Oregon Coast Talk Focuses on Birds and Marine Mammals

Published 04/12/2011

(Yachats, Oregon) – If you love seabirds and ocean-dwelling mammals, you’ll get a hefty dose of both at a talk in Yachats on April 28, as Hatfield Marine Science Center researchers Rob Suryan and Kim Raum-Suryan make a presentation on all sorts of Oregon coast critters at the Yachats Commons (above: Cook's Chasm, near Yachats).

The slide presentation and talk starts at 6:30 p.m. and is free.

Yachats

The Suryans are a married couple: Rob is an expert on seabirds and Kim is an authority on marine mammals.

Rob will talk about the the “far-off wanderers” of the Oregon coast: birds such as albatrosses which are found winging over our waters (and occasionally wash up on these shores) during part of the year, but nest elsewhere.

Kim Raum-Suryan will also talk about transient creatures that wander here from elsewhere through the ocean, specifically marine mammals that hit the offshore rocks and beaches. She will delve into their lifecycles, and then concentrate on Stellar sea lions – which are her primary focus of study.

Yachats

Rob and Kim will also discuss marine debris that threatens these creatures in various ways, such as entanglement and ingestion of plastics. Kim recently attended the 5th International Marine Debris Conference in Hawaii, so she will have up-to-date information to share on this global problem.

The talk is put on by CoastWatch, a volunteer organization that looks over Oregon beaches and watches for any major changes or impending environmental issues, among other things. The presentation is largely a kind of training session for CoastWatch volunteers so they can better understand their own observations of the beach environment, but it is open to the general public.

Yachats Commons is on Highway 101 in Yachats, Oregon. Call Phillip Johnson, Executive Director, (503) 238-4450, for more information.

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