Lighthouse History Tour

August 17, 2024

Today's weather of rain showers, lightning, and thunder on the Oregon Coast made for an exciting and insightful backdrop for our Lighthouse History Tour.

Park Ranger Supervisor Travis Korbe from Cape Lookout State Park gave an in-depth walking tour of the Cape Meares National Wildlife Refuge, focusing on what life was like for the lighthouse keepers over the decades.

First lit in 1890, the Cape Meares Lighthouse had two Lighthouse keepers at a time. One would keep the light burning through the night. During the day, the other would wash both sides of each piece of glass in the specialty lens, and well as both sides of the plate glass lighthouse windows.

Typical durations of service as a lighthouse keeper were only a few months long. At times, a mobile library would reach Cape Mears to provide the keepers and their families with new books to entertain and educate themselves with.

During the winter, the Oregon Coast is exposed to fierce storms with strong winds and pounding rain. Throughout these harsh conditions year after year, the lighthouse was still operational until 1963 when it was decommissioned.

In the late 1960s, Cape Meares Lighthouse was adopted as an Oregon State Park and is now a Visitor Center, with visitation around 600-700 people per day during the busy season.

Kayak Netarts Bay

September 7, 2024

With foggy sky's overhead, this morning, 40 paddlers on two different guided tours launched from the Netarts Boat Basin guided by Kayak Tillamook. One route ventured up the bay to the sand dollar beds, and the other paddled across to Netarts Spit. Weather conditions were perfect. Clouds kept us cool, and the bay was glassy without waves or wind.

Throughout the tours, expert WEBS Naturalists shared about bay ecology. We found several species of crabs, clams, seaweeds, and kelp. Plus juvenile flat fish, anemones, seastars, sand dollars, and more! One participant even found a mermaid's purse (which is the common term for a skate egg case).

Thank you to Ken Siegrist for capturing some of these kayak photos.

Netarts Spit Hike

July 24, 2024

Today was an im-peck-able day for our Netarts Spit Hike, focusing on birds and fun beach finds!

This morning, we were joined by Cape Lookout State Park Ranger Travis Korbe, who kicked off our hike with an overview of the dune history at Cape Lookout State Park. Travis shared photos from multiple decades, helping us visualize the amount of dune erosion that has occurred along this part of the Oregon Coast.

Cara Gates from Bird Alliance of Oregon was our Western Snowy Plover expert today. Cara shared about the nesting preferences, mating rituals, and conservation status of these tiny feathered friends. Western Snowy Plover rely on flat, sandy areas where they prefer to create nests (shallow depressions in the sand) near drift wood, shell bits, and sometimes marine debris.

Although we didn't see any plovers today, Cara brought model plover eggs for us to visualize what surveyors are looking for when counting Western Snowy Plover nests during the six-month long nesting season.

While walking back up the spit, we were shocked to find a surprise egg - a Common Murre egg! This large speckled blue egg was found right along the edge of the incoming waves. Although it was cracked and no longer viable, it was a wonderful opportunity to admire the unique shape of these eggs that helps prevent them from falling off the rocky edges where Common Murres form their nests. This one, however, must have fallen over the edge.

Thank you to Cara, Travis, and our WEBS volunteers who all shared their skills and expertise to make today wonderful! Also, happy birthday to Sandra, who spent part of her day hiking with us all!

Now, all of us who hiked these 12 miles today are ready to rehydrate and rest our feet!