslie

2006-01-02T11:46:00.004-08:00

serious waves....
Leslie

2006-01-02T11:46:00.003-08:00

Side view of the whole boat
Leslie

2006-01-02T11:46:00.002-08:00

More Waves.....
Leslie

2006-01-02T11:46:00.001-08:00

Up a wave
Leslie

2006-01-02T11:46:00.000-08:00

and they ride it out
Leslie

2006-01-02T11:45:00.000-08:00

Made it...
Leslie

Coast Guard Takes Another Wave

2006-01-02T11:44:00.001-08:00

Another Wave

Coast Guard Practicing

2006-01-02T11:44:00.000-08:00

Going thru a Wave

Coast Guard in Surf

2006-01-02T11:43:00.000-08:00

Coast Guard practicing in Surf

2006-01-02T11:39:00.000-08:00

It's a gorgeous sunny day here at Heceta Beach. We caught a weather break, we weren't supposed to get. While we're still having extremely high surf it appears the Coast Guard decided to take advantage of the clear day and large waves to do some practice boating. Having a front row seat I snapped a series of shots.
Leslie

The Weather Gets Worse.

2005-12-30T12:15:00.000-08:00

We had 70mph winds lastnight, the power went off for a couple of hours. There are still a record number of warnings up from the National Weather Service.

Currently we still have a High Surf Warning, a High Wind Warning, A Flood Warning, a Gale Warning and the Siuslaw river has now flooded 2 sections of Hwy 126. It's currently closed at Cushman and Tiernan. Note: it is currently flooding during high tides, so check the tide book before traveling.

It's certainly making for great storm watching.......

Coastal Weather Alerts

2005-12-27T13:56:00.000-08:00

This could be a record, 3 alerts from the National Weather Service:

FLOOD WATCH IN EFFECT FROM WEDNESDAY MORNING THROUGH THURSDAY AFTERNOON Issue Time: 1:15PM PST, Tuesday Dec 27, 2005Valid Until: 11:00AM PST, Wednesday Dec 28, 2005
* Prolonged Moderate Rainfall Has Fallen Over Western Oregon During The Past Several Days And Has Resulted In Elevated River And Stream Levels. A Very Moist Southwest Flow Across The Pacific Is Directed Toward Northern California And Western Oregon. The Heaviest Rain Will Be In California And Southern Oregon But Enough Rain Is Likely To Reach West Central Oregon That Flooding Is Possible. As A Result Of This Heavier Rainfall A Number Of Rivers Will Reach Bankfull Stage Beginning Wednesday And Continuing On Thursday. It Is Possible That Some Rivers Could Reach Flood Stage. Rivers Of Greatest Concern Are... The Siuslaw River In Lane County...........

HIGH SURF ADVISORY NOW IN EFFECT UNTIL 4 AM PST THURSDAYIssue Time: 5:57AM PST, Tuesday Dec 27, 2005Valid Until: 2:00PM PST, Tuesday Dec 27, 2005
HIGH SURF ADVISORY NOW IN EFFECT UNTIL 4 AM PST THURSDAYCoastal Hazard Message National Weather Service Portland OR 557 AM PST Tue Dec 27 2005 North Oregon Coast-Central Oregon Coast-South Washington Coast- 557 AM PST Tue Dec 27 2005 ... High Surf Advisory Now In Effect Until 4 AM PST Thursday... The High Surf Advisory Is Now In Effect Until 4 AM PST Thursday. Large Swell From A Very Powerful Pacific Storm System In The Gulf Of Alaska Will Arrive Along The South Washington... North Oregon And Central Oregon Coastline Early This Morning. Seas Of 25 Ft Will Subside To Near 20 Feet By This Evening... But Build Again On Wed To Around 28 Feet. In Addition... Tidal Overflow Will Become A Problem Along The South Washington Coast Beginning Tuesday. The Forecast High Tide At Toke Point Is 9.6 Feet At 920 AM. A Combined Storm Surge And Tidal Anomaly Of Nearly 1.4 Feet Will Result In An Actual Tide Of 11.0 Feet. Past Events Have Shown That Tides Of 11.0 Feet Result In Minor Flooding In And Near The City Of Raymond. Tidal Overflow Will Remain A Problem The Rest Of The Week Due To Increasingly Higher Forecast Tides. Another Storm System Will Impact The Coastline Wednesday... Which Could Result In Actual High Tides Approaching 11.5 Feet. The Forecast Highest Tides Are: Wednesday 10.1 Feet At 1004 AM Thursday 10.5 Feet At 1050 AM Friday 10.8 Feet At 1137 AM A High Surf Advisory Means That High Surf Will Affect Beaches In The Advisory Area... Producing Rip Currents And Localized Beach Erosion.

High wind watch in effect from late tonight through Wednesday afternoon.

The Storm Watching has been great don't forget to check the webcam.

Tsunami Siren and Test

2005-12-26T13:15:00.000-08:00

The New Tsunami Siren for the Heceta Beach Area. Located on 3rd Ave it seems to Alert the Neighborhood quite well, according to my neighbors. However it was reported that if you were inside running some kind of appliance vaccum cleaner or hair dryer you couldn't hear it. The City will be working on this.....

From the City's Website:Emergency Preparedness Officials will be conducting a TEST of the newly installed tsunami sirens on the last Friday of each month at 11:00 a.m. The next test is scheduled for Friday January 27th at 11:00 am. The test will not exceed 5 minutes and no action is required from the community. The test tone is one long steady sound. Please do not call 9-1-1. Should this be a real time event where an evacuation is ordered, the sirens would be activated and you would hear a wail tone. The wail tone will vary from high to low warble and run continuously for as long as needed. Once an “all clear” is ordered, the Winchester Chimes will sound for one minute, and then there will be a two minute grace period. This process will run a total of five sets.

High Wind Warning

2005-10-14T08:11:00.000-07:00

Our first High Wind Warning of the year:
ALERT 1 - Non Precipitation Advisory
HIGH WIND WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 9 PM THIS EVENING TO 5 AM PDT SATURDAY FOR THE COASTAL HEADLANDS AND NEAR SHORE COMMUNITIES OF THE NORTH AND CENTRAL OREGON COAST
Issue Time: 7:57AM PDT, Friday Oct 14, 2005
Valid Until: 4:00PM PDT, Friday Oct 14, 2005
Back to summary

HIGH WIND WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 9 PM THIS EVENING TO 5 AM PDT SATURDAY FOR THE COASTAL HEADLANDS AND NEAR SHORE COMMUNITIES OF THE NORTH AND CENTRAL OREGON COAST
UNTIL 4:00PM PDT
Urgent - Weather Message National Weather Service Portland OR 757 AM PDT Fri Oct 14 2005

North Oregon Coast-Central Oregon Coast- Including The Cities Of... Astoria... Cannon Beach... Tillamook... Lincoln City... Newport... Florence 757 AM PDT Fri Oct 14 2005

... High Wind Warning In Effect From 9 PM This Evening To 5 AM PDT Saturday For The Coastal Headlands And Near Shore Communities Of The North And Central Oregon Coast...

The National Weather Service In Portland Has Issued A High Wind Warning... Which Is In Effect From 9 PM This Evening To 5 AM PDT Saturday.

An Approaching Pacific Frontal System And Low Pressure Area Will Bring Strong Winds To The Coastal Headlands And Near Shore Communities Of The North And Central Oregon Coast Beginning This Evening. South Winds 35 Mph With Gusts 60 Mph Are Expected Along The North And Central Oregon Coast Headlands And Near Shore Communities From 9 PM Tonight To Around 5 AM Saturday.

Persons Planning To Drive High Profile Vehicles In Those Areas Should Be Prepared For Strong Buffeting Wind Gusts.

A High Wind Warning Means A Hazardous High Wind Event Is Expected OR Occurring. Sustained Wind Speeds Of At Least 40 Mph OR Gusts Of 58 Mph OR More Can Lead To Property Damage.