Seascape ever changing along Oregon Coast



California gray whale resurfaces in Pacific Ocean off Lincoln City in Oregon. Brown pelicans in flight, below.  (Ken Palke photos)

I love the ocean. The way it is constant, but constantly changing, especially at the Oregon Coast. On a recent week-long visit to Lincoln City, the mighty Pacific put on a new face every day -- calm and bright green one day, white-capped and slate gray the next, and then sparkling blue with white foamy breakers. Big and little waves affected by the incoming and outgoing tides. Rumbling surf and the smell of salt water.

I've been drawn to the ocean since I was a kid -- to surf, sunbathe, fish or bicycle along the shore. Now it's mostly for sightseeing and relaxation. The most important thing about the ocean, though, is that it's home to thousands of mammals, fish, birds and plants.

To me, that's the best part of visiting the coast. I often spend hours with binoculars scanning the ocean and shoreline for wildlife. This trip, I enjoyed watching several California gray whales (including a mother and calf) submerging and resurfacing with telltale blows -- feeding as they headed north. And each day, long skeins of Brown pelicans skimmed above the wave tops, wings outstretched, on patrol for silvery fish to eat.

These two ocean inhabitants have made a remarkable comeback along the Pacific Coast and elsewhere in the U.S. Thirty-some years ago I was writing news stories about their endangered status for the Palos Verdes Peninsula News in Southern California.(Note: Palos Verdes stretches along the coastline in southwest Los Angeles County)

Brown pelicans were considered endangered because DDT and hunting had seriously decimated the population. A federal ban on DDT in the early 1970s jump-started the Brown pelican recovery. California grays were in decline because of commercial whaling, but international protections have helped the species come back.

Steller sea lions are common along the Oregon Coast. Often you can hear them barking before you see them. They can be seen lolling on the sand at the mouth of Siletz Bay south of Lincoln City or crowding for space atop the boat docks in Newport harbor. Some sea lions, though, have become pests by swimming up the Columbia and other rivers to gorge themselves on salmon as they come off fish ladders at locks and dams.