Towheeblog

This past weekend I made the long drive from Northern Oregon to Eureka and back, most of that was along US 101 which parallels the Coast.  I attended the Godwit Days Festival in Arcata.  In many sections the highway’s close to the Pacific.  Handsome little blue and white signs remind drivers that they are in a tsunami flood zone should one occur.  You feel the earth move, head for the hills, quickly.  Many of the low-lying coastal towns will not do well under the next tsunami:  Lincoln City, Newport, Waldport, Reedport, Coos Bay communities, Bandon, Crescent City, Klamath, Arcata, Eureka

In March, 1964, Crescent City was hit by tsunami set off by a huge earthquake in Alaska.  Eleven people are known to have died and the much of the town was leveled, later rebuilt on the same susceptible ground.

Between the inevitable tsunamis the bays and marshes are alive. Rich habitat for many plants and critters.  Here’s a small gallery:Black Oystercatcher taking mole crab at Harris Beach in Curry County, OR.  Below: Double-crested Cormorant at Bandon Harbor. Far off eagle at Bandon. Glaucous-winged Gulls above, Pelagic Cormorant below, at Bandon: Here you can see the white patches that adorn Pelagics during breeding season, this bird is headed away from camera. Above adult Western Gulls looking for the next hand-out at Bandon waterfront.  Westerns are a four-year gull going through numerous molts before attaining their formal dark gray, pure white outfit you see here,