Subject: Re: SJCR Seawatch - 8/21/97
Date: Aug 21 23:28:31 1997
From: "S. Downes" - sdownes at u.washington.edu



A couple of observations from the jetty I've been surveying, Pt. Brown in
Ocean Shores.

> jetties in stormy weather or in winter storm driven high seas. I have
> walked out to the end of each of these jetties, though from a seeing
> more birds point of view, it's rarely worth it.

I do my jetty count from halfway out the jetty and with a scope you can
view almost everything from this vantage point. Since Pt. Brown is quite
short, this requires only about a 150 yard walk on the jetty. Occasionally
shorebirds are out at the ned of the jety as are more gulls, but from the
point of seabirds a good scope will let you see most everything that
passes by.

> Jetty walkers are advised to wear good walking shoes, carry water and
> be ready to turn around when the *start* to feel tired.

I second this motion strongly and even then don't count on shoes with good
traction to prevent slippage on slippery rocks. One piece of advice that
I've found helps me is to put the scope itself in a backpack that I take
out on the jetty and use the tripod as a walking or in some cases a
climbing stick. This helps support on some uneven rocks especially when
slick. For Pt. Brown plan a jetty walk on a low tide or a low high tide. I
did my survey near high tide last weekend and even though it was only
summer, the seas were churned up and I got sprayed a few times. If anyone
spends sometime carefully scanning from this jetty for a period of time,
say close to an hour during this time of year I can almost promise some
very fun jetty watching.
In short be careful, and be smart as to when your out there and there
should be no problem on either of the two jetties at Grays Harbor.
Enjoy,

Scott Downes
sdownes at u.washington.edu
Seattle WA