May 5th - May 11th 2014

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Daily Low Tides

Monday, May 5th
0.9' @ 11:46 AM

Tuesday, May 6th
1.3' @ 12:38 PM

Wednesday, May 7th
1.6' @ 1:34 PM

Thursday, May 8th, cancelled due to bad weather
1.7' @ 2:31 PM

Friday, May 9th, heavy rain; Shift ended after 45 minutes
1.8' @ 3:24 PM

Saturday, May 10th
1.9' @ 4:12 PM

Sunday, May 11th
2.0' @ 4:57 PM


Notes From The Week

HRAP was on the beach on Saturday and Sunday for International Migratory Bird Day and Mother's Day. The sun was shining on the weekend, drawing lots of visitors to the beach to view the nesting seabirds at Haystack Rock on Mother's Day weekend. Visitors were treated to lots of hermit crabs feeding on barnacles in the intertidal! A visitor provided sand art for all the visiting (and nesting) mothers; Staff Interpreter Nadine Nordquist snapped the pic!


On Tuesday, an uncommon creature in the tidepools, a Red Rock crab, was spotted hiding amongst the sea lettuce by a visitor. As the tide came in the crab darted into more open water pools for a second photo opportunity. Red rock crabs are abundant along the Oregon coast and are an important recreational fishery, although adults are not often seen at Haystack Rock. Juveniles utilize the intertidal as an important nursery ground. Red Rock crabs are carnivores and use their strong, heavy claws to pry open the shells of barnacles and snails, but will also feed opportunistically on smaller crabs and dead fish. Although called Red Rock crabs, they can also be nearly white in coloration or even black and white stripped!


We had our highest visitor count on Saturday, with 126 people in the intertidal at one time during the shift. Sunday was a busy day too, with 122 people in the intertidal at one time during the shift.


Creature Highlights

Birds
  • Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) - Adults and juveniles were spotted hunting several days during the week, both an adult and juvenile were successful in their hunt taking murres as their prey.
  • Tufted Puffin (Fratercula cirrhata) - seen nesting in the grass on top of Haystack Rock. Wednesday featured a count of puffins - a total of 24 puffins were counted!
  • Western Gull (Larus occidentalis) - Lots of gulls at the Rock, one pair seen mating.
Invertebrates
  • Red Rock Crab (Cancer productus) - An adult crab, unusual for Haystack Rock was spotted by a sharp-eyed visitor!




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