Whale
Watching
in
Pacific City

Whale Watching in Pacific City

News for Spring Break 2006!
 
WHALE WATCHING SPOKEN HERE
AT CAPE KIWANDA

DAILY DURING SPRING BREAK

    Saturday, March 25th
through Saturday, April 1st
        10am to 1pm every day

    Meet at MIGRATIONS CAFÉ, Inn at Cape Kiwanda
at 10am each day (storm-free weather permitting) to
walk together to the cliff sides of Cape Kiwanda.

Note: Should you come late, just follow our signs
from the south shoreline by the dory launch to the
cape sand dune.

    We will have a chance to see the MIGRATING 40 FT
GRAY WHALES as they pass through their favorite
feeding grounds just off shore.  Russ Paine of Pacific
City has set up training sessions with Oregon State
Parks Department for over 20 local volunteers.  Each
set of guides will have brochures and opticals to
share, but bring your own binoculars if you have them.

     We, of course, will also keep an eye out for the
many species of birds that frequent the cape.  In
addition to the overhead raptors, i.e. eagles, hawks
and falcons, and the flotillas of murres, grebes and
scoters in the ocean waters below, we will also keep
an eye out for black turnstone and oyster catcher.

No Charge!

Co-Sponsored by The Pacific City Birding and Blues
Foundation and the Oregon State Parks Department

Below text is an edited excerpt from a wonderful article
which included Pacific City area in the winter issue of the
Pelican Post
The Oregon Coast's favorite Newsmagazine
Pick up your free copy at most businesses from Astoria to Lincoln City


A huge creature the size of a city bus emerges from the rolling waves and with a loud swoosh, exhales a steamy breath of air.  It's a gray whale making one of the most remarkable migrations in the natural world, a scene which can be observed each winter along the Northwest coast.

Each winter, more than 20,000 gray whales can be observed along the Northwest coast as they make their way south on part of their incredible 12,000 mile annual round trip migration from the northern waters off Alaska and the Arctic Sea to their winter breeding grounds of Baja California off Mexico.
The lucky whale watcher who catches the peak of the migration can watch spout after spout as the near offshore waters become a whale highway.  Mid-December through early January is typically the peak of the migration with as many as 30 whales per hour passing the coast.
Watching whales from shore is best from a high vantage point (such as Cape Kiwanda) on a calm day. Whales are spotted by watching for their spout as they surface.  When a whale surfaces, it exhales a burst of water and vapor up to 12 feet in the air.  If the ocean is too rough, it's difficult to tell a whale from a breaking wave. (Another great location for viewing is nearby Cape Lookout)
Once a spout is spotted, focus with binoculars slightly ahead to watch them surface again.  Gray whales typically exhale three to five times, less than a minute apart, before diving for five to ten minutes.  Mothers with calves are often easiest to spot because they move more slowly and stay closer to shore. Once you've got the hang of it, it becomes easier to spot the giant 35 ton creatures.
Rarely will you see more than the spout and the back of the whale roll out of the water.  If the whale is preparing for a deep dive, you may see it's tail come out of the water.  Occasionally, gray whales will breach, coming head first out of the water as much as three quarters of their length before splashing back on their sides. They may also be seen raising their head and eye out of the water for as long as 30 seconds in a 
behavior known as "spy-hopping".
If you miss the winter migration, you won't have to wait long for another opportunity. Upon reaching their wintering grounds in the warm waters off Mexico, the gray whales breed or give birth, and by March they begin their return to the north along with their newborn calves, just a few months old.