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Run Of Unusual Whale Sightings on Oregon Coast Report filed May 18
(Oregon Coast) – It’s been an interesting week of whale sightings on the Oregon coast, with several unusual events from Astoria down to Florence. The latest is a dead whale in the Columbia River, which floated upstream to a spot just east of Astoria. All week, conditions have been great for spotting whales, with calm waves and bright sunny skies making it easier. These kinds of conditions also sometimes coax whales into approaching closer to shore. Early in the week, a pair of Humpback whales were spotted in the cove area of Seaside, which officials say was unusual because this species of whale rarely gets that close to the beach. Also, a quartet of Orcas was spotted near Sea Lion Caves, just north of Florence. Thursday, the carcass of a dead gray whale made the slightly odd trek a few miles upstream, to wind up at a spot just east of Astoria. Seaside Aquarium manager Keith Chandler said the appearance is unusual because the carcass made it so far up the Columbia. “It had come in with the incoming tide,” Chandler said. “It had just happened to get to the mouth of the Columbia at incoming tide.”
The whale had been dead a couple months, Chandler said. "And it didn’t smell nice,” he added. Officials towed the creature out to sea, hoping it would work its way further out to sea and be gone from the communities which lie along this part of the river. Instead, the carcass beached itself at Fort Stevens State Park, just a few miles south of the Columbia River. It’s still there as of 5 p.m. on Friday, but Chandler said it’s likely it won’t be there later tonight. Chandler said he and other north coast members of the Marine Mammal Stranding Network will be checking for it all weekend, seeing where it winds up next, as they expect it to move along the coast. |
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