A Bird-Watcher’s Paradise More than 300 types of birds — from imposing bald eagles with 7-foot (2.1-m) wingspans to gregarious, brightly colored red-winged blackbirds — reside or visit seasonally in and around Seaside’s thriving estuaries, ponds, marshes, dunes, and hemlock and spruce forests. At seasideOR.com/birding, you’ll find tips on birding etiquette as well as a list of top local sites for viewing both permanent and migratory birdlife, including Neawanna Creek, Seaside Cove, Necanicum Estuary Natural History Park and North Gateway Park. You can venture out on your own or on a naturalist-led group outing hosted by one of several local nonprofits, including North Coast Land Conservancy. Species of note commonly spied around Seaside beaches include pelagic cormorants, black oystercatchers, western gulls, common murres and tufted puffins. Amid groves of conifers, depending on the time of year, watch — and listen — for hermit warblers, pileated woodpeckers, cedar waxwings and Steller’s jays. Whale Watching At any point along the Oregon Coast — and especially anytime you make your way up to a bluff, sea cliff or headland — take a moment to cast your eyes out across the ocean horizon. You may just spot one of the roughly 20,000 migrating gray whales swimming offshore, not to mention the occasional dolphin, porpoise, seal, sea lion or any number of seabirds. Gray whales generally make their way down the coast from their feeding grounds in Alaska to their breeding grounds in Baja California, Mexico, from mid-December through January. Then from late March through June, these graceful creatures, which can grow as long as 50 feet (15.2 m), return north. Find a favorite perch to spot whales during peak periods. Insider tip: September is actually the best time to spot whales from the Prom due to ocean and weather conditions. Key points within an hour’s drive include Ecola State Park, Neahkahnie Mountain on U.S. 101, Cape Meares, Cape Lookout, Cape Kiwanda and Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center (just across the Columbia River in Washington). These are also prime spots to view wildlife any time of year. Meet the Seals One of the oldest such attractions on the West Coast, the vintage, wood-frame Seaside Aquarium (200 N. Prom) opened in 1937 and is famous for its gregarious harbor seals, which cavort and mingle with visitors in an open tank near the building’s entrance. For a nominal fee, you can toss pieces of prepared fish to these playful, whiskered creatures. Inside you’ll find tanks filled with native local sea life, from menacing-looking wolf eels to a giant Pacific octopus. And kids can gently handle starfish, sea anemones and sea urchins in the Discovery Center touch tank. CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: SEASIDE AQUARIUM; GREGOR HALENDA; DON FRANK Touch tank at the Seaside Aquarium 18 seasideOR.com
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