A whale here, a whale there whales whales everywhere.-Whale watchers on the Oregon Coast reported the biggest migration spotted in five years so far during the last week of 2009.

About 18,000 gray whales and 1,100 humpbacks are in the middle of an annual migration to the Baja coast for breeding.

Whale Watch Video, Tips and FAQS:

Winter Whale Watch Week starts December 26th

People come from all over the United States to learn about the gray whales that migrate past our coast each year. The Whale Watching Spoken Here program places volunteers at great whale watching sites during Watch Weeks so they can teach others while watching the whales too. If you love whales, come and be a volunteer!

If you open a field guide to birds, however, you may notice that dozens of Oregon's birds live miles offshore. Many of these species rarely come within view of the coast at all.

Today, I found a side of Oregon I had never expected -- one known only to fishing trawlers and a handful of others.

It's a tougher sell getting volunteers for the winter sessions of Whale Watch Week than it is for the more balmy spring event.

However, volunteer coordinator Morris Grover has a few hefty incentives.

"Nothing's more fun than playing with giants in the ocean," said Grover, volunteer coordinator at the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department Whale Watching Center in Depoe Bay. "It's like, 'what a great volunteer job.'

If you have not yet had the pleasure of seeing a whale off the Oregon Coast, this might just be your year.

Whales, like sharks are always off the Oregon Coast they are just closer to shore this summer because the unusually warm water along the Oregon Coast is bringing their food closer to shore.

Whales are being sighted all along the coast, even in places usually considered too flat for good whale watching, like Seaside.

A pod of Orcas are sited in Nehalem Bay.  I hear that they have also been sited in harbors and bays from Tillamook to Winchester. If you have any copyright free photos send them to me and I'll put them on our new flicker site. www.flickr.com/oregon_coast

This photo is from the good people on the iFish board