At the Cove in Seaside, an early whale sighting offered a few seconds’ glimpse of a long journey ahead.

Gray whales travel thousands of miles each year, south in the fall along the Pacific shoreline to the warm, shallow lagoons of Mexico’s Baja California peninsula and north again in the spring.

Along the way, their travels make them visible. While a few hundred live year-round along the Oregon Coast, most are spotted during migration seasons.

According to the Seaside Aquarium, the whales’ fall migration, which lasts through mid-January here, has begun.

When it reaches its peak in December, volunteers staff local viewing sites like Fort Stevens State Park and the Neah-Kah-Nie Mountain overlook on U.S. Highway 101, counting as dozens of whales pass by each hour.

Under clear skies and calm surf, it’s possible to spot them from almost any shore, even on flat beaches. Traveling close to the shore, the whales surface every few seconds to blow a tall spout of salt water before drifting below again.